This year, we are changing up RootSkills. We will continue to bring awesome training and workshop opportunities, tasty food, and an exciting agenda, but with a twist. Our 2016 Spring RootSkills will focus on a theme: Food as a Right. The assumption that every person, regardless of race, income, neighborhood, or other identifier should have access to affordable, local, healthy food. Seems intuitive, right? Well in the "food deserts" (neighborhoods with little affordable fresh food) and “food swamps’’ (places where fast-food restaurants dominate) in Providence, families do not have the opportunity to eat locally, let alone grow or catch their own food. We are working with trainers to provide workshops that empower community volunteers and leaders to rebuild the food system and eradicate food deserts in Providence and beyond.
RootSkills will be held on May 7th in Providence, RI. Participants also have the option to attend Friday evening's "PEP Talk LIVE" Program.
On Saturday morning, registration / networking begins at 8AM. The retreat will begin promptly at 9AM with keynote speaker, Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm. Leah will lead us in a passionate conversation about Undoing Racism in the Food System and explore concrete strategies to work together as allies in the movement to undo racism in the food system.
Participants have a choice from daylong workshop tracks. We ask that you stay within your workshop track as information and excercises build on each other throughout the day. Multiple people from one group are very welcome to join us, in fact, we even encourage this so the group can be exposed to multiple tracks.
Full Agenda
8am - 9am: Registration and breakfast
9am - 9:05am: Welcome from our Executive Director, Julia Dundorf
9.05am - 9.35am: Leah Penniman - Undoing Racism in the Food System
9.35am - 10am: Transition to workshop sessions
10am - noon: Workshops
noon - 1pm: Lunchtime!
1pm - 2:30pm: Workshops
2:30pm - 4:20pm: Volunteering and Connecting at Galego Community Farm
4:20pm - 4:30pm: Closing and goodbyes