Oct 28, 2014 2 min read Starting Plainsong Farm

Food & Faith Links: Regional Initiatives

As I prepare for next month’s meeting through which I hope to be part of launching a Faith/Farm/Food Network, I’ve been inspired to comb through my memory and the internet for people and organizations already working at the nexus of this conversation, and resources to help us move forward.

It has struck me that the best way to compile these links would be in an online database which could be curated by multiple people and searched by multiple keywords, but that’s beyond my present capacity. Consider this a brain dump from me to you. And at the end, there’s a request: could you let me know what I’m missing?

I’m sure there is wonderful work happening in many different faiths, but since the focus of this blog is the work of the church, this link roundup focuses on Christian organizations and a few interfaith organizations. If you know of similar work happening in Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, or other faith traditions, please leave a link in the comments!

I’ll be posting links in a different category each day this week. Here’s the plan:

Monday: Faith-based farms and gardens integrating Christian spirituality or faith formation

Tuesday: Regional faith-based food initiatives

Wednesday: Denominationally- and seminary-based work on food & faith, as well as curricula for church programs on the intersection of faith and food

Thursday: Blogs, books & authors on food & faith

Friday: National non-profits working at the intersection of food & faith

If there is a project or person you want to be sure I include, feel free to contact me – or just leave it in the comments.

You’ll notice that church-based garden and feeding programs aren’t on the list. There are two reasons for this. First, there are so many that if I had included them, I would have been overwhelmed. Second, they are difficult to find through search engines – most are just a page of a larger church website. Maybe that’s a future list!

With no further ado… Tuesday’s list.

Regional Initiatives

Northeast

In Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University’s Center for a Liveable Future launched the Baltimore Food and Faith Project. This is an interfaith project which has valuable resources for any congregation, including a toolkit to help congregations move toward better food policies and practices. (The collection of free resources this project provides is impressive!)

In New York, Cornell University’s Cooperative Extension sponsors a Faith-Based Food Hub program.

Southeast

The Memphis Center for Food & Faith facilitates congregational workshops and helps to promote “foodways” for a thriving local economy.

In North Carolina, Partners in Health and Wholeness is an initiative of the North Carolina Council of Churches which encompasses healthy eating and sustainable foodways.

Midwest

Chicago’s Faith in Place offers farm-based and just eating programs.

In Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, the Churches’ Center for Land and People works to integrate earth stewardship, economic justice, community and spirituality around issues related to agriculture and food.