CFSC Member Committees

The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) has a number of committees that focus on various aspects of community food security work. Some committees provide an advisory role to a particular CFSC program, while others focus on issues relevant to the broader community food security movement. CFSC board members, staff, and members work together in these committees, which meet in person at the annual meeting and by conference call through the rest of the year.

Members are invited to join a committee and bring your unique skills and experience to shaping this collective work. The following list gives a brief overview of each committee and lets you know whom to contact for more information or to get involved.

Farm to Cafeteria Committee

The Farm to School and Farm to College programs are both included in the Farm to Cafeteria Committee. The Committee is in the process of being formed, and welcomes interested folks who are seeking to be more involved in the issues facing these programs. The role of the Committee is to provide feedback and guidance for program plans and directions. It is hoped that Committee members will also provide input and knowledge gained from experience on topics related to program implementation.

For more information contact: Kristen Markley, 570-658-2265,

Food and Faith Committee

The Food & Faith Committee (formerly Faith-Based Committee) exists to provide all people of faith with a special forum to discuss community food security issues and to contribute to CFSC, which we believe can be a powerful vehicle for addressing local and world hunger at its foundation. The Committee provides an entry points for people of faith to work together to make important connections between our food systems, our lifestyles, social justice and environmental stewardship. Sacred themes of God's provision for all people, economic justice, the dignity of work, respect and care for the created order, and sacrifice for the good of neighbors become struggles and victories of real life. People and groups coming from a faith-based orientation can strengthen the Coalition, increase secular groups' understanding of how to work with faith communities, and broaden the perspectives and vision of the movement. The Faith-Based Committee has presented CFSC workshops and organized tours, and has compiled some stories of congregational involvement in community food security.

For more information contact: Andrew Kang Bartlett, 502-569-5388, abartlet@ctr.pcusa.org

Food Retail Committee

The objectives of the Food Retail Committee are to:

• Assess food retail options in underserved urban and rural areas with a view to informing policies and actions for improved, neighborhood-based access to healthy choices of foods (that also deliver other CFS values)
• Prepare a position paper for the CFSC to support activities in policy advocacy, coalition-building, education, and program development to foster community food retail
• Systematically integrate grocery retail issues in core-CFSC activities
• Raise funds for Committee activities
• Conduct outreach to and assist underserved, low-income communities that seek to improve access to healthy foods by developing grocery retail.

For more information contact: Kami Pothukuchi, 313-577-4296, , Duane Perry, , or Hannah Burton,

International Links Committee

The International Links Committee works to connect the Coalition to its food security partners around the world through initiatives for food sovereignty, fair trade, and sustainable agriculture. Our goals are to strengthen CFSC's involvement in broader global movements and to serve as a springboard for collaboration among CFSC members on international issues. Comprised of diverse NGO representatives and individuals, the International Links Committee has calls every other month, in addition to email communication and an annual meeting at the Coalition conference. Recent work has been focused around international components of the Coalition's Vancouver conference and an international edition of CFS News.

For more information contact: Peter Mann, 212-629-9790, , or Christina Schiavoni, 212-629-9788, .

Outreach and Diversity Committee

The Outreach and Diversity Committee (ODC) has been one of the core member committees of CFSC for several years. Currently, the committee is not active. CFSC Board members are in the midst of strategizing directions for our future dismantling racism and outreach efforts.

If you are interested in joining with others in working toward dismantling racism in the food system, please join the Growing Food and Justice For All Initiative hosted by Growing Power.

Resources and links related to dismantling racism

View the mission statement and documents developed by the CFSC's Outreach and Diversity Committee when it was active

For more information contact:
Jeanette Abi-Nader (CFSC staff liaison) 434-973-4435, .

Policy Committee

The Policy Committee exists to further the Coalition's policy program goal to deliver focused and well coordinated policy tools for the community food security movement in the US. The Committee manages the Coalitions policy formation process including meeting at least annually with members to review policy priorities. Those interested in more active policy work meet via conference call every other week to strategize on current legislative efforts and share updates. Committee members also play a vital role in targeted outreach in specific districts and states during the federal legislative calendar.

For more information contact: Steph Larsen, 202-543-8602,

Training and Technical Assistance Committee

The Training and Technical Assistance (T&TA) Committee provides guidance to the T&TA Program, which develops workshops, publications, and other resources to build the capacity of CFS advocates, and to support the development of effective CFS initiatives. The committee is actively involved in shaping program plans and directions, and provides input on issues related to program implementation. Some members also are actively involved in implementing programs, but this is not expected of all committee members.

For more information contact: Kai Siedenburg, 831-429-8202, .

Urban Agriculture Committee

The CFSC Urban Agriculture Committee was begun in 1998, and has consistently been one of the Coalition's most active units. Composed entirely of volunteers, including board members of CFSC and the American Community Gardening Association, the committee identifies specific advocacy needs for the urban agriculture movement in the United States and Canada. The Committee has written an urban agriculture primer (pdf download), and has since produced new versions of the primer directed at specific professional audiences. The Committee is acting as the incubator for a new North American Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Alliance.

For more information contact co-chairs:
Betsy Johnson, (617) 536-1711,
Cynthia Price, (231) 739-6397,
or staff liaison Aleta Dunne, (310) 822-5410, .