Registration for the upcoming 2023 SAFSF Forum will be open for a few more weeks. If you are still on the fence about attending, read on for some important tidbits that I hope will convince you that now is the time to commit!
The Last SAFSF Forum Until 2025
That’s right, the SAFSF board and staff have decided to take 2024 off from holding the SAFSF Forum, to give ourselves the space to fully welcome a new executive director next year. Rather, we’ll focus our energy on multiple in-person events around the country that will enable everyone—including our new leader—to connect and deepen our work together. More details about these gatherings to come, and in the meantime, we are excited to announce our 2025 SAFSF Forum will be in Albuquerque, NM, dates TBD.
EVERYONE Will Be There
That may be a slight exaggeration but already more than 100 ag and food funders have registered and there is still a month left before registration closes! And that does not count the dozens of nonfunder speakers and site visit hosts who will also be participating. We’re organizing the largest SAFSF Hill Day ever, networking at one of the most impactful museums in D.C., premiering our documentary film “Digging In,” going deep on programs and equity with USDA, and visiting on-the-ground projects that showcase metro D.C.’s regional food system. I must warn you that the FOMO (fear of missing out) will be real this year – don’t risk it, register now!
Members Can Bring a Food System Partner
This may be one of the most valuable as well as underused benefits of SAFSF membership. Each member organization can bring a grantee Food System Partner (FSP) to the Forum. This is great networking, learning, and exposure both for your grantee and for the funders who get to meet and build relationships with them. The sooner you register, the better the chances of you and your Food System Partners getting into the site visits, learning dinners, and popular workshops you want to experience.
The last thing I’ll share that you may not know is that I was born on the lands of the Piscataway people, now known as Washington, D.C., raised in D.C. and Maryland, went to college in Virginia, and have spent the last couple of decades immersed in the food and agriculture system of the Chesapeake region. I confess to feeling a little bit like I’m personally hosting the SAFSF community for this Forum, along with the funders of this region. I am so excited to have you learn about the vibrant foodshed that underpins the federal city and can’t wait to see all of you in D.C. in June!
–Renee Catacalos, SAFSF vice president, strategy and impact