Our 2022 grants went to the following Change-makers PROMOTING CLIMATE-FRIENDLY FOODS.

A Table in the Wilderness was established in 2017 to educate individuals and families in the Oklahoma City metro area on the physical, spiritual, and environmental benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. With our Grocery Store Tours, Community Cooking Show, and Diabetes Undone programs we plan on teaching the benefits of health and wellness, animal welfare, and spirituality; and increasing the demand for healthy climate-friendly foods in food desert neighborhoods. In place of our Food Pantry, we have adopted a Food Waste Reduction Program to save food and products from going into landfills. 

Securing funding that does not promote the toxic forms of charity many funding groups promote is a difficult task. That is why we are so thankful for the support from Eat the Change Impact. This funding helps A Table in the Wilderness continue its unique approach to assisting disadvantaged communities by providing solutions for health and environmental issues that plague them.

AfriThrive Inc is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating economic opportunities for underserved African immigrant communities through building a sustainable and culturally appropriate local food system in the Greater Washington, DC area. Founded in 2019 by Dr. Truphena Choti, the organization runs a two-acre farm and supports community gardens in Montgomery County. Their community gardening program brings together a network of immigrant families to cultivate culturally appropriate varieties of African indigenous vegetables on their farm. Through significant community support, it has continued to expand to meet the growing food needs in the community. 

AfriThrive will use the funding from Eat the Change Impact to expand its farming operations capacity to grow and distribute more healthy, culturally appropriate produce. 

Animal Protection New Mexico is a statewide nonprofit founded in 1979 that protects animals by creating social change resulting in the humane treatment of all animals. APNM’s Plant-Based Eating program works to expand and institutionalize plant-based eating where there is the highest potential for impact and outcomes in New Mexico. Current initiatives include restaurant and cafeteria outreach, policy and legislative changemaking, outreach and public events, and creating more access to plant-based food options throughout the state. This grant will support access to fresh, culturally appropriate plant-based food bags to at least three underserved New Mexican communities.

The Better Food Foundation incubates novel strategies for diet change. Our vision is a world where plant-based food is the norm. Our signature program uses the power of behavioral nudges, such as plant-based defaults, to transform how food is served in large institutions, in community settings, and to transform how food is represented in media and culture.

Bhakti Center: Located on the Lower East Side of New York City, the organization's activities occur year-round and are rooted in timeless teachings centered on the principles of Bhakti within the Vedic tradition. The word Bhakti means devotion in Sanskrit and speaks to the organization's mission to develop a nourished, inspired, and engaged community. In all the weekly offerings Bhakti Center distributes free plant based meals made of organic produce, and encourages the community members through various programs to transition towards a plant based meal lifestyle. Bhakti Center supports New Yorkers fighting food insecurity, transitioning to a plant based lifestyle & spreading awareness on the importance of a plant based diet.

Chilis on Wheels: a vegan nonprofit that works to make Veganism accessible to communities in need through direct food relief, policy change, and education on Veganism: animal welfare, nutrition and climate justice. CoWs strives for systemic change by working on policy & legislation and working with organizations offering food to transition their offerings to plant-based meals. They also empower communities to build alternate systems of survival.

Grant Purpose: The basic problem we are trying to address is to first help those individuals who don't have access to healthy plant based meals. Secondly to educate in a scientific way regular New yorkers on the benefits of plant based diet. Our proposed solution is to increase our meal distribution program and have weekly meetings in our space to hold discussions and debates on the benefits of plant based diets.

Black Veg Society's mission is to educate predominantly Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, on the benefits of holistic living, the plant-based diet, and veganism while building a community centered around healthy, accessible, and sustainable food and a focus on compassionate lifestyle choices. We establish strategic partnerships with businesses, schools, churches, non-profits, local and state government, health and wellness coaches, chefs, and vegan and plant-based campaign and coalition organizers. We organize and host special events such as veg fests, vegan restaurant weeks, multi-city hybrid events, and webinars. We offer a 24/7 online resource center with access to educational literature, wellness classes, cooking demos, and certified health coaches.  

The Eat The Change Impact Grant will be used to expand the reach and implementation of new, innovative ideas for the following projects:  

 Maryland Vegan Restaurant Month (Summer 2022, Spring 2023) 
Food As Medicine Webinar Series (Monthly) 
Vegan Soulfest (August 2022 & 2023) 

Building Bridges Across the River (Building Bridges) was founded in 1997 to fundraise, design, build, and operate the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC), a hub for community organizations serving residents of Ward 8, which opened in 2005. Today, Building Bridges offers programs and leads partnerships at THEARC and across Southeast DC. 

 Building Bridges’ core projects include THEARC Theater, Building Bridges Farms, the 11th Street Bridge Park, and Skyland Workforce Center. Together with our partners, Building Bridges reduces barriers to social and economic mobility in three intersecting areas: 

 Arts & Culture: Building Bridges presents a theater season that celebrates and promotes Black arts and culture, offers state-of-the-art venues and educational spaces for performers and community groups, and supports local artists and emerging production professionals. 

 Economic Opportunity: Building Bridges assists job-seekers, entrepreneurs, students of all ages, and the organizations that help them prepare for successful careers. 

 Health & Well-being: Building Bridges provides access to fresh food, healthcare, and opportunities to relax, play, and build community in our neighborhood. 

The funds from the Eat The Change Impact Grant will be used to support our Building Bridges Farms efforts to combat food insecurity in Southeast, Washington, DC by providing free/low cost homegrown organic produce to residents through our Community Supported Agriculture program. 

CWIS is producing a 30-minute documentary on traditional medicinal plants and foods in the Pacific Northwest and how Indigenous peoples work with these plants and trees to benefit their communities and address climate change. The film reflects and shares the knowledge across indigenous and non-indigenous communities and the growth of projects and activities over the last 20 years, with particular attention to teens and their mentors/teachers. The film shows site visits and interviews with elders, herbalists, educators, and students from Squaxin Island tribe, Muckleshoot tribe, and with GRUB and their educational work on a National Science Foundation project with tribal communities.

The Charles Koiner Conservancy is a nonprofit urban land trust dedicated to protecting and sustaining urban farms that inspire the next generation of food-system innovators. Established in 2018, the Conservancy emerged out of a need to preserve a historic farm in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland - Koiner Farm. Today, the Conservancy continues to run Koiner Farm, while also working to launch new urban farms in food security focus areas throughout the County. Through a community-led approach to land stewardship and food production, the Charles Koiner Conservancy provides opportunities for people to engage with their food and land in ways that are healthy for mind, body and spirit. Our urban farms provide field trips and internships for students, volunteerships and workshops for neighbors, a weekly on-farm market featuring local bands and artisans, and community-building partnerships with local businesses that support composting, healthy living, and donations to food banks.  

In their own words, the Charles Koiner Conservancy is “grateful to be an ETC changemaker working with other changemakers around the country to connect people to their land, their food and each other.”  

The Climate Collaborative works to catalyze bold climate action among natural products companies to put our world on a path to solving the climate crisis and creating a healthier, more just and equitable world. Launched in 2017, the organization brings manufacturers, retailers, brokers, distributors and suppliers together to build existing climate solutions to scale and to find innovative, new ways to help reverse climate change.  

 The Eat the Change Impact Grant will help the Climate Collaborative expand our Food Waste Commitment program to provide programming, resources, and engagement pathways that support grocery companies in taking meaningful action to reduce food waste. 

Founded in 2008, Common Good City Farm is an urban farm in Washington, DC with a mission to sustain and support a more equitable community through growing, learning, cooking, and sharing fresh food together. Common Good City Farm works with neighbors to nurture sustainable community space grounded in food justice, education, and connection.  

 Funds from Eat the Change will support the Farm Market’s pay-what-you-can model to expand food access, the Certificate Program in Regenerative Agriculture to provide students with hands-on education to grow crops using organic and climate responsive techniques, and the Seed-to-Table workshops to provide programming about food preservation, herbalism, and more.  

Crop Swap LA's mission is to Grow food on unused spaces, create sustainable jobs, and grow hyper-local, nutrient-rich food in communities affected most by food apartheid & food insecurity. Funding from Eat the Change will go toward the expansion of our South LA microfarm network, including increased food production and distribution, water recycling infrastructure, and support for community outreach and education programming.

Crossroads Community Food Network is building a healthier, more equitable food system in the Takoma/Langley Crossroads, a primarily immigrant community outside Washington, DC. At the heart of this network of food growers, makers, and consumers is Crossroads Farmers Market, where an innovative SNAP matching program makes it easier to bring home more healthy food, and at the same time supports local farmers--most of whom are also immigrants. Crossroads also provides community-based healthy eating education, business support for small-scale food entrepreneurs, and an affordable community kitchen geared toward helping them succeed.

Eat the Change Impact’s Changemaker grant is supporting Crossroads’ Healthy Eating Program, which brings culturally responsive, farm-to-fork programming to local schools with high Free and Reduced-price Meals (FARMS) participation, the farmers market, and other community sites. By connecting and empowering those who grow, make, and eat healthy food, Crossroads is helping a historically marginalized community attain food equity and self-sufficiency.

DC Greens’ mission is to advance health equity by building a just and resilient food system in the nation’s capital. We envision a city where health equity is a central value, healthy food is a human right, and all residents have the resources to shape and control policies and programs for their own communities. In June 2022, DC Greens opened The Well at Oxon Run, an innovative and transformational place-based approach that embraces the full scope of community wellness, and promises to expand access to healthy and nutritious food in the historically underserved Congress Heights community in Ward 8.

Eat REAL empowers school district food service leaders to increase access to high quality real food options. Our work teaches kids to learn to love real food, and that their choices can have a significant impact on healing our planet. Eat REAL Certification is a standards based evaluation and change management program that encourages school districts to increase plant-based options on menus, increase local procurement of seasonal ingredients, implement farm to school programming, practice responsible waste management, and introduce climate-friendly food education in the cafeteria. This grant will support our work within our next cohort of schools undergoing Eat REAL Certification.

The Educated Choices Program teaches students and community members worldwide about the impact of food choices on human and planetary health. Their free digital education presentations and accompanying materials use mainstream scientific resources to demonstrate the impact of our current food system. 

Since its founding in 2016, ECP has reached over 2.5 million students with this important information through their English and German programs. They are now expanding their international reach through a newly launched Spanish program. With proven results of over 50% of their participants making healthful and environmentally friendly dietary changes, they are making a significant impact in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by providing the educational platform upon which to build a more sustainable food system! 

Fleet Farming was created by and for the Orlando community in 2014 as a solution to the local food crisis. Now, the urban agriculture nonprofit is taking on more lawns and school community gardens to advance the #growfoodnotlawns movement, and to empower all generations to grow food. Funds from Eat the Change will go towards expanding food sovereignty for Orlando residents living in “food deserts” and shortening food miles for all: through more community gardening classes, more school and community gardens, and more zero emissions pipelines through which Fleet Farming can provide organic, local produce to the community.

Food Shift, a project of Earth Island Institute, develops practical solutions to reduce food waste, nourish communities, and provide jobs. Programs are organized to achieve food justice and climate action, seeing people marginalized by society as part of the solution: Operation Together recovers food that would otherwise go to waste to nourish neighbors in need with the assistance of Food Shift culinary apprentices overcoming employment discrimination.  

Building on the successes of programs funded by Eat the Change Foundation in the past, Sustainable Eats Education and Nourish (SEEN) Phase II focuses on gleaning insights gained from serving hyperlocally and sharing out the wisdom globally. Food Shift will share techniques to optimize food use in their community and beyond through culinary training curricula, creating accessible resources, and by actively participating in policy development processes to address the root cause of hunger and climate change. 

The people of New Orleans live an interesting contradiction: the city is internationally known for its culinary creativity and extravagance, yet simultaneously many residents – including children – lack access to fresh, nutritious foods. Grow Dat Youth Farm exists within this paradox. Grow Dat is an education nonprofit, cultivating the leadership potential of New Orleans area young adults through tiered leadership programming in the context of sustainable urban agriculture. For over a decade, the organization has provided youth opportunities to develop their leadership skills; initiate environmental and social change in their communities; as well as increase fresh food access for local residents. 

Grow Dat’s seven-acre farm in the heart of New Orleans’ City Park is host to about 60+ young adults hired annually to participate in one of four leadership programs. In addition to taking home fresh produce weekly, participants receive a weekly stipend. Since 2010, 450+ young adults have graduated from our programs and helped to harvest ~275,000 pounds of food for local consumption, 25% of which is donated to local organizations and food-insecure residents.  

Growing Gardens is a grassroots food justice initiative that uses the experience of growing food in schools, backyards and correctional facilities to cultivate healthy, equitable communities. Our Home Gardens program partners with families, affordable housing units, and healthcare clinics to build communal and backyard gardens in low-income neighborhoods. Through hands-on gardening mentorship, supplies, and support we promote food system leadership from within BIPOC communities in order to create a resilient, equitable food system for the future.

Tony Hillery founded Harlem Grown in 2011 with one farm, one school partnership, and a mission to inspire youth to lead healthy and ambitious lives through mentorship and hands-on education in urban farming, sustainability, and nutrition. Healthy habits start young, which is why Harlem Grown’s programs target elementary-aged students. Funding from Eat the Change Impact supports the organization’s operation of five intensive school partnerships, 12 urban agricultural sites, weekly Saturday programming from April to October, a free 7-week intensive Summer Camp, farm-based education tours, monthly community events, and a Mobile Teaching Kitchen that travels throughout Harlem. 

Eat the Change partners with Harlem Grown to combat the health and socioeconomic disparities experienced in Harlem through the provision of free healthy food access, food sourcing, nutrition education, urban farming, and environmental justice. At Harlem Grown, growing healthy children, and building sustainable communities is at the heart of the work they do. 

Hazon is an environmental organization calling for climate action in Jewish communities across the nation. Eat the Change Impact will support Hazon’s Jewish Youth Climate Movement (JYCM) program – a national youth-led movement dedicated to mitigating climate change by empowering young leaders, mobilizing communities and taking action.  

The Changemaker grant will be devoted to supporting the expansion of JYCM. JYCM provides infrastructure, leadership development, and ongoing mentorship to tweens, teens, and young people, empowering them to take meaningful climate and social justice leadership roles in their communities. JYCM will engage 20-25 institutions, and 2,500+ people on food justice including food access advocacy, food waste reduction, and climate friendly diets.

HIP Agriculture developed and launched the Kohala Food Hub (KFH) in 2019 to support the first Farm to School pilot in Hawaii at Kohala Cafeteria that feeds all three schools in the community. KFH has been increasing capacity to serve more local farmers with an increase to sales outlets and resources to also managing several feeding programs during and after Covid19 pandemic and now accepting EBT. KFH is in an exciting phase of growth with an increase of equipment for value added production with processing equipment, cold storage, freezing and will be adding a commercial kitchen to the hub in 2023.

IMPACT Silver Spring is committed to bringing about a more racially just and economically equitable Montgomery County by working for change at the individual, neighborhood, and systems levels. They believe that community gardens, done right, can be transformative in their ability to heal and restore. IMPACT’s Greenspace Initiative tailors gardens as needed to fit the wants and needs of each community. With support from Eat the Change, IMPACT will identify a site and build a garden in the East County area of Silver Spring, where residents have called for increased opportunities for neighborhood connections.

Keep Growing Detroit (KGD) exists to promote a food sovereign city where the majority of fruits and vegetables Detroiters consume are grown by residents within the city. To this end, our organization supports a network of over 2,000 urban gardens and farms in the city. Together, these gardens and farms engage nearly 30,000 residents and grow over 200 tons of fruits and vegetables for our community. With support from Eat the Change, KGD will engage more than 1,375 individuals in 25 gardening and cooking workshops and 50 service projects over the next year. These events will be designed to help Detroiters establish urban gardens and farms, learn where their food comes from, eat with intention, and reduce food waste.

LAFPC works to ensure food is healthy, affordable, fair and sustainable for all. We believe Good Food for All is possible and all communities deserve access to good food, grown in a way that respects people and the planet. We work to create a local food system free from hunger, rooted in equity and access, supportive of farmers and food workers, and guided by principles of environmental stewardship and regeneration. Eat the Change supports Community Chefs LA, a community-led food storytelling series. Through community storytelling, we hope to increase climate-friendly foods and CalFresh/SNAP access through cooking and shared experiences.

La Plazita Institute (LPI) mission is using a comprehensive, holistic and cultural approach designed around the philosophy of "La Cultura Cura" to engage with youth, elders and communities to draw from their own roots and histories that will express core traditional values of respect, honor, love and family. With the money from the Eat the Change grant La Plazita plans on reviving the soil of the newly expanded farm site, searching for more land for a new garden and continue to grow organic vegetables to feed the community. We will be continuing to provide a safe space and place for the underserved population.

Led by Chicane and mixed-race women, femmes, and non-binary folks, La Semilla Food Center seeks to transform the food system away from an oppressive, extractive, and environmentally detrimental system into one co-created by community, and grounded in human rights, biodiversity, and healing of soil and people. Established in 2010, La Semilla’s mission is to foster a healthy, self-reliant, fair, and sustainable food system in the Paso del Norte region, which encompasses Southern New Mexico, West Texas, and is adjacent with Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. 

 In this project La Semilla will weave the narrative change work centered in our Storytelling department into our foodways education situated in a network of 30+ school gardens. Alumni of La Semilla’s Chihuahuan Desert Cultural Fellowship will create classroom lessons sharing their knowledge and practices of eating  drought-tolerant ancestral foods native to the Chihuahuan Desert. 

Founded in 2006, Mālama Kaua’i is a community-based, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that focuses on increasing local food production and access for Kaua‘i. They do this through a lens of resilience and sustainability, which leverages workforce and economic development efforts, partnerships and innovative programs to grow community capacity. 

 This grant supports their KauaiLocalFood.com program, which provides islandwide delivery and pickup of local food, with an emphasis on food access for the islandʻs most vulnerable through a SNAP/DA BUX program. They also have a commercial food distribution program which supplies products to businesses across the island, including schools, food banks and pantries. Over 100 local farmers and food producers benefit from increased sales and islandwide distribution through the program, helping them to scale their businesses. 

The Plant Futures Initiative is empowering and equipping students to become ethical leaders, systems thinkers and effective advocates for a plant-centric future. With the support from Eat the Change, Plant Futures has widely expanded and diversified its global student chapter network. Plant Futures now collaborates with Universities with a large representation of students from underrepresented backgrounds and in diverse geographic areas. Through targeted outreach efforts, the Plant Futures Chapter network is focused on developing and supporting current, prospective and next generation leaders of food systems, cultivating multidisciplinary skill sets, and proportionally reflecting and representing the demographics of diverse cultures, facilitating inclusion in the plant-centered food & agriculture sectors.

Founded in 2015, PlantPure Communities (PPC) works to empower individuals to build healthy, kind, sustainable communities. PPC leverages scientific knowledge and a global grassroots Pod Network to drive a broad population shift towards a plant-based diet to drastically improve human health, reduce healthcare costs, and mitigate climate change. 

The grant from Eat the Change Impact will allow PPC to conduct and film a PPC Jumpstart, where people in a community from all walks of life will have the opportunity to experience the health and environmental benefits of eating a whole food, plant-based diet for 10 days. The filmed experience and testimonials will increase our community partners' fundraising potential and ensure that they can continue to host Jumpstarts and transform the health of their community and their local environment.

One of the most exciting aspects about climate-friendly eating is that it is good for both the health of the planet and the people that inhabit it. The Plantrician Project understands this connection well in its work to educate, equip, and empower healthcare practitioners with knowledge about the benefits of whole-food, plant-based nutrition for the regeneration of human health, healthcare, and the food ecosystem. 

Founded in 2013, this national organization envisions a world where all physicians, healthcare providers, and health influencers embrace the dietary paradigm shift to a plant-based diet in order to help prevent, suspend, and even reverse much of the diet-related chronic disease plaguing the nation and world. Some key initiatives include: The International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference, the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention/Disease Reversal Digest, PlantbasedDocs.com, a series of quick-start guides, Culinary Rx, the Regenerative Health Institute, and Plantrician University. 

Sowing Seeds of Change enriches the lives of adults 18+ years old with developmental disabilities and foster youth by providing a one-of-a-kind inclusive environment with job training and recreational activities. SSC gives participants hands-on experiences while educating them on how health and wellness is achieved through the accessibility of fresh, nutritious food. Our urban farm is creating a healthier, more equitable food system in Long Beach. Grants funds will allow us to continue to provide access to healthy organic food grown on our farm. In addition to providing access to produce we will provide recipients with nutritional education and cooking demos. Food grown on our farm is grown by SSC vocational program participants who are individuals with disabilities and foster youth aged 18-24.

SUPRSEED is committed to providing vegan events, education, and experiences that help people make lasting healthy lifestyle changes. Founded in 2017 by Olympia Auset, the LA organization supports increased health and well-being for individuals in the community by providing affordable access to healthy food in low-income areas.  

In 2022, SUPRSEED will be opening the doors of South Central LA’s first full service organic vegan grocery store with the help of the Eat the Change Grant. South Central, an area where only sixty grocery stores serve 1.3 million residents, lacks affordable access to food, especially healthy food. SUPRSEED is on a mission to end food apartheid in the community, ensuring that all Americans have access to fresh, organic food.  

Through research, strategy, networking, and policy advocacy, the Upcycled Food Association (UFA) is building a food system in which all food is elevated to its highest and best use. Upcycled Food Foundation, the nonprofit partner of UFA, is leveraging market forces to prevent food waste by coordinating hundreds of companies around the world and empowering millions of consumers to prevent climate change with the products they buy. Upcycled products prevent food waste by creating new, high quality products out of surplus food. It’s an innovative approach to food waste because it is the first consumer product-based solution, making it highly scalable and economically sustainable.

Urban Roots MN cultivates and empowers youth through nature, healthy food, and community. Located on the East Side of Saint Paul in Minnesota, the organization provides paid internships for under-resourced youth, ages 14-21, where they “learn and earn” through three food and environmental programs—Market Garden, Cook Fresh, and Conservation. Through their progressive program leadership model, youth leaders develop the confidence and skills needed to pursue educational and employment goals.

Funding from Eat the Change will support the Market Garden and Cook Fresh programs, workshops on nutrition literacy & education, and their Mobile Market that brings produce to local residents and accepts SNAP/EBT.

Vegan Hacktivists. We are a global community of passionate animal advocates offering our skills in building technology for the animal protection movement through design, development, and data. As capacity builders, we deliver innovative and quality services at no cost to advocates and organizations.

Our team is composed of highly-skilled and professional software engineers, designers, data scientists, and content creators. By leveraging our diverse background and skill sets, we design and build data-driven projects that aim to be effective and experimental.

Our capacity-building services are how we contribute to the movement. Leveraging our vast network of volunteers, we collaborate with individuals and organizations to offer web development, branding, and advisory services.

Founded by public health nutritionist Tracye McQuirter, MPH, Vegan Ingenuity’s primary activity is the 10 Million Black Vegan Women Movement, a public health intervention that uses plant-based nutrition and community building to help ten million Black women go vegan, to change the health paradigm of Black women now and for generations to come. Although Black women are estimated to be the fastest growing vegan demographic in the US, the majority experience among the worst health outcomes in the country, for a variety of systemic reasons. The movement helps Black women take control of their health.

Wholesome Wave is a national non-profit established on the belief that affordable access to fruits and vegetables is a fundamental human right. Wholesome Wave’s mission is to decrease disparities in diet-related illness and to make fruits and vegetables more accessible and affordable particularly for those suffering from the impacts of racial, ethnic, and income-based inequities.