Southeast Youth Food Activist Summit

Changemaker: Alice Yen

SYFAS brought together over a hundred and fifty young activists and students. Through the conference, youth learnt about sustainable food issues, engaging students in activist trainings, and building a movement toward a just and sustainable food system. Students and young people came together for educational seminars, professional panel discussions, peer networking, activist workshops, and community dinners. The activities included a community garden caucus, organizing with farm workers, learning about art as an activist tool, and how to start a Real Food campaign on campus.

We wanted to work to empower, network, and collaborate on founding campaigns based on ‘real food’. These real food campaigns were aimed to have universities commit a certain percentage of their food purchasing contract toward ìrealî food (or, in simpler terms, food that is fair to: producers, consumers, communities, and the Earth).Our goals included the following:

Build coalitions on campuses, in local communities, and across the Southeastern region to support a sustainable food system; and

Examine and address injustice in our current food system and work toward promoting access to Real Food and diversity in Food Activism.