Hello dear community – happy spring.

 

After brainstorming and asking the community for their input, the Food Policy Council has officially changed its name to the Rainier Beach Seeds of Change Network! 

 

It has been about two years of organizing and building trust with Black, Brown and Indigenous Farmers and Food Justice Organizers, and we noticed that whenever we introduced ourselves as the Food Policy Council, it always felt a bit…off. 

 

At first, we thought we would have a couple of farmers come together and make policy changes, but it’s a lot more complex than that. 

 

In order for farmers to even think about food policy & organizing, they and their families have to be well. We must center farmer wellness, first and foremost, by healing through community care. We also thought of our youth here in Rainier Beach and how they have so much potential to become the next generation of growers and lead the change. 

 

And so, the Rainier Beach Seeds of Change Network is centered on three pillars: 

  1. Engaging youth in food systems through community care for farmers 
  2. Nurturing our local economy: Operations, Value-Chain, Distribution Supports
  3. Advocating through education & storytelling on various policy initiatives such as the Farm Bill, Seattle Food Action Plan, and the Neighborhood Plan.

 

We were also inspired by Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, where Butler describes the significance of seed saving as an act of hope for the future and a practice to honor the past & those who we’ve lost. We hope to embody this as we make the Changes that we want to see. 

 

Maybe the Seeds of Change that we want to see are rooted in how we simply treat each other and how we dream of our best selves?

 

And with that, the Rainier Beach Seeds of Change Network, sounds and feels like what we want to do – and that’s what a good name should be able to do after all! 

 

– Cly Samson

 

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