The South Bronx Community Food Coalition invites you to our first conference, Food for the Soul: Self-Care and Social Justice in the South Bronx. Join us for a free day of facilitated workshops on how we can practice self-care as we strive to create changes in our food system and beyond.

Food for the Soul is a day to address a missing element of many food and social justice spaces around NYC: self-care practices for community members and organizers. In the South Bronx we experience many of the systems of oppression we’re fighting against in our daily lives, in our food system, and in other institutions. How do we practice self-care while working together to create the South Bronx we envision?

We will learn about practices for self-care, enjoy a meal prepared by a Bronx cooperative food business, share stories about our personal food histories and the issues we face in our food system, and participate in an interactive workshop on the importance of self-love in movement building (see below for more details on the day).

Food for the Soul is a free event but space is limited – we ask that folks do their best to stay for the duration of the day. The South Bronx Community Food Coalition is supported by City Harvest. For more information, please contact Steven Deheeger at sdeheeger@cityharvest.org.

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PROGRAM

OPENING – 10AM to 10:30AM

MORNING  – 10:30AM to 12PM

Racial Equity, Food, and Self-Care

Heidi Maria Lopez will conduct a 1.5-hour interactive workshop on racial equity, food and self-care.

Heidi Maria Lopez is a queer, first generation Quiskeyana who believes strongly in people and their power to shape this world. Heidi works to build relationships that will change this world so that people of color / in the African diaspora, especially those impacted most deeply by these systems, take back was has been taken from them, (re)claim their history and shape their own lives without the intervention of racist and oppressive systems. Their current organizing efforts include base building in Washington Heights, hosting gatherings around spiritual herbalism and bringing all this work within and to their family.

LUNCH – 12:15PM to 1:15PM

Green Worker Cooperatives’ B-Blossom

Green Worker Cooperatives Coop Academy graduate and 25-year Bronx resident, Manuela of B-Blossom Catering, will talk about Green Worker Cooperatives’ work, her experience starting a cooperative food business in the Bronx, and the food that she’s prepared for the day. While sharing a meal, South Bronx Community Food Coalition members will facilitate a workshop in which attendees will share their personal family histories through food and the issues we face in our food system.

Green Worker Cooperatives is a South-Bronx based organization dedicated to incubating worker-owned green businesses in order to build a strong local economy rooted in democracy and environmental justice. We train and develop worker cooperatives that have a positive environmental impact and enable the transformation of their members and community. http://www.greenworker.coop/

AFTERNOON – 1:30PM to 3PM

Self-Love, Movement and the Food Movement

Courtnie, Founder of Every Body Yoga will facilitate a group conversation and interactive workshop on the importance of self-love and self-care in daily life. The second half of the workshop will be an opportunity for people to practice self-care through yoga.

Food for the Soul Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/254667204886817