Centering and empowering the adirondack voice
The Adirondack Food System Network is a collaborative regional food council. We are led by multiple organizations to better understand system-wide issues, identify gaps, and pursue realistic solutions to help cultivate a more resilient regional food system through collective, equitable partnership. The Adirondack Food System Network is fiscally supported by AdkAction.
The Adirondack Food System Network serves as the North Country’s food policy council, serving all 12 counties in or partially within the Adirondack Park. It is the state’s largest food policy council by geography.
Why a food Policy council for the north country?
Our purpose is to:
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To promote greater alignment among food system related organizations, agencies, and institutions by providing better platforms for collaboration and conversation.
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To develop a mutual understanding of the barriers and gaps which characterize the region’s food system and create shared goals that address them.
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To organize efforts to create a strong, unified voice, that food equity advocates can rely on to guide policy, pilot development, and other food justice-related initiatives
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To support capacity-building and sustainability efforts among member organizations and drive education efforts around food equity issues across the region.
How We Work
The Network works in alignment with is core values:
Transparency
Network efforts are driven by the belief that just and equitable food system must be a transparent one. This applies both to how the Network governs its business as a collaborative organization and to the food equity efforts it supports region-wide.
Empowerment
The Adirondack region is enormously varied in its population, territory, and needs. The Network therefore holds an empowerment-driven theory of change wherein it works to equip and support member organizations’ efforts rather than lead any particular charge itself.
Collaboration
The diversity of the Adirondacks requires any transformative efforts to be deeply collaborative in nature. The Network commits to materially fostering deeper collaboration between all members of the Adirondack food system across its work.
Equity
All food access work must be food equity work. The break downs across the Adirondack food system which unevenly distribute healthy food access must be addressed by elevating and platforming minoritized voices while working tirelessly to engage the systemic issues which create food access gaps across the region.
The Network is guided by stakeholders from across the food system and across the Adirondack North Country to lend direction, expertise, and resilience to the Networks’ initiatives.
OUr Coalition Partners
The Alliance for a Hunger Free New York is a member-driven coalition of frontline emergency food providers across New York State. Our work is to amplify the collective voices and build a supportive network of frontline community food providers, like food pantries and community meals programs, as well community members experiencing food insecurity. Our vision is a hunger free New York.