BOSTON - CuisineWire -- Boston, MA – Vital Village Networks (VVN) at Boston Medical Center is continuing its work of growing a network of local leaders to build the capacity of communities to promote community-ownership of local food systems through the fourth cohort of the Community Food Systems Fellowship.

Through a grant supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), VVN has selected eleven emerging local leaders from across the country to participate in the 2025 Community Food Systems Fellowship program, which was launched in 2021 (https://www.bmc.org/news/vital-village-networks...). The program serves as a co-created leadership pathway for diverse leaders to skill share, build capacity, grow peer networks, and strengthen efforts to build equitable and resilient local food systems. The fellowship specifically focuses on strengthening community engagement and leadership of caregivers, parents and families, uplifting strengths-based narratives, and fostering collaborative leadership to scale community identified solutions and cross-sector partnerships.

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This year's fellows were selected from a robust pool of applicants across the United States for their demonstrated experience and commitment advancing racial equity and social transformation within the food system, centering of local community leadership, and history of effective collaboration and partnership. A selection committee of fellowship program staff, alumni, and program advisors and partners participated in a multi-part review process.

2025 Fellows include:

Jammella Anderson (they/them)

Free Food Fridge Albany

Albany, NY

Tyeena Carter (she/her)

Cultivating Culture

Slidell, LA

Dr. Truphena Choti (she/her)

AfriThrive

Silver Spring, MD

Ellie Cordero (she/her)

Everett Community Growers

Everett, MA

Heather Evoy (she/her)

Indigenous Consultant

Juneau, Alaska

British Griffis (she/her)

Chicago Food Policy Action Council

Chicago, IL

Chantel Kemp (she/her)

GrowNYC

New York, NY

Lauren McCalister (they/them)

People's' Cooperative Market

Bloomington, IN

Nekia McDonald (he/him)

The Lighthouse | Black Girls Project

Jackson, MS

Emmanuel Avila Morales (he/him)

Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona

Tucson, AZ

Jordan Smith (she/her)

Hawai'i Good Food Alliance

Honolulu, HI