Events
In-Person Networking
SAFSF On The Road: Networking Luncheon in New York City
May 21, 2024 @ 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm EDT
“SAFSF On the Road” is headed to New York City!
Join Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) for a networking luncheon with funder colleagues and friends. Come mingle and meet funders, investors, innovators and advocates to discuss emerging topics in food and agriculture. This event will be held at Brooklyn Grange Farm Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, and will feature a farm tour and farm-to-table bites. Space is limited!
Tickets are $50 and complementary to current SAFSF members.
This event is at Brooklyn Grange Farm Navy Yard location on Flushing Ave. + Clinton Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11205, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Building 3. Attendees will receive detailed parking, driving, and walking instructions prior to the event date.
Speakers
Anastasia Cole Plakias (she/her)
Co-Founder & Chief Impact Officer, Brooklyn Grange
Anastasia Cole Plakias is co-founder and Chief Impact Officer of Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm. An accomplished public speaker, award-winning writer, and published photographer, Anastasia is a passionate and outspoken crusader for fresh, healthy foods and greener, more sustainable cities. She works to leverage Brooklyn Grange as a platform for positive conversations about food and farming, and a resource for community building and education.
Her love of food began early, cooking up elaborate meals in the tiny galley kitchen of her family’s NYC apartment. After working as a freelance writer for magazines, Anastasia spent several years in the corporate offices of an Italian restaurant group and wine brand, eating her way through the menus at some of New York City’s best restaurants and food carts. As a founding partner of Brooklyn Grange, she has run the business’ produce sales, managed its CSA program, created its Events department, and manages communications and external affairs. Her focus on details has been crucial to the smooth operations of the business as it has grown from year to year.
A Co-founder of the non-profit, City Growers, on whose board she spent nine years as a member, she presented alongside the organization’s Founding Director at TedX Long Island City. In 2014 and 2015, she was an instructor of Natural Gourmet Institute’s Sustainable Farming Certificate Course, and regularly teaches a workshop aimed at entrepreneurs interested in launching their own urban farming business. An energetic and inspiring speaker, she has presented to audiences at a variety of conferences and convenings. In 2016, Anastasia published a book about the business, The Farm on the Roof: What Brooklyn Grange Taught us About Entrepreneurship, Community, and Growing a Sustainable Business; she also narrated the audio book. In 2017, Anastasia was named as one of the NYC Food Policy Center’s “40 Under 40” individuals working to transform the food system.
When Anastasia isn’t zipping from farm to farm on her bicycle or leading a tour for a visiting delegation of city planners, she loves to tinker with kitchen projects in her Ditmas Park apartment, or hike a high peak in the Catskills.
Steph Wiley (he/him)
Co-Founder of Brooklyn Packers
Steph Wiley is New York City born and raised. He has over 20 years of entrepreneurial experience and has been a member of Just Food’s board, the New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives (NYC NoWC) Advocacy Council, and the NYC NoWC Training Collective. Steph co-founded Brooklyn Packers with Shawn Santana in 2016.
Steph is dedicated to ensuring that every New Yorker can access healthy food through his worker-owned food distribution cooperative, Brooklyn Packers. His focus is on creating neighborhood food hubs that connect BIPOC farms and aggregators with communities in need. These hubs improve health and economic outcomes while promoting better nutrition. By envisioning worker-owned hubs encompassing wholesale, retail, and agriculture businesses, he creates abundant job opportunities and ensures year-round access to fresh, local, affordable, and culturally relevant food for all New Yorkers. By addressing basic needs and fostering community connections, Steph believes these hubs can foster more resilient neighborhoods that thrive.
Along with his work at Brooklyn Packers, Steph is helping to develop a network of cooperative homesteads. He believes that aligned movements working together in solidarity is the best way to seek justice for all in our lifetimes.
