BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders - ECPv6.17.4.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.agandfoodfunders.org X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20250309T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20251102T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20260308T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20261101T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20270314T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20271107T090000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261112T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261112T113000 DTSTAMP:20261015T165754Z CREATED:20260930T200717Z LAST-MODIFIED:20261015T165754Z UID:10000785-1794477600-1794483000@www.agandfoodfunders.org SUMMARY:Legal Support as Movement Infrastructure DESCRIPTION:Co-hosted by Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) and Food\, Farm\, and Democracy Initiative (FFDI). \n\n\n\nWhen funders think about “supporting legal action\,” many picture only one thing: adversarial lawsuits. But the role of legal support in movement building is far broader. This session will highlight the many ways that funders can resource communities with legal capacity\, including through:  \n\n\n\n\nResources and guidance materials that help organizations and farmers understand their rights and options\n\n\n\n1:1 direct assistance for organizations managing agreements and administrative appeals\, reviewing contracts\, assessing risk\, and making informed decisions\n\n\n\nFacilitated spaces for lawyers and food systems stakeholders navigating legal complexity to convene\, strategize\, and share information\n\n\n\n\nWe’ll show how these and other forms of legal support are interconnected and in motion right now. We’ll also examine why litigation has proven an essential and effective tool in challenging the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts and terminations\, using the recent court decision restoring $127M in illegally canceled USDA Increasing Land\, Capital\, and Market Access (LCM) Program grants as a case study. This win didn’t happen in isolation: it followed months of coordination across organizations\, each supported in charting different but complementary paths forward. We’ll unpack that behind-the-scenes coordination and discuss what’s still ahead as this case continues. \n\n\n\nThis call is geared towards a funder audience but is open to movement partners. \n\n\n\nSpeakers\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAitalohi (Aita) Amaize\, Administrative Director\, OurSpace World\nBio coming soon \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRachel Armstrong\, Executive Director\, Farm Commons\nAs the founder and Executive Director of Farm Commons\, Rachel Armstrong creates the organization’s innovative approach to farm law education and risk reduction. Her vision for changing the way consumers experience business law has been awarded with two prestigious fellowships: a 2012 Echoing Green Global Fellowship and a 2018 Ashoka Fellowship. As leading authority on direct to consumer farm law she has authored dozens of publications on farm law matters for farmers\, alongside several academic and trade publications for attorneys. Rachel instructs continuing legal education classes for the American Bar Association\, teaches farm law for the University of Massachusetts Amherst\, and is a co-author of “Farmers’ Guide to Business Structures\,” published by Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. A graduate of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and the University of Wisconsin Madison\, she lives in Northern Minnesota with her family. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArt Friedrich\, Executive Director\, Urban Oasis Project\nA dedicated food activist on many fronts\, Art believes food unites us across all cultures and backgrounds. He sees his passion for healthy food as a spiritual matter as well as a basic human right and need. He builds coalitions with diverse groups that show dedication to improving our health landscape. He recognizes the privilege and opportunity provided his race and gender as well as the responsibility to use that to create a more just system for all. \n\n\n\nArt has run small food businesses\, and has helped run sustainable farms with his mother in New Hampshire and his sisters in Massachusetts. He met founder Melissa Contreras (now Markham) in 2009 and helped launch her idea into a full fledged grassroots organization. \n\n\n\nArt also owns and manages Greenthumb Popcorn\, an organic vegan supersnack\, previously sold throughout the Whole Foods Florida region and in many independent retailers nationwide. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMaisah Khan\, Policy & Partnerships Weaver\, Regenerative Agriculture Foundation\nMaisah Khan joined the Regenerative Agriculture Foundation as the SHOT Fund Partnerships Manager in December 2024. Maisah came to RAF with over a decade of experience in grassroots nonprofit work and federal policy advocacy. She was the Policy Director for the Mississippi River Network and before that the Water Policy Director for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. Prior to that\, she served as an appointee in the Obama Administration for the U.S. Department of Energy\, focusing on international climate change policy and clean energy deployment. Maisah holds a Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Environment. Her family ties to Bangladesh keep her grounded in our shared movement for climate change solutions. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSophia Kruszewski\, Deputy Policy Director\, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition\nSophia (she/her) leads NSAC’s cross-team policy coordination and strategy efforts. She returned to NSAC after 4 years leading the Food and Agriculture Clinic at Vermont Law School\, where she directed a team providing law and policy services to farmers\, food entrepreneurs\, and food system organizations. During that time\, Sophia led the launch of the Vermont Legal Food Hub\, a program that connects farmers and local food businesses with free legal assistance. Sophia previously served as a Senior Policy Specialist at NSAC; her DC experience also includes the Center for Food Safety\, the White House Council on Environmental Quality\, and the federal district court. She holds a BS in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan and a JD from Vermont Law School. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDavid Muraskin\, Managing Director\, Litigation\, FarmSTAND\nDavid is the Managing Director for Litigation at FarmSTAND. He oversees our docket of consumer\, worker\, environmental\, and constitutional claims taking on industrial animal agriculture’s abusive practices. He has been a leading advocate against “Ag-Gag” laws\, increasing safety for meatpacking and agricultural workers\, and taking on false advertisements that cover up the reality of BigAg. \n\n\n\nHe previously worked at Public Justice and Public Citizen and in private practice as a qui tam attorney. He currently teaches agriculture and environmental law at George Washington University Law School\, and has previously taught at Georgetown and Vermont law schools. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n Open Registration\n \n "*" indicates required fields \n \n LinkedInThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.This field is hidden when viewing the formRegisterName*\n \n \n First\n \n \n \n \n Last\n \n \n \n Organization*Title*Email*\n \n What are you hoping to learn from this webinar?Are you are funder?*\n \n Yes\, I am affiliated with a funding organization.\n \n \n No\, I am not affiliated with any funding organization.\n SAFSF defines funders as staff\, board members\, trustees\, donors\, program officers\, and other professionals from organizations using grantmaking or investments as a core strategy to fulfill their mission.\nThis field is hidden when viewing the formEvent Name\nIt may take longer than expected to process your submission\, please only click submit once.\n Submit URL:https://www.agandfoodfunders.org/event/legal-support-as-movement-infrastructure/ CATEGORIES:Webinars ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.agandfoodfunders.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/AdobeStock_212949512.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR