Ecotrust

02/13/2025

Did you know? Ecotrust was founded on February 13, thirty-four years ago! Learn more about the story of how we were founded and our journey as an organization from our History page: https://ecotrust.org/about/history/

02/13/2025

The nomination period for the 2025 Indigenous Leadership Awards is open now through April 11th: https://ecotrust.org/indigenous-leadership-awards/ -nominate

This call for nominations invites individuals, families, colleagues, tribes, First Nations, and Alaska Native villages and corporations to nominate Indigenous leaders who are making a difference in their community to receive this year's Indigenous Leadership Awards.

Six recipients will be selected from the pool of nominees by a panel consisting of past Indigenous Leadership Award recipients. This year's recipients will be announced in Spring 2025, and they will receive a total of $60,000 in unrestricted cash prizes. The unrestricted nature of the monetary awards offers the awardees flexibility to advance their work.

📸 : SandeBea Allman, one of last year's awardees, shares remarks during the 2024 Indigenous Leadership Awards. Photo by Kari Rowe.

02/13/2025

Don't miss the Seafaring Speakeasy, coming up February 20th. Tickets are still available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blue-foods-forum-seafaring-speakeasy-tickets-1145650023059?aff=oddtdtcreator

02/11/2025

Applications are open for the Rogue Valley Regenerative Farming Fellowship! This is a great opportunity to get into farming.

Rogue Farm Corps is thrilled to announce that applications are open for the Rogue Valley Regenerative Farming Fellowship. Spread the word about this entry-level opportunity to train and learn at Family Nurturing Center's Food and Farm Program, a small sustainable vegetable farm.

This program is a financially and logistically accessible first farming experience for people facing higher entry barriers into agriculture. Fellows will work two six hour days per week at the Regenerative Farming Fellowship training farm site and attend the Beginning Farmer Educational Event Series on Wednesday afternoons. Fellows will be paid at a rate of $17.15/hr for both on-farm training hours and time spent in educational events.

Applicants who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latine, and/or other person of color (BIPOC), LGBTQIA2S+, female, veterans, living with a disability, formerly incarcerated, and/or low-income are highly encouraged to apply. The program seeks to create an inclusive, welcoming learning and training environment that values and honors each participant’s unique life experiences, strengths, interests, and goals.

This program is run in partnership by Rogue Farm Corps and Family Nurturing Center. Participants will be mentored and supervised in farm tasks by Rogue Farm Corps’ Rogue Valley Chapter Coordinator and Family Nurturing Center’s Farm’s staff, including Fellowship alumni.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through March. Interested parties should apply, ASAP. Learn more: https://www.roguefarmcorps.org/rff

02/11/2025

Become a Sowing Seeds Ambassador!

For Black History Month, we are excited to highlight the work of some of our amazing partners, like The Blueprint Foundation! Blueprint offers culturally specific learning opportunities to inspire Black-identified youth and young adults, helping them to reconnect to nature and explore a variety of career pathways. 💚

Since 2015, The Blueprint Foundation has embraced a mentorship model to inspire its participants to overcome systemic barriers by welcoming new experiences that support their workforce development. One way Blueprint can accomplish that is through their new program, Sowing Seeds.

Sowing Seeds programming offers students the opportunity to explore careers in various fields, aiming to inspire and create growth pathways for high school students entering the workforce. Each session is held at varying Portland high schools with insightful conversations shared over delicious, warm meals provided by local BIPOC restaurants.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, chef, sports coach, social media champion, or environmental change-maker, Blueprint wants to hear from you. Share your knowledge and passion with the next generation at Sowing Seeds luncheons.

Fill out this interest form to hear back from the Blueprint programming team: https://forms.gle/WnBB4nj3SCJNdRVD6

02/11/2025

Apply for the Rooting Justice Funding Opportunity!

02/11/2025

Applications for the 2025–26 K-12th Grade Farm to School Institute are now open! Learn more and apply at ecotrust.org/k-12-institute

The Farm to School Institute model is a year-long professional learning experience that brings site-based teams together to build relationships, skills, and a collaborative action plan to further their farm to school goals. With the support of a coach, teams spend the school year putting their plans into action and strengthening their capacity to integrate lasting impacts. With farm to school programming, schools have enriched connections to fresh, culturally relevant foods and local food producers through gardening, agricultural education, and local food purchasing.

Apply with your team by Friday, February 28, 2025. This year is focused on Oregon-based teams. For questions, please reach us at [email protected]

02/11/2025

Applications for the 2025–26 K-12th Grade Farm to School Institute are now open! Learn more and apply at ecotrust.org/k-12-institute (link in bio)

The Farm to School Institute model is a year-long professional learning experience that brings site-based teams together to build relationships, skills, and a collaborative action plan to further their farm to school goals. With the support of a coach, teams spend the school year putting their plans into action and strengthening their capacity to integrate lasting impacts. With farm to school programming, schools have enriched connections to fresh, culturally relevant foods and local food producers through gardening, agricultural education, and local food purchasing.

Apply with your team by Friday, February 28, 2025. This year is focused on Oregon-based teams. For questions, please reach us at [email protected]

02/10/2025

Don't miss the Ocean Art! Xperience, happening on February 19 at ADX (Art Design Xchange). Tickets are still available: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blue-foods-forum-219-ocean-art-xperience-tickets-1130031658109?aff=oddtdtcreator

02/06/2025

They might be sold out for the Seafare Symposium, but it looks you can still get tickets for the Seaweed + Oyster Social, happening after the symposium: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blue-foods-forum-seaweed-oyster-social-tickets-1130047445329?aff=oddtdtcreator

The Seaweed + Oyster Social is a happy hour mixer at The Redd on Salmon Street! Come network with chefs, food scientists, and other seaweed and ocean loving people. This social features oysters and yummy sea snacks. This event is part of the three-day Blue Foods Forum and occurs following the Seafare Symposium workshop. It is a public event. You do not have to attend the conference to enjoy this seafood mixer. Get $10-25 sliding scale tickets!

Let’s talk about our upcoming Blue Foods Forum Seafare Symposium on February 18th. 🌊 Who should come? Anyone engaged in the food system who wants to learn more about finding, buying, and enjoying Oregon-landed seafood. People engaged in supporting the people, places, and projects that make enjoying local food possible. 🦀

This includes but is not limited to regional chefs, harvesters, farmers, fishers, ranchers, processors, distributors, food makers, food scientists, institutional and wholesale buyers, high school culinary directors, technical assistance providers, policy and decision-makers. Don’t identify with any of these? Don’t let that stop you! All are welcome, please help us expand a community around change-making through thoughtful conversation and shared meals.

Tickets: https://www.winterwaterspnw.com/events/seafare-symposium-2025

Huge thanks to our sponsors and venue partners: Oregon Coast Visitors Association, Travel Oregon, Oregon Coastal Mariculture Collaborative, The Builders Initiative, Ecotrust, Art Design Xchange, and Union Pine for making these event possible!

02/05/2025

Applications are now open for (2025 - 2026) paid FoodCorps AmeriCorps service members! Join at FoodCorps.org/apply

As a FoodCorps service member, you’ll teach kids to grow, cook, and love the nourishing foods that celebrate their cultures and communities—and help schools serve more of those foods, too.

What makes a great paid service member?

A motivated leader who’s passionate about food education, and eager to serve—especially in a community you call home. Your unique strengths will shape your service, and with the support of our program resources, we’ll get kids excited about nourishing food together.

You’ll grow through your service, too. You’ll get access to dozens of resources and training opportunities and gain a network of passionate food educators and world leaders. After your service, the alumni program can help you make meaningful connections and build your career in public health, education, food justice, school food leadership, nonprofit management, and more!

Questions about the application process? Interested in chatting to learn more about the service program?

Reach out to Destiny Schlinker, FoodCorps Recruitment Manager
[email protected]

Ready to apply? Here's where you can learn about joining FoodCorps and start your application. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

02/05/2025

This Saturday check out Snaggin'tines Day Pop Up at NAYA's Native Made Marketplace. Find unique gifts for your loved ones. There will be local art, handmade gifts, and more!

Need to find something for that special someone? Don’t worry, NAYA’s Native Made Marketplace has your back with our Snaggin’tines Day Pop Up! Find a gift for your special someone or something for yourself. This one day pop up will feature 12+ vendors with a variety of beautiful jewelry and other hand-crafted items. Everyone is welcome to attend...and of course there will be a raffle. See you there!

February 8, 2025, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., munk-yeʔlan sax̣ali, 4636 NE 42nd Ave., Portland.

02/04/2025

Come celebrate seafood and the ocean food system at the Oregon Blue Foods Forum. Register for one or all of the events in the series happening February 18 - 20.

Oregon seafare producers, processors, innovators and eaters unite! 🎣 🦀 🌊

Join us in February 2025 as Winter Waters, in partnership with the Oregon Seafare and Oregon Mariculture Collaborative, anchors the first-ever Blue Foods Forum in Portland, OR! Dynamic curated experiences in inspiring venues, featuring some of Oregon’s best chefs and artisans are designed to deepen connections and uplift Oregon’s blue foods, producers, makers, and the regional food and beverage economy. 💙

This inaugural community-building event will unfold in three parts: the Forum will kick off with a day-long industry Seafare Symposium, followed by a Seaweed Oyster Mixer (with Chef Maylin Chávez) at The Redd on 2/18. A hands-on Ocean Art! Xperience at Art Design Xchange (ADX) will delight the senses on 2/19, then the event will culminate in an epic Seafaring Speakeasy and educational culinary showcase at Union Pine on 2/20.

We’d love to see you there. Learn more: https://www.winterwaterspnw.com/events/blue-foods-forum

02/03/2025

We are excited to announce that "Dear Aloha" will be screening at The Redd on Salmon Street in Portland on Sunday, February 16. Reserve a free ticket: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dear-aloha-at-the-redd-on-salmon-a-love-letter-to-hawaii-tickets-1128047994919

About the film:
"Aloha is a way of life for Native Hawaiians, who are taught from a young age to treat people with kindness and compassion. The film follows two Native Hawaiians living in the Pacific Northwest as they reflect on how Aloha sustains them amidst distance, loss, and longing. Meanwhile, back in Hawaiʻi, locals grapple with the history of colonization that has Hawaiians disappearing from their homeland. It asks the question, how do Native Hawaiians in the diaspora keep the feeling of Aloha in their hearts, even when they live thousands of miles away?"

Event includes panel discussion, catering, music, and a performance by Halau Ka Lei Haliʻa O Ka Lokelani!

Join us for a screening of the documentary film “Dear Aloha” on Sunday, February 16 at The Redd on Salmon Street in Portland.

02/03/2025

Apply to The Society of American Foresters Diversity Scholars Program!

02/03/2025

Learn about how tech and tribal forestry come together in this article by Tia Beavert and Ryan Sanchey.

01/31/2025

We'll be hosting another info session about the Oregon K-12 Farm to School Institute on February 4 at 9am PT. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkdOGvrjwuGdyRZnaUBR7UL6xaX_WEldzD

Strengthen farm to school programming at your school site by joining this collaborative learning and program planning experience! Learn more:
https://ecotrust.org/k-12-institute/

Together with a group of regional partners, Ecotrust is launching a Farm to School Institute in Oregon and Washington to grow comprehensive farm to school programming in both states.