ABOUT US.

Who Are We?

​The Regional Food System Assessment and Planning project is part of the Moving Forward Together initiative.  Moving Forward Together is one action by the Western New York COVID-19 Community Response Fund, a collaborative philanthropic effort launched in March 2020 to address the COVID-19 crisis in our community.  
Moving Forward Together includes over a hundred partners representing the entire spectrum of the food system in our region working cross-sector and cross-county to address the entrenched and chronic conditions that have perpetuated long-term food insecurity and hurt food-based economics.
As of December 31, 2020, the Western New York COVID-19 Community Response Fund has awarded over $8.1 million to more than 400 nonprofits through three rounds of emergency grant funding, a microgrants program and the Moving Forward Together initiative, including a grant to partially support this food security effort. Other funders include the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and the Western New York Foundation.
Additional Moving Forward Together efforts of the Western New York COVID-19 Community Response Fund include: Digital Equity & Inclusion, Public Policy and a Request for Ideas. Learn more at www.WNYResponds.org.

SCALE Team Members

The four members of SCALE’s team – Anthony Flaccavento, Euneika Rogers-Sipp, John Fisk and Michael Shuman have a broad, diverse base of experiences, along with a strong overlap in our values and beliefs about how best to build more just, inclusive and sustainable food systems.  Our team brings: 

• a commitment to participatory research, where action and experiences on the ground deeply inform our understanding and recommendations;
• community engagement processes that are clear and straight forward, and help ensure that folks from all walks of life meaningfully participate;
• strategies that enable diverse community stakeholders to co-design the process with us, and to more fully ‘own’ the outcomes;
• a focus on action, on real change that makes the food system better for farmers, for eaters and everyone in between.

 
All four consultants have considerable experience and outstanding skills in community facilitation, across rural and urban communities, and all four will bring those skills to bear during the project

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ANTHONY FLACCAVENTO

Team Leader
​flaccavento@ruralscale.com

​Anthony, founder of SCALE, Inc. (Sequestering Carbon, Accelerating Local Economies) leads the team in their work in WNY. His experience as a farmer, rural development consultant, and founder of several food system businesses and infrastructure enterprises contributes to the team being able to effectively connect with and engage farmers, food system stakeholders, and rural, small-town folks who might normally feel disengaged from having a voice in food system matters.

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JOHN FISK

Team Co-Leader
​jwfisk@gmail.com

John brings the widest range of knowledge about food system issues, innovations, and models. He is deeply grounded in the technical and ecological dimension of farming and can advise WNY stakeholders on farming best practices. John draws from his more than 20 years of recent leadership at the Wallace Center and previously from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. John will draw on his relationships with individuals, organizations, and businesses across the spectrum of food systems, to connect WNY collaborators with other food system leaders and success models.

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EUNEIKA ROGERS-SIPP

Community Outreach & Engagement Leader
e.rogerssipp@ddesschool.com

Euneika applies her experience in founding and building the Destination Design School of Agricultural Estates and regional wealth-creation models in sustainable rural economic development to inform highly-effective and inclusive community outreach and engagement processes, particularly focusing on segregated and long-distressed neighborhoods. Euneika's approach reinvests stakeholders' role within the food system addressing root causes of structural inequities and paves sustainable paths for making healthy food available to all. Her work as a Harvard Loeb Fellow strengthens her framework for community engagement and connects WNY stakeholders with a diverse food system and social justice network.

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MICHAEL SHUMAN

Community Economics Leader
shuman@igc.org

Michael is one of the country's premier thinkers, writers, and consultants on the development of diverse and resilient economies. He regularly puts his visionary thinking to test in small towns and urban areas across the country, assisting local communities in designing, testing, and implementing a range of strategies that build strong local economies. Michael brings his expertise on mobilizing local capital to benefit local food system enterprises and will lead the design and recommendations for building wealth in the WNY regional food system. ​

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Western New York Project Contacts

WESTERN NEW YORK FOUNDATION​
2495 Main Street, Suite 464
Buffalo, NY 14214
716-839-4225

Beth Kinsman Gosch, Executive Director
​bgosch@wnyfoundation.org

​​Lauren VanOsten, Program Officer
Lvanosten@wnyfoundation.org

NY SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE WORKING GROUP
Kimberly LaMendola, Food System Projects Manager
4039 Route 219, #200
Salamanca, NY 14779
716-945-5301 x2211
​klamendola@southerntierwest.org