2025 Arizona Food System Network Annual Gathering
Seeds to Systems
Learn. Connect. Organize.
October 29, 2025
8:30 AM – 4 PM
Rio Salado College Conference Center
2323 W. 14th Street in Tempe, AZ
Agenda
8:30 – 9:00 AM – AZFSN Orientation (optional)
Whether you’re new to the Arizona Food Systems Network or simply need a little refresher, we welcome you to join us for a brief orientation. We’ll review AZFSN’s history, share its priorities, and help you figure out where you fit in.
8:30 – 9:30 AM – Pastry with a Partner
Come early and enjoy a light breakfast and coffee as you catch up with friends and colleagues. Please arrive by 9 am so that we can get you checked in and ready to go by the time we start at 9:30 am.
9:30 – 10:00 AM – Welcome
We’ll start the day with a grounding activity and land acknowledgement.
10:00 AM – 12:15 PM – Organizing 101: Building Relationships & Developing Effective Strategies
(Jennifer R. Myhre, Ph.D and Carol Stephenson)
This two-part workshop will introduce you to community organizing as an approach for making change. It will encourage you to build relationships as an essential tool for building people power and offer you ways of developing effective strategies to win.
12:15 – 1:30 PM – Lunch
Enjoy good company and nourishing food from Rio Salado College’s sustainable catering program.
1:30 – 2:30 PM – Make Art, Make Justice (Jennifer R. Myhre, Ph.D)
In this hands-on workshop, we will use art as a tool to cut through the noise when targeting our elected officials. No previous experience with art-making is necessary!
2:30 – 3:45 PM – Pollinators: Community-led topics and conversations
Guests will have the opportunity to propose important food system topics and facilitate conversations with their peers.
3:45 – 4:00 PM – Closing
Take our survey and tell us about your experience at the Gathering. Everyone who completes a survey will be entered to win a fun raffle prize!
REGISTRATION Please register by October 15th to let us know that you’re coming
This is a free event, and we are happy to be able to offer breakfast and lunch at no cost. In an effort to reduce food and other waste, we would like to have an accurate guest count – please only RSVP if you are confident that you will be able to attend. With that said, things happen! If something changes and you’re no longer able to join us, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can plan accordingly.
If you have a question or need to change your RSVP, please email shelbythompson@pinnacleprevention.org