C.E.F.E. by F.S.L.C.
Community Engagement for Food Equity by the Food Systems Leadership Coalition at UW Seattle
We are a project team of the Food Systems Leadership Coalition at the University of Washington, Seattle dedicated to connecting aspiring volunteers to community leaders in food equity in & around the U-District.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Join us for upcoming free & open to the public food equity events!
September 2, 4-6pm
UW Farm CUH
Plant giveaway with Tilth at CSA Appreciation Pizza Bake!
September 19, 9am-3pm
Shoreline Tool Library
Seed saving demo at REconomy tool sale!
September 19, 10am-3pm
Rainier Beach
Zines giveaway with Tilth at their Farm Fest!
October 2, 4-6pm
UW Farm CUH
Plant giveaway with Tilth at Dawg Daze Pizza Bake!
About us...
We are a majority AAPI led, LGBTQ+ led, women led grassroots project dedicated to fostering a diverse food system social leadership community in Seattle by first and foremost prioritizing leadership & educational roles from historically underserved communities such as BIPOC, youth 18-25, seniors, low income/unhoused, LGBTQ+.
The Community Engagement For Food Equity project team coordinates volunteers to support local community gardens & food equity efforts, strengthening existing community partner relationships & sowing new ones while we develop leadership and skill sets in our volunteers at the same time.
We will continue to petition from local seed companies and nurseries to put hands in the seeds of a diverse range of populations around Seattle including youth & seniors, Queer folks, students & unhoused youth in U-District, and people from wide ranges of economic & cultural & ethnic backgrounds.
We coordinate:
Volunteer groups
Volunteer at local food equity projects with well-established community partners.
Workshops
Learn from community educators about everything that goes into growing food from seed.
Seed(ling) swaps
Seasonal seed & seedling swaps at our various partner locations.
Sign up to get connected.
About our Founder & Project Coordinator
Adeline Schmidt is a senior undergraduate at the University of Washington Seattle in the Food Systems, Nutrition, & Health and Medical Anthropology: Global Health Majors.
She founded the Food System Leadership Coalition’s project for Community Engagement for Food Equity to organize volunteers for food equity work. In her final year of college, she wanted to use her time at the University of Washington to deeply impact the disparate & frankly disconnected food system around the U-District & Seattle.
As an undergraduate community-based intern at Seattle REconomy’s Northeast Seattle Tool Library, Adeline successfully organized a seed & seedling swap using donations from Sky & Swanson’s nurseries in April, 2026. Through the Community Engagement for Food Equity project group, the Coalition will organize more seed swaps in partnership with Tilth Alliance, supplemented by workshops from community educators.
Seeds for Seattle Food Equity (SSFE)
SSFE is a project outlined with 3 main goals based upon 3 partner sites with seed libraries:
UW Farm
Northeast Seattle Tool Library
Picardo P-Patch
ALL FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
organize 10 workshops taught by community educators across 10 months -- 90 minutes each to teach folks about growing food from seed
organize 3 seasonal seed & seedling swaps to distribute growing materials and connect with our community in celebration!
stock the seed libraries of our partner sites by holding regular seed petitioning workshops where we teach volunteers & community partners how to ask for donations from local nurseries & seed companies
We couldn't do it without our fiscal sponsor, Seattle Parks Foundation, and our partnership with Tilth Alliance. Seattle Parks Foundation handles all of our donations & grant money, while Tilth Alliance runs the Seattle Giving Garden Network, the Washington State Seed Library Network, and provides us with educators to staff our workshops. Thank you for your support!!
OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Tilth Alliance
Laura Matters
The Seattle Parks Foundation
Michelle Benetua
Seattle REconomy
Susan Gregory, Josh Epstein, Jessica Longo
Picardo P-Patch Giving Garden
Nancy Allen, Milton Tam
UW Farm
Perry Acworth, Aisling Doyle Wade
Teen Feed
Kristina Olave
Students of Color for Public Health UW
Nitya Masina
UW Food Systems Leadership Coalition
Ann Anagnost
UW Professor of Anthropology of Food
Polly Olsen
Yakama, Cultural Practitioner, UW-ESRM affiliated lecturer.
OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM
Adeline Schmidt
Nitya Masina
Lilian Leyh
Maya Bhavsar
Lauren Lambert
Lauren Jung
Kristen Blankenheim
Still have questions?
Volunteers receive opportunities to join work parties at food equity projects in the U-District & Seattle area led by our leadership team and/or a community partner. This can range from work in gardens and at farms to food banks to Teen Feed's kitchen. Volunteers can also join work parties for petitioning donations from seed companies & local nurseries. They can join the leadership team in grant writing, organizing and running workshops, creating promotional materials like posters or infographics about the workshops, and more.
Sign up here to volunteer with us.
Our leadership team does all the behind the scenes work especially to coordinate our events which are free, open to the public, and hosted at a partnering site. Leadership does everything from running social media, meeting regularly with community partners, leading volunteer work parties at food equity projects, to running workshops, writing & researching grants, and creating analysis reports about the work we do.
Sign up here to join our leadership team.
Community partners are experienced and knowledgeable organizations or individuals in the field who work alongside us in furthering visions of food justice. These are bidirectional partnerships where we work together to fill gaps on both sides and address systems wide challenges that are tackled more effectively with the bandwidth of two teams. Community partners advise, support, and provide us with constructive feedback.
Sign up here to become a community partner.
Creating a more resilient food system, connecting one person at a time.
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