Description:
Local food coalitions are transforming the way we understand and engage with food. Because food systems intersect with everything – health, housing, economic justice, climate, and community well-being – strengthening them is critical to creating a more equitable and resilient society. Across North Carolina, diverse coalitions are bringing together farmers, community members, nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies to build more just, connected local food systems.
As social workers, we know that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solutions. Local food organizing puts that belief into practice by elevating grassroots leadership and bridging lived experience with policy and systems change. It’s about tackling the root causes, not just the symptoms, of complex societal issues.
Join Jaylen Cates, MSW, Assistant Clinical Professor at the UNC School of Social Work, for a talk about her work alongside farmers and food coalitions in the Carolinas. Learn how social workers can contribute to this movement by sharing strategies, building relationships, and redistributing power, one meal, one policy, and one community at a time.
Trainer:Jaylen Cates (she/her), MSW a Chapel Hill native and UNC MSW alum (2012), has spent almost 20 years working in North Carolina’s nonprofit sector, focusing on community organizing, food systems, and policy. Her roots in ethical food practices and youth gardening programs led her to pursue social work, and she has since supported farmers and food justice efforts across the state, including serving as Policy Director for the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. A founding member of the Community Food Strategies team, Jaylen has helped shape the NC Food Network and continues to advocate for equitable food and political systems. In 2023, she joined the UNC School of Social Work faculty, bringing her passion for grassroots change into the classroom. She lives in Efland with her dogs, Cody and Charlie, and proudly adopted her chosen name, Jaylen, in 2023.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the training participants will be able to:
1. Understand the Role of Food Systems in Social Work Practice
Participants will be able to identify how local food systems intersect with core social work issues such as health equity, economic justice, and community well-being.
2. Apply at least 3 Social Work Values to Community-Led Food Organizing
Participants will be able to explain how social work principles, such as the dignity and worth of the person, the importance of human relationships, and social justice, are embodied in grassroots food coalition work.
3. Explore at least 2 Strategies for Systems-Level Change through Coalition Building
Participants will be able to analyze how social workers can support and engage in food system advocacy by building cross-sector partnerships and centering community expertise to address structural root causes of inequity.
References:
- Cadieux, K. Valentine & Slocum, Rachel. (2015). “What does it mean to do food justice?” Journal of Political Ecology, 22(1), 1–26. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271840943_What_does_it_mean_to_do_food_justice
- Community Food Strategies. (2022, August 26). Twelve community insights for a North Carolina that “does food differently.” Retrieved June 2, 2025, from https://communityfoodstrategies.org/2022/08/26/twelve-community-insights-for-a-north-carolina-that-does-food-differently/
- Hall-Faul, M., D’Angelo, K.A. & Libal, K. Promoting food justice and the right to adequate food in social work education. Journal of Human Rights in Social Work 9, 129–138 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-023-00286-9.
UNC SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK MACRO LECTURE SERIES