Organization(s) name(s):
Netiya
Organization(s) website(s):
Organization(s) twitter handle(s):
Organization(s) facebook handle(s):
https://www.facebook.com/NetiyaLA/
Organization(s) instagram handle(s):
https://instagram.com/netiyala/
Please share the direct link for voters to sign up for your newsletter(s):
Non-profit organization
For-profit organization
Government
Other (please specify below):
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Netiya is a food justice and interfaith network that fosters self-reliance and land stewardship to lead Angelenos of all faiths toward greater access to food worthy of a blessing.
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The Fermenting Change Event Series will bring together people from diverse communities over our shared values of nourishing food and land stewardship. Our program will engage Jewish and Muslim school communities and grow to become a replicable model for interfaith celebration across the region. By building connections around food, justice, and traditional ties to the earth, we build relationships across religious and cultural barriers to create an interconnected and resilient Los Angeles.
Central LA
East LA
San Gabriel Valley
San Fernando Valley
South LA
Westside
South Bay
Antelope Valley
County of Los Angeles (countywide)
City of Los Angeles (citywide)
LAUSD
Other (please specify below):
Conduct research
Engage residents and stakeholders
Implement a pilot or new project
Expand a pilot or program
Mobilize for systems change
Advocate with policymakers and leaders
Implement and track policy
Other (please specify below):
Rates of volunteerism
Voting rates by race
Adults getting sufficient social & emotional support
Median travel time to work
Attendance at cultural events
Number of public transit riders
Participation in neighborhood councils
Percentage of Angelenos that volunteer informally (Dream Metric)
Government responsiveness to residents’ needs (Dream Metric)
Transit-accessible housing and employment (the share of housing units and percentage of jobs that are located near transit)
Total number of local social media friends and connections (Dream Metric)
Attendance at public/open streets gatherings (Dream Metric)
Residential segregation (Dream Metric)
Access to free wifi (Dream Metric)
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One of the obstacles to civic engagement and a unified community is cultural divides: we are a diverse city where people of different backgrounds live side by side, yet in isolation. At Netiya, we believe there is unity in diversity and that beneath our differences lie commonalities. As an interfaith organization, we bring together different groups under a shared agenda: food and stewardship of the land--topics that are common to all faiths and cultures.
We propose an event series--Fermenting Change--with the goal of creating cross-cultural understanding and engagement around the critical issues of food justice and land stewardship. To enhance the impact of our events, we will also host eight workshops and/or volunteer events throughout the year.
To pilot Fermenting Change, we will create a Jewish-Muslim partnership, bringing together communities in a celebration of common food traditions, ties to agrarian roots, and commitments to social action. We’ll implement the pilot with Sinai Akiba Academy (a Jewish school) and New Horizon School (a Muslim school), both members of Netiya’s interfaith network that will be implementing Netiya’s Just Food & Gardens program at the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016 respectively. As part of those programs, both schools are creating edible gardens on their properties, and hosting educational workshops on topics ranging from gardening and pest management to water-wise technology, traditional cooking preservation, and food justice. More details on our Just Food & Gardens program can be found here: http://www.netiya.org/programs/
Next, we will use lessons learned from the pilot to go beyond a Jewish-Muslim partnership to draw in communities of all faiths. We will host a second event using our 42-member network of faith institutions to create a truly universal and interfaith gathering. The event will be both educational--providing classes and workshops--and inspirational, giving participants the tools and connections to participate in volunteer opportunities, advocate for relevant policy changes, and become ambassadors for food justice in their own communities.
We see the Fermenting Change series both as a community connection in itself, and also as a means to inspire action and interaction outside of the events. Our events will galvanize participants around social change and food issues, resulting in more city-wide participation in volunteer and cultural events both within and outside of the congregation community.
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We will evaluate our impact on civic and social engagement, with the goal that our programs will enhance people’s participation both within their own communities (geographic, cultural, or religious) and their interaction and cooperation with other communities.
Specifically we will look at:
--overall participation in two major festival events of 2016, one focused on communities of Sinai Akiba Academy and New Horizon School together and one for the general public
--participation by Fermenting Change attendees at Netiya workshops and volunteer events, as measured by attendance records
--participation by Fermenting Change attendees at other volunteer and cultural events, as measured through participant surveys
--attitudes and interest around social action and inter-faith collaboration, as measured by surveys with participants, newsletter readership
Money (financial capital)
Volunteers/staff (human capital)
Publicity/awareness (social capital)
Infrastructure (building/space/vehicles, etc.)
Education/training
Technical infrastructure (computers, etc.)
Community outreach
Network/relationship support
Quality improvement research
Other (please specify below):
Submission Began
Tuesday, September 08, 2015
Submission Ended
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
at 07:00 PM UTC
Voting Began
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Voting Ended
Tuesday, November 03, 2015
at 08:00 PM UTC
Winner Announced
Tuesday, December 08, 2015
I've worked with Netiya for years, and their commitment to changing LA's sustainability is unmatched. They are an excellent partner to churches and synagogues in our community.
After Netiya installs gardens and orchards on congregational lands all over LA, then we pull the communities together (congregants, or students/families) for cooking, fermenting, planting and composting workshops to connect around food/faith. Last month we planted an urban orchard at Sinai Temple, and our next planting day is at the New Horizon Muslim School on Nov. 15th. This project will enable us to bring students and their families to CONNECT with students and families in other schools that have installed kitchen gardens through workshops on our shared agrarian roots. It's all about connecting on common ground.
Netiya is doing such wonderful work building bridges to connect all faiths through stewardship!