Change Food for Good’s Mission
By making agriculture technology more accessible to underserved communities, we can educate and empower populations that otherwise would be vulnerable to the impacts of our outdated food infrastructure.
Change Food for Good, founded in 2019, aims to make sustainable agriculture more accessible to communities affected by food insecurity. The organization has a strong focus on workforce development with ambitious goals to train 1,500 participants across all programs and secure 250 job placements by the end of 2025. Additionally, they aim to place 80% of their job training program alumni within 3-6 months of graduation and support their career development until they’re earning $65,000 a year or for up to 2 years.
The Intersection of Agriculture, Tech, and Construction
Change Food for Good has developed a suite of workforce programs that cater to different segments of the population. These include AgTech 101, a STEM education program for in-school youth aged 14-18, and Intro to AgTech, which engages young adults aged 16-24 in learning about the intersections of agriculture, technology, and construction. The organization also offers an internship program for Intro to AgTech grads that subsidizes alumni employment for 3-6 months, providing them with valuable work experience and supports local businesses in hiring diverse talent. The internships include industry-aligned certifications and areas of focus, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, and 2D/3D design.
Adapting to New York City’s current needs, Change Food for Good has begun direct food relief through a tailored, on-demand ordering system, providing 10,000 lbs of free food to over 700 residents over the last 18 months. They have also introduced travel assistance and remote device support to mitigate the rising costs of transit and support remote learning/work.
“Our programming is highly adaptive to the emerging subsectors within sustainability. We offer an empowering training model that supports participants in pursuing the career paths they are most passionate about while meeting the needs of green sector employers,” said Sam Lemfadli, CEO and Founder of Change Food for Good.
Central to their programming are equity-building resources like housing support, workshops on home ownership and entrepreneurship, and education about worker-owned cooperatives.
Bringing a Global Perspective to Work
Working with Vertical Farms LTD, a farm system service provider in Kenya, Change Food for Good matched two alumni, Fatima Rimi and Pammi Balani, from their Intro to AgTech program to develop a website for Vertical Farms LTD. This project not only provided the alumni with valuable experience but also led to ongoing employment as they were retained on a maintenance contract for quarterly updates. This collaboration highlights the organization’s ability to leverage resources to strengthen food systems and provide alumni with sustainable employment opportunities.
“We provide our alums with client-facing work experience, and ensure they can sustain gainful employment.”
Get Involved
Want to enroll in Intro to AgTech? Sign up here to receive an alert for the next cohort start date.
Interested in supporting? Change Food for Good is currently seeking partners to support future cohorts of their AgTech 101, Intro to AgTech, and internship programming. Employers and other partners can get involved by reaching out to Sam at sam@changefoodforgood.org.
To stay updated on their work, follow Change Food for Good on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Facebook, or visit their website.