Food Systems Fellowship
We are building the movement for more just, sustainable food systems.
The Advocacy Institute is a fellowship program that trains and prepares students to be effective leaders in the movement to end factory farming. The program’s goal is to set students up to make contributions to this movement in their future careers, whatever they may be.
Institute students deepen their understanding of impacts of—and solutions to—factory farming through a robust curriculum of readings and workshops. We provide effective communication training, evidence-based social change strategy skills, and hands-on professional experience.
Through the Advocacy Institute, students are exposed to career networking and mentorship opportunities through connections with movement leaders in nonprofit, business, and policy. Students form invaluable friendships and community during their time in the program, and FFAC’s Leadership Collective supplies lifelong career support after completion.
As a college student in the Advocacy Institute, you will gain the skills, knowledge, and lifelong support to lead in the movement to end factory farming.
PLEASE APPLY HERE: https://ffacoalition.org/advocacy-institute/college/
Overview
Interns in the Advocacy Institute will gain:
- Exposure to a wide range of approaches to improving the food system
- Hands-on professional experience
- Evidence-based social change strategy skills
- Analytical and critical thinking skills
- Effective communication training
- Career networking and mentorship opportunities
- Competency in technological, political, and business solutions to end factory farming
- Connections with movement leaders in nonprofit, business, and policy
- Lifelong membership and professional development in the Leadership Collective, and
- A community of caring and supportive activists!
- Optional: academic/internship credit
The Advocacy Institute offers in-person events and programming opportunities in FFAC’s US regions:
- the Bay Area
- Denver Metro
- the Midwest (Chicagoland and Northern Ohio)
- New York City
- Southern California (Los Angeles and San Diego)
In all other regions, this program is currently accessible virtually.
Student Learning Objectives
- Learn about the socioeconomic and scientific developments that gave rise to and continue to support industrial agriculture.
- Develop a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of factory farming on animal welfare, the environment and climate change, public health, and social justice.
- Improve persuasive, verbal, and written communication strategies.
- Learn fundamental institutional and political advocacy skills.
- Learn about and engage in effective strategies to end factory farming.
Benefits
- College advocates who complete all program requirements are eligible for letters of recommendation.
- Obtain a broader understanding of available career paths and be exposed to job and networking opportunities.
- Gain long-lasting friendships and mentors through immersion in a like-minded, supportive community.
Partner Organizations
As part of your time in the Advocacy Institute, you will have the opportunity to work with one or more of our partner organizations:
- The Humane League
- Mercy for Animals
- Better Food Foundation
- DefaultVeg
Sample Activities & Curriculum
Readings and Analytical Discussion
- Environmental impacts of animal agriculture
- Environmental justice
- Meat workers
- Animal health
- Animal ethics
- Plant-based nutrition and human health
- Food racism/food justice
- Connections with racial justice
- Indigenous perspectives
- Connections with feminist theory
- Connections with disability rights
- Future of food (biotech)
- Policy
- Effective activism: communication
- Effective activism: strategies to end factory farming
- Effective activism: careers and sustainable advocacy
Advocacy Project Check-Ins
- Delivering a full/adapted length FFAC interactive lesson to an audience of your choosing on one or more focus areas: health, social justice, and environmental impacts of animal agriculture
- Working with Friends of the Earth or Balanced to establish plant-based dining options, pass legislation, and lead campaigns
- Creating social media campaigns
- Writing articles and op-eds for publication in various media outlets
- Tabling/leafleting on campus to raise awareness about factory farming impacts
- Other projects on approval
Workshops
- Animal ethics
- Climate change and animal agriculture
- Food sovereignty
- Media, animal advocacy, and the principles of persuasion
- Indigenous perspectives and factory farming
- Institutional campaigns: shifting culture in your community
- Lobbying 101: How to lobby your local representatives
- Open Sanctuary Project, LGBTQ+ perspectives
- Plant-based nutrition panel
- Public health: pandemics
- Public speaking for activists
- Self-care strategies for activists
- Virtual farmed animal sanctuary tour: Charlie's Acres
- A Green New Meal: factory farming and environmental justice
- Community-building and organizing strategies
- Building an equitable movement
- Meat & masculinity panel
Elective Hours
- Water Use and Waste Management in CAFOs
- Factory Farming and Mass Incarceration
- Plant-Based Eating Support
- Orientalism and Plant-Based Eating
- History of Tofu and Cooking Demo
- Graduate Programs and Funding
- Self-experimentation, Prioritization, and Other Productivity Hacks
- Cohort Social Hour
Program Dates
The Advocacy Institute program for college students offers two terms each year. Students can choose whichever term fits their schedules best.
Spring College Institute: January 16, 2023 - May 5, 2023
- Students meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am-12pm PT / 11am-1pm MT / 12pm-2pm CT / 1-3pm ET
- The time commitment for this program is 7.5 hours per week for 16 weeks, which includes:
- Initial orientation
- Workshops
- Discussion hours
- Elective hours
- Two advocacy project hours per week
- End of term celebration
Summer College Institute: June 19, 2023 - August 10, 2023
- Students meet on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9am-1pm PT / 10am-2pm MT / 11am-3pm CT / 12-4pm ET
- The time commitment for this program is 15 hours per week for 8 weeks, which includes:
- Initial orientation
- Workshops
- Discussion hours
- Elective hours
- Four advocacy project hours per week
- End of term celebration
After completing one term at the Institute, students become members of the Leadership Collective. Students also have the option to pursue further Advocacy Institute training as a continuing student advocate or as a fellow in the Leadership Collective.
Program Requirements
In order to successfully complete this program, college advocates are required to attend: (1) an information session and interview, (2) the mandatory orientation, (3) all program meetings, and (4) the Advocacy Institute celebration.
Summer College Institute
- Attend Institute meetings weekly on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9am-1pm PT / 10am-2pm MT / 11am-3pm CT / 12pm-4pm ET, plus additional optional social, professional, and educational events throughout each month. During these weekly meetings, we will discuss the readings, participate in workshops, listen to guest speakers, and share progress on project work.
- Attend 2 elective hours each week (16 minimum, over the term) from a calendar offering a variety of options including educational hours, social hours, skill-building hours, team learning meetings with FFAC staff, and monthly CultureShift book club meetings. Note: educational hours, social hours, and skill-building hours take place during the meeting time block above.
- Each college advocate will mentor a high school student by leading them through pre-planned goal-setting and advocacy skill-building activities. FFAC will provide support and instructions for college mentors on how to lead mentor group meetings.
- College advocates will spend 4 hours per week for 8 weeks completing an advocacy project of their choosing. (See Advocacy Projects section above for sample project options.) During the final week of the Advocacy Institute, all college advocates will share about their experience and advocacy project during a virtual showcase.
Reimbursement
This is an academic educational internship in which students will engage with other students in the program through readings, discussions, and workshops led by experts in their fields. The practical portion of the internship comprises students working on an advocacy project of their choice. Though this opportunity is unpaid, we are able to provide the cost of internet/phone services for students, which we hope helps make the program more accessible.
FFAC will provide each college advocate $200 toward the cost of internet and phone over the period of the term via check (unless otherwise requested).
Application Process
Admissions are competitive. Above all, we look for commitment to our mission and values. We look for candidates who will actively engage in our community and, later on, the Leadership Collective. There are no specific experience or GPA requirements.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis!**
- Complete the online application below.
- In addition to submitting an application through this website, please upload your resume and a project sample. Your project sample should be any project you have done that displays your skills and ideas, e.g., an academic essay, personal writing, creative project, art, video, or anything else. We will accept a sample of any size or length—quality over quantity.
- After submitting your application, we will email you the recording of the information session to watch.
- After watching the information session, if you think the program is a good fit for you, we will assess your application further and select the applicants who will be invited to an interview.
- Within two weeks after your interview, we will let you know if you are accepted into the program.
**Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. You are welcome to submit an application now for a future term. Please note which term you are applying for on the application.
Please reach out with additional questions at institute@ffacoalition.org.