Roots of Change Fund: Ambitious vision
Roots of Change Fund Executive Director Michael Dimock
Courtesy: Michael Dimock |
The biggest change in 2006 for the Roots of Change Fund was the arrival of new Executive Director Michael Dimock, who brought with him many years of relevant leadership in the field, and no shortage of plans for the sustainable agriculture and food systems communities.
The Fund is a grantmaking consortium of foundations, organizations, businesses, and governments working together to transform the California food system. One of the main orders of business under Dimock's direction was the completion of the organization's three-year visioning process, Building a Vivid Picture of Food Systems.
The “Vivid Picture” project, as its known, has three parts: creating a vision for a sustainable food system in California, developing a change agenda to implement this vision, and devising a set of impact analysis tools to measure change. The Fund already has completed the first of the three parts as a result of partnering with the organization
EcoTrust. The New Mainstream is a report detailing their vision for sustainable food and farming systems in California.
Dimock says the challenge now is, “How do we galvanize the state of California around a $60 billion food system? How do you impact that business?” To do that, he and his staff are inviting foundations, both new and existing, to become “Network of Change” agents.
The Food System Wheel, developed by the Roots of Change Council, illustrates all the pieces that make up our food system.
Roots of Change Fund |
This network is a database of leaders in the field, from communities and businesses to non-governmental organizations and governments. They'll work with Roots of Change to build on its history of success as well as provide ongoing financial resources. Dimock expects the database eventually will include some 40,000 contacts connected through the latest social networking technology and techniques. The Fund also is planning a late-year conference that will enable staff, consultants, and the broader Roots of Change community to network and build momentum.
But very likely, the biggest challenge in 2007 will be reaching the goal of a $1.4 million budget for 2007, and to double that for 2008.
Eventually the group hopes to build a system of support that can provide a total of $5 million per year, every year, from 2012 to 2030. Dimock acknowledges the fund has set the bar high. “It's an ambitious goal,” he says. “But we're serious about making change.”
Interested in learning more about the Roots of Change Fund?
Click here to visit the Roots of Change Fund Web site.
Click here for more information on The New Mainstream and the Building a Vivid Picture of Food Systems project.
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