Great Nonprofits

This organization was extremely useful for me during my time as a student and I was thrilled to become one of their interns. It was a great experience in which I learned a lot and felt appreciated for my contributions. I still follow the twice monthly newsletters and go to the website for information.

My time with Food First was one of the best six-months of my life. I couldn't imagine a better group of people to work with from the staff to the director. During my time there I learned an amazing amount about every aspect of their policy, media, outreach and operations. Knowledge is one thing, but being a part of their grand effort was something I will never forget.

This excellent organization needs your support! Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy is dedicated to ending hunger by addressing its root causes in rising poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation. The Institute debunks major myths (e.g., taken-for-granted assumptions about “free trade”) that obscure the real causes and solutions to hunger, and promotes practical alternatives like food sovereignty, living wage jobs, and peasant-led sustainable agriculture. Through its extensive publishing of compelling research, hosting of community forums and speaking engagements, and participation in activist coalitions and social movements like Via Campesina and the World Social Forum, Food First is helping to mobilize and empower large numbers of people to take effective action to eliminate poverty and hunger. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to complete a policy research internship with Food First from the fall of 2006 to the spring of 2007 as part of the requirements for my M.A. in Anthropology. My responsibility involved conducting research into and writing a report about the role of the World Bank in promoting the expansion of large-scale surface gold mining by foreign corporations in western Ghana and the negative impacts of these activities on the livelihoods and food security of local small-farming communities. The intention of the study was to further Food First’s education-for-action mission by providing information and analysis that may help to strengthen grassroots movements for social justice and sustainable livelihoods in Ghana’s goldbelt. Food First provides interns with a relaxed and friendly work environment, complete with your own office space and computer if you need one. The Executive Director, Eric-Holt-Giménez, was very helpful in providing guidance and feedback for my project. I was also able to get feedback and discuss my work with all the other staff and interns during the weekly staff meetings or during the lunch break. One of the benefits of being a Food First intern is the delicious family-style lunch that is prepared everyday for all the staff and interns. Food First operates in a highly participatory manner and everyone is treated with respect and appreciation for their contribution to the organization. I learned a lot from this experience, not only about my research topic, but also how nonprofit organizations work and often depend on a small number of very dedicated and hard-working staff and volunteers to stay alive. It was an unforgettable experience.

I had a wonderful experience collaborating with the Food First community of hard-working and compassionate people to provide each other with support and intellectual stimulation to carry out research and to craft strategies to tackle the problems of food and social injustice. Through research and discussions, I learned immeasurably about the challenges we face in democratizing the food system and ending hunger and poverty. Knowledgeable of Food First’s domestic and international work, I am inspired and hopeful for the future.

Food First is always at the leading edge of thought and analysis on food and farming issues. Its a very exiting and nurturing place to be an intern, because you work on real issues, usually in cooperation with farmers and community activists, to provide research and analysis that people really use in their struggles for a more sustainable, just food system.

As the current world food crisis amply demonstrates, humanity at large and the Western world in particular really needs the knowledge and wisdom of this group! Reading "Diet for a Small Planet" and "Food First" as a teenager changed my life, making me a vegetarian and launching me into a continuing inquiry into the problem of world hunger. Naturally, I was very happy to find this institute devoted to continuing Frances Moore Lappe's work. I also had the opportunity to do some volunteer work for this group, helping to edit a fascinating book manuscript, an anthology about the pernicious effects of the GMO revolution on the genetic treasury stored in the world's core agricultural seeds. I learned a lot doing this from the diverse array of experts who contributed to the anthology. This group is publishing extrememly important books on topics like these, as well as providing valuable internship opportunities for people with diverse skills, backgrounds, and interests. The group also publishes a regular email notices of internships and jobs with a large, diverse array of like-minded organizations. They are friendly and welcoming to people who visit their office, as well, and they help sponsor valuable workshops and public speaking engagements. By all means, spend some time on their website and buy some books! Sincerely, Julie Sparks, Ph.D. San Jose State University, English Department