Policy, Partnerships, & Climate Justice Program

Co-director: Larisa Jacobson

The Policy, Partnerships, and Climate Justice program advocates like a sibling for the strands of relationships, policy supports, and collective action that together help sustain NEFOC’s work and purpose. This program fortifies NEFOC’s mission by facilitating engagement and collaborative policy development among the individuals, organizations, and ecosystems that comprise NEFOC’s network of BIPOC farmers and land stewards. Specific emphases of the position are:

  • NEFOC’s policy platform and action steps, 

  • climate justice links with NEFOC’s mission, 

  • cross-sector and intergenerational collaboration beyond potential insular silos in land and food sovereignty movements, 

  • and practices to remove barriers, facilitate inclusion, and ensure participation in and accessibility of NEFOC’s community conservation and organizing work. 

The Policy, Partnerships, and Climate Justice Director maintains relationships with and a role in “on the ground” tangible projects while bringing NEFOC’s values, perspective, and collective North Star to leadership in regional and national movement work. 

While honoring NEFOC’s human ecosystems and elevating network stories and voices, the Policy, Partnerships, and Climate Justice Director strives to hold perspective on the larger ecosystems we inhabit, especially in relation to climate mediation, reparations, and reclaiming relationships with land and its beings. In particular, this position seeks to develop messaging and draw explicit connections to the vital roles that our ancestors play in innovating land care and agriculture as practices of soil and climate stewardship and sacred means toward dignity and self-determination. Working closely with the Co-Directors and NEFOC’s communications staff/contractors, this program researches, presences, and develops land trust and stewardship policies and practices that respect and sustain the land, sequester soil carbon, and uphold accountability to our communities and stakeholders, including those who may not yet be participating in or accessing NEFOC’s offerings.