By Elizabeth Tobey
HEAL Meals Alliance is a multi-sector, multi-racial coalition devoted to remodeling meals and farm programs by means of coverage, training, and grassroots assist. With almost 60 member organizations, HEAL is targeted on defending farm and meals system staff, advocating for local weather justice, and supporting BIPOC-led organizations. HEAL stands for Well being, Setting, Agriculture, Labor, and the Alliance was born out of the understanding that no single particular person, group, or sector can rework programs in isolation.
Nichelle Harriott is the Coverage Director at HEAL, and in addition serves on OFRF’s board of administrators. She just lately gave a presentation to OFRF employees and board members about HEAL’s work, as a part of a sequence of “Lunch and Be taught” occasions that OFRF is coordinating to construct stronger connections between our group and others working within the meals and agriculture sectors. Listed below are our key takeaways from assembly with Nichelle and studying in regards to the highly effective work that HEAL is doing.
How It Began
HEAL started round 2016, when 4 organizations got here collectively at a convention and began speaking in regards to the intersection of well being, surroundings, agriculture, and labor. These 4 organizations have been Actual Meals Era, Nationwide Black Meals and Justice Alliance, Union of Involved Scientists, and Meals Chain Employees Alliance. From that preliminary dialog, HEAL was born and has since grown to over 60 member organizations, consisting principally of native teams with a number of regional and nationwide organizations concerned as properly.
How It’s Going
As Nichelle put it, “HEAL believes that everybody has the fitting to have entry to meals which are nutritionally and culturally acceptable, free from exploitation, and grown in concord with the remainder of the pure world.”
The Alliance makes use of 5 core strategies for conducting their work to realize this imaginative and prescient:
Connecting and uniting teams
As an alliance of member organizations, HEAL focuses on connecting teams to leverage and assist one another in creating efficient change. All members play a guiding function by figuring out and uplifting precedence points for HEAL to advocate round. Core Members are BIPOC-led or BIPOC-serving, whereas Connecting Members embrace others who align with HEAL’s mission. The 4 founding organizations proceed to play a key function inside HEAL, as a part of the membership and serving on the steering committee.
HEAL helps members by means of regranting applications. Earlier this yr, they have been capable of regrant $400K to 26 members dealing with funds gaps because of the federal funding freeze in early 2025. Yearly, they supply roughly $50K in speedy response funds to assist smaller, less-resourced members.
Political training and evaluation
The Faculty of Political Management staff in San Diego. Picture credit score HEAL Meals Alliance.
HEAL facilitates the Faculty of Political Management (SOPL), a six-month program to equip younger leaders with coverage and advocacy abilities. Made up of a mixture of digital and in-person periods, this program contains lobbying expertise in Washington, D.C. As of our dialog in mid-2025, SOPL has graduated over 10 cohorts of younger political leaders and advocates with the coaching wanted to successfully advocate for a future they imagine in.
Of their coverage work, HEAL prioritizes employee protections, local weather justice, company consolidation, and assist for BIPOC producers. They concentrate on federal-level coverage, particularly the Farm Invoice, and held their first Congressional briefing on staff and the Farm Invoice in 2023.
Advancing a shared narrative
The communications staff at HEAL Meals Alliance is intentional about how they inform their tales, guaranteeing that messaging round precedence points aligns with a Race Class Narrative (RCN) framework. This framework prioritizes telling tales that unify slightly than divide individuals throughout class and race, and construct energy to tackle company and political entities that traditionally and at present search to divide and exploit us. Their “Rooted, Prepared, & Resilient: Uplifting a BIPOC-led Imaginative and prescient for Disaster-Proof Meals Techniques” information, developed through the COVID-19 pandemic, is a superb instance of this strategic and purposeful work.
Connecting and nurturing current and rising campaigns
HEAL is at present engaged on a story of abundance messaging information for members, to problem the false narrative that there’s not sufficient to go round. “Shortage is manufactured by these in energy,” Nichelle defined. HEAL is working to flip that script, displaying what’s attainable once we transfer from a mindset of shortage to a certainly one of abundance. They’re selling the message that we are able to and will select insurance policies that mirror what is feasible once we spend money on individuals, not firms.
Making certain underserved communities have the assets they should result in grassroots change
Nichelle mentioned the influence that discrimination and exploitation have on Black and brown communities. Addressing it is a foundational and ongoing precedence space for HEAL’s work. For example, they’ve labored extensively with Senator Booker (D–NJ)’s workplace on campaigns to enhance working circumstances of meatpacking staff. They’re additionally engaged in advocating for warmth stress protections and immigration reform for farmworkers. HEAL is exclusive in that they concentrate on meals and farm staff throughout provide chains, together with in farm fields, processing services, and eating places. Their aim is to assist form coverage that “safeguards those who develop, harvest, and serve the meals that we depend on,” as Nichelle stated.
Collaboration Alternatives
Recognizing the power in collaborative efforts, Nichelle pointed to a number of areas the place HEAL is open to connecting with different meals and agriculture organizations. She famous the messaging work they’re doing round abundance, and invited organizations corresponding to OFRF to include that framework into their communications. One other space she famous as vital to proceed to spotlight is the connection between local weather change and agricultural communities.
Subsequent Steps
To study extra in regards to the work that HEAL Meals Alliance is doing, go to their web site at https://healfoodalliance.org/. For those who’re prepared to leap in and become involved, head straight for his or her Take Motion web page, the place you’ll be able to Be a part of the Alliance, Join, Discover, or Help. You possibly can scroll to the underside to join their publication and observe them on social media to remain within the loop.
