LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
Guide our advocacy and strategic efforts by growing of our membership, distributing mutual aid, stewarding land, and developing pathways to food access, cultivating sustainable, Black-led food ecosystems.
LC Offers Experiences Around:
Strategy
Advocacy
Liberation Learnings
Land Stewardship
Info Session 2026
Tell Me More
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Feed Black Futures (FBF) is a Black, queer-led organization committed to food justice, sovereignty, and healing within our communities. We promote healing by strengthening Black food economies, creating ecosystems for resilience, and addressing the historical harms caused by carceral violence and land dispossession. Through principles of abolition and self-determination, we aim to build community power to advance collective liberation. We seek to activate our communities to reclaim their right to healthy, culturally relevant food, and to shape a future where everyone has access to food that sustains both body and spirit.
Location: Oakland, CA (Alternating monthly coordinating meetings remote/In person as needed)
Hours: ~10 hours/monthly
Commitment: 18 months, $1,000 bi-annual stipend ($2,500 total)
About the Leadership Council
The Leadership Council (LC) is an 18 month leadership development program for community members ready to move from participation to power. Now in its second year, the LC is designed for members to take on roles in campaign strategy, governance, and community organizing as FBF builds community power to deepen our role in food sovereignty, land liberation, and advocacy. LC members are not just FBF advisors, they are co-creators in developing our advocacy platform, building a political education agenda, and strengthening our political framework to shape the future of Black food sovereignty in Oakland and its surrounding cities.
What to Expect
Monthly Coordinating Meetings (alternating virtual and in-person)
1-2 overnight retreats
Political education offerings (book club, teach-ins, skill-building sessions)
Leadership opportunities (each LC member will facilitate at least one political education offering or workshop)
Access to conference and external training opportunities
Books and educational materials provided for shared study and skill-building
Rotating administrative duties for monthly coordinating meetings
Key Work Areas
Organizing & Campaign Work
Participate in our emerging campaign strategy development, including power mapping, target selection, and community voice integration
Support outreach and recruitment to build FBF's membership base
Conduct one-on-ones with community members to deepen relationships and identify leaders
Political Education & Skill Building
Participate in quarterly political education offerings (book club, teach-ins, workshops)
Facilitate at least one political education session or community event annually
Develop your own political analysis through ongoing learning and reflection
Mutual Aid
Support outreach, selection, and administration of the FBF mutual aid fund
Explore fundraising opportunities for free and low-cost food distribution
Land Strategy
Support stewardship of land when opportunities arise
Collaborate with FBF staff to inform FBF's land strategy and vision
Communications & Outreach
Represent FBF in community spaces and coalitions
Support social media, public comment, and community engagement efforts as needed
Subcommittees (co-facilitated by LC members)
Political Education + Skill Building
Mutual Aid
Communications + Outreach
Land Strategy + Organizing
Healing + Safety
Who We're Looking For
We are seeking community members rooted in the Black Bay Area who are ready to build with community. We value lived experience, imagination, willingness to experiment and co-create, flexibility, and a genuine commitment to collective liberation.
Required
Politically aligned with FBF' mission and values
Committed to deepening your understanding of justice, Black liberation, and food sovereignty
Based in Oakland, Sacramento or surrounding cities
Able to travel to FBF's downtown Oakland office every other month
Ready to show up, contribute, and lead consistently
Interested in shaping policy and advocacy efforts that build sustainable, community-led food systems
Preferred
Experience in organizing, advocacy, or campaign work
Knowledge of food policy, mutual aid, or related fields
Familiarity with farming, gardening, land stewardship, land preservation, or real estate development
Connections to food justice networks at the local, state, or national level
Skills in facilitation, communications, arts, healing, or community outreach
We especially encourage applications from people who:
Have an aptitude for leadership and community organizing
Bring perspectives and skills that reflect the diversity of Black Oakland and Bay Area
Our Leadership Council stewards our mutual aid fund.
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Mutual aid is a practice rooted in collective care and solidarity. It’s ancestral wisdom: we take care of one another by sharing resources, knowledge, and support—directly and without hierarchy. Unlike charity, which often positions people as passive recipients of aid, mutual aid is built on the belief that everyone has something to contribute and everyone deserves care.
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In a world shaped by systems of oppression, mutual aid offers a pathway toward self-determination, reclaiming our agency and building resilience. It challenges the structures that create scarcity and barriers to essential our resources, like healthy food, land access, and economic opportunity. Mutual aid is offered by community, for community.
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Food sovereignty goes beyond ensuring access to food; it’s about uplifting our community to grow, share, and govern our own food systems. By addressing barriers like financial insecurity, lack of land access, and limited resources, mutual aid enables more people to join this vital movement.
Our Mutual Aid Fund is managed by members of our Leadership Council, the fund provides direct support to our people, helping to overcome obstacles to participating in food sovereignty efforts. Whether it’s covering transportation to teach ins, purchasing seeds or garden supplies, or addressing urgent needs, this fund ensures that no one is left behind.
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Black communities have long practiced mutual aid as a means of survival, resistance, and liberation. Rooted in African communal traditions and adapted to the realities of enslavement, segregation, and systemic oppression, mutual aid has been central to our resilience.
Africans in Captivity: Shared resources and skills to care for each other despite brutal and violent conditions, supporting each other’s collective survival.
Freedmen’s Aid Societies: After emancipation, Black people organized to provide food, education, and legal aid for newly freed people.
The Civil Rights Movement: Groups like the Black Panther Party ran free breakfast programs, health clinics, and community schools, demonstrating the power of mutual aid in fighting systemic racism. We still have organizations, like People’s Programs, continuing their work around the world.
Modern-Day Movements: Black-led mutual aid networks continue to address food insecurity, housing justice, and health care disparities while building community power.
Mutual aid is not new—it’s a continuation of Black communities’ deep-rooted practices of care and solidarity.
Join a Network of Community Care
Mutual aid thrives when everyone contributes and practices vulnerability to ask for support when they need it. Here’s how you can get involved:
Contribute to Our Mutual Aid Fund: Your contributions directly support community members working to build food sovereignty.
Share Your Skills and Resources: Whether you have gardening expertise, access to land, or other valuable resources, your support makes a difference.
Join Our Community: Participate in events, workshops, and collective efforts to strengthen the movement.