“Rooted in Resilience—Sustaining and Celebrating Collaborations”
Join us on June 17th, 2026 for the Pennsylvania Farm to Child Nutrition Summit: Rooted in Resilience – Sustaining and Celebrating Collaborations. The summit will be held at Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia, PA. The purpose of the summit is to facilitate peer–to–peer learning and networking among Child Nutrition Program (CNP) operators, establish connections between CNP operators and producers, showcase farm to child nutrition “best practices,” and deliver educational opportunities regarding the environmental, economic, nutritional, and equitable value of growing foods.
The summit will include breakout sessions, educational displays, and networking opportunities. Session topics will address local food procurement for CNPs, student engagement in farm to school, agriculture education, funding farm to child nutrition initiatives, implementation of Pennsylvania Harvest of the Month, school gardens/gardening in early care and education settings, and more.
Target audiences:
- Child Nutrition Program (CNP) operators
- K–12 and early childhood education educators
- Producers
- Distributors
- Other farm to school/early childhood education stakeholder groups
Lodging:
There is no hotel room block for the summit and we are unable to make hotel recommendations. Because of other events taking place in the area around the time of the summit, hotel costs may be higher than usual and rooms may be limited. If you are planning to stay overnight, it is recommended that you make lodging arrangements as soon as possible.
Continuing Education Credits:
- Professional Development credits for school food service personnel
- Act 48 credits for educators
- PQAS credits for early care and education attendees
Photographs:
It is expected that photographs will be taken at the summit. Attendees should be aware of this and, if they do not want to be photographed, should make either the photographer or summit staff aware of this request.
Parking at Bartram’s Garden is limited. Please consider carpooling or using public transportation if possible.
This event is coordinated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of Food and Nutrition and Penn State University (Project PA) with the support of the Pennsylvania Farm to School Network. Funding is provided by a USDA Farm to School Formula grant.
General Session Featured Presentations and Speakers
General Session #1:
Resilience is Built Before the Storm – Warren DeShields
In school nutrition and farm-to-school work, resilience is often discussed after disruption occurs — funding shifts, supply chains tighten, labor shortages emerge. But true resilience is not reactive. It is intentional, strategic, and built long before challenges arise. Drawing from more than three decades of culinary leadership, district administration, and regional food system development, Warren “Chef D” DeShields will explore how strong collaborations, forward planning, menu engineering, and community-rooted partnerships create food systems that withstand uncertainty. Through stories from his award-winning child nutrition program, greenhouse/garden initiatives, and large-scale procurement partnerships, this keynote will highlight how infrastructure, trust, and shared responsibility form the foundation of sustainable local food systems. Participants will leave inspired and equipped to strengthen partnerships, build durable systems, and grow collaborations that last beyond any single season.
About Warren DeShields:
Warren “Chef D” DeShields, SNS is the Founder and Head Coach of Crystal Clear Coaches, a consulting firm dedicated to strengthening school nutrition programs through culinary innovation, operational excellence, and strategic local procurement. With more than three decades of culinary and leadership experience, Warren previously served 24 years with Bridgeton Public Schools in New Jersey, where he led the development of a 5 Star award-winning Farm to School program that integrated local agriculture, greenhouse production, and scratch cooking into daily school meals. Most recently, Warren served as Executive Director of The Common Market Mid-Atlantic, working at the intersection of farmers, distributors, and school districts to build sustainable procurement partnerships. A former leader on both the New Jersey and National School Nutrition Association boards, Warren is a nationally recognized speaker who brings practical expertise and heartfelt storytelling to his work. He is passionate about building resilient food systems that honor community, culture, and collaboration—ensuring that local food is not just served but sustained.
General Session #2:
Food Literacy Beyond the Plate: Making Room for Creativity, Criticality, and Collaboration – OreOluwa Badaki
Drawing from almost a decade of collaborative research, teaching, and art-making at Sankofa Community Farm, this talk will focus on the affordances and challenges of embracing creativity, criticality, and collaboration in food education. It will highlight key aspects of investigating the social, political, historical, and creative stories behind the foods that we eat. In addition, the talk will address lessons learned at Sankofa about bridging formal and non-formal learning, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, promoting engaged citizenship, and facilitating intergenerational dialogue in ways that honor cultural and ancestral practices. Finally, questions and strategies will be offered for considering how these approaches can take shape, and are already taking shape, across different contexts.
About OreOluwa Badaki:
Dr. OreOluwa Badaki is a Research Scholar at Teachers College, Columbia University. She was a postdoctoral fellow with the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education, & Policy. Bridging research in critical literacy studies, multimodal scholarship, and environmental justice, she examines how power moves through bodies and spaces within food and land systems. As a writer, movement practitioner, and educator, Dr. Badaki works with youth and communities to explore environmental justice through the creative and performing arts. She earned her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, where her dissertation on the creative literacy practices of youth of color working in urban agriculture received the Ralph C. Preston Award for Scholarship and Teaching Contributing to Social Justice. Prior to her doctoral work, Dr. Badaki was a middle school Language Arts teacher and an education researcher with the United Nations, focusing on Education for Sustainable Development and the Cultural and Creative Industries.
Pre-Summit Tour Opportunities
(registration-free; space is limited)
On Tuesday, June 16th, three pre-summit tour opportunities will be made available. All are free for summit registrants. Registrants are responsible for their own transportation. After registering for the summit, you will have the option to register for pre-summit tours if space is still available. Carefully note the details of the tours and register only for the one or two that you would attend.
A password is required to register for these pre-summit tours. Password is supplied in the confirmation email received after registering for the summit.
Password is entered after clicking on Register button for each pre-summit tour. The same password is valid for all three pre-summit registration links.
Pre-Summit Tour #1: Fox Chase Farm
June 16th, 10:00am – 1:00pm8500 Pine Road, Philadelphia, PA
Fox Chase Farm is more than just a farm — it’s an educational sanctuary where the soil, animals, and seasons become teachers. As one of the few working farms operated by a public school district in the United States, Fox Chase Farm serves as a powerful gateway for youth and community members to explore agriculture, sustainability, and the vital connection between people, food, and the environment. Each year, Fox Chase Farm proudly welcomes more than 60,000 student and community visits through a diverse range of hands-on learning experiences. This tour ends at 11:45am but visitors are encouraged to enjoy lunch and network until 1:00pm. Please bring your own lunch.
Pre-summit tours #2 and #3 times overlap. Please do not register for both.
Pre-Summit Tour #2: Norris Square Neighborhood Project
June 16th, 2:00pm – 3:00pm2141 N. Howard St. Philadelphia, PA 19122
Norris Square Neighborhood Project is a cultural hub committed to uniting and inspiring the surrounding community through programs aimed at the cultivation of young leaders, the preservation of Puerto Rican cultural heritage, and the stewardship of community land and environmental practices. Six special gardens make up the Norris Square Neighborhood Project active green space to amplify a sense of belonging and shared learning experiences. This is a walking tour covering about 0.6 miles and making stops at six garden spaces.
Pre-Summit Tour #3: The Common Market
June 16th, 2:00pm – 3:30pm428 E. Erie Ave., Philadelphia, PA
The Common Market is a nonprofit regional food distributor on a mission to connect urban communities with local food from sustainable family farms. They do this by: selling fresh, healthy food to community institutions, creating a supply chain for farmers and ranchers who are at the forefront of creating an equitable and resilient food system, and providing avenues for values-aligned wholesale food procurement, guiding their partners to see the full value of the food and its impact on the health of their people, community and environment.
