Ithaca City of Asylum is pleased to announce that we have begun hosting our sixth resident writer in Ithaca, Raza Rumi, in conjunction with Ithaca College.
Rumi is a Pakistani policy analyst, journalist, and author. He has been a leading voice in Pakistan's public arena against extremism and human-rights violations. With solid policy experience through his work for the Government of Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank (as Governance Specialist), Raza entered journalism in 2008. Since then, he has been an editor at The Friday Times, Pakistan's foremost liberal weekly paper. He also worked in broadcast media as a leading commentator and hosted talk shows at Capital TV and Express News. Rumi was Director at Jinnah Institute, a public-policy think tank, and Executive Director of Justice Network, a coalition of NGOs. As a freelance policy professional he has been advising international development organizations, governments, and NGOs, and, until recently, he headed NAPSIPAG, an Asia Pacific network on governance.
Rumi's writings are archived at razarumi.com. His recent book Delhi by Heart was published by Harper Collins (2013). In March 2014, he survived an assassination attempt in which his driver lost his life. Within weeks, he left Pakistan and was affiliated with New America Foundation and the United States Institute of Peace. Currently he is Visiting International Scholar in Residence in the honors program at Ithaca College.
Anabel's Grocery, a student-led initiative to combat food insecurity on Cornell's campus, received final approval from Cornell's President, Elizabeth Garrett, for its plan to open a small grocery store in Anabel Taylor Hall. CTA accepted Anabel's Grocery as a new project in May 2015.
The store, accessible to all undergraduate students, will offer subsidies to help financially needy students better afford groceries. Initial start-up funding will come from a Students Helping Students Grant approved by the Student Assembly in early October.
In addition to operating the small grocery store, Anabel's Grocery will offer a variety of educational programs to help students learn to eat well on a limited budget.
Are you...
...a staff member of a nonprofit organization or public agency developing a regional food supply chain?
...a student interested in practical training that will complement your academic work on food systems?
...a community nutritionist seeking to expand your knowledge of food systems?
Would you like to become certified in regional food systems development?
If so, you'll be interested in knowing that the steering committee of the North American Food Systems Network (NAFSN) is announcing the launch of the NAFSN Founding Membership campaign. The founding membership includes a lifetime discount and many other benefits and opportunities such as electing our first board of directors.
The
Lyson Center facilitates the NAFSN, a new professional
development association for individuals and organizations working at the forefront of the food movement - on cutting-edge initiatives, programs, and research, from beginning farmers and sustainable agriculture to food hubs, farm-to-school, food security, and healthy eating.
NAFSN provides affordable training opportunities, resources, tools, and networking for its members, who include NGO staff members, Extension field staff, university faculty and students, public officials, planners, consultants, and activists. Our signature program will be professional certification in food systems development.
While NAFSN members work across a broad range of fields, they share a common interest in developing skills, building the capacity of the organizations they work with and communities they work in, and growing the food movement as a whole.
To learn more about NAFSN's background, founding partners, current programs and services, and future plans, go to
NAFSN's website.
Check out our
Facebook page as well.
The Center for Transformative Action (CTA) helps to create communities that work for everyone. We do this by providing fiscal sponsorship to innovative social change agents in New York State, as well as financial, human resources, and grants management services. CTA is an educational non-profit organization affiliated with Cornell University.
