Food & Society at the Aspen Institute today announced a transformative gift of over $1 million from José Andrés’ Longer Tables Fund to help grow its Food Leaders Fellowship. This investment will significantly expand the fellowship’s capacity to develop emerging leaders and enable a new strategic partnership with the Global Food Institute (GFI) at the George Washington University, creating unprecedented opportunities for collaboration between practitioners and academics advancing innovative and practical food system solutions.

“We need bold new ideas to meet the challenges facing our food system, and I’m proud to support the Aspen Institute’s Food Leaders Fellowship as they train and empower the next generation of leadership across government, non-profits, and the private sector,” said Chef José Andrés, founder of the Longer Tables Fund and the Global Food Institute. “These fellows—in partnership with the Global Food Institute—will deliver the research, innovation, and policy solutions that harness the incredible power of food to build longer tables where everyone can eat.”

The Food Leaders Fellowship unites the country’s most promising early-stage food system leaders to ignite personal transformation and scalable change. Drawing on the Aspen Institute’s history of successful leadership fellowships, the program has established itself as the foremost community of leaders working to create a fair, sustainable, and healthy food system since launching with its inaugural cohort in 2022.

The new partnership with the Global Food Institute represents a mutually beneficial arrangement designed to bridge the gap between academic research and on-the-ground practice. Fellows are invited to collaborate with faculty and students on projects, speak at GFI events, and share their insights through coverage in Planet Forward, creating a dynamic exchange of knowledge and expertise.

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The Longer Tables Fund now joins generous supporters and advisory council members* of the Food Leaders Fellowship who include:

Matthias Berninger*

Jaimie Field*

Seth Goldman and Julie Farkas (founding partners)

Google Food Lab (founding partner)

Gary Hirschberg (founding partner)

JIB Foundation (founding partner)

Melony and Adam J. Lewis (founding partners)

McNulty Foundation

Andy and Zelie Pforzheimer* (founding partners)

Nathan Sandler*

Seeding the Future Foundation

Rick Smilow*

Anne Tobey*

Rob and Robin Wilder