GLBW CLC 2025 Conference

All conference attendees were invited to join us at the Brassworks Building of Goodman Community Center on Monday evening for an opening reception and exhibition. 

Exhibition – ReRooting Kinship, Oneness & Interdependence Soil Sensoria, 5:00-8:00  

We bring to you a cosmic and liberating evening of rhythmic sensoria in re-rooting kinship, interconnectivity, oneness and interdependence. We envision co-creating new paths forward with all beings and entities, notwithstanding the cosmos with planetary thinking, while shifting our internal and external narratives via reorienting our individual and collective identity. This is an open invitation to have as many encounters as possible with this exhibition on “ReRooting Kinship, Oneness and Interdependence.” When possible, we ask that you deeply reflect on “What can we learn from the soil about our fundamental interconnectedness?” For those daring and savvy folks, we further invite you to self-interrogate your present forms of kinship and make shared agreements to transform and evolve in reimagining your process/ paradigms and their impact (e.g., what it takes to establish roots in the soil, water, air, cypher, cosmos).

Learning Objectives

• Reconsider our relationship to the life-supporting ecosystems we have been gifted
• Develop new paradigms rooted in the ancient wisdom of Indigenous and Earth-based practices
• Find tendrils of our own stories in the convergence of shared experiences
• Fall in love with soil – Sankofa

The exhibition was co-organized by Green Lands Blue Waters and Dr. Akilah Martin of AM Root Builders.

Note that the Brassworks Building is at 206 Waubesa Street across from the main Goodman Community Center Building at 214 Waubesa Street. Parking is street parking – so carpooling is encouraged! See maps here.

Find presentations here. These will continue to be reorganized and renamed for better navigation.

Click here for agenda details. Session titles follow.

• Monday afternoon deep dive sessions
  • The small ruminant value chain: Why sheep and goats struggle to gain traction
  • Designing CLC crop technical assistance and train the trainer programs
  • Developing research partnerships with indigenous partners and native nations
  • Targeted grazing: Linking grazing preferences of sheep and goats to develop small farms and farm businesses
  • Wallace Center’s Regional Food Systems Partnership planning grant work session (invite only)
• Tuesday sessions
  • Beyond Land Acknowledgement
  • Land changing hands: Land ownership transfer as an opportunity for emerging farmers, diverse agricultural production, and conservation
  • What does non-advocacy policy work look like?
  • A living principles framework to inform social & agricultural systems
  • Continuous living cover (CLC) strategy research updates
  • Grassland 2.0’s Collaborative Landscape Design: Working with communities to shape their agroecological futures
  • What ag and conservation needs next: Early career perspectives
  • Meeting public-private sector climate goals with perennials: Setting the foundation with solid research and supply chain support
  • Continuum of CLC: Baby steps to Ninja level
  • Building a value chain: An example with functional berries
  • Transitioning working land towards perenniality: Tools and resources for supporting farmers and landowners with ecological, social, and economic site assessment and implementation
  • CLC transitions as a socio-political process
  • Not just the Farm Bill: Policy opportunities at the state level
• Wednesday morning deep dive workshops
  • Value Chain Investment for CLC crops: Systemic investing trends
  • State policy and program development through collaborative governance
  • Connecting the connectors: Seeing and shaping the ecosystem of continuous living cover-aligned networks
  • Core competencies in transdisciplinarity and reciprocity
  • Agronomic and production research to aid farmer adoption of diversified systems

Kelly McGinnis’ college graduating class motto was a riff on a famous quote: Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that has. Kelly believes, foundationally, it is people who make the change they want to see in the world, and while it may start with a small group, movements are built when others join. Currently, Kelly could not be more thrilled to work on the movement for the health of the Mississippi River.

In her role as Executive Director of One Mississippi (formerly Mississippi River Network) Kelly focuses on building the Network and works directly with network members in the ten-state Mississippi River region with the goal to protect and restore the River using policy and organizing as pathways.

Kelly comes from a diverse background, starting her career as a fisheries biologist and freshwater ecologist in Washington State where she focused on endangered Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), including working on a project that removed a levee and dike to restore an estuary on Puget Sound. Later, Kelly returned to the Midwest where her focus shifted for a time to sustainability in the built environment and coalition building. Kelly was thrilled when she could get back to water work when she joined MRN in 2014. She brings passion and enthusiasm for water, changing systems, a strong workplace culture, and care and concern for others.

When she is not busy defending water, you can find Kelly playing outside in a number of ways whether it is trail running, kayaking with her husband, growing a garden or playing with her two dogs. Kelly holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and Freshwater Ecology from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

Cree Rose Dueker is passionate about data, storytelling, and engagement as powerful tools for advancing Native sovereignty. She earned her degree in Social Sciences at Portland State University, with minors in Indigenous Nations Studies and Black Studies, deepening her understanding of Indigenous and Black histories, communities, and movements. On campus, she held leadership roles with United Indigenous Students in Higher Education while working at the Native American Student & Community Center, Orientation, and Academic Advising—spaces where she fostered community and advocated for Native students. Cree continued this work professionally after graduating in a role with Undergraduate Admissions, where she built lasting relationships with Native staff, students, and local Tribes. As co-chair of the Native Advisory Group, she championed scholarship opportunities, played a role in Oregon’s Native tuition program passing, and worked to strengthen campus resources. Her advocacy extended to data sovereignty, ensuring that we were collecting accurate and specific data about incoming Native students and using this data to better meet student and institutional needs. At Native Governance Center, Cree is part of the Community Engagement team, where she blends her love of education and outreach to create meaningful resources and programming. With experience working alongside Native nations and urban Native communities, she brings a deep commitment to uplifting Indigenous voices and fostering understanding between Native and non-Native partners.

Sage Phillips (she/her) is a proud Penobscot Nation citizen, 2024 Champion for Change and advocate for prospective Native youth pursuing higher education, specifically at land-grant institutions. Phillips is originally from Wabanaki Territory in Old Town, Maine, where she grew up close to her community and elders. As a 2021 Truman, Udall and Cohen Scholar, Sage has committed herself to a life in public service. As an undergraduate student in 2020, she received a grant to begin a research effort surrounding UConn’s history as a land-grant institution (LGI) today known as LandGrabCT, which was named as a 20 for 20 Connecticut Game Changer for Innovation in Connecticut History. Sage is determined to provide the next generation of Indigenous students with opportunities for practicing culture and achieving success. She is a strong believer that Indigenous sovereignty begins with education for our communities and their allies and brings this perspective to her role with the Community Engagement Program at Native Governance Center. Alongside her role at NGC, she is the Vice-Chair for the Center for Native American Youth’s Youth Advisory Board and has joined UConn’s Tribal Educational Initiative, working to establish UConn’s Avery Point campus as a Native American-Serving, Nontribal Institution – the first of its kind in the Northeast. She credits her inspiration to her grandfather and father, from whom she learned leadership at an early age while watching their work in the historic Penobscot River Restoration Project.

Click here to see the list of speakers. This was a “we are the we” gathering with many attendees also leading sessions!

Click here to see our list of attendees.