YOUR BIG OPPORTUNITY MIGHT BE . . . right where you are.

Sometimes grand plans can obscure the obvious: there are opportunities everywhere. There's no shortage of good work to be done. This week we highlight a few opportunities that might be of interest to you. If you have others that you wish to share, feel free to send them our way. We are always happy to connect good people doing great things.

TICKET GIVEAWAY
Each year Just Food hosts a conference to bring together community organizers, urban and rural farmers, CSA members, educators, and local food enthusiasts to share good food and ideas about how we can better shape our food policies and systems to provide food justice for all.

This year we are purchasing a Community Cultivator ticket to give away to one of you. This will give you full access to the networking event + two day conference, happening March 10th + 12 + 13th in New York City. It will also help subsidize 10 other tickets for scholarship recipients.

So how can you get the ticket? Submit your idea(s) for how GFJ can promote more diversity through our blog and website. This can include accept direct recommendations of folks doing good food work, who represent diverse ethnic backgrounds, genders, and/or ages, and who would be willing to be contacted for a blog interview. Your submission can be long or short, but be sure to include your email address, as well as your phone number, so we can put your name in the hat! We will conduct the random drawing on Monday February 20th at 8 PM, so be sure to send your submission before then.

WILD OPHELIA ACCELERATOR PROGRAM
The mastermind behind Vosges Haut-Chocolat has a new (ad)venture. The Wild Ophelia accelerator program is part of a line of chocolates whose profits will fund female food entrepreneurs. Women enrolled in high school or college can apply to be one of three grant recipients this year. The deadline to apply is March 31, 2017.

These are just two small opportunities that you might be able to take. We look forward to continuing to share more.

In the meantime, take a look around you. Are there any opportunities hiding in plain sight? The don't need to be in the form of free tickets or grants. We encourage to take a look at one small thing that you could do today to make the world a better place, to brighten someone's day, to make you feel like you contributed to something greater than yourself, or showed yourself a little kindness and self-care. It could be paying the toll for the person behind you, sharing something that you made with a co-worker, taking a 20 minute walk in the fresh air, or simply looking into the eyes of a stranger on the street and giving them a smile or warm greeting. We encourage you to consider how simple acts can really make a difference - little by little. And while Valentine's Day is often commercialized we can get back to the spirit of it and show compassion and kindness to the others that inhabit the earth with us today.

To expanding opportunities,

Taylor & Dorothy
Co-Founders, Good Food Jobs