The Elevating Voices: Midwest Power Summit is an advocacy and leadership development summit created by and designed for neighbors with lived expertise with food insecurity.
Every year, major policy decisions are made on the programs that keep families fed. But rarely are these decisions informed by the very families that participate in these programs. This summit will be held in-person on Saturday, March 14th and Sunday, March 15th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Elevating Voices attendees will build stronger relationships with peer advocates, community partners, and decision makers by participating in immersive advocacy skill-building workshops. Attendees will co-create an action plan that lives beyond the summit and will build trust between attendees, neighbors, and organizations. The Elevating Voices: Midwest Power Summit is not just a one-time event, but instead a springboard for a movement.
Ideal Applicants Will:
- Have lived experience with food insecurity, federal or child nutrition programs such as SNAP/FoodShare
- Have knowledge of the hunger relief network, including food pantries, emergency shelters, and meal sites
- Have a passion for solving the root causes of hunger
Summit attendees will be eligible to receive a $400 stipend and an additional stipend to cover travel and lodging, when needed. Meals will also be provided at no cost.
Interested in attending? Please click the button below to apply. Applications are OPEN through January 15, 2026.
The Elevating Voices: Midwest Power Summit is built from the lessons learned and expertise provided through Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin’s Food Leaders Lab program. Since 2022, Food Leaders Lab has completed six chapters and graduated 61 resident leaders across ten Wisconsin counties. Food Leaders Lab graduates have created programs to build community gardens, educate about healthy eating, have testified before Wisconsin State Legislature, and traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress. Our Food Leaders Lab graduates have increased access to better school meals and have completed dozens of local and national media interviews.
Summit Goals:
- Develop stronger relationships among advocates, community partners, and decision-makers
- Uplift and honor stories that are too often excluded from decision-making tables
- Build trust between neighbors, institutions, organizations, and policymakers
- Challenge traditional power dynamics and redefine who holds expertise
- Co-create action steps that live beyond the event – to truly build a movement, the summit must be seen not as a one-time event, but as the beginning of a longer journey
Training and Workshop Examples:
- Advocacy overview and skill building – learn more about telling powerful stories and the legislative and administrative advocacy opportunities to shape policy that impacts thousands of people
- Identify local and regional leadership roles opportunities for community members and learn how to shift power to those with lived experience with food insecurity
- Power-building and community organizing – learn how to leverage your own power and relationships to win on the issues that matter most to you
- Peer-to-peer connection: gain one-on-one time with peers, building connections and fostering relationships that will extend far beyond the summit
