About

The Evanston Food Exchange, in collaboration with Family Focus/Evanston manages The Foster Street Garden. Besides, growing fresh food that it donates to the local community, The Garden provides urban agriculture, entrepreneurship, and cooking programs for children and adults. Our Leadership Includes, Chef Q. Ibraheem, artist, advocate, educator and 2021 CNN Hero.

Our Mission

We are on a mission to reduce hunger and poverty in Evanston,(IL)

Ultimately, we seek to create a healthy and sustainable food community that benefits all Evanstonians. Our current food system is not sustainable and does not promote healthy humans. By inspiring our community through engagement, EFE hopes to promote a truly sustainable food system within Evanston which drives food choices and production that protect the environment and lead to a healthier community The EFE's mission is to end hunger, reduce poverty and build healthier communities. Guiding Principles The EFE's Guiding Principles include: Collaboration: between individuals, teams and institutions and among diverse disciplines, resulting in greater production. Efficiency: by preventing inefficiency and unnecessary duplication of planning and implementations resulting in greater production. Capacity Strengthening: by facilitating the education, communication, and partnering resulting in greater production. Commitment: by focusing on short and strategic objectives resulting in greater production. Strategic Objectives Knowledge: Increase access to and use of knowledge, innovations and community resources to better policy, urban food production and delivery systems and financing addressing key constraints in resources within differing groups within communities. Accountability: Promote accountability for resources and results to lead to better systematic tracking of impacts of systemic change to urban based food production and improvements in general health and well being of community and ending of poverty and hunger. Operational Principles EFE structures its activities around four operational principles, namely: being partner-centric, being a convener, being driven by community demand and regional priorities; and promoting the EFE approach to end hunger and poverty and improve general well being and health of the community.

Board of Directors

Quisha Ibraheem, Chairwoman / Board President
Anne M. Sills, Vice President and Board Member
Ross Goldstein, Treasurer and Board Member
Jennifer Billingsley, Secretary and Board Member,Emeritus
Jessy Thomas, Secretary and Board Member
David Keeshin, Board Member
Bonnie J. Katz, Board Member
Toni Camphouse, Board Member