The application and nomination period for our 5th annual CLC class (2024-2025) is now closed. If you are interested in joining the next cohort, please check for updates during the summer of 2025.
If you have questions about the CLC, please reach out to our Neighbor & Community Organizer, Meera Kumar, at mkumar@capitalareafoodbank.org.
The individual must identify with one of the following:
- Be a client of the food bank, or its partners, and be frequenting food assistance distributions or programming due to an ongoing experience with food insecurity; OR
- The individual, if not frequenting food assistance distributions must be enrolled in social safety net programs that include, but are not limited to: SNAP, WIC, free/reduced school meals, the Earned Income or Child Tax Credits, Economic Impact Payments, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, Medicare Savings Program, Supplemental Security Income, or Low-Income Home Energy Assistance.
The individual must live in the Food Bank’s service area, this includes:
- Maryland: Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties.
- The District of Columbia
- Virginia: Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William Counites; Alexandria City.
Living Wage Stipend:
- We know your time is valuable, so we will compensate you for the time you spend on the council at a rate of $30/hr. We estimate CLC members will commit about five hours a month, on average.
Transportation & Food:
- For in-person events and advocacy-related actions, we will cover food and transit costs.
Advocacy and Media Training:
- We will provide training that aims to further build your toolkit to continue impacting change in your community.
- Our training model centers on the power of your voice. Your lived expertise is incredibly powerful, and we aim to support you to leverage that asset in arenas where client voices have been historically underrepresented, undervalued, and underheard.
- Attendance at monthly skills calls and three in-person convenings;
- Availability to engage in a class term which runs from late September to June;
- Willingness to, when comfortable, speak to the media regarding lived experience and policy positions; and
- Participate in opportunities to provide feedback on the food bank’s operations and response models.