Lea Howe Email & Phone Number

Takoma Park, Maryland, United States

Leads CAF's work to develop and implement the Healthy Meals Incentives School Food System Transformation Cooperative Agreement with USDA FNS to build more fair, resilient and equitable school food supply chains. The program is designed to incentivize innovative partnerships between school districts, food producers, suppliers, distributors, and community partners to strengthen the availability of and access to nutritious foods in the K-12 school food marketplace.

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

- Led the DC GFPP Coalition consisting of 44 different agencies, organizations, and individuals focused on elevating values-based procurement through community engagement, policy action, research and technical analysis of existing procurement law for 6 years. Facilitated the DC GFPP Coalition’s strategic plan and Bylaw creation.- Facilitated working groups and city-wide campaigns that centered the experiences of impacted residents in order to overhaul the DC Department of Corrections meal program which led to the introduction of the FRESH STARTS Act of 2023.- Supported organizational development and fundraising including grant writing, prospecting, foundation and corporate stewardship and event planning.

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

- Advanced local policy to build a healthier, more equitable food system in the DC region including shaping the following successful legislation: Healthy Students Amendment Act (formerly the Healthy Schools Act), Healthy Tots Act, The Green Food Purchasing Act, Food Policy and Director Establishment Act, Animals in the Classroom Act and the Sustainable DC Plan.- Convened the DCPS School Food Collaborative consisting of over 1,000 parents, students, school staff and non-profit partners to build a better, more responsive school meal program.- Supported DC Greens’ 3-year strategic planning process.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

- Convened the DC Farm to School Network on a quarterly basis to advance collective priorities and grow network membership and capacity.- Hosted bi-monthly professional development trainings for DC educators focused on integrating food system education into existing curricula.- Organized and hosted the 2017 School Garden Summit to support the emerging tri-state network of nonprofits, schools and government agencies interested in capacity and network building around school gardens.- Managed the DC Farm to School Approved Program and led farm-based educator trainings for regional farmers interested in starting or enhancing their educational field trip programming.- Managed the School Garden Market Program to transform students into healthy food ambassadors within their school communities.- Managed DC Greens’ Food Education Coordinator and two FoodCorps Service Members.- Served as DC’s Core Partner for the National Farm to School Network: designed and implemented a monthly DC Farm to School Newsletter (~4,000 followers), ran social media engagement and managed a listserv for food and farm-based educators across the DMV region.

Washington D.C.

- Designed, launched and ran a Cooking with Kids program that brought mobile kitchens into 3rd – 8th grade classrooms for hour-long cooking demonstrations and food system lessons. Trained and managed a team of 6 paid interns each semester for 2 years.- Managed the School Garden Army program including professional development workshops for 10 interns who supported school gardens across the city.- Filmed and edited video trailers for local farms with educational programming to market farm field trips for DC students.

Washington, Dc

Competitively selected as one of 17 emerging leaders in the non-profit and social sectors, Lea has participated in 9 months of professional development training including workshops, guest speakers, mentoring, and peer coaching aiming to develop strong leadership capabilities, management skills, and confidence that will advance professional contributions.

Missoula, Montana Area

Joined the inaugural cohort of FoodCorps Fellows and managed Montana’s 12 service members, built strategic partnerships, grew the program to new sites and raised funding for programming throughout the year.- Supported 12 service members across the state via quarterly trainings, site visits, and 1:1 mentorship - Spearheaded the Montana Beef to School campaign to increase local, grass-finished beef purchases in schools; awarded grant to produce a short film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjegxUN45z4- Organized a 400-person fundraiser to support local food procurement in Missoula Public Schools- Reviewed grant applications for the Whole Foods Whole Kids Foundation - Presented to the USDA at headquarters on implementation of Community Food Projects grant

Boulder, Montana

Immersive year of service working to build community coalition to strengthen local food systems, improve school food programs and create an enduring framework for healthy food initiatives. - Conducted food systems, garden and nutrition education lessons with pre-K-12 students.- Established and convened the Boulder Healthy Food Steering Committee that began a column in the local newspaper about sustainable living, organized and ran the weekly Farmers’ Market and advocated for, designed and built a public permaculture forest- Hosted a weekly food film screening and discussion series at the Boulder Public Library- Authored and awarded grants including the Healthier US School Challenge, Whole Kids Foundation Garden Grant, Team Nutrition’s Student Film Grant (1st Place) and several AmeriCorps mini-grants- Served on the Grow Montana Evaluation committee to review impact of FoodCorps in Montana- Presented to the Blue Cross Blue Shield Board and helped secure a $750K grant for MT FoodCorps- Helped plan, build, maintain and teach hands-on lessons in the Boulder Elementary School Garden- Ran the Boulder Summer Meal Program including menu development, food procurement, meal preparation out of the school cafeteria, and compliance reporting for 85+ students Monday - Thursday for 2 months

Washington, Dc

Conducted research and created new internal educational systems to inform advocacy programs and objectives. - Conducted research on marine conservation, technological innovation, aquaculture and health- Initiated and implemented a speaker series at The Ocean Foundation headquarters- Supported communications, donor relations, fundraising, and database strategy and management