Debbie Friedman, Founder of FCS

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Debbie has served in a variety of advocacy, communications and leadership positions including as producer for a national environmental radio program, and as a communications consultant for innovative nonprofits & businesses. She co-founded and led two environmental health nonprofits and most recently, served as Program Director for Conscious Kitchen, a fresh, local, organic school food program. Debbie began her career as a practicing attorney in San Francisco.

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In her role at Conscious Kitchen, Debbie led strategic planning, policy, and research initiatives, and supported and engaged partnerships with school districts and community stakeholders in the school food sector across the Bay Area, and beyond. She was a frequent speaker at conferences and convenings and supported all administrative aspects of the program including fundraising. As Co-Founder and Director of Moms Advocating Sustainability, Debbie led policy initiatives and organized coalitions, with an emphasis on shifting agricultural policies towards ecologically-oriented practices, to reduce the amounts of pesticides sprayed by state and local agencies. She was also a frequent speaker at community events and in policy related settings, expanded the organization to include Napa County and Orange County branches, led local and national PR and media efforts, and testified before the California Senate. 

 

Debbie serves as a Kitchen Table Advisor to State Innovation Exchange’s Cohort for Rural Opportunity and Prosperity (CROP) Program, and as a member of the Health, Systems & Data Subcommittee for the California Farm to School Working Group, led by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, First Partner of California and Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

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How are we different?

 

We are deep strategic thinkers oriented towards action. We are unafraid to take on complex and intractable problems, to uncover barriers, identify leverage points, and design a process for innovation and catalytic change. 

 

We have a wide multi-sector network, and use it strategically to bring a variety of voices and perspectives together when solving problems. We firmly believe that diversity of experiences and voices leads to better outcomes. 

 

• We are adept at stakeholder outreach and data gathering, analyzing and synthesizing large amounts of qualitative and quantitative data and communicating key findings and recommendations through written reports and engaging presentations to multiple audiences.

 

• We’re experienced in building diverse coalitions of stakeholders with shared values, to collaboratively develop winnable strategies designed to accomplish shared goals. We bring momentum to projects and are tenacious about follow through.

 

• FCS also has a track record of partnering with academic level researchers to ensure programs, projects and advocacy positions are based upon solid evidence, and will seek out and instigate research partnerships when needed to fill gaps in data and evidence. 

 

We have more than a decade of experience launching organizations and initiatives. We offer thought partnership to any organization or agency, and sharp, strategic thinking with a systems lens, grounded in equity and inclusiveness.