• WATER SCARCITY

    By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will be in a water
    scarce state globally.

    By implementing closed loop agriculture systems,
    we can use 90% less water
    to grow our food.

  • FOOD SECURITY

    Monocultures have left our soil depleted, riddled with
    pesticides, and 12% of the population in a food
    insecure state.

    We must make sustainable agriculture systems
    more accessible, safe, and sufficient.

  • AG-TECH EDUCATION

    It's time to re-think our food systems. Locally and globally,
    our systems are costly, unjust, and unsustainable.

    By making agricultural technology more accessible to
    underserved communities,we can educate & empower
    populations that otherwise, would be vulnerable
    to the impacts of are outdated
    food infrastructure.

Our Mission

Change Food for Good is a New York City-based nonprofit organization dedicated to making sustainable agricultural technology more accessible to areas affected by food insecurity. We believe we can educate, empower and ultimately, uplift vulnerable communities out of food-insecure states through the use of localized sustainable agriculture and pathways to opportunities in the green sector.

Our Vision

Change Food for Good will foster the next generation of urban farmers who will use technology and advanced farming methods to meet the food production demands of the future. We aim to provide free workshops & training to 1500 individuals, secure 250 job placements for our alumni, and help build 100 green spaces & farms by 2025.

Two kids looking at a hydropnics growing tower
4 teenagers looking at a computer and smiling
Man sawing wood with friends around and helping him

The Future of Food

Our current food infrastructure's fragility is leading us toward a food crisis. We've identified 3 main drivers of this systemic issue:

Climate Crisis

As climate-caused drought threatens to leave 1.8 billion people in a water scarce state by 2025, it's crucial that food insecure communities begin farming locally and using growing methods that reduce water consumption like hydroponics and aquaponics.

Workforce Gaps

In the US, the average age of farmers is 57 years old. As our global population increases, we'll need to increase our food production significantly to meet the demand. We have to begin stewarding young adults into the jobs that are emerging in green infrastructure due to these workforce shifts.

Food Access

Our current food infrastructure leaves 1 in 9 people in a state of chronic hunger. This problem is only becoming worsened by the resource intensive practices that commercial farming uses which damages farmland. From production, distribution, pricing and marketing, we need to rethink food access from the bottom-up.

Our Approach

Get Hands On Training.

Free Job Training Programs

We provide hands-on, interdisciplinary training for young adults (18-24 years old) interested in gaining agriculture, construction, and technology skills - free of charge for participants earning less than $45,000/year.

Community Farm Development

We work with New York City's schools, community-based organizations, and community gardens to build and maintain community smart farms, food hubs and green spaces.

Build A Smart Farm Or Host A Program.

Become a Volunteer.

Accessible Technology Solutions

We leverage technical skills and tools to advance farming practices. With access to affordable, user-friendly technology solutions, urban and commercial farmers can integrate data-informed practices to improve their farm sites.

Employer Partner Network

We partner with employers to integrate employment based skills into our training & place alumni into gainful employment positions. Upon successful completion of our job training programs, participants are matched to 3-6 month subsidized internship roles with one of our community partners, at no or reduced cost to local employers.

Join our Employer Partner Network.

Why We Started

Change Food for Good began as a grassroots, volunteer-led effort and a desire to radically change the food landscape of New York City. We saw that the tools that could alleviate poverty and food insecurity were not accessible to the communities most impacted by it - in New York City and abroad. Food access is being addressed from the top-down, yet food insecurity is on the rise and climate change threatens to worsen this outdated infrastructure in the years to come. While AgTech, a $15 Billion industry in the United States, continues to grow, it's clear that the readiness of food system solutions is not the problem. It's access - for the people that need it.

We decided to bring modern farming practices and agricultural technology to our communities and in the process, help up-skill young jobseekers to fill the gainful employment roles emerging from this booming sector. We can reshape our local food economy. We can create pathways into these emerging sectors and advance economic mobility. We can create collaborative, community-centric models that advance urban, peri-urban and rural food systems for generations to come.

Meet Our Team

Samia Lemfadli

CEO & Founder

Samia Lemfadli is a Brooklyn native and technologist with a deep-rooted passion for sustainable agriculture. As an alumnus of programs like General Assembly's Web Development Immersive and Platform by Perscholas, she has leveraged her technical and business development skills to improve workforce strategies and advance technical infrastructure for organizations like MIT Civic Media Lab, The Knowledge House , Per Scholas, New York Maritime Innovation Center , Kilimanjaro Initiative USA, and JobsFirstNYC . Samia has applied her lived experience of the workforce development system to secure more than 300 job placements for program alumni and her community network. She remains a fierce advocate for young adult economic mobility. She believes workforce development and inclusive technology advances can be key levers for self-determination and more resilient communities. She was selected for Claniel Foundation’s 2022 Emerging Leaders Fund, was a 2020 Echoing Green Semi-Finalist, was Head of the Steering Committee for NYMIC, Head of the Junior Board for Kilimanjaro Initiative USA and served as Co-Chair for the Yes Bed-Stuy Partnership .

Joe Carrano

Board Chair

Joe Carrano is a Brooklyn native, technology consultant, and the Co-Founder of The Knowledge House: a free tech workforce program that serves low income New Yorkers and connects them to skilled jobs in tech. He has been a long time supporter of Change Food for Good's mission & mentor to Change Food for Good's Founder, Samia Lemfadli.

Jeffrey Deasy

Board Treasurer

Jeff has more than 20 years of experience in the field of economic development, small business development, finance, and corporate governance. Jeff is currently providing support to entrepreneurs, including worker-owned cooperatives, and social ventures nationwide on behalf of the Business Outreach Center Network.

Kai Lin Zhang

Board Secretary

Kai Lin Zhang is a software developer, community organizer, and plant-lover, who volunteers with GrowNYC & the NYC Parks street tree stewardship program. Her passion for economic, racial, & environmental justice led by & for communities of color drove her to join CFFG's work in food security. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the New York State Assembly Asian Pacific American Task Force.

Lyndsey Richardson

Board Member

Lyndsey Richardson (she/they) is a facilitator, service designer, bureaucracy hacker, and community power strategist. Lyndsey’s educational background (MPH) and personal experiences bring her knowledge and dedication to community health, participatory design, healing-centered praxis, and youth-development. She currently serves as the Deputy Design Director at the Service Design Studio in the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity.

Malcolm Holliday

Technical Project Manager

Malcolm is a Fullstack Software Engineer from Brooklyn. He has experience at startups and larger companies, as well helping to build up projects and companies from the ground level. Malcolm enjoys sharing his knowledge of programming having taught the skill across many different groups from high school to adults who are looking for a career pivot. He mainly works with JavaScript/Typescript but has experience with Python, PHP and more. On the side he has an interest in game development and works on building his skill set in that field

Derrick Stroman

Lead Career Volunteer

With over a decade of experience in talent acquisition, workforce development, and corporate partnerships, Derrick serves as Director of Corporate Engagement at The Knowledge House. He leads strategy for corporate volunteerism, employer partnerships, and sponsorships, managing a portfolio of Fortune 500 partners and large scale engagement programs that connect companies with diverse, job ready talent. He focuses on creating pathways, clarity, and opportunity, and came for CFFG driven by the mission to make the workforce more accessible and more navigable for the people building their next chapter.

John Ebaid

AgTech Intern

John is a Computer Science student at NY Institute of Technology who enjoys building practical software solutions for social enterprises. He currently serves as an AgTech Intern at CFFG where he is honing his full-stack development skills, working with data, and building client websites. His passion for experimenting with new tools, and understanding how systems work end to end has led him to the tech industry where he aims to create applications that solve real-world problems—especially in sustainability and community-focused spaces.

Sebastian Reyna

AgTech Intern

Sebastian came to Change Food for Good looking to combine his two passions: designing websites and gardening. Since his completion of Cohort 8 of Intro to AgTech, he has been able to apply his skills in the course to build a home hydroponic farm operation, enhance his skills in CSS, and backend development. Sebastian currently serves as an AgTech intern, where he is working on client website development, pursuing his AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification, and works on implementing Esp32s in electronics projects in his free time. He currently is pursuing a Computer Science degree at NY Institute of Technology.

Agona Bajrami

AgTech Intern

Agona is an architecture student at NYIT who aims to specialize in sustainable design and social research. Growing up in NYC, Agona had a special interest in the cultural and communal protection and aid of local neighborhoods. It is her hope that non-traditional routes in architecture will provide creative solutions for environmentally and socially urgent issues. She currently serves as an AgTech intern supporting design, build and maintenance of food relief farm sites for CFFG in NYC as she continues to expand her business acumen and architecture skills.

Anjali Arora

AgTech Intern

Anjali is a driven and creative fourth-year Architecture student at the New York Institute of Technology, currently pursuing her Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch). With a strong love for design and aesthetic, she is passionate about crafting thoughtful, human-centered spaces that are both visually compelling and functional. She plans to pursue licensure as an architect and build a career focused on meaningful, community-oriented design that connects people to their environment while reflecting an intentional visual language.

Our Recent Achievements

Featured on FWF Women in Food Spotlight

Co-Chair of the Bronx Digital Equity Coalition

2023 Partnership for a Civilian Climate Corps Founding Member

2022 David Prize NYC Scout

2022 Emerging Leaders Fund

Echoing Green 2020 Climate Fellowship Semi Finalist

Victoria’s Secret Pink GRL PWR Project 2020 Honorable Mention

Black Girl Ventures 2018 & 2019 Pitch Competition Finalist

1010 Wins Small Business Pitch Competition Finalist 2019