Press Kit
Press Kit
About Food Empowerment Project
Mission
Food Empowerment Project seeks to create a more just and sustainable world by recognizing the power of one’s food choices. We encourage healthy food choices that reflect a more compassionate society by spotlighting the abuse of animals on farms, the depletion of natural resources, unfair working conditions for produce workers, and the unavailability of healthy foods in low-income areas.
By making informed choices, we can prevent injustices against animals, people, and the environment. We also work to discourage negligent corporations from pushing unhealthy foods into low-income areas and empower people to make healthier choices by growing their own fruits and vegetables. In all of our work, Food Empowerment Project seeks specifically to empower those with the fewest resources.
Food Empowerment Project is a vegan food justice organization and a registered non-profit 501(c)(3) and was founded in 2007 by lauren Ornelas. Learn more about the organization’s leadership team.
Values
In addition to the values inherent to our work, which include stances against animal exploitation, worker exploitation, slavery, and food apartheid, Food Empowerment Project acknowledges that many other social injustices exist. Our values and ethics include a strong stance against ableism, ageism, antisemitism, body shaming, casteism, classism, colonialism, homophobia, Islamophobia, racism, sexism, transphobia, and xenophobia. We are a vegan organization founded and operated by a woman of color and our staff and board also hold these values.
These values also include supporting a number of causes, such as boycotts called by farm workers and other impacted community members, as well as supporting and amplifying the voices of communities of color, women affected by sexism or harassment and bullying in the animal movement, and those who speak out against violence to human or non-human animals. We also commit our solidarity to Indigenous peoples facing ongoing displacement and lend our voice to support long-overdue reparations for impacted tribal nations.
lauren Ornelas
Founder of Food Empowerment Project
Biography
lauren Ornelas, founder of the Food Empowerment Project, is an influential animal rights activist with over 30 years dedicated to promoting ethical food choices and justice. Her journey began by establishing the inaugural high school animal rights group in San Antonio, Texas, and continued as she pioneered college groups and a local organization called Action for Animals in Austin, Texas. lauren’s influence extended nationwide as she assisted individuals in initiating similar groups in their local schools and communities. She is the former executive director of Viva!USA, a national nonprofit vegan advocacy organization that Viva!UK asked her to start in 1999. While lauren was the director of Viva!USA, she investigated factory farms and ran consumer campaigns.
In cooperation with activists across the country, lauren persuaded Trader Joe’s to stop selling all duck meat and was the spark that got the former CEO of Whole Foods Market to become a vegan. She also helped halt the construction of an industrial dairy operation in California.
In 2007, lauren founded the vegan food justice organization, Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.). The organizations’ advocacy areas include spotlighting the abuse of animals on farms, fighting against unfair conditions for produce workers, calling for the availability of healthy foods in Black and Brown communities and low-income areas, and raising awareness about child labor and slavery in the chocolate industry. F.E.P. encourages healthy food choices that reflect a more compassionate society.
