Food Empowerment Project’s various initiatives have been included in conferences, podcasts, interviews and other news sources, throughout the last decade. Below are details and links for these news sources; feel free to share!
Additional videos available in our YouTube channel.
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Summary: Beyond the sweet hit of gratification our bodies get when we consume chocolate, there are consequences to the world’s unrelenting obsession. In Ghana and the Ivory Coast, where 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa is produced, child labour, human trafficking and slavery are reported on farms that have become increasingly secretive about their manufacturing processes.Date: July 2019 | Source: The National | Category: Article
- Food Empowerment Project 2019 School Supply Drive for Children of Farm Workers
Summary: Food Empowerment Project is pleased to announce its 2019 School Supply Drive, benefiting the children of farm workers and assisting families trying to meet their basic needs. The drive runs from now until July 10. F.E.P. will distribute school supplies this summer to children of farm workers in the Watsonville/Salinas, Sonoma County, and the Central Valley.
Date: June 2019 | Source: Sonoma County Gazette | Category: Article
- The Fight Against Climate Change Needs to Address Environmental Racism
Summary: MTV article on why we need to consider environmental racism while we fight against climate change.
Date: April 2019 | Source: MTV | Category: Article
- Should Vegans Support Corporate Campaigns? Live from Atlantic City with
- lauren Ornelas.
- Summary: The Bearded Vegans are so excited to bring you their latest live episode, recorded by A Shared Universe at the Atlantic City Vegan Food Festival. They are joined by the one and only lauren Ornelas, founder of Food Empowerment Project, who uses her many years of expertise in winning corporate campaigns to expand on previous conversations regarding the efficacy of targeting specific restaurants and businesses.
Date: August 2018 | Source: The Bearded Vegans | Category: Podcast
- Food Empowerment Project Founder lauren Ornelas Becomes First Woman of Color in Animal Rights Hall of Fame
Summary: Animal rights activist lauren Ornelas, founder and executive director of Food Empowerment Project, is the first woman of color inducted to the Animal Rights Hall of Fame.
Date: July 2018 | Source: Live Kindly | Category: Article
- California Lifts ‘50-mile rule’ Migrant Farmworker Families
Summary: A controversial California rule was lifted recently allowing migrant workers with children to remain in one location during the entire school year. The exemption was sponsored by the Food Empowerment Project.
Date: July 2018 | Source: Focus On Agriculture | Category: Article
- ‘50-mile rule’: Migrant farmworker housing policy changed to allow children to stay in school year-round
Summary: The legislation was sponsored by the Food Empowerment Project as well as the nonprofit Center for Farmworker Families, based in Watsonville.
Date: July 2018 | Source: The Mercury News | Category: Article
- Vegan Food Festival Comes to Atlantic City
Summary: In addition to live music and vegan retail, there will be speakers throughout the day, including RZA but also Lauren Ornelas of the Food Empowerment Project and Erika J. Boyd of Detroit Vegan Soul.
Date: July 2018 | Source: NJ Monthly | Category: Article
- Report categorizes areas in Bay County as “food deserts”
Summary: News segment noting our important work dealing with food deserts.
Date: June 2018 | Source: WJHG | Category: Article and News Segment
- Self Care Sundays Ep. 207: lauren Ornelas of the Food Empowerment Project
Summary: Can veganism be a form of self care? Is a cruelty-free lifestyle a right or a privilege? On this episode, we’ll unpack these issues with lauren Ornelas, Founder and Executive Director of “Food Empowerment Project,” an organization on a mission to make vegan food more accessible in low-income areas and communities of color.
Date: June 2018 | Source: Self Care Sundays | Category: Podcast
- Oakland VegFest 2018 – lauren Ornelas
Summary: lauren Ornelas talks about how food as been used as a tool for social change and how we have to use food wisely.
Date: May 2018 | Source: Oakland VegFest YouTube | Category: Video
- The lineup of speakers at this year’s Maine Veg Fest are voting for compassion – for both people (‘human animals’) and ‘nonhuman animals’
Summary: lauren Ornelas is on the front lines of food justice work. But unlike many food justice advocates, she also champions vegan eating. Ornelas will be speaking at this year’s Maine Animal Coalition Veg Fest, taking place in early June in Portland.
Date: May 2018 | Source: Portland Press Herald | Category: Article
- How Leaving Stores Closed for Years Helps Grocery Chains and Hurts Communities
Summary: Some supermarkets are using an arcane legal clause to prevent new stores from opening, creating a long-term lack of food access.
Date: January 2018 | Source: Civil Eats | Category: Article
- How to Combat ‘Food Deserts’ and ‘Food Swamps’
Summary: lauren Ornelas is interviewed in the Healthline article on how to combat “food deserts.”
Date: January 2018 | Source: Healthline | Category: Article
- The Unexpected Challenges of Living in a Food Desert
Summary: NPR’s Marketplace interviews lauren Ornelas on F.E.P.’s work in Santa Clara County and some of the challenges of living in areas of “food deserts.”
Date: January 2018 | Source: Marketplace | Category: Article
- Meet The Vegan Willy Wonka Who’s Raising The Bar On Ethical Business
Summary: Food Empowerment Project’s Chocolate List is mentioned in this Forbes article on ethical chocolate.
Date: January 2018 | Source: Forbes | Category: Article
- How Closing Grocery Stores Perpetuate Food Deserts Long After They’re Gone
Summary: An obscure clause in the deeds of departing grocery stores sometimes prevents new grocery stores from opening in their place, leaving neighborhoods without fresh produce for years to come. “So what people were forced to do is go to the liquor stores and go to the convenience stores. Those don’t normally offer a lot of fresh produce. They can get the sodas and the chips, sugary foods, but they aren’t necessarily getting fresh produce, which they desperately want,” says lauren Ornelas, executive director of Food Empowerment Project.
Date: November 2017 | Source: Fast Company | Category: Article
- Deed restriction tactic used by Safeway, others, picketed in Vallejo
Summary: “We’re here because we want Safeway to change its policy,” Ornelas said. “We’re letting people know that Safeway does this, and asking them to sign our petition and contact Safeway and tell them they should change this policy. We’re out here because it’s hard for people to believe this is happening, but it is happening and we have to change it.”
Date: October 2017 | Source: Times Herald | Category: Article
- Migrant Children Thwarted by the 50-Mile Rule
Summary: Since the 1970s, a state rule has required farmworkers to move at least 50 miles away from a migrant camp at the end of the season in order to continue to qualify for the housing. Now, advocates, including Food Empowerment Project, are trying to get California officials to change the 50-mile rule, which jeopardizes the educations of farmworker children, among other problems.
Date: October 2017 | Source: California Health Report | Category: Article
- Celebrate Mexican Independence Day with Vegan Mexican Recipes Courtesy of Food Empowerment Project!
Summary: Just in time for Mexican Independence Day, Food Empowerment Project relaunches VeganMexicanFood.com, to showcase Mexican dishes without animal ingredients – proving it’s possible to eat vegan and still enjoy the tastes of Mexican cuisine.
Date: September 2017 | Source: La-Story | Category: Article
- Santa Cruz County Advocates Decry Farm Worker Housing Rule Over Effects on Children
Summary: With more than 90 percent of the children of migrant farm workers dropping out of high school, advocates, including Food Empowerment Project, are working to overturn the “50- mile rule” that disadvantages the children of farm workers.
Date: August 2017 | Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel | Category: Article
- Advocacy Groups Challenging this California State Housing Rule Say it Uproots Farmworkers’ Children from Schools
Summary: This LA Times piece highlights Food Empowerment Project’s leading role in the fight to change or eliminate the “50-mile rule” that uproots the children of migrant farmworkers from their schools twice a year, causing them to fall behind and often drop out.
Date: August 2017 | Source: LA Times | Category: Article
- Active Morals: Carrying out the American Spirit of Free Speech
Summary: This article mentions lauren Ornelas’ key role in helping John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Mackey, go vegan in 2006.
Date: July 2017 | Source: Huffington Post | Category: Article
- Healthy Food Fest Returns to Vallejo Today
Summary: Announcement of the Vallejo Healthy Food Fest 2017 in the Benicia Herald.
Date: July 2017 | Source: Benicia Herald | Category: Article
- Second Annual Vallejo Healthy Food Fest Planned for Sunday
Summary: Announcement of the Vallejo Healthy Food Fest 2017 in the Vallejo Times-Herald.“It’s all about continuing to bring together and celebrate the Vallejo community with a focus on access to healthy foods.”
Date: July 2017 | Source: Vallejo Times-Herald | Category: Article
- Animal Charity Evaluators Interviews lauren Ornelas
Summary: Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) interviews lauren Ornelas. This article talks about lauren Ornelas’s work at Food Empowerment Project, touches on the interconnectedness of other social justice movements, and includes a rousing conversation on utilitarianism in the animal rights movement.
Date: July 2017 | Source: Animal Charity Evaluators | Category: Interview
- Brazilian Animal Rights Group, Agencia de Noticias de Direilos Animais (ANDA), Interviews lauren Ornelas
Summary: When People Use their Voices to Change Policy or Corporations, that’s Power. lauren Ornelas is interviewed by Brazilian Animal Rights News Agency, Agencia de Noticias de Direilos Animais (ANDA). This interview is in English and Portuguese.
Date: June 2017 | Source: Agencia de Noticias de Direilos Animais (ANDA) | Category: Interview
- Episode 386: Interview with lauren Ornelas and Mark Hawthorne
Summary: In the 386th episode of Our Hen House podcast, Jasmine Singer, interviews lauren Ornelas and Mark Hawthorne after the 10-year anniversary benefit for Food Empowerment Project.
Date: June 2017 | Source: Our Hen House | Category: Podcast
- Vallejo Times-Herald: Vallejo liquor store to change merchandise, name
Summary: Article from the Vallejo Times-Herald updating the transformation of a local liquor store into a healthier food purveyor through the Healthy Stores for a Healthy Community initiative and Food Empowerment Project.
Date: May 2017 | Source: Vallejo Times-Herald | Category: Article
- Vallejo Times-Herald: Two more Vallejo liquor stores to convert to healthier markets
Summary: Article from the Vallejo Times-Herald regarding the Healthy Stores for a Healthy Community initiative in Solano County which has teamed up with Food Empowerment Project to convert convenience and liquor stores in Vallejo, CA low-income neighborhoods to provide healthier food options like fresh fruits and vegetables. Stores were chosen through F.E.P.’s findings in Vallejo: City of Opportunity Lacks Access to Healthy Food.
Date: May 2017 | Source: Vallejo Times-Herald | Category: Article
- VegNews: 7 Instagram Accounts by Vegan POC You Should Be Following
Summary: VegNews mentions Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P), @foodempowermentproject, in their list of seven instagram accounts by Vegan POC that should be followed. F.E.P., the only non-profit that is mentioned in this list, is recognized as a “great educational tool” that “unites the vegan community in its awareness of intersectionality to continue making veganism more inclusive.”
Date: April 2017 | Source: VegNews | Category: Article
- Good news: You don’t have to eat chocolate produced by exploited labor
Summary: A letter to the editor published in the Los Angeles Times in response to their story on supporting chocolate producers – a story that neglected to mention child labor and slavery on many cacao farms in West Africa.
Date: April 2017 | Source: LA Times | Category: Article
- Mystery Ingredient’s Episode 5: Food Empowerment
Summary: Our fifth episode of “Mystery Ingredient” dives right in for a no-holds-barred interview with lauren Ornelas, founder of Food Empowerment Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2006, now celebrating 10 years of work, Learn about food justice, getting to know everything and everyone involved in food production, the connections to modern day veganism, and how we can ALL get involved.
Date: April 2017 | Source: Vegan Iron Chef | Category: Podcast
- What is Sustainable?
Summary: Founder and Executive Director of Food Empowerment Project, lauren Ornelas speaking at CowCon 2016 in Berkeley, CA.
Date: March 2017 | Source: COWSPIRACY YouTube Channel | Category: Video
- St. Edward’s University Magazine Spring/Summer 2017
Summary: In St. Edwards’ Spring 2017 alumni magazine, they feature an interview with lauren (it’s on page 24) about her activist work and why she founded F.E.P.
Date: March 2017 | Source: St. Edwards University | Category: Interview
- Farmworker Advocates Want State to Repeal Move Rule
Summary: A coalition of advocates for farmworking families, including Food Empowerment Project, are pushing the state to repeal the “50-mile rule,” which adversely affects the education of children of migrant farm workers.
Date: December 2016 | Source: Monterey Herald| Category: Article
- 20 Organizations Fighting For Food Justice
Summary: F.E.P. is listed as one of twenty organizations around the world expanding the vision of food justice and pursuing palpable changes in the structure of our food system.
Date: November 2016 | Source: Food Tank| Category: Article
- Charity of the Month | Food Empowerment Project
Summary: Bead & Reel speak to lauren about her passion for food advocacy, what we can do to help, and what she’s eating right now.
Date: November 2016 | Source: Bead & Reel | Category: Interview
- Voices From The Cooperative Movement
Summary: TESA Collective chatted with fellow advocates, activists, educators and cooperators about how to build a better world.
Date: November 2016 | Source: TESA Collective | Category: Interview
- Is a Vegan Diet Actually Cruelty-Free? A Conversation with Lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project
Summary: Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack! connect with Lauren Ornelas, Founder and Executive Director of Food Empowerment Project to talk about all the ways our food may still contain cruelty even when it’s technically vegan.
Date: October 2016 | Source: Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack! | Category: Podcast
- lauren Ornelas: Food as a Tool for Change
Summary: Talk given Saturday Oct 8, 2016 at the San Francisco Vegetarian Society’s 17th annual World Veg Festival.
Date: October 2016 | Source: SF VegSociety | Category: Video
- I had never heard of veganism until I got connected with a local animal rights group
Summary: Lauren Ornelas is the founder and director of the Food Empowerment Group, we caught up with her to talk about her own journey into veganism and what she found when she investigated factory farms during her time as director at Viva! USA.
Date: September 2016 | Source: Female First | Category: Interview
- Pro-Intersectional Vegan Conference – INTERVIEW with lauren Ornelas
Summary: The Vegfest Express interviews lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project for the Pro-Intersectional Vegan Conference at VegfestUK London.
Date: August 2016 | Source: The Vegfest Express | Category: Interview
- lauren Ornelas Food Justice and Farm Worker Solidarity
Summary: lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project discusses food justice and access at the annual Animal Advocacy Camp .
Date: June 2016 | Source: Liberation BC | Category: Video
- Vallejo focus of healthy food survey
Summary: Food Empowerment Project releases study at the Vallejo Healthy Food Fest.
Date: June 2016 | Source: Daily Republic | Category: Article
- Vallejo to promote more nutritional options in city at first Healthy Food Fest
Summary: Article regarding the release of the findings in Vallejo: City of Opportunity Lacks Access to Healthy Food and the Vallejo Healty Food Fest.
Date: June 2016 | Source: Benicia Herald | Category: Article
- Inaugural Healthy Food Fest set in Vallejo
Summary: Announcement about the Vallejo Healthy Food Fest.
Date: June 2016 | Source: Daily Republic | Category: Article
- Healthy food access not equitable in Vallejo, study finds; free food event planned
Summary: Article regarding the release of the findings in Vallejo: City of Opportunity Lacks Access to Healthy Food and the Vallejo Healty Food Fest.
Date: June 2016 | Source: Times-Herald | Category: Article
- 2016 Berkeley Vegan Earth Day – lauren Ornelas
Summary: lauren Ornelas speaking at the Berkeley Vegan Earth Day 2016
Date: May 2016 | Source: Compassionate Living | Category: Video
- Food Justice—Farm Worker Rights, Human Rights Abuses, and Food Access Issues
Summary: See lauren Ornela’s talk from the Interspecies & Intersectional Justice Conference, the Whidbey Institute filmed March 2016.
Date: May 2016 | Source: Interspecies & Intersectional Justice | Category: Video
- Freedom of Species: Food Empowerment Project
Summary: May Day themed interview with lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project.
Date: May 2016 | Source: Freedom of Species | Category: Podcast
- Food Empowerment Project with lauren Ornelas
Summary: The Compassionate Road interviews lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project.
Date: April 2016 | Source: The Compassionate Road | Category: Interview
- AMONG THE ANIMALS | Food Empowerment Project comes to Seattle
Summary: Queen Anne & Magnolia News article announces Food Empowerment Project Washington Chapter.
Date: March 2016 | Source: Queen Anne & Magnolia News | Category: Article
- How Your Food Choices Can Change the World
Summary: lauren Ornelas’ talk at the 2015 San Francisco Vegetarian Society’s 16th annual World Veg Festival event.
Date: October 2015 | Source: SF VegSociety YouTube Channel | Category: Video
- Barefoot Vegan: Q&A with lauren Ornelas
Summary: Barefoot Vegan Magazine interviews lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project.
Date: September 2015 | Source: Barefoot Vegan | Category: Interview
- Living in a Non-Vegan World, Lauren Ornelas Interview
Summary: It can be tough being vegan in a non-vegan world.) They discuss how to address non-vegan family and friends, as well as hear Andy’s review of the 2015 Animal Rights National Conference. The show ends with an interview with lauren Ornelas of the Food Empowerment Project.
Date: August 2015 | Source: The Bearded Vegans | Category: Interview
- Capitalism, Borders, and Animal Agriculture
Summary: lauren Ornelas and Crystal Contreras speak at the Resistance Ecology Conference 2015.
Date: June 2015 | Source: Burning Hearts Media | Category: Video
- Critiquing Privilege in Animal Advocacy Circles
Summary: A panel with Jacqueline Morr, Breeze Harper, lauren Ornelas at the Resistance Ecology Conference 2015.
Date: June 2015 | Source: Burning Hearts Media | Category: Video
- Community Self-Determination through Food Justice
Summary: FEP Director, lauren Ornelas speaks at the Resistance Ecology Conference 2015
Date: June 2015 | Source: Burning Hearts Media | Category: Video
- Food Sovereignty and the US Social Forum
Summary: “lauren Ornelas writes about the impact the World Social forum had on her, and about food sovereignty and the US social forum”
Date: June 2015 | Source: Telesurtv | Category: Article
- Is Blue Apron the Future of Home Cooking in America?
Summary: “[Blue Apron is] serving a niche audience and not really taking into consideration people that need access to fresh fruits and fresh vegetables”
Date: June 2015 | Source: Eater | Category: Article
- Eat to Live?…or Live to Eat Live?
Summary: F.E.P. Director, lauren Ornelas, is interviewed by Suzanne Z. Pedro regarding the ethics of our food.
Date: May 2015 | Source: Voice of America | Category: Interview
- Food Is Power: Interview with lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project
Summary: “Far too few vegans and “animal rights” activists venture outside of the ethics of eating (and otherwise using) animal products, but lauren Ornelas, founder of Food Empowerment Project, is an outspoken advocate for true food justice and against exploitation in all its forms.”
Date: January, 2015 | Source: The Sustainable Investor | Category: Interview
- The Truth About Clif Bar
Summary: Clif Bar espouses five aspirations: “sustaining our business, brands, people, community, and the planet,” and yet steadfastly refused to disclose the source of its chocolate, until December, 2014, thanks to Food Empowerment’s 3-year campaign.
Date: December 2014 | Source: Striving With Systems | Category: Article
- Emeryville’s Clif Bar discloses where its cocoa comes from
Summary: Clif Bar disclosed the origin of its cocoa in December, 2014, thanks to The Food Empowerment Project’s urging.
Date: December 2014 | Source: Oakland Local | Category: Article
- West Africa boycott needed for slave-free chocolate, says consumer group
Summary: F.E.P. Director, lauren Ornelas, is interviewed regarding Child Labor in Chocolate Industry; counterpoint from International Cocoa Initiative (ICI).
Date: December 2014 | Source: Confectionary News | Category: Article
- Human Rights: Slaughterhouse Worker Suffering and Linking Oppressions
Summary: F.E.P. Director, lauren Ornelas, is interviewed regarding Slaughterhouse & Animal Agriculture Workers (labor issues).
Date: December 2014 | Source: Animal Voices | Category: Podcast
- Victory: Clif Bar Finally Reveals Source of Its Cocoa
Summary: Care2 petition summary of the Food Empowerment Project campaign to get “socially responsible” Clif Bar to be transparent about the source of their cacao/chocolate.
Date: December 2014 | Source: Care2 | Category: Article
- Food Empowerment Project’s lauren Ornelas Turns Compassion Into a Career
Summary: F.E.P. Director, lauren Ornelas, is interviewed regarding her animal advocacy, career and vegan lifestyle.
Date: December 2014 | Source: Swell! Magazine | Category: Article
- Fresh Cafe: Nov. 26, 2014
Summary: F.E.P. Director, lauren Ornelas, talks about social and animal injustices in the food industry [this segment includes the whole show and interview is at 27:18 mark, so feel free to skip ahead].
Date: December 2014 | Source: Fresh Cafe @ KAFM Radio | Category: Radio interview
- Intersectionality: Links Between Veganism and Other Social Justice Movements
Summary: F.E.P. Director, lauren Ornelas, discusses intersections of social justice with panel moderated by John Beske (unrecorded).
Date: October 2014 | Source: Chicago Vegan Mania | Category: Panel discussion
- Eat Your Ethics
Summary: A talk by lauren Ornelas of the Food Empowerment Project at the 2014 Sonoma County VegFest on how one can eat their ethics.
Date: September 2014 | Source: Compassionate Living YouTube | Category: Video
- Be My (Ethical) Valentine: The Dark Side of Chocolate
Summary: F.E.P. Director, lauren Ornelas, discusses the labor problems underlying the chocolate industry.
Date: February 2014 | Source: Our Hen House | Category: Article
- Episode 56: lauren Ornelas
Summary: F.E.P. Director, lauren Ornelas, is interviewed regarding veganism, the lack of healthy food choices, environmental pollution, water usage and privatization, environmental racism, and human/child slavery in the chocolate industry.
Date: December 2013 | Source: Which Side Podcast | Category: Podcast
- Making Animal Rights/Human Rights More Than Just a Slogan
Summary: lauren Ornelas’ 2013 talk at the International Animal Rights Conference in Luxembourg
Date: September 2013 | Source: VeganKanal YouTube Channel | Category: Video
- Commonalities of Oppression
Summary: lauren Ornelas’ talk from the Animal Rights 2012 National Conference
Date: April 2013 | Source: FARM YouTube Channel | Category: Video
- Episode 109: “The love of all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.”
Summary: During this week’s podcast, F.E.P. Director, Lauren Ornelas, is interviewed regarding the ethical issues of chocolate production.
Date: February 2012 | Source: Our Hen House | Category: Podcast
- Food Justice – Compassionate Eating Beyond Veganism
Summary: lauren Ornelas talk at the 2011 World Vegetarian Festival in San Francisco, California.
Date: October 2011 | Source: PacificVegan YouTube Channel | Category: Video
- How to Use Food Choices to Create a More Just World
Summary: lauren Ornelas, Founder and Director of the Food Empowerment Project, discusses how to use food choices to create a more just world at the 2011 Let Live Conference NW.
Date: May 2011 | Source: Let Live Foundation | Category: Video
- lauren Ornelas talk from the 2009 Animal Rights Conference
Summary: lauren Ornelas’ talk on victories for non-human animals in agriculture.
Date: July 2009 | Source: DoggyTV YouTube Channel | Category: Video