Shifting Power & Resources: Practicing Equity and Justice Work in Community, Business, and the Environment

CBEY monthly discussion group with Resident Fellow Tagan Engel 

This multidisciplinary group of Yale graduate and professional school students comes together in a monthly discussion group to dig into real-world challenges and inspiring examples of intersectional equity, justice, and liberation practices in businesses, organizations, and communities - in order to adapt these learnings into their lives and work. 

Learnings from sessions are applicable across all sectors but many guest speakers and examples are drawn from food systems sectors. A primary focus is placed on how to put these liberatory, regenerative, and equitable values and strategies into practice in real-world environments. We learn from nature, global indigenous approaches, movement and industry leaders, as well as each other. We will learn practices that center communities most impacted by systemic oppression, and methods for redistributing power and resources to build a just and thriving world for all peoples and life on our planet. 

The group hosts monthly guest speakers and uses engaging multi-media content including videos, podcasts, and social media, with not more than two hours of preparation materials per month.  A diverse range of speakers will be drawn from the New Haven, national and international communities. Group sessions are interactive with a mix of full group and small group discussions as well as student led discussions. Sessions also include a shared lunch from wonderful New Haven BIPOC owned restaurants. The group also organizes optional social gathering time or occasional field trips to deepen our connections and learnings.  

Topics covered include (specific guest speakers and session order may change):

• Power, Intersectional Identities & Systems of Oppression (workshop)
• Power With vs Power Over (workshop)
• Workers Rights & Organizing for Change w/ HEAL Food Alliance & Food Chain Workers Alliance
• Values-based, Participatory + Community-driven Policy and Budgeting  w/New Haven Leaders
• LandBack, Sovereignty, Rights of Nature with Sogorea Te’ Land Trust 
• Reparative Investing with Potlikker Capital/Black Farmer Fund
• Building Just & Regenerative Supply Chains w/ Forested Co & Sustainable Harvest Coffee
• Cooperatives & Alternatives to Extractive Capitalism with Coop Hudson Valley

If you are a Yale professional school student from any school and are interested in engaging in peer discussions about these topics and examining how these perspectives and practices can help you address positive and effective social change in business, organization, municipal and community work, we encourage you to apply. 

Application

The application for Shifting Power & Resources is now open.

Apply to Shifting Power and Resources

Applications Due by: Thursday, September 3rd, 2026

Notified of acceptance by: The week of September 7th, 2026

All sessions are Fridays from 12:30 - 2:30 PM.  Please check the schedule to ensure you can attend these sessions.

Primary Location is the Yale School of the Environment, 195 Prospect St

DATES for 2026/27

• September 25, 2026
• October 9, 2026
• November 6, 2026
• December 4, 2026
• January 29, 2027
• February 12, 2027
• March 5, 2027
• April 16, 2027
• April 30, 2027

Questions?  Contact: tagan.engel@yale.edu

Tagan Engel is a Resident Fellow with the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY) and brings more than 30 years of experience in cross-sector food systems and racial and economic justice work - as a chef, procurement specialist, entrepreneur, community builder, and grassroots organizer. She was born and raised in New Haven, is a Producer with WPKN and NPR, host of The Table Underground podcast, and is a founding board member of Soul Fire Farm. Tagan was the Food Systems Policy Director at CitySeed and Chair of the New Haven Food Policy Council for nearly a decade, establishing the first food policy and Director of Food System Policy for the city. She is a Lecturer at YSE and leads the Regenerative Agriculture and Just Food Systems Lab capstone. Through CBEY Tagan works on regenerative food systems, intersectional equity, and community-driven social change. . Full bio HERE.