For Immediate Release: September 19, 2025
Media Contacts: Katelyn Deckelbaum, katelyn [dot] deckelbaum
gwu [dot] edu (katelyn[dot]deckelbaum[at]gwu[dot]edu).
Today, Food & Society at the Aspen Institute announced a transformative donation of over $1 million from José Andres’ Longer Tables Fund to support its Food Leaders Fellowship. This investment will significantly expand the fellowship's capacity to develop emerging leaders and enable a new strategic partnership with the George Washington University’s Global Food Institute (GFI), creating unprecedented opportunities for collaboration between practitioners and academics advancing innovative and practical food system solutions.
“We need bold new ideas to meet the challenges facing our food system, and I’m proud to support the Aspen Institute’s Food Leaders Fellowship as they train and empower the next generation of leadership across government, non-profits, and the private sector,” said Chef José Andrés, founder of the Longer Tables Fund and the Global Food Institute. “These fellows—in partnership with the Global Food Institute—will deliver the research, innovation, and policy solutions that harness the incredible power of food to build longer tables where everyone can eat.”
The Food Leaders Fellowship unites the country's most promising early-stage food system leaders to ignite personal transformation and scalable change. Drawing on the Aspen Institute's history of successful leadership and policy fellowships, the program has established itself as the foremost community of leaders working to create a fair, sustainable, and healthy food system since launching with its inaugural cohort in 2022.
The new partnership with the Global Food Institute represents a mutually beneficial arrangement designed to bridge the gap between academic research and on-the-ground practice. Fellows are invited to collaborate with faculty and students on projects, speak at GFI events, and share their insights through coverage by Planet Forward fellows, creating a dynamic exchange of knowledge and expertise.
"The Aspen Institute is grateful for and inspired by this generous investment from the Longer Tables Fund," said Dan Porterfield, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute. "The Food Leaders Fellowship and our partnership with the Global Food Institute exemplify our commitment to bringing together leaders across geographies, sectors, and viewpoints to develop solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges. Through this partnership, we're investing in a future where food leaders have the resources, connections, and platforms they need to drive lasting transformation.”
The fellowship motivates participants to support and challenge one another to think bigger, increase their individual and group capacity for change, and find new collaborators to work with toward lasting impact. This approach aligns perfectly with the spirit of the new GFI partnership.
"The Food Leaders Fellowship has always been about the power of collaboration, bringing together a broad range of voices and perspectives to tackle our most pressing food system challenges," said Corby Kummer, executive director of Food & Society at the Aspen Institute. "This partnership with the Global Food Institute takes that to the next level, creating relationships that will generate new insights, innovations, and solutions. We're hopeful that this is just the beginning of all we can accomplish together."
“The Global Food Institute’s partnership with the Aspen Institute is more than a collaboration—it’s a catalyst. By connecting Aspen fellows with the GW faculty and students, we are building the academic-practitioner community that is needed to transform our food system into one that is more just and sustainable,” said Stacy Dean, GFI’s Carbonell Family Executive Director.
The Longer Tables Fund's investment comes at a critical time when food system challenges—from sustainability and environmental resilience to affordability and access—require innovative leadership and cross-sector partnerships. The donation will enable the fellowship to expand its reach, deepen its programming, and create lasting connections between emerging leaders and established institutions.
Founded by GW and José Andrés, the Global Food Institute is dedicated to transforming food systems to improve population health, promote sustainability, and advance equity worldwide.
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