Friday, October 16, 2026 · World Food Day · Hershey Hall, UCLA
Closing the Circle 2026:Roots, Remedies & Rescue
Three Conversations. One Food System.
Free to attend · Breakfast and lunch included
A one-day convening for the people who grow, prescribe, recover and redistribute food across Los Angeles County — and the funders and agencies who decide what happens next.
Admission is free. Registration is required — seats are limited.
- Date
- Friday, October 16, 2026
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM - Venue
- Hershey Hall, UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095 - Included
- Breakfast, lunch and
afternoon coffee - Admission
- Free — register now
Registration details
Opening keynote & afternoon plenary
Katherine Miller
Food policy advocate and author of At the Table: The Chef's Guide to Advocacy. Keynote title to be announced.
Founding executive director of the Chef Action Network and former vice president of impact at the James Beard Foundation. The first food policy fellow at American University's Sine Institute, a Distinguished Terker Fellow at George Washington University, and adjunct professor at the Culinary Institute of America. Named one of the most innovative women in food and beverage by Fortune and Food & Wine.
The content architecture
Three tracks, one loop
Every plenary, breakout and working group sits in one of three tracks. Grow, eat, recover, return — the tracks are the arcs of the same circle, and the schedule is colour-coded so you can see the shape of the day at a glance.
TRACK ONE
Roots
Urban and regenerative agriculture — growing food in a county of four thousand square miles.
- Regenerative & Urban Agriculture breakout
- Urban Agriculture working group
TRACK TWO
Remedies
Food as medicine — the clinical and public health evidence, and what it takes to deliver it.
- Food as Medicine: From Research to Practice
- Evidence, Evaluation & Produce Prescription Programs
TRACK THREE
Rescue
Food recovery, waste and equitable access — closing the gap between surplus and need.
- Food Recovery, Access & Equitable Distribution
- Food Loss & Waste working group
Draft schedule — speakers and session details subject to confirmation
The day at a glance
8:30 AM to 5:00 PM: a keynote, two plenaries, two breakout blocks and four working groups, bookended by breakfast and a call to action. Full agenda →
Getting there
Hershey Hall, UCLA
Hershey Hall, 612 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles, CA 90095. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon coffee are included.
On the day
- Arrival
- Doors and registration open at 8:30 AM. The day ends at 5:00 PM.
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and afternoon coffee are provided at no cost.
Address & transit
- Venue
- Hershey Hall
612 Charles E Young Dr E
Los Angeles, CA 90095 - Transit & drop-off
- Metro lines serve Westwood Plaza and Hilgard Avenue; rideshare drop-off is on Charles E Young Drive East.
Accommodations & accessibility
Need an accommodation to attend? Tell us what you need when you register, or email nancy@foodcyclela.org by October 2. Lead time matters, and we will follow up directly.
Convened by
- UCLA Rothman Family
Institute for Food Studies - FoodCycle
- USDA
- End Hunger LA
- Los Angeles
Food Policy Council
2026 Sponsors
- Athens ServicesHarvest Sponsor
- UWS CompanyHarvest Sponsor
- Presenting tierAvailable
Partners convene and fund the day; sponsors support it at a tier. Sponsorship tiers & inquiries →
Give up a Friday. Leave with the people who can move it.
Registration is open. Last year's conference was overbooked — book early.