Friday, October 16, 2026 · World Food Day · Hershey Hall, UCLA
Closing the Circle 2026:Roots, Remedies & Rescue
Three Conversations. One Food System.
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.
- Date
- Friday, October 16, 2026
9:00 AM – 5:30 PM - Venue
- Hershey Hall, UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095 - Included
- Breakfast, lunch and
afternoon coffee - Admission
- Ticketed — register now
Registration details
Opening keynote & closing 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
- Institutional Food Waste working group
Draft schedule — speakers and session details subject to confirmation
The day at a glance
9:00 AM to 5:30 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. Wheelchair accessible. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon coffee are included.
Read this before you drive in
Parking is the reason people miss the keynote
Registration runs 9:00 to 9:30 and the keynote starts at 9:40. UCLA structures fill by mid-morning and the walk from the nearest structure is 5–8 minutes. Sort your permit the night before, not at the kiosk.
Leave 30 minutes for parking and the walk- Buy a daily permit in advancePurchase through UCLA Transportation online before the day. The kiosk at the Westwood Plaza entrance is the fallback, not the plan.
- Aim for Structure 2 or Structure 3Both are the closest to Hershey Hall — a 5–8 minute walk. If both are full, campus signage will route you further out, which adds 10–15 minutes.
- Or skip the carMetro lines serve Westwood Plaza and Hilgard Avenue. Rideshare drop-off is on Charles E Young Drive East, directly outside.
On the day
- Arrival
- Doors and registration open at 9:00 AM. The day ends at 5:30 PM.
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and afternoon coffee are provided and included in your ticket. Food partner: CAVA.
- Two sessions sited outdoors
- The Regenerative & Urban Agriculture breakout and the Open Networking conversation are planned for the Central Courtyard. Final locations — and the weather contingency — will be confirmed closer to the date.
Address & transit
- Venue
- Hershey Hall
612 Charles E Young Dr E
Los Angeles, CA 90095 - Closest structures
- Parking Structure 2 and Parking Structure 3, both a 5–8 minute walk.
- Transit & drop-off
- Metro lines serve Westwood Plaza and Hilgard Avenue; rideshare drop-off is on Charles E Young Drive East.
Accommodations & accessibility
Hershey Hall is wheelchair accessible. We are working with UCLA on interpreter services for attendees with hearing challenges, and we can arrange dietary, mobility and other accommodations — but lead time matters. Tell us what you need when you register, or email nancy@foodcyclela.org, and we will follow up directly.
Presented with
- USDA
- UCLA Rothman Family Food Institute
- Los Angeles Food Policy Council
Give up a Friday. Leave with the people who can move it.
Registration is open. Last year's conference was overbooked — book early.