By Patrick Yeagle
The Illinois Stewardship Alliance board of directors has chosen Liz Moran Stelk as the group's new executive director.
Stelk previously served as regional organizer with the Western Organization of Resource Councils in Montana, which involved working with farmers and ranchers across seven states to address food and agricultural policy issues.
“Liz’s unbridled enthusiasm and experience working alongside family farmers and ranchers to improve our local food system make her the perfect fit to lead Illinois Stewardship Alliance into the future," said Andy Heck, chair of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance board of directors.
Stelk has also worked to organize health care workers with SEIU Healthcare Illinois and has led field work for a variety of grassroots and electoral campaigns. A native of Chicago's south suburbs, Stelk also was a Capitol Scholar and political studies graduate at the University of Illinois Springfield.
"I'm excited to work with ISA members who work creatively and relentless to connect farmers with consumers and with reliable markets, make local
food affordable and accessible for everybody, and who are organizing at the grassroots for structural and policy changes to make a healthy, just food system," Stelk said.
She adds that helping small family farms stay in business also helps preserve soil, water and clean air, support the local economy and mitigate the effects of climate change from industrial agriculture.
"It's a challenge for my husband and I to regularly find affordable, locally grown food," Stelk said. "By the time my young sons are old enough to get a job, I want every family in our state to be able to easily access and afford nutritious food raised nearby by farmers who are great stewards of the land."
Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].
