Candace Spencer DLCA

Candace Spencer is a Mediator and Program Manager at Meridian Institute, located in the Washington, D.C. office. She focuses on Meridian’s food and agriculture projects, with a focus on racial equity in agriculture. Her projects include creating a guidebook to assist conservation professionals in more equitably delivering technical assistance to underserved communities and developing regional hubs across the US to serve farmers of color.

Candace is an attorney who is passionate about Black farmland ownership, food sovereignty, and racial equity. Prior to joining Meridian, she served as a Policy Specialist with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition focused on agriculture structure issues, such as crop insurance, commodity payment reform, and livestock competition. As the Manager of Environmental Justice Projects at the University of Florida College of Law Conservation Clinic, she created the Environmental Justice and Community Economic Development focus area for the Clinic and worked across several issues, including heirs property, community economic development, and urban agriculture policy.

Candace lives in D.C. and has the most fun baking dairy-free desserts, swinging in her hammock, and embracing the summer heat (she’s a native Floridian!)