The Marion Institute’s 11th annual Connecting for Change Conference began Friday morning, and true to form, the program featured a broad spectrum of speakers, events and workshops to inspire conversation and movement around a variety of subjects.

The two-day “solutions-based gathering” takes place in downtown New Bedford and usually brings in around 3,000 people to discuss food and agriculture, health and wellness, social justice, design and more.

As the new kid on the block, Janet Milkman said she was excited to be a part of the event that she described as “a cross between a tent revival and a conference.”

Milkman was hired this summer as the executive director of the Marion Institute and has gotten a crash course in the conference.

“It’s a deep dive into what the Marion Institute is about and how we work,” she said.

For the past decade the conference has brought to light issues on the cusp of popular discussion, said Milkman.

“We’re known for bringing people and issues that are sort of just over the horizon but not mainstream yet,” she explained.

This year’s key speakers ranged from Matt Stinchcomb, executive director of the online creative marketplace Etsy, to North Carolina NAACP President Rev. Dr. William Barber and Tradd Cotter, a mushroom expert and organic gardener.

The event is as much a place to hear about topics important at local, national and even global levels, but also to discuss those issues.

“You’re there to learn, but even more you’re there to be inspired and connect with people,” Milkman said.

With a pay-what-you-can-afford registration model as well as free events for the community, anyone can participate in some aspect of the conference.

On Saturday, the family tent had a trick or treating event, a rock climbing wall and a course on empowering kids to interact with food. A small farmers market ran throughout the two days bringing together vendors of local produce, plants and prepared food. And workshops throughout the conference covered a wide swath of subjects such as an interactive session on stereotypes and prejudice, growing medicinal herbs and chakra meditation.

Author and gardener Peter Burke conducted a workshop on growing sprouts on Friday and said he liked the mood in his session.

“It’s really nice to come to a crowd that all feels like one happy family,” he said.

Burke, the author of “Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening”, taught a packed classroom how to grow nutrient rich greens in seven days without grow lights or a lot of space.

“My greenhouse is a house full of greens,” he said.

Steven Rittenhouse of Rochester attended Burke’s workshop after learning about it through the Bristol County Community College’s sustainable agriculture program.

“I think it’s important to know where your food comes from,” said Rittenhouse, who one day hopes to own his own farm.

Retired pediatrician Vivian Esswein-Leary also had food on her mind. The Falmouth resident attended keynote speaker Doug Rauch’s discussion on hunger relief.

Rauch, who worked at Trader Joe’s for 31 years, including 14 years as president, discussed how to rethink food wasted in the country and to find ways to redirect it to those who are hungry or undernourished.

This year was Esswein-Leary’s first at the conference and she appreciated the range of topics presented.

“It raises awareness and it builds community,” she said.

Becoming aware of her community and learning to interact with the people in it is a lesson Aliceyanna Burkley-Mejia learned through Connecting for Change and working with the Marion Institute. After filming many events for the organization and volunteering, she said, “I realized that health was something I was really motivated by.”

She decided to step away from the camera and is now an army medic with the goal of eventually becoming a local EMT and firefighter. Her interactions with the Institute also helped her get physically healthy and find her niche.

What Burkley-Mejia experienced through her time with the Marion Institute is reflected in the makeup of the Connecting for Change Conference.

Milkman said the event is unique in its scope and in the way it connects with the whole person.

“For people to become passionate about an issue it has to inspire both their heart and their brain,” she said. “I think that’s where this gathering really excels.”

Learn more about Connecting for Change at marioninstitute.org.