Schools, Food and Gardening:
Cultivating a Healthy Future
April 21, 2007
Download Speaker Bios (232 KB pdf)
Speaker Biographies
John Ameroso, Urban Agriculture
and Markets Initiative
Cornell University Cooperative Extension
John has been working in the fields of horticulture and agricultural production since 1964. In 1976 he piloted the Urban Gardening Program with Cornell University Cooperative Extension, and through his efforts successfully set the ground for Extension education in urban horticulture and food production for NYC. John is currently working with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s New Farmers New Markets Program which received the “Community and Rural Development Innovator Award” from Cornell University, and the Northeast Extension Director’s Award, Honorable Mention, for the Northeast States.
Linda M. Ameroso, Extension Educator
Cornell University Cooperative Extension
Linda Ameroso is an urban horticulture/agriculture specialist who has been working in New York City since 1977. Ms. Ameroso was instrumental in founding one of the nations’s largest community garden sites at Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area in Brooklyn. She worked closely with the Board of Education’s Gateway Environmental Study Center in establishing school based gardens throughout parts of Brooklyn and Queens, and trained teachers in Environmental Science and Food Production as part of that effort. Today, Linda concentrates her Extension efforts on food security, and bringing nutrition and health education to targeted communities.
Georgia Angelakis, Training Manager
JHS 126, District 14
Georgia Angelikas has been working with SchoolFood for the past nine years. She started from the bottom and worked her way up while in school, holding positions such as cook, auditor, food safety advisor, school food manager, and finally training manager. She has an Associates degree from LGCC in Food Service Management, a BA from NYU in Nutrition and Food Studies, and is currently working towards my Masters in Nutrition and Dietetics from NYU.
Mikey Azzara, Outreach Coordinator
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey (NOFA-NJ)
At NOFA-NJ, Mikey oversees state-wide educational programs for organic farmers, gardeners, consumers, and youth. Through NOFA-NJ’s Community Food Education Program, he implements school gardens and works to connect New Jersey’s farms with restaurants, schools, and institutional dining facilities. A 2002 graduate of Middlebury College, he farmed in Italy and Vermont before returning to his hometown of Lawrenceville, NJ. He has also participated in The Food Project’s BLAST Cadre and is a member of the 2-year NJ Agricultural Leadership Development Program.
Hilary Baum, Director
Baum Forum
Hilary Baum produces educational seminars, conferences and special events focusing on critical issues in food and farming. She is president of Baum Forum/Public Market Partners, a not-for-profit, and coordinating director of the NYC Food Systems Network, an emerging collaboration of agencies and individuals engaged in furthering access to wholesome, regional food. A pioneer in the farmers’ market movement, Hilary is active in community supported agriculture and co-author of Public Markets and Community Revitalization.
Andrew Benson, Executive Chef and Director of Food Service
Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy
Chef Benson’s kitchen focuses on improving the health of the children and families within the Harlem area. We accomplish this through nutrition education, access to locally grown fresh produce at our in-house farmers markets, and the healthy meals which are provided utilizing NY state products.
Jacquie Berger, Executive Director
Just Food
Jacquie became Just Food’s Executive Director in August 2006. She had been a long-time admirer of Just Food since 1996 when she first volunteered with the organization. Over the past eight years, Jacquie has held both direct service and senior management positions with a of number non-profit organizations focused on sustainable food systems and environmental issues, including Holcomb Farm Learning Centers in West Granby, CT. She received a Master of Business Administration degree at the Yale School of Management, and holds a BA in Environmental Science from Barnard College.
Harry J. Bubbins, Director
Friends of Brook Park
Harry attended school in the Bronx, and upon graduating from Cornell University returned to teach at the junior high school he attended. He has led outdoor environmental education programming on land and the water in the South Bronx for over 10 years.
Scott Burg, Senior Health Research Analyst
Rockman et al, San Francisco
Scott has worked with numerous school districts and public health organizations on development, implementation and evaluation of programs dealing with diet, nutrition, coordinated school health, chronic disease management and health informatics.
Cristina Chapman, Farm Educator
FoodChange/Added Value
Cristina Chapman is a Farm Educator, working for the FoodChange/Added Value partnership to develop and deliver the farm-based curriculum. She has spent the last 6 years working on farms, and as an outdoor educator. She is presently quite happy to be working in Red Hook soil alongside many careful, caring little farmers.
Jaimie P. Cloud, Founder and President
The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education
Ms. Cloud teaches, writes and facilitates programs that are designed to teach topics across disciplines through the lens of sustainability including Ecological Economics for Life; Civics and Sustainable Communities; Indicators of Sustainability; Changing Consumption Patterns; and From Global Hunger to Sustainable Food Systems. She serves as Chair of the Green Map System, Chair of the Center for the Study of Expertise in Teaching and Learning, and is Co-Chair of the Board of the Global Information Network.
Shayna Cohen, Senior Consultant
Karp Resources
Karp Resources is a food business consultancy which researches, designs, implements and project manages sustainable food programs and businesses. Karp Resources’ clients include entrepreneurs, social service organizations, farms and farm-based businesses, food and nutrition advocacy organizations, agricultural economic development groups, and government agencies. Key current projects include developing a three-year local food procurement plan for NYC’s Office of SchoolFood; conducting the second phase of research on the development of a Wholesale Farmers’ Market in NYC; and evaluating the SchoolFood Plus Initiative.
Jorge L. Collazo Executive Chef
SchoolFood
Prior to joining SchoolFood, Chef Collazo was a Chef Instructor at the New England Culinary Institute, in Montpelier, Vermont specializing in the history of food and culture. Previously, he held Executive Chef positions with a number of major corporate dining management companies. His last position in New York City was as Executive Chef for the law firm of Slate, Meagher and Flom. Chef Collazo holds an Associate’s Degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America (1982) and an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts from Union Country College, in New Jersey.
Isobel R. Contento, PhD, Program in Nutrition
Teachers College Columbia University
Isobel Contento is the Mary Rose Professor of Nutrition and Education and Coordinator of the Program in Nutrition, Department of Health and Behavior Studies. Her research is on factors influencing food choice and decision-making among children and adolescents; children’s and adolescents’ understanding of the impact of food and food systems on the environment; and development and evaluation of nutrition education curricula. She is a co-developer of Linking Food and the Environment (LiFE), and author of Nutrition and Education: Linking Research, Theory and Practice.
Amy Cotler
Fresh and Company
For the last 14 years, Amy Cotler has worked as a local food advocate, primarily as director of Berkshire Grown, a local food and farm initiative whose farm to restaurant program been modeled nationally. Today Amy works as a consultant on local food, farm and school food issues. She is about to finish The Massachusetts Farm to School Cookbook in partnership with statewide agencies and Buy Local campaigns. Amy Cotler’s background is as a chef, cooking teacher, cookbook author, recipe developer, and food writer.
Margo Crabtree
Center for Ecoliteracy
Margo Crabtree is a freelance editor and curriculum consultant based in Santa Cruz, California. She currently works with the Center for Ecoliteracy as their science education consultant focusing on K-8 curriculum planning and integration.
Alev Dervish, Teacher
P.S. 15
Alev is a reading intervention teacher at P.S. 15 in Brooklyn. She is currently the teacher liaison for Cookshop and Farm to Classroom. She has been teaching for 10 years, and is proud to be one of the first teachers at her school to participate in the Added Value/Cookshop collaboration. She holds a Master of Arts Degree from the University of Florida.
Wendy Dubit, Founder and Director
FarmHands-CityHands
FarmHands-CityHands is a 21-year-old organization dedicated to keeping local agriculture alive and to linking farm and city for the social, cultural, economic and environmental enrichment of both. In keeping with its tag line, “New York, Love it AND Leave It,” FarmHands has enabled thousands of area youth to experience first hand what does and doesn’t grow on trees. Other initiatives Wendy has started under her pro-social Vergant brand and for others include: Wine Enthusiast magazine, The Senses Bureau, and The Renewables.
Anne Duplessis, Junior (Student)
World Academy for Total Community Health High School, Brooklyn
After completing her first semester with EATWISE this fall as an Academic Year Intern, Anne was hired as a Junior Staff member. This semester Anne is investigating Food Advertising. After high school she hopes to study to become a plastic surgeon.
Jerry Dygert, Proprietor
Champlain Valley Orchards
(Biography unavailable at press time)
Debra Epstein, Director of Children’s Education Programming
New York Botanical Garden
A veteran in the field of horticulture and children’s education, Debra first joined the Botanical Garden in the early 1980s, when she developed and managed the Family Garden, a 1.5-acre garden devoted to hands-on gardening. After establishing a successful landscape design business in Westchester County, Debra returned to NYBG in 2001, where she directs the Garden’s children’s education programs and facilities.
Fern Gale Estrow, RD, Founder
The FGE Food and Nutrition Team
Fern Gale Estrow is working to improve health and quality of life through integration of food programs, nutrition education, media literacy, and public policy. Fern is the Chair of the New York City Food Systems Network, column editor for the Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition, and, as a member of the New York City Nutrition Education Network Steering and Envisioning Committee, the liaison to their Public Policy Working Group. Fern is currently Chair of Hunter College’s Nutrition Advisory Committee and a member of the Kids Can Make a Difference and West Side Campaign Against Hunger Advisory Boards.
Keri Evjy, Education Associate, Adopt a School GardenTM Coordinator
The National Gardening Association (NGA)
Keri Evjy lends her strengths and talents from the fields of Bilingual and Experiential Education teaching in a variety of educational atmospheres from the East Coast to the West Coast. A self-taught gardener since she was 9 years old, Keri has worked in horticulture and organic agriculture fields, as well as farmer’s markets. Her role at the NGA includes facilitating effective school gardens for the ASG program, curriculum development and fostering community outreach in the Vermont community. Presently, she is a community gardener and board member for the Burlington Area Community Gardens and is an organizer for a local food education outreach group.
Craig Ferguson, Physical Education Teacher
PS 81
(Biography unavailable at press time)
Susan Fields, Deputy Director of GreenThumb
NYC Department of Parks & Recreation
NYC Department of Parks & Recreation supports over 600 community and school gardens throughout the five boroughs. Susan is a founding member of the Water Resources Group, serves on the board of the Manhattan Land Trust and is currently organizing the expansion of GreenThumb services to include urban agriculture/market garden sites. In addition to 14 years of community development experience she is a licensed social worker with an MSW, a BA in Psychology, a Certificate in Gardening from the New York Botanical Gardens and is currently studying horticultural therapy.
Judy Fink, Education Programs Director
Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture is a non-profit farm and education center that offers a unique experience: an opportunity to learn about agriculture firsthand on a working farm and build connections to the food we eat. Judy has implemented a comprehensive selection of field trip experiences for students kindergarten through high school, and supervises staff in providing a summer farm day camp, after-school programs and professional development opportunities for teachers. Prior to coming to Stone Barns, Judy taught elementary school for many years and was a curriculum/staff developer for teachers and administrators.
Lynn Fredericks, Founder
FamilyCook Productions
Lynn Fredericks is the author of Cooking Time Is Family Time and founder of FamilyCook Productions (FCP). An award-winning nutrition and culinary educator, Ms. Fredericks and her team of chefs and dieticians offer curricula that engage students and their families in the empowering, skills building and bonding activity of cooking meals using farm-fresh ingredients. Over 60 FCP programs operate across New York, Maryland, and Washington D.C.
John Gagliardi, Farmer
New York Beef Company
The grandson of a Westchester County dairyman, John Gagliardi raises 100% Grassfed beef on his farm in Dutchess County. He distributes throughout NYC and participates in the Greenmarket at Union Square.
Gary Giberson, Executive Chef
The Lawrenceville School, NJ
When Gary took over Dining Services, The Lawrenceville School received most of their food from one large provider. Now, Gary sources almost all of his food from local producers and has built relationships with nearby farmers. For example, students can choose from 10 varieties of apples and pears grown right in Lawrenceville. And they can choose wisely, as Gary provides information about each varietal to the students. Even more importantly, Gary has gotten the students into the kitchen.
Sid Grabill, Regional Chef
School Food Plus Initiative, SchoolFood
Chef Sid Grabill has been involved with professional food service for over 36 years. Currently, he is developing and implementing the SchoolFood Plus Initiative with NYC School Food. Nurturing healthy culinary awareness with children is a wonderful addition to his diverse culinary experience.
Dr. Joan Dye Gussow
Dr. Gussow is a serious food producer, a somewhat serious writer and officially a retiree from Teachers College, Columbia where she was the Mary Swartz Rose Professor, former chair of the Nutrition Education Program, and still teaches every fall. She has chaired and served on many boards and is currently on the boards of Just Food, the Sustainability Fund, and the Frontera Farmer Foundation. She has also served on the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, the FDA’s Food Advisory Committee and on the National Organic Standards Board. Her books include The Feeding Web, The Nutrition Debate, and Chicken Little, Tomato Sauce and Agriculture. Gussow lives, writes, and grows organic vegetables on the west bank of the Hudson River. Her most recent book is This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader, Chelsea Green Publishing Co. She is at work on a new book.
Amie Hamlin, Executive Director
New York Coalition for Healthy School Food
Amie Hamlin leads New York Coalition for Healthy School Food, a statewide nonprofit that works to improve the health and well-being of New York’s students by advocating for healthy plant-based foods, farm to school programs (including organic where possible), the elimination of unhealthy competitive foods in all areas of the school (not just the cafeteria), comprehensive nutrition policy, and education to cultivate food and health literacy.
McKinley Hightower-Beyah, Urban
Agriculturist
McKinley is Director and Founder of McKinley’s Children’s Garden Group, Trainer of Trainers with Just Food-City Farms, Manager of Hamer-Campos Farmers’ Market (since 1994), Board Member of Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, Consultant with NYCHA Garden and Greening Program, and workshop presenter NYC Parks and Recreation’s Greenthumb NYC. McKinley has administered several EFPA programs in Far Rockaway, Queens from 1994 to present.
Margrethe Horlyck-Romanovsky, MPH, Assistant Director, Food and Nutrition
FoodChange
Margrethe Horlyck-Romanovsky is the Assistant Director of the Food and Nutrition Services group at FoodChange. Ms. Horlyck-Romanovsky grew up in Denmark in a family of hunters and gatherers with a large kitchen garden, and went on to earn a BS in Nutrition and Home Economics as well as a Masters of Public Health Nutrition. As a public health nutritionist and chef, she has throughout her career incorporated extensive food, gardening, and nutrition knowledge to inspire excitement about and awareness of good food, mindful eating, nutrition education, cooking-based programming, and local food systems initiatives.
Nancy Huehnergarth, Director
New York State Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance (NYSHEPA)
Nancy Huehnergarth has been a leader in the better school food and fitness movement in New York State for the past six years. She is the co-founder and Director of the New York State Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance (NYSHEPA), a newly formed statewide coalition dedicated to improving policies and practices that promote healthy eating and physical activity. As the former Executive Director of the Westchester Coalition for Better School Food, she was a lead organizer of the School Food and Fitness for Life Conference at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in April 2006.
Alma Idehen, Health Expert
Bronx Office of Youth Development
Ms. Idehen has been the Health Director for Region One and involved in connecting schools with programs for nutrition and fitness support and activities.
Lauren Jarrett, Farm Director
EECO Farms
Lauren Jarrett, Executive Director of EECO Farm (East End Community Organic Farm) is an artist, naturalist, environmentalist, teacher, and life-long organic gardener. She designed and heads EECO Farm’s new in-class educational program, the Learning Cart, a moveable agricultural resource that offers lessons and activities for Pre-K through 6th grade students.
Susan Kaen, Physical Education Teacher
P.S. 29
Susan Kaen has been a teacher in the NYC school system since 1966. She is presently the physical education instructor.
Amy Kalafa, HHC
Two Angry Moms
Amy Kalafa is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose credits include CBS News 48 Hours, Dr. T. Berry Brazelton’s What Every Baby Knows, the Martha Stewart Living series as well as numerous early childhood education programs for the US Department of Education. Amy is also a Lecturer in the Yale University Department of Medicine and Psychiatry, a certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher and the mother of two teenage daughters.
Sara Katz, Farm and Nutrition Coordinator
Phipps CDC
Sara Katz is the Farm and Nutrition Coordinator at Phipps CDC, serving the West Farms community of the Bronx. Sara teaches residents of all ages about gardening, cooking and nutrition, particularly in Drew Gardens, a two-acre space along the Bronx River. She also manages the West Farmer’s Market, a community-run market selling local, seasonal produce, some of which is produced right in the Bronx.
Sarah Kaufmann, Education Program
New York Restoration Project
(Biography unavailable at press time)
Pamela Koch, Nutrition Program
Teachers College, Columbia University
Pamela Koch is the Project Coordinator for Linking Food and the Environment (LiFE) at Teachers College, Columbia University. LiFE is an upper-elementary and middle school curriculum with four modules: Growing Food, Farm to Table & Beyond, Food & Health, and Choice, Control, & Change. She has also developed curriculum for the EarthFriends™ Program. Pam’s dissertation was an evaluation of CookShop®.
James Lane, Education Program
New York Restoration Project (NYRP)
(Biography not available at press time)
Robert Lewis, Chief Marketing Representative
NYS Dept. of Agriculture and Markets
Robert Lewis is responsible for planning and administering statewide programs that promote economic development of NYS agriculture and benefit farmers, consumers, and communities through the establishment of retail and wholesale farmer-to-consumer direct marketing facilities and arrangements. Before joining the Department of Agriculture and Markets in 1978, Bob co-founded the Greenmarket program in New York City. He is leading the Department’s USDA-funded NYC Wholesale Farmers Market Study and is involved with the Department’s Farm-to-School Program.
Lenny Librizzi, Assistant Director, Open Space Greening Program
Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC)
Lenny has been at CENYC since 1987 and brings a wealth of horticultural experience with him. He has developed and taught horticultural and other environmental workshops and courses for a variety of populations including youth, the homeless, seniors and community gardeners. He created the Community Garden Mapping Project, a GIS map creation and catalog of open spaces in city neighborhoods. His efforts led to the creation of the Water Resources Group dedicated to water conservation and pollution prevention through rainwater harvesting systems. He collaborated in the creation of the Learn It Grow It Eat It project and teaches the gardening component.
Toni Liquori, EdD, MPH
Teachers College Columbia University
Liquori and Associates
Toni Liquori is a public health nutritionist whose work has focused on improving the quality of foods available through public institutions (schools, soup kitchens, food pantries, hospitals) in New York City and teaches graduate students at Teachers College about how to do this and why it is crucial that we do. Developer of the CookShopTM Program and the SchoolFood Plus InitiativeTM, two successful programs in New York City that focus on the connections among farms, classroom education and school meals, Toni brings years of experience with urban institutions and their challenges implementing large-scale institutional food change. Current WK Kellogg Foundation funding is enabling her to extend this strategic work on school meal reform to large, urban school districts across the country.
Gerard Lordahl, Director, Open Space Greening Program
Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC)
(Biography unavailable at press time)
Kate MacKenzie, MS, RD
FoodChange, Director, Food and Nutrition
Kate oversees FoodChange’s extensive nutrition education programming and determines its advocacy agenda, focused on increasing access to quality food for low-income New Yorkers. The programs within Kate’s department encourage young children, adults, and seniors to adopt healthy eating behaviors, particularly by consuming minimally processed, seasonal, and local foods. She works closely with the New York City Department of Education to encourage and facilitate the procurement of local foods served in more than 860,000 meals a day to New York City’s public school children. Kate manages the delivery of the CookShop® program, which enables more than 6000 public school students each year to become familiar with and prefer plant-based foods. She also works to ensure that the low-income recipients of meals and food through FoodChange’s community kitchen and food pantry also benefit by receiving local food.
Denise Martabano, Fifth Grade Teacher
Meadow Pond Elementary School
While teaching fifth grade for the last 16 years, Ms. Martabano has also led the Garden/Greenhouse Club and the Mexican Cooking Club. She has designed and implemented annual school wide planting, harvesting and cooking, events for her K – 5 school and co-chaired the Learning and Growing Garden Committee. Meadow Pond is entering the second Phase of installing their outdoor Learning and Growing Garden, which includes a handicap accessible low maintenance vegetable garden, a butterfly garden, colonial garden, sensory garden, cutting garden, composting center, outdoor classroom.
Ian Marvy, Co-founder and Executive Director
Added Value and Herban Solutions, Inc.
For the past 15 years Mr. Marvy has been organizing youth to become a positive force for social change in post-industrial cities and towns like Holyoke, MA, Camden, NJ, and Philadelphia, PA. After two years designing service-learning programs for youth caught up in the juvenile justice system, he began working with three teenagers and Michael Hurwitz (Added Value’s Co-founder and now the Director of New York City GreenMarkets) to create Added Value. Ian’s awards include an Echoing Green Fellowship, Petra Foundation Social Justice Fellowship, and Union Square Award.
John McDaniel, Program Director
Manhattan Country School Farm
John McDaniel has directed the program at the Manhattan Country School Farm for sixteen years. Located in the Catskill Mountain town of Roxbury, NY, the MCS Farm is the rural component that puts “Country” in the name of this independent elementary and middle school. By farming, gardening, and exploring nature with children, John helps build relationships between people and their natural surroundings. Using organic, humane, and sustainable methods of agriculture the Manhattan Country School Farm has been a model of “educational” farming for close to forty years.
Herman McKie, MS, RD
New York City Department of Education
SchoolFood
Herman McKie started with SchoolFood as a School Food Service Manager in 1992 and has held several positions including and District Supervisor. Since 2004, as Nutrition Coordinator he provides support to SchoolFood’s Culinary Concepts and Food Technology units, through researching current nutrition recommendations and trends in the food industry. His department provides material for the monthly School Food Partnership Initiative and tracks the advocacy efforts of our managers in the field. Herman serves as liaison between SchoolFood and the school community.
Kelly McLane, Teacher
Bronx Green School
Kelly has been teaching math, science and advisory in public middle schools for six years, as well as coordinating children’s gardening at both the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the New York Botanical Garden. Kelly currently teaches a course called Field Study, which she and fellow presenter Kristen Roberts designed. While studying social work at New York University, Kelly owned and managed a small gardening service, and later completed her masters in Special Education at Hunter College.
Tanya Mercado
East NY Farms!
(Biography unavailable at press time)
Stephen Monaco
Bronx School for Scientific Inquiry and Investigation
(Biography unavailable at press time)
Liz Neumark, CEO
Great Performances and Katchkie Farm
Liz Neumark created Great Performances 26 years ago with the creative vision of establishing an alternative path for women in the arts to find financial opportunities within the foodservice industry. In 2006, Liz realized her dream of connecting Great Performances with organic produce and locally grown ingredients. Katchkie Farm, the company’s own organic farm in Columbia County, New York, will provide Great Performances’ restaurants, cafés and special events with a unique selection of menu items with unmatched freshness.
Abbie Nelson, Farm to School Mentor, VT FEED Coordinator
NOFA-VT
Abbie Nelson is the Education Coordinator of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont and the VT FEED local purchasing coordinator. She has been a teacher for over 20 years in regular and special education, and worked on an organic vegetable farm for 3 years. As part of NOFA-VT and a VT FEED partner with Food Works and Shelburne Farms, she has been working in Vermont schools linking Food, Farm, and Nutrition education for 8 years. Her role has been to connect kitchen managers with local farmers, helping farmers with agricultural education on their farms, training school food service personnel, and teaching school staff how to introduce new foods to students.
Sarah Pappas, Program Associate for Youth Development
FoodChange
FoodChange is a non-profit organization in New York City that strives to improve lives through nutrition, education, and financial empowerment. Sarah co-facilitates FoodChange’s teen development program, EATWISE (Educated and Aware Teens Who Inspire Smart Eating), training teens to be nutrition educators and advocates. Sarah began her work with FoodChange as an AmeriCorps volunteer, prior to which she earned a BA from The George Washington University.
Lynn Parker, Director of Child Nutrition
Programs and Nutrition Policy
Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)
FRAC is a national research, advocacy and legal center working to end hunger and under nutrition in the U.S. Lynn Parker directs FRAC’s work on child nutrition programs, research, and nutrition policy. Ms. Parker played a leadership role in the development of FRAC’s Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP), a ground-breaking survey of childhood hunger in the United States. She leads FRAC’s initiative on understanding and responding to the paradox of hunger and obesity.
Stefania Patinella, Manager of Food and Nutrition Programs
The Children’s Aid Society
For the Children’s Aid Society, Stefania has created and directs Seed to Table, a gardening and healthy cooking program that works to reconnect kids and adults to real food. She trained as a chef at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Culinary Arts and Health and learned about cultivation, cheese-making, and bread making through a Fulbright farming project in Italy.
Robert George Patterson, Senior Liaison Officer, FAO / UN
The Growing Connection
Robert Patterson is Senior Liaison Officer in the North American Liaison Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Mr. Patterson coordinates FAO’s activities in the North American region with respect to the private and non-governmental sectors, and with priority to community-based sustainable food production initiatives such as The Growing Connection. Mr. Patterson leads FAO’s public outreach programs in the USA and Canada, generating interest and action in sustainable food production and local and international solutions to malnutrition, hunger and poverty. Mr. Patterson has been with FAO/UN since 1980, filling assignments on four continents and in over 24 countries. He is on the Advisory Board of the American Horticultural Society and the Programming Board for COPIA.
Lyn Pentecost, Director
Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York
Lyn Pentecost is a cultural anthropologist and community activist. As director of The Lower Eastside Girls Club, she has made it her mission to introduce healthy eating habits and nutrition education into the lives of the girls they serve. The Girls Club also introduces the concept of sustainable agriculture and the practice of regional consumption into the community by running a community farmers’ market.
Steve Perry, Assistant Principal, Agriculture Program
John Bowne High School
John Bowne Hight School is the only Agriculture Department within the NYCDOE. As a 1977 graduate of the program, Steve returned to teach in 1983 and took the position of Assistant Principal in 1996. He holds an A.A.S. degree in Animal Husbandry from SUNY Cobleskill, a B.S. degree in Animal Husbandry/Agricultural Education from Cornell University, a M.S. degree in Agricultural Education/Educational Administration from Cornell University, and a Certificate in Education Administration from Hofstra University. During his tenure, the school has greatly expanded large animal, aquaculture, and vegetable crop programs.
Kathleen Porter, MS, RD, Program Officer for Educational Initiatives
FoodChange
At FoodChange, Kathleen is involved in various educational projects, including CookShop® Classroom and Farm to Classroom. Prior to working for FoodChange Kathleen has held positions as dietitian for Columbia University’s Department of Housing and Dining; the research/program assistant for The Adventures of Captain 5-A-Day, a nutrition and physical activity educator for preschoolers; and seasonal nutrition educator for the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension. She graduated from the Coordinated Undergraduate Program at the University of Connecticut with a B.S. in Dietetics and from Teachers College, Columbia University with a M.S. in Nutrition Education.
Dr. Anthony (Tony) Recasner
Chief Executive Officer
Middle School Advocates, Inc.
Head of School
New Orleans Charter Middle School & S. J. Green Charter School
Tony Recasner has been working to reform public education in New Orleans for almost twenty years. He is co-founder and Head of New Orleans Charter Middle School, the city’s first charter school, which opened in 1998 and S. J. Green Charter School established in July 2005. Under Tony’s leadership, both schools have received national support and recognition for their innovative educational practices including offering a challenging and engaging academic curriculum, while effectively addressing students’ social and emotional needs.
Kristen Roberts, Teacher
Bronx Green School
After teaching in NYC public schools for 3 years, Kristen received her master’s degree in Environmental Education at the Audubon Expedition Institute at Lesley University. Her graduate work consisted of traveling through different regions of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, living outside and learning from the local human and non-human communities. At Bronx Green Middle School, Kristen works to engage students in doing the same type of community learning, cultivating a school garden and working with the LIFE curriculum.
Susan Rubin DMD, HHC
Coalition for Better School Food
Two Angry Moms
Dr. Susan Rubin is a dentist, holistic nutritionist, founder and president of the Coalition for Better School Food and is one of the Two Angry Moms. Dr. Rubin has created and implemented curricula for children of all ages as well as adults in the area of food and health education, her approach integrates whole food and healthy lifestyle with the reality of living in our busy and often chaotic world.
Kathleen Salisbury, Director of Education
Greater Newark Conservancy
Kathleen manages education programs for Greater Newark Conservancy. Prior to this, she was the Director of Horticulture, managing the installation and maintenance of a 1 1⁄2 acre teaching garden located in downtown Newark and managing the 14 school gardens or ‘Living Labs’ throughout the city of Newark. Kathy came to the Conservancy after graduating with a Masters of Science Degree from the University of Delaware as a Longwood Fellow in Public Horticulture Administration, before that she received her Bachelors of Science in Ornamental Horticulture and Environmental Design from Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA.
David Saphire, Project Coordinator
Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC)
David Saphire, Project Coordinator for Learn it, Grow it, Eat it has been engaging intermediate and high school students in environmental and health projects with CENYC’s Environmental Education Program since 1999.
Rachel Schneider, Member of the General Management Group
Hawthorne Valley Farm
(Biography unavailable at press time)
Lisa Schwartz, Founder and Proprietor
Rainbeau Ridge
Rainbeau Ridge is a working farm in Bedford Hills. Lisa manages a team that cares for a broad range of farm animals and grows fresh produce. She is the resident cheese maker and herdswoman, taking time to teach cooking courses and children’s farm education programs which emphasize the importance of local sustainable agriculture in our daily lives. Rainbeau Ridge increasingly plays host to many philanthropic and community events, furthering the farm’s goals of keeping land as open space, conserving resources and helping people understand the value of farming, food and sustainable, accessible agriculture.
Janet Scott, President
The Garden at St. Ann’s Incorporated
The Garden at St. Ann’s is a non-profit organization that encourages children and teenagers in the South Bronx community to create and sustain an organic vegetable and flower garden. The Garden currently serves 40 children and teens in the summer and 100 first through seventh graders in after-school programs. Her gardening expertise comes from over 30 years of experience in growing plants from seed; three years as a volunteer in Rutgers University Master Gardener program, Sussex County; New Jersey, three years as a part-time employee at a garden center; and a multitude of courses at the New York Botanical Garden. She has more than 40 years of volunteer teaching with children.
Elizabeth Solomon, MS, RD
Senior Program Officer,Youth Development, FoodChange
Elizabeth manages EATWISE (Educated and Aware Teens Who Inspire Smart Eating), a youth development program that trains teens to be nutrition and food educators and advocates. Elizabeth also helps public elementary schools establish wellness councils to improve school nutrition and physical activity. In collaboration with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, she offers training, guidance, and resources to school staff who participate in wellness councils. In addition to her work at FoodChange, Elizabeth co-teaches Community Nutrition at New York University.
Naomi Smith, Principal
Central Park East II
Naomi Smith has been an educator for 25 years and is the principal of Central Park East II, a small, public elementary school in East Harlem. Over the past several years, CPE II established a health and wellness committee and adopted a physical activity and nutrition policy with the goal of educating the entire school community.
Rebecca Sparks
New York University
Rebecca Sparks is an avid believer in the effectiveness of gardening and cooking curricula as means to changing nutritional behaviors. She received an undergraduate degree in nutrition from Colorado State University and completed her Dietetic Internship and Masters Degree in Nutrition Education at Columbia University Teachers College. She now works at New York University Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health teaching Community Nutrition, overseeing all the culinary classes and coordinating the Washington Square CSA. She is currently the chair-elect for NYCNEN (New York City Nutrition Education Network).
Tom Strumolo, Director of Policy and Planning
Greenmarket
Council on the Environment of NYC (CENCY)
Tom Strumolo is the CENYC/Greenmarket Director of Policy and Planning. He has been with CENYC for twenty four years, serving as Greenmarkets Operations manager and program director. Tom is also a retired architect.
Sara Tedeschi, Outreach and Education Manager
Organic Valley Family of Farm
Sarah Tedeschi works in consumer and retail education and with farmers in education and marketing efforts. Prior to Organic Valley, Sara was Project Coordinator for the Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch farm-to-school project in Madison. On the staff of the University of Wisconsin- Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, she worked as Coordinator of the College Food Project, a farm-to-college program. Her training and background also include a B.S. in Nutrition from Bastyr University in Seattle, WA; 10 years owning and operating an organic vegetable farm in Wisconsin; managing the food program for the wilderness based leadership training program Outward Bound; and several years administering organic certification.
Cynthia Thomashow, Director
Center for Environmental Education
Cynthia Thomashow is the director of Environmental Education at Antioch New England Graduate School. She is director of the Center for Environmental Education, an electronic resource center that has a curriculum library available for K-12 teachers and focuses on Educating for Sustainability, Healthy Food in Schools and Climate Change Education. Cindy is currently working with The Climate Project, founded by Al Gore, to make sure good curricula is available to help teachers inform students about climate change.
Donald Tobias, Ph.D., Executive Director
Cornell University Cooperative Extension
Don Tobias serves as Executive Director for Cornell University Cooperative Extension in New York City. His research areas include program evaluation, community education, and public health.
Kenroy Tyrell
Academy for Urban Planning
Kenroy is a high school senior at the Academy for Urban Planning in Brooklyn, NY. He has been a member of EATWISE, FoodChange’s teen development program, since 2006. After serving as an Academic Year Intern, he was hired as a Summer Intern, then a Junior Staff member, and is currently a Program Assistant. In the fall Kenroy will attend the New York City Art Institute, where he will study fashion merchandising.
Cecily Upton, Slow Food in Schools
Slow Food USA
Cecily Upton oversees Slow Food USA’s Slow Food in Schools Program. Encompassing taste education projects across the country, Slow Food in Schools provides youth with a meaningful connection to food through planting seeds, harvesting crops, preparing meals, and enjoying the pleasures of the table.
Chelsea Vernon, Sweet Things Manager
Lower Eastside Girls Club
After attending Antioch College, Chelsea moved to Boston to run the food bank at Rosie’s Place, a sanctuary for poor and homeless women. She moved to New York in 2005 to work within the Department of Education’s city-wide mentoring program, and from there went on to work with The Lower Eastside Girls Club where she now takes advantage of her experience growing up in a family of food entrepreneurs.
Philson A. A. Warner, Extension Associate/Applied Scientist
Cornell University Cooperative Extension
Mr. Warner is the Founding Director of the Cornell University Cooperative Extension Hydroponics, Aquaculture, Aquaponics Applied Research, Teaching, Demonstration and Learning Lab, and director of the Science and Technology and Sustainable Agriculture Program. Mr. Warner invented and developed the Nutrient Drip Flow Technique (NDFTTM) Hydroponics Technology and co- authored the Hydroponics Learning Model (HLMTM) Curriculum. This curriculum is based on the NDFT Hydroponics Technology and is an intensive version of “The Grow With Flow” Curriculum (co-authored by Mr. Warner). The HLMTM is an inquiry-based, experiential, and multi-disciplinary curriculum designed to address the standards of the New York State Regents in biology, environmental science, and applied sciences (such as horticulture).
Jennifer Wilkins, Senior Extension Associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences
Cornell University
Jennifer Wilkins directs the Cornell Farm to School Program and the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program. Her research and extension activities focus on the integration of nutrition, health, and community food systems. She writes a monthly column, “The Food Citizen”, for the Albany Times Union.