Community Food Funders is excited to announce…

The Inaugural Seeding Power Cohort

We’re thrilled to introduce the first cohort of the Seeding Power Fellowship! This talented group is about to embark on 18 months of movement building and advancing food justice in New York. The emergent curriculum includes five in-person retreats, monthly peer coaching calls, site visits and more.

You can learn more about the fellows below, and you can meet them and hear about Seeding Power on June 12th at the 2019 CFF Annual Gathering (a funder-only event). We’re grateful to all the advocates who applied, and for the hard work of our Selection Committee.

Please join us in congratulating the fellows!

Follow Seeding Power and the fellows on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter!

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More about the fellows

Bianca Bockman has over 20 years of experience across a broad range of environmental, human rights, and social justice work, including 10 years of hands-on experience in urban agriculture and food justice. Bianca directs the Food Justice Programs at RiseBoro Community Partnership – which includes cooking classes, cooperative business training and development, urban farming, retail work, and organizing. Ultimately, Bianca wants to build an ecological, democratic, and racially just society and thinks food is a great way to get there.

D. Rooney is the co-founder and co-owner of Rock Steady Farm, a women and queer-owned cooperative farm, rooted in social justice, growing flowers and sustainable vegetables in Millerton, NY.

Emma Kreyche is a Senior Organizing & Advocacy Coordinator at the Worker Justice Center of New York, a legal services and advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the rights of low wage workers. Her work focuses on collaboration with grassroots organizations in the Hudson Valley and across New York State to promote public policies aimed at improving legal protections for workers, ensuring effective enforcement of workers’ rights, and upholding basic human dignity.

Hans Eric Hageman is the Executive Director of Hudson Valley Seed. Hans is an irreverent social entrepreneur whose passion is youth development work. His mission is to help young people dream, find meaning, and develop self-reliance. If Hans were a dog, he’d be a Catahoula Leopard Dog or Belgian Malinois with a squirrel for a best friend.

Layton Guenther is the Acting Director of Quail Hill Farm, a stewardship project of the Peconic Land Trust. They have been cultivating crops, community and beginning farmers on the land in Amagansett, LI since 2013.

Maritza Owens is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Harvest Home Farmers’ Market, Inc., now the second largest managed farmers’ market in NYC. Operating only in low-income areas, Harvest Home is driven by her vision of making farm-fresh produce accessible and affordable in underserved neighborhoods and to teach these communities how to achieve healthier life styles by incorporating fresh produce in their diets. For more than 25 years, Maritza has been involved in aspects of community-based planning, advocacy, environmental justice, economic development, and public health as she expanded the reach of these markets

Merelis Catalina Ortiz is the Community Chef/Advisory Member at Just Food, where she enhances Just Food’s food education work by centering racial equity & food sovereignty. She also serves as an Advisory Committee Member for Just Food. In the summer of 2018, Merelis launched the People y Alimentos Solidarity (PAS) program, a bilingual offering that focuses on building solidarity among Black, Indigenous, and Latinx-heritage people through land and food.

Milan Taylor is the Executive Director of the Rockaway Youth Task Force, a youth-led, grassroots advocacy organization he founded at the age of 21 in response to the lack of youth engagement in the Rockaway community. He has been a long time activist in his community and is skilled in community engagement, grassroots organizing, and youth advocacy.

Mohamed Attia is a co-director in the Street Vendor Project (SVP). He is an immigrant from Egypt who moved to NYC in 2008. Mohamed worked as a food vendor for 9 years, became a member of SVP in 2012 and has been an active leader with SVP ever since.

Onika Abraham is the director of Farm School NYC, which offers adults comprehensive, professional training in sustainable agriculture that is grounded in social and food justice. She lives and gardens in beautiful Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn with her husband and son.

Sandra Jean-Louis is currently the Senior Director of Health and Food Access at Public Health Solutions in New York City where she engages in city-wide efforts to improve health and food access for the most vulnerable New Yorkers. She has been working in the field of Community Health and Engagement for over 20 years. She holds a BS in Community Health from Hunter College, CUNY and an MPA from NYU Wagner school.

Sheryll Durrant is an urban farmer, educator, food justice advocate, and a 2015 graduate of Farm School NYC. She is currently the Garden Manager at Kelly Street Garden in the Bronx.

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The Seeding Power Fellowship was designed in partnership between the CFF steering committee and Noor Consulting, and will be facilitated by Simran Noor.