Community Food Funders is excited to announce…
The 2023-2024 Seeding Power Cohort
We’re thrilled to be relaunching the Seeding Power Fellowship, and to introduce the next cohort of amazing leaders! This talented group is about to embark on nine months of movement building and leadership development to advance food justice in our region. The curriculum designed by Emerging Equity includes three in-person retreats and 13 virtual sessions for collective learning, sharing, and collaboration.
You can learn more about the fellows below, and you can meet them and hear about Seeding Power on September 20th at the 2023 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 which was comprised of Seeding Power alumni and other leaders in the philanthropic and leadership development sectors.
Please join us in congratulating the fellows!
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More about the fellows
Akirah Hlatshwako is a Newark, NJ native, urban farmer, community doula, mother and friend. She thrives in spaces where she can lend her talents to helping others. Her favorite past times include traveling, trying new foods, studying herbs and promoting sustainable living through permaculture. She currently stewards 6 acres of land in Sergeantsville, NJ with her husband Mancoba and her son Olaifa through their non-profit Ubuntu Permaculture Mission Inc.
Alexas Janae E. Ramírez was born on unceded Lipan Apache and Coahuiltecan territories in Yanawana (San Antonio, TX), adopted at birth, and grew up in Western and Central NY. After graduating from Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Music in Composition, she embarked on a path of exploration that led her back to nature and her indigenous roots: Guaní (Taino), Coahuiltecan, Guachichil, and Black which have informed her relationship with seeds, birthwork, health, and the land. She believes that through a harmonious relationship with nature, we can begin to restore equilibrium, as individuals, and as a human collective. She is culture bearer: a farmer, seed-keeper, birthworker, herbalist, music teacher, director and co-founder of the Traditional Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Healing, owner of f l x s healing-informed support services, and a strong advocate for traditional Indigenous culture with her family. At home with her family and several dogs, they steward 32 acres of land on their rural homestead in the Southern Finger Lakes.
Brittany Florio is a New England native who has been working in the food system for 13 years as a farmer, educator, and food justice advocate. In her current role as Program Manager with Farm to Institution New England (FINE), Britt works to catalyze change within the campus and carceral systems. Prior to her work at FINE, she co-owned a regenerative herb and vegetable farm business in the Hudson Valley, New York. After leaving the farm life, she worked as a Sustainability Coordinator for UMass Dining and Bard College Dining. In her free time, Britt loves dancing, new experiences and making wild flower bouquets.
Francis Yu is a queer Asian-American farmer (Star Route Farm) and works as food systems practitioner (Catskills Agrarian Alliance) where they serve as Co-director and lead the organization’s Land Access work and Strategic Planning. They have a background in urban planning and policy and serve as an Adjunct Professor at NYU Wagner School of Public Service teaching about the history of segregation, racism, and public policy in our cities. They enjoy cooking, hiking and foraging, and developing a poetry and writing practice. Francis has roots in Manila, Philippines, and in occupied Patwin territory (Vallejo, California).
Gabriel Morales joined the Brandworkers staff in 2016 and transitioned into his role as Brandworkers Executive Director in September 2021. Prior to Brandworkers, he was a rank-and-file hotel worker and worked on campaigns with CWA, SEIU, and UNITE Here. Gabriel has coordinated, trained, and recruited dozens of new rank-and-file and staff organizers across the country in a variety of different industries.
Jazz Kerr, Communications Manager at Farm School NYC, has a professional background in gender studies and youth education. As a new seeding power cohort member, Jazz is excited to nurture new relationships and build skills and strategies to strengthen the fight for food sovereignty.
Latha Swamy is a multidisciplinary leader with in-depth technical and research expertise whose work–spanning academia, government, and independent consulting–examines the broad relationship between environmental degradation and human health. She has spent over a decade in evidence-based policymaking on the local, state, national, and international scale. Throughout her most recent tenure establishing and growing an entirely new municipal government department at the City of New Haven (CT), she has prioritized institutionalizing equitable, thoughtful processes (e.g. people-driven, community-led, grassroots policymaking) rather than relying on top-down, prescriptive, or reactive responses to our complex and unjust social, environmental, and economic systems. She seeks to manifest community visions of a sustainable and just food system by dismantling municipal and systemic barriers, directly allocating resources, shifting power, and authentically collaborating with (disinvested) community members as well as local, state, regional, federal, and international actors.
Pamela Reese Smith is the board president for Black Farmers United NYS. She has spent her entire adult life working to help make the world a better place. She is an author, urban farmer, community organizer, food justice advocate, vocalist, artist, and crafter.
Rebekah Williams is an activist, organizer, and trainer from Western New York and co-founder of Food for the Spirit, the Buffalo Food Equity Network, and the Good Food Buffalo Coalition. With over twenty years working in nonprofits, Rebekah has experience encouraging youth leadership, social and racial justice, environmentalism, and the arts. Rebekah is a steering committee member of Black Farmers United NYS, a board member of the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, and she was a member of Black Farmer Fund’s Pilot Community from 2020-2021. Rebekah has a degree in Social Structure, Theory, and Change from SUNY Empire State College; and she has completed training with the Buffalo Montessori Teacher Education Program, Center for Economic Democracy in Boston MA, HEAL Food Alliance and Movement Generation in Oakland CA, and Training for Change in Philadelphia, PA.
Reggy St. Fortcolin is a Connecticut native, born in Stamford and raised in Bridgeport. His previous work includes creating a series of community refrigerators around Connecticut known as Fridgeport that feed about 1,500 people a week, handwriting and getting $20M in policy passed regarding food insecurity, and working to create a new position in government focused on food.
Ruth Goldman has been a Program Officer for Urban Farming and Youth Leadership at the Merck Family Fund since 2011 and recently stepped into the Executive Director position. Prior to this, she held other positions in philanthropy and spent nearly 15 years working for Outward Bound.
Sparkle Wells is a community engagement specialist with over 15 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Her current role is Program Officer at United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes. She is passionate about bringing people together and building strong communities. Her expertise includes event planning, social media management, public health education, and community outreach. She is committed to creating positive change and making a difference in the world.
The original Seeding Power Fellowship was designed in partnership between the CFF steering committee and Noor Consulting. This 2023 redesign was led by Emerging Equity, who will also facilitate the implementation of the second cohort.