Cristina Cabrera (Traditional Name: Chunchip Deer Spirit)
Executive Director
Cristina has been an urban community grower for the past ten years most recently graduating as a Master Gardener from URI. She has been a community organizer, water protector, and social and environmental justice organizer for over twenty years in what is now known as the state of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. With mixed Indigenous and Latinx roots, she currently organizes with local Aboriginal People and Native Green to restore the balance of Mother Earth. Cristina is also the co-Founder of Global Village Farms in Massachusetts, prior co-Founder of two architectural design and construction BIPOC businesses, and prior executive director of two grassroots non-profit organizations. She has a background in Architecture with a concentration in Urban Design and Planning, and a background in Business Management and Project Management. Cristina is also a Popular Educator and a Spanish-English interpreter and translator.
Anna Gilbert-Muhammad
Director
Sis. Anna Muhammad is a backyard gardener that began gardening based on a request from her husband. After realizing that gardening assisted with lowering their food costs and provided some additional income, Sis. Anna began studying gardening more intensely. As a past Board Member of Gardening the Community in Springfield, MA, she began learning more about organic growing while serving her neighborhood at the same time. Sis. Anna is also a member of the Massachusetts Northeast Organic Association for 5 years and she currently works for NOFA/Mass as the Food Access Coordinator and Webinar Coordinator. She also graduated from their Beginning Farmers Program. Sister Anna wants to see all residents of the Mason Square Area and all communities in Massachusetts have the access they deserve to fresh, wholesome food and to assist all that wish to grow food in their homes.
Derek Johnson
Director
Derek received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Strayer University in 2006. After working for two major nonprofits in Washington, DC, in business processes and improvement, Derek decided to follow his passion and become an elementary educator. Derek spent two years abroad in South Korea, teaching English as a Foreign Language to elementary students before returning to the States. On his return, Derek entered graduate school, obtaining two master’s degrees in education from the School for International Training and Marlboro College Graduate School, both in Brattleboro, Vermont. Since 2013, Derek has worked in both the public and private educational systems in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area as an elementary educator, actively utilizing social justice pedagogy across the curriculum to engage his students in equity and justice issues. Derek is also a visiting facilitator for SPARK Teacher Education Institute and co-founder of Collective Liberation Lab, a teaching and curriculum design consultancy firm which assists nonprofit organizations with dismantling systems of oppression and deepening engagement with social justice issues within their organizations. Derek is contributing host on Indigo Radio, a group of educators who host a weekly talk show on a local public access radio that discusses educational and social issues globally and locally. He is the co-host of the hit podcast series Eat. Puff. Love., a podcast that tackles the issues of the day and actively works to educate listeners about the black queer experience. Derek as well is a member of the Turkey Thicket Community Garden in Washington, DC. In his free time, Derek enjoys hiking outdoors, taking photographs of nature, preparing elaborate dishes, and traveling the world.
Fallon Davis
Director
Fallon Davis is a Non-binary Visionary, Afro-Native Vegan, Radical Educator, and Creative Culture Worker devoted to enhancing and uplifting the lives of Black and Brown individuals. As a leader and entrepreneur since they were a teenager, Fallon has cultivated a wealth of knowledge in the areas of Transformational Leadership for Racial Equity, Trauma Informed Care and Land and Food Systems, strengthening their work as a Community Leader. As the Founder & CEO of STEAM URBAN, a STEAM-disciplined, trauma-conscious educational non-profit for Black and Brown students of all ages, their organizational mission is Environmental Justice, Social Justice, and Educational Equity. In recognition of their work, Fallon recently received the prestigious Dr. Arnold Brown Racial Justice Award from the YWCA of North Jersey. Their episode of PBS’s docuseries, 21, was nominated for a 2023 Webby Award in the category of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Fallon’s body, mind and soul are a daily dedication to making real change in the world through effective planning and implementation of programs and processes that will make the lives of marginalized individuals better.
Nurcan Atalan-Helicke
Director
Nurcan (she/her) is an interdisciplinary social scientist and an Associate Professor at Environmental Studies and Sciences Program at Skidmore College, NY. Nurcan grew up in Turkey and worked professionally with government agencies, and in the non-profit sector, and designed, implemented and evaluated projects related to environmental conservation, environmental education, rural development and cultural preservation. She has taught courses, including Politics of Food and Social Justice, Human Rights and Development, and Political Ecology. She teaches academic civic engagement courses and has worked with community organizations for over a decade in the Capital District region of New York on projects related to affordable housing, urban pollinators, urban climate action and food cooperatives. Her research is about the resilience of food systems and social movements, with a particular focus on conservation of agricultural biodiversity, intersection of gender and access to healthy food, Islam and genetically engineered food. Her research has been published in interdisciplinary peer review journals such as Agriculture and Human Values, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Global Environmental Politics and Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, and in edited volumes. She has been committed to social justice issues and interfaith dialogue, and worked with community organizations in Saratoga Springs, NY.
Ulum Pixan Athohil Suk’il (Bird Spirit)
Director
Ulum Pixan Athohil Suk’il (Bird Spirit) AKA Dania Alejandra Flores-Heagney (colonizer Name) – is an indigenous mixed Woman (Maya, Xinca, Garifuna, Russian Jew and ladino), a mother and Grand mother, born in Guatemala, mesoamerica, after moving to the US in 1999, She has always organized in her country around aboriginal, women’s, language issues and the environment, she continue her work here in the U.S. as a volunteer, staff and consultant. She is a board member of the Environmental Justice league of Rhode Island, now the Farming Director at Global Village Farms and Access Co-op member owner. Ulum is a critical thinker, advocate and activist – Co-founder of Indigenous Peoples Network of RI and MA a collaboration with local indigenous peoples and people all over the state recognizing our ancestral struggles and forming unity by sharing resources, technologies and ancestral knowledge.