2019 Conference Planning Committee

Adrian Hyde

Adrian Hyde owns and manages Dunwald Farm, a Certified Organic vegetable farm in Hopewell, NJ. Supporting his farming activities, Adrian also is an ASE Certified Master Mechanic and a Rutgers Master Gardener of Mercer County. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and his graduate degree from Harvard University. Adrian’s passion for organic agriculture stems from the fact that it lies at the intersection of multiple areas of great importance: ecological stewardship, health, animal welfare and community.

Angela Davis

Angela Davis is the Director of the Division of Food & Nutrition for the Jersey City Department of Health & Human Services. Before coming to the Department of Health & Human Services in January 2017, she spent almost a decade managing two nutrition education programs for Just Food, a food justice nonprofit based in New York City. Angela has more than 20 years of program management, education, and public relations experience. Throughout her career, she has served a variety of institutions including the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, the National Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, and the Children's Defense Fund. She has a Masters of Education degree from the George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College. She holds a certificate in Culinary Nutrition from the Natural Gourmet Institute and is a 2009 Environmental Leadership Program Fellow.

Anna Gilbert-Muhammad

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.

ari rosenberg

ari rosenberg is a passionate activist working to create a more just society through community building, anti-racism trainings, and radical financing. She currently lives and works in Philadelphia with her amazing cat, Opal. ari has been growing food for over 16 years in both rural and urban environments and supporting urban youth in connecting with their food, gaining entrepreneurship skills and developing and enhancing leadership skills for over 12 years. She has been on the leadership team of Rooted in Community, a national network of organizations working with high school aged youth to reimagine and recreate the food system since 2009. For paid work she is supporting artists and makers in the creation of the next economy as the Project Director, Catalyzing Capital for the Center for Cultural Innovation. When she's living her best life you can find her growing, cooking, or preserving food, biking or running around the city, in the woods, reading a book, or writing letters to dear ones.

Ariana Taylor-Stanley

Ariana Taylor-Stanley serves as the Northeast Regional Organizer for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. She also co-owns and operates Here We Are Farm in Trumansburg, NY, growing vegetables for CSA and farmers markets. She is active in her community as a chapter leader of Showing Up for Racial Justice and the National Young Farmers Coalition. She loves audiobooks, arts and crafts, and cats.

Bonnie Averbuch

Bonnie is a Ph.D. Fellow at the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University in Denmark. She is researching sustainable agriculture transitions in Denmark and the United States, examining factors that have influenced historical transitions and current stakeholder perceptions of the transition process. As part of her Ph.D., Bonnie completed a research exchange at the Yale Sustainable Food Program. Additionally, she earned her M.S. in Nutrition and Public Health from Teachers College Columbia University and is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist.

Dana Harris-Yates

Dana Harris-Yates Reiki Master, Shaman, Bush/Roots Dr. Medicine Woman, Body Energy Healer 10 years, Owner of Cultural Oasis LLC, Creator of Pittsburgh's First Indigenous Healing Emporium, “Indigenous Natural Medicinal Programs, Nature Based Psychological Therapeutic Modality, Therapeutic Gardening and Care Farming Programs,” IFFAA Farming. Co-Chair of The Urban Ag Working Group, VP of Mama Africa's Greenscout, Program Developer, Operations Manager of The Black Urban Gardeners; Farmers Coop, Board Member of Landslide Community Farms. Steering Committee Member of The Three Rivers Allegheny Land Initiative; designed to protect Urban Land used for farming and gardening from future commercial development. She’s recognized and honored by the Indigenous Copper Colored American Indian Peoples, Tribes and Confederacy, by CEA The African Diaspora Community of Pittsburgh, and the State of Pennsylvania.

Jeremy Edelman

Jeremy Edelman, originally from New York, lives in Cambridge, MA and is a graduate student at the Tufts Friedman School, studying food systems and agriculture. He has worked at environmental, food/nutrition, and peace-building non-profits in the past, as well as in Massachusetts state government. He first became passionate in food and agriculture issues volunteering on organic farms in New Zealand and New Jersey. He hopes to work professionally toward improving food sourcing and creating food supply chains that support sustainable suppliers, including minority and socially-disadvantaged farmers. Jeremy received his BA in environmental studies from Washington University in St. Louis. He’s looking forward to making his first sourdough starter in a few weeks and loves traveling to explore foods, cultures, and people.

Lindsay Smith

Lindsay Smith is a planning and food systems consultant; currently helping to develop a regional food systems program for Metropolitan Washington. She’s consulted on land conservation, served as a food council coordinator, advised philanthropy, and worked as an urban planner. She holds a master’s in urban planning and in environmental policy from the University of Michigan. Lindsay is excited to join the NESAWG conference planning committee for a second year.

Megan Browning

Megan Browning grew up in New York City, graduated from Colby College in Maine, and has spent the past eight years on farms around New England. She now lives and farms in Vermont where she is the Harvest Manager at Burnt Rock Farm, as well as the Winter Conference Coordinator for NOFA-VT. Megan is also on the leadership team of the Vermont Young Famers Coalition and is excited about building community among farmers in Vermont and advocating for policy that helps young farmers stay in farming. Megan is currently working towards her Master's Degree in Leadership for Sustainability at the University of Vermont. Among other things Megan enjoys cooking, eating, traveling, swimming, growing plants, and spreading love. Megan is excited to join the NESAWG Conference Planning Committee for the first time this year.

Morgan Wiggan

Morgan, originally from Maine, has been dedicated to building a more equitable society since her early days of community service in high school. Through her work in many community health programs directly serving the diverse communities of the DMV area, she has gained experience implementing programs and centering the voices of those most impacted. Currently, she is the Program Manager for the Crossroads Crossroads Community Food Network located in Takoma Park, MD. In this role, she oversees the farmers market and federal nutrition incentive program that expands access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods in the community. Crossroads was the first farmers market to double federal nutrition benefits. She loves her work at Crossroads because the systematic approach of the organization bolsters the local food system, empowers youth through healthy food education, supports local food business owners, and fosters a welcoming space for people of all walks of life. She holds a bachelors degree in Anthropology from The George Washington University and is a current Masters of Public Health- Health Equity student at the University of Maryland.

Nathaly Agosto Filion

Nathaly Agosto Filión is deeply honored to serve under the leadership of Mayor Ras J. Baraka as Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Newark. In this role, Agosto Filión is the city’s leading sustainability strategist, convening interdepartmental teams to make Newark a cleaner, greener, healthier, better prepared, and more engaged city. She also serves as a bridge linking a diverse network of community, nonprofit, academic, institutional, philanthropic and governmental partners advancing a variety of sustainability, greening, environmental health, and quality of life initiatives across Newark. Prior to staffing Newark’s Office of Sustainability, Agosto Filión worked as a Resiliency Manager with Sustainable Jersey, connecting post-Sandy communities with recovery and resiliency resources. Before relocating to New Jersey, she worked as a Program Officer with the Institute for Sustainable Communities helping to develop, design and deliver national and regional capacity-building programs for local government climate and sustainability practitioners. Agosto Filión earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont. Over the course of her career, she has worked as an urban sustainability training support specialist, municipal climate action planning consultant, community organizer, and environmental educator. She provides thought leadership as a member of the Sustainable Jersey Diversity & Equity Task Force, the Regional Plan Association’s Climate Adaptation Network, the Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange, and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) Equity Advisory and Common Metrics Committees. Agosto Filión currently serves as co-chair of the USDN Gritty/Legacy Cities Affinity Group. She is a 2015 Eastern Regional Network Environmental Leadership Fellow. Agosto Filión is proud to have served as a founding member of 350Vermont, 350Dominicana, and Justicia Migrante/Migrant Justice Junta de Apoyo.

Rachel Ingram

As the Nutrition and Physical Activity Program Manager for Institute for Family Health/ Bronx Health REACH, Rachel oversees and initiates activities to increase opportunities for physical activity and access to healthy food in diverse community settings in the Bronx. She currently manages nutrition and physical activity programs within the IFH health centers, Bronx-based meal serving organizations, faith-based organizations, and other related programs. Rachel co-coordinates the outreach strategy to public policy makers at the federal, state and local levels. Previously, she implemented a Vegetable and Fruit Rx Prescription Program to increase access and consumption of fruits and vegetables for over 600+ patients at three health centers within the South Bronx. Rachel has a Master’s Degree from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, a Master of Education from Hunter College, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Rowan University. She was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia.

Renata Blumberg

Renata Blumberg is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at Montclair State University, in Montclair, NJ. She has an MS in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis and a PhD in Geography from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She conducts research on alternative food networks in Eastern Europe, and she has recently started a research project in New Jersey on efforts to improve access to farmers’ markets. Her other research interests include feminist pedagogy and critical dietetics.

Ty Holmberg

Ty Holmberg is Co-Director at Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. Since graduating from Muhlenberg College with a BA in environmental studies, Ty has had extensive expereince in youth development, food justice, and education reform. Previous to his work as one of the founding directors of the Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden, he served for ten years with the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Community Partnerships as Director of Health Promotion and Director of the West Philadelphia based Sayre Community School. He has also spent time in the classroom as Philadelphia Teaching Fellow and Philadelphia School District science teacher, as well as two years of national service as a member of Habitat for Humanity AmeriCorps, and a teaching fellow at the esteemed Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center in Estes Park, Colorado

Winnie Huston

Winnie R. Huston is the Community Advocacy Coordinator for DC Greens (www.dcgreens.org), a food justice organization in Washington, DC. Winnie comes to this work after a career in mediation and regulatory work for DC and northern VA governments. A personal health scare and recovery, fostered her desire to work to ensure that every resident of DC has an equitable opportunity to acquire food, in their neighborhoods, that is fresh, nutritious, and affordable.