ECO’s Partners and Associates

ECO’s Partners

Community building and food justice work is impossible without committed partners, allies, friends, and collaborators who share a common vision. Working together, we are finding workable solutions to the complex issues surrounding local food production and access to healthy, sustainably

produced food in urban neighborhoods.

ECO City Farms values the contributions and support of all our key partners.

Collaboration on programs, fundraising, advocacy and outreach amplifies our resources and is critical to our productivity and sustainability.

As foundational members of the Port Towns Community Health Partnership, we partner with each of the Port Town municipalities and the Port Towns Community Development Corporation, the Ecumenical Health Collaborative, End Time Harvest Ministries’ Port Towns Youth Council, Community Forklift, Joe’s Movement Emporium and the Anacostia Watershed Society to promote healthy eating, active living (HEAL). We enjoy close relationships with the Maryland–National Capital Park and Planning Commission who provided us with an office and land for our Edmonston farm, the Riverdale Park Farmers Market, Prince George’s Community College, the Autumn Woods Apartment Complex (where our Bladensburg farm is located), Beacon Lights, and the Magic Johnson Empowerment Center.

We contract with the District Government to offer composting education at its elementary schools; work with Compost Cab to acquire food waste, partner with restaurants and business associations like BusBoys & Poets, Chipotle, MOMS, Whole Foods, Think Local First, DC and the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce on community programs; collaborate with Institute for Local Self-Reliance on Master Composting education; with Maryland University of Integrative Health on nutrition education and herbal medicine, with Zenful Bits, Citizen Cook Wilma Consul and Vegan Chef Sade Anderson on healthy cooking and eating, and engage with a host of local artists, musicians and poets on cultural programming and dance at the farm.

We are also well connected with a wide range of urban farming, food justice and community health groups, such as Growing Power in Milwaukee, Feed Denver, locally and nationally. Staff serve on the Board of Future Harvest CASA and the Port Towns CDC, and ECO received Slow Food DC’s “Snail of Approval” award for 2012 and 2013.

ECO’s CEO was awarded “the 2010 Distinguished Leadership Award for a Citizen Planner” by the National Capital Area’s American Planning Association, and is a graduate of the Partnership for Prince George’s LEAD class of 2013. ECO is a major community partner with both the Institute for Public Health Innovations and the Prince George’s Health Department under their 2013 Community Transformation Grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), designed to improve the health and wellness of County residents.

Key Partners:

Thanks to our key organizational and community partners – listed here in alphabetical order:

ECO’s Associates (Former Members)

Beth Fitzgerald, Farm Manager, came to ECO via our Beginning Farmer apprentice training program, after two decades of activism related to environmental justice.  An avid new farmer, she is also an experienced non-profit professional, with a demonstrated history of strengthening collaboration and inclusion through capacity building, strategic planning, and evaluation. She is skilled in project management and in designing and leading training initiatives for collaborative leadership. 

Max Fetter, Urban Farmer & Marketer, is a former educator of young people who was inspired to join ECO after first serving as an apprentice in our Beginning Farmer Training Program. Born, raised and schooled within two miles of our farms, he is a graduate of the nearby University of Maryland. A self-taught and dedicated entomologist, he is interested in all critters small and large, and how they impact the needs and fate of plants and the environment.

 

Viviana Lindo, Director of Community Education: Viviana Lindo is an avid foodie–she loves cooking, baking, reading, crafting, watching foreign films, going on adventures and spending time outdoors. Viviana was born and raised in Huancayo–a region in the central highlands and westernmost Amazonia of Peru, and as a teenager she moved to America. She graduated from California State University of Los Angeles in 2005 with a degree in Liberal Studies with minors in Latin America Studies, Sociology, and Social Gerontology. In 2006, she moved to Germany and began a master’s program in social science through the Global Studies Programme. She studied on three continents receiving degrees from the University of Freiburg (Germany), KwaZulu-Natal University (South Africa) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (India). Since then, she has worked in different areas from immigration, indigenous rights, social movements, independent media, to sustainable development and agriculture. She applies to urban settings what she’s learns about sustainable farming practices, respect for and acknowledgement of the environment, and indigenous knowledge found in rural settings. Viviana spent the 2012 growing season apprenticing at ECO City Farms, and during the summer of the same year she worked as an educator with ECO’s “Seed to Feed” program. As a former member of the ECO City Farms team,  Viviana created and supported communities where everyone has access to healthy foods, and to contributed something of value to the movement so that the next young generation will work on a sustainable future by preserving biodiversity, reconnection to nature and to value and respect food. 

Brian Massey, Farm Production and Education Manager, is a skilled farmer, educator, and writer. He was a classroom teacher and school garden educator for many years in Washington, DC, before leaving to spend a year working and learning at The Farm School in Orange, MA. He has been an urban farm manager and an edible landscaper, and most recently was a part of the leadership team with From the Farmer, based in Beltsville, MD. He started a website, Dirt Eaters, to chronicle his personal journey and those of others on the front lines of the food movement. Brian and his partner, Ellie, live with their two young sons and grow as much of their own food as possible on their urban homestead in Mount Rainier, MD.

Natalia McAlpine, IREX 2018 Fellow from Jamaica. As a human and environmental rights activist for Equality Jamaica, Caribbean Volatile Communities, McAlpine Urban/Container Farming Consultancy, and Jamaica Environmental Trust, Natalia has experience advocating for sustainable agriculture and the equal rights of members of the LGBT community, people living with disabilities and mental health issues. During this fellowship at ECO, Natalia hopes to learn new techniques to promote food security, waste and energy management, and effective advocacy for minority groups. Upon returning to Jamaica, Natalia plans to promote new permaculture practices by advocating for government policies to combat climate change and increase food security and to implement small-scale perma-plots at schools with the help of minority groups such as people living with HIV, the LGBT community, and senior citizens. Natalia’s long-term plan is to establish a Permaculture Research Institute in the central region of the island.

Adi Nugroho, IREX 2018 Fellow from Java, Indonesia. Adi is a Program Officer for the non-profit Yayasan Panglima Besar Sodirman.  His organization tries to alleviate small-holder farmers who live in rural areas from poverty, not only by increasing their agriculture productivity but also by putting sustainable environment perspective in their daily activities. Adi is responsible for designing and implementing programs that alter small-holder farmers destructive agriculture practices into more sustainable practices and encourage them to establish sustainable business entity. By working with ECO, Adi will learn the theoretical knowledge and direct practices to encourage targeted communities to change their mindset in order to achieve sustainable development in agriculture. Adi is also the father of  one cute son and a beautiful daughter.

Ning Xu, Coordinator of Training and Special Projects, is a strong believer of think globally and act locally. Ning’s love of nature and growing various plants came at a young age when she spent hours playing in her grandparents’ backyard garden in the middle of Beijing. She completed her BS at Rutgers University and MNR at Virginia Tech both in Natural Resources Management. Ning has worked in various aspects of environmental conservation in Asia, Europe and Africa. As an Apprentice with ECO City Farms in 2016, Ning was able to learn more about the inequalities in distribution of healthy organic produce to under-served areas in and around Washington DC. Through her diverse experiences in biodiversity conservation and environmental education Ning brought a different perspective to ECO City Farms.

Sample Bio Pic 2Fred James, Bladensburg Farm Manager: Fred is passionate about farming and very excited to help others discover the joys of growing food. He was born in Alabama where he grew up around farmers in his family and ex-share croppers who still had farms and live stock. He spent his summers on his family’s property learning about the principles of farming and raising live stock. He has also worked with a church after school program in Laurel, MD helping youth complete their home work and study for tests. After high school in Prince George’s County, he spent a year in Indiana in a Discipleship training program, where he worked with local young people and engaged in community outreach work in various parts of Indiana, Chicago and Mexico. He then returned to Virginia, started his own painting business, and in his free time, assisted his father’s church with various community outreach projects and events for a few years. Before joining ECO, Fred grew fruit and vegetables and raised chickens on a small backyard organic farm on his family’s land in Virginia.

Aaron Griner: ECO City Farms, Lead Farmer: Aaron Griner is a multi-generational farmer and organic gardener from South Georgia, with wide range of farming knowledge and practice. Aaron worked on his family’s 350 acre farm for more than a dozen years, spent five years of working with two student-led gardening, education, and outreach organizations, and served for two years as an extension agent, educator, and community development worker with the Peace Corps/U.S.A.I.D in Togo, Sub-Saharan West Africa.  From green house to the garden, seed to fork, Aaron has experience in all aspects of crop planning, production, and distribution, and continues to enjoy learning everything he can about farming and new food production techniques. First and foremost, however, Aaron identifies himself an educator.  Volunteering in college, and again as an extension agent in the Peace Corps showed him the importance of “sharing the gift of food and the knowledge of food systems.”  Aaron considers fresh, nutritious, and affordable food to be medicine for the body, the soul, and the community, but realizes that unfortunately, it is too often a luxury that millions of people around the world are forced to do without.  He considers it his responsibility to provide the appropriate knowledge so that “any person of any age or demographic can learn how to recognize and address the many problems within our misaligned food system.” By growing food locally and improving access to fresh, sustainable, and (above all) affordable food,” Aaron  believes that we can assure that “the fruits of our labor stay within our communities, and they help to empower the growth and development of our communities. “

rainbarrelinternsGabrielle Rovegno, Coordinator of Training and Special Projects: Gabrielle visited ECO City Farms on a school trip her first day as a student at University of Maryland. While studying Soil Science and Ag Economics, Gabrielle couldn’t stay away from ECO where she interned and apprenticed. After graduating from UMD, Gabrielle was an AmeriCorps*VISTA with Crossroads Community Food Network in Takoma Park. Offering business training and technical assistance for value-added producers and farmers, Gabrielle has continually questioned how we can make an environment and foodscape for small businesses and farmers to prosper. Gabrielle is receiving her Masters in Ag Business Development from Oklahoma State University and co-owns Montoya’s Farm (a former participant of ECO City’s Port Towns Farmers Mercado)!

Jennifer Lumpkin, Port Towns Farmer Mercado Manager is a social entrepreneur with a long line of agricultural family members.  She founded Creative Community Builders, LLC in 2016 and fully conceptualized her social capital networking site– My Grow Connect (formerly Grow DC) in 2013, as a result of her community organizing work in Cleveland, Ohio and Washington, DC.  Jennifer’s community organizing and communications practice is rooted in supporting the development of sustainable communities through creative relationship building and mindful resource connections. Jennifer was also a member of ECO’s 2017 Beginning Farmer Training Program.

 Jacob Steelman, Farmer and Market Specialist, joined ECO as an apprentice and was a member of the 2017 Beginning Farmer training program.  He is currently also a certified yoga instructor and has taught English and writing at a number of grade levels and schools. He worked to produce ECO’s microgreens and assists the farmers at both of ECO’s farms.

Amanda B. West, Operations Manager: As a child growing up, Amanda spent summers at a family farm, where she found the world of chickens, milk cows and barn cats magical. She has always loved animals and growing things, and harbors a secret desire to be a farmer. Her dream of working in the local and sustainable foods field came to fruition at ECO City Farms. She brings years of nonprofit management experience in the historic preservation and community development field, with multi-dimensional skills and a passion for making things run well.  She is a novice beekeeper and loves to grow vegetables at her urban community garden plot in DC. She recently left ECO to pursue a family business.

DeboDeborahrah Wren, Lead Farmer: Deborah is a birthright farmer, raised on a family-run dairy farm in the Hudson Valley region of New York. She earned her BA in Anthropology from Ithaca College, focusing on rural sustainable development and cultural identity in Belize. Upon completion of her BA , she returned to work with her family on their dairy farm before pursuing a Masters in Sustainable Development from World Learning SIT Graduate Institute. While studying, she worked with farm-to-school programs at a local farm and established a community garden on campus. Since, Deborah has promoted environmental and economic sustainability with several non-profits. It didn’t take her long to realize that her heart is in the land and decide to return to the farming lifestyle. She began with ECO City Farms as an Apprentice for 6 months, helping on the farm and in the office writing grants, then served on the Board for two years before becoming Farm Manager at the ECO City Farms Edmonston site.  Deb will soon return to her family farm and homestead.

Emily Hanak_picture (1)Emily Hanak, Associate Farmer: As a child, Emily frequented her grandparents’ house where she loved playing with bugs in their garden- an interest that admittedly waned with age. However her interest in gardening/farming never disappeared, and while employed at various nonprofit jobs she found herself daydreaming of working outside. It can be argued that years of a sedentary office lifestyle idealized her concept of manual labor, but she’s thoroughly enjoying her time at ECO City Farms, working with her hands and watching things grow. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Administration at DePaul University and hopes to connect her interest in local sustainable agriculture with knowledge of food security through her time at ECO. In her free time she enjoys biking, running, hiking, and volunteering in Bread for the City’s food pantry, where she witnesses firsthand the impact that access to healthy food has on individuals and families in her community.

Yasmeen Abdul Latif, Community Outreach: Yasmeen Abdul Latif was born and raised in Baltimore City. She has been a resident of Riverdale in Prince George’s County for over 30 years. As a wife and mother of six, a junior girl scouts leader and a certified archer, Yasmeen pursues her desire to improve her skills and enhance her humanity. She has worked with her grandchildren to grow vegetables at ECO’s previous community garden.Yasmeen completed the “Train the Trainer” Nutrition Education Program at ECO City Farms. Now a member of the ECO City Farms team, she looks forward to helping neighborhoods get access to healthy food and wellness education. She is also working to inform residents about ECO’s newly launched Port Towns Farmers Mercado on Kenilworth Avenue.

Christian Melendez, Founding Farmer/Educator: A talented farmer and thinker, Christian Melendez’s role at ECO City Farms has evolved to train others about  food, fertility, and farmers.  He began farming while a student at University of Maryland where he sowed seeds with ECO’s Founder at the Engaged University’s Master Peace Community Farm for more than two years. While at the University, Christian created and led two Alternative Spring Break experiences focused on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. For two summers, he taught gardening and nutrition to middle school youth as part of the Free Minds Collective, and at ECO City Farms  taught Urban Farming and Composting as part of the ECO’s Commercial Agriculture Certificate program with Prince George’s Community College. He also ran and managed ECO’s 10 month-long new and immigrant farmer training program.  Christian is a graduate of Growing Power’s Commercial Urban Agriculture course. He is also a graduate of the Mid-Atlantic Better Composting School and a Certified Maryland Compost Facility Operator. He hopes the people he touches will discard the term “waste,” read the Humanure Handbook, and cultivate SOIL, not OIL! He is now working on a large farm in Maryland.

Aida-2014-2 Aida Namukasa, Associate Farmer at ECO City Farms at Bladensburg and Community Nutrition Educator: Born in Uganda, her roots extend throughout East Africa, where her heart belongs. Aida’s ambition is to acquire hands-on gardening and farming knowledge in order to grow food using sustainable agriculture practices and to share these skills with communities wherever she may be in the world.In 2012, when Aida first came to the United States, she volunteered at the National Arboretum in Washington DC where she acquired skills such as transplanting, potting, weeding, pruning and collecting pollen. In March 2014, she completed her Certificate on Urban Commercial Agriculture at ECO City Farms. She also became one of the ECO trained Community Nutrition Educators in June 2014. Since then, she has trained as a Apprentice Community Farmer at ECO City Farms and has helped to organize and teach Nutrition workshops, assisted the SEED2FEED Summer Youth Program, and worked on composting and farming .Aida is the author of articles and two books, “Do You Know This Ancestor?” and “Afla’s Story”, a book for children which she translated into Luganda, her mother tongue. She is writing her third book about improving soil and growing food the sustainable way in East Africa, in order to help farmers and in rural communities. Aida is a mother with several grandchildren, loves reading and writing, grows her own food, is an excellent cook, and she is very interested in Black History Studies. Aida left ECO to pursue farming on the West Coast.

Colin PhotoColin Mahoney, Bladensburg Farm Manager:  Colin is a recent graduate of Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, with a degree in International Relations. Growing up in Pennsylvania, Colin had a love for the outdoors. He is an avid hiker and enjoys working and gardening outside. While at Saint Joseph’s, Colin had the opportunity to study in Namibia and South Africa during a semester abroad, and in Honduras on two alternative breaks. Colin has a passion for education, interning with the World Affairs Council in their Jr. Model UN, and last year engaged with community members in Philadelphia on the issues surrounding school closings. Summer 2013, he had the opportunity to work in Minneapolis to combine his interests in education and community outreach with urban agriculture. He worked with local youths and community members to help establish community gardens throughout north Minneapolis. Colin is enthusiastic about joining ECO City Farms, where he hopes to hone his skills and knowledge of community outreach and urban agriculture by learning from co-workers and community members. Colin is now pursuing his MA.

eggavoc-0099Sade Anderson, Chef and Nutrition Educator: Sade is a global citizen but claims the DMV as home. Spending the first 5 years of her life in the countryside of Rhaunin, Germany helped her to foster a loving relationship with Mother Earth that would not come full circle until adulthood. During her undergraduate and graduate studies Sade has continued to engage in social justice work around issues of race, class, youth and political incarceration, birth injustice, and most recently food injustice.  Through a thirteen-year journey to a plant-based lifestyle, Sade has come to appreciate food and its source. Sade believes that food is a wonderful tool to talk about social justice and can ultimately be used to heal us all! he is a health coach, food educator, personal chef, garden educator and fitness instructor. Sade enjoys dancing, reading, cooking, yoga, and sharing vegan meals with her 6 year old son. She is currently pursuing her PhD.

10379967_651354848315236_1543375742628687894_oDragan Markoski, Community Solutions Program Fellow: Dragan Markoski is an experienced youth worker, project manager, and trainer in the field of non-formal education. During the past eight years, Markoski has worked on the planning, preparation, and implementation of various local, national, and international youth projects. For more than four years, he has also managed the general administration of the organization for which he works. As a freelance trainer, he has worked on designing and delivering educational programs for various non-formal education activities implemented by organizations and institutions from different countries. As one of the leaders of creACTive’s project for organic farming and a Community Solutions Program Fellow, Markoski hopes to learn more about building strong relationships and establishing cooperation in the field of sustainable development and social entrepreneurship with stakeholders from the government, local municipalities, businesses, and nonprofits. Upon returning to Macedonia, Markoski intends to pursue a follow-on project which focuses on engaging youth in establishing new organic farms in Kavadarci.

Raymond bio picWekem Raymond Avatim, Agricultural and Food Systems Fellow, Ghana .

Wekem holds an MA in Development Studies with specialization in Population, Poverty and Social Development from the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University in The Hague in, Netherlands in 2009 and a BA in Population and Family Life Education from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana in 2001. He has over eight years work experience in managing and coordinating the implementation of livelihood security initiatives in rural communities Northern Ghana. As the Director of Livelihoods and Food Security Development at SEND-Ghana, his work involves the design, development, and implementation of livelihood security initiatives aimed at strengthening and empowering local communities to drive their own development processes and build resiliency to climate change. His work focuses on building the organizational capacities of community institutions (family-based farmer co-operatives and credit unions) to ensure sustainability in areas that include agriculture production and market access, food security, community nutrition security, gender-based programming and women initiatives (gender model families and micro finance), climate change adaptation, partnership building and networking, peace animation, reproductive health and participatory approaches to rural development. Wekem has significant experience in working with and managing teams in the implementation, monitoring and evaluating impacts of SEND-Ghana projects. He also has experience in advocacy work with district authorities to ensure food security related interventions address the needs of deprived and vulnerabile communities. Wekem aims to learn from ECO City farms practical climate change adaptation strategies for rural communities and innovative ways in undertaking community-based outreach and education on nutrition for implementation in rural communities to address the impacts of climate change and high levels of nutrition insecurity among under 5 children and pregnancy women.