Rooting DC 2009 – Panel Discussions

Food Justice and Gardening in Washington DC
Donne Malloy is the Vice President of Marketing and Sales of METTECH, Director of Client Development for Premier Personnel, Manager of H Street Market of Freshfarm Market, and a Board Member of Smart Markets, Inc. She is an advocate of bringing farmer markets into inner-city neighborhoods because she believes everyone should have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, no matter where they live.  She is educating people about producer-only markets, and about why having food stamps, WIC, and senior coupons are important to make food affordable to everyone.

Jerry Smith is the coordinator for DC Parks and Rec’s Youth Gardening Program which teaches inner-city youth basic gardening skills and helps them to develop an awareness and understanding of their natural environment.  This is achieved through hands-on gardening April – August at the Lederer and Twin Oaks Garden Centers, and through a series of lessons and projects at several elementary schools throughout the city October – March.

Matt Grason (D.C. Hunger Solutions) has worked in fundraising and programmatic capacities for non-profit organizations with focuses on such issues as hunger relief, the environment, alternative transportation, and the arts.  He holds degrees from James Madison University and Manhattan School of Music.

Jenny Guillaume has worked with a variety of urban agriculture programs in Washington, D.C. and Brooklyn, N.Y., and most recently has been working with D.C. Hunger Solutions on the Healthy Corner Store Campaign.  True to her southern roots her favorite vegetable is okra.

Liz Falk is the Co-Founder and Director of the 7th Street Garden (recently relocated and renamed Common Good City Farm) and DC Markets and EBT/WIC Manager at FRESHFARM Markets.  Liz has a background in environmental science and education and a master’s degree in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development. Her experience in sustainable agriculture comes from working on organic farms in Virginia, Australia and Costa Rica and she holds a certification in permaculture design. Liz is committed to food security for all people and to strengthening the local food movement in the Washington, DC region. When she’s not working, Liz is usually found running in the woods or standing on her head.

Finding Suitable Land for Urban Gardens
Josh Christianson is the Career Program Manager at the Posse Foundation in Washington, DC.

Susan Ellsworth is a co-director and founder of the 7th Street Garden food project in LeDroit Park where she enjoys spending her days in the garden and working with community members to transform D.C.s food economy and increase food accesss for all residents. When not in the garden (and to pay the bills), Susan coordinates national outreach for the Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade program where she works three days a week.

Parisa Norouzi is the co-founder and co-director of the grassroots, membership-based community organizing project Empower DC.  Empower DC is a multi-issue organization whose purpose is to build the confident self-advocacy and organized political power of low and moderate income DC residents.  Empower DC is currently engaged in grassroots advocacy campaigns around the issues of Affordable Housing, Quality Affordable Child Care, and Saving Public Property (the People’s Property Campaign).

Mandie Yanasak Worsley is the coordinator of the Kingman Park-Rosedale Community Garden in Northeast DC.

Natives and Invasives

Damien Ossi is a Wildlife Biologist for the District Department of the Environment in the Fisheries and Wildlife Division.  This Division is tasked with urban natural resource management & conservation and wildlife inventory & monitoring throughout the District, and is managing invasive plants on federal, city and private land in the District through partnerships and grants.  Damien works on invasive plant management, invertebrate inventory and monitoring, and backyard wildlife habitat education.  He has a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University, and in previous jobs he has raised endangered whooping cranes in captivity, protected piping plovers on Cape Cod beaches, and monitored waterbird nests on islands in the Cape Fear River.

Micah Ryder is the plant ecologist for the District Department of the Environment Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.  Before coming to work for DDOE he worked as an ecologist for the National Park Service managing invasive plants and conducting surveys for T&E species at Assateague Island National Seashore. Prior to his work with NPS Micah worked for 6 years with the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources helping to manage a 100,000 acre forested mountain range, including invasive plant control and restoration efforts. Micah was born and raised in Silver Spring MD, received his B.S. from the University of Maryland in Soil, Water, and Land Resources and received his M.S. from the University of Hawaii in Natural resources and Environmental Management.

Urban Agriculture
Kacie Warner is the education coordinator at the Washington Youth Garden, an organization that has been sowing the seeds of healthy eating and green living in the DC community since 1971.  Before joining WYG, Kacie worked with a youth development program on a non-profit teaching farm in the Northeast and spent some time at a desk advocating for sustainable food and farm policy.

Faces From the New Farm
A documentary produced by Women’s Garden Cycles. Three friends left from their home in Washington DC, and biked to Montreal, Canada and back, visiting and filming new groups of farmers who are living alternatives to industrial food.

SPIN-Gardening: Grow Like a Pro
Take your garden to the next level! Come learn how SPIN-Gardening can help you produce a steady and dependable supply of vegetables that have all the quality of farm-grown, and all the convenience of store-bought.  Roxanne Christensen, Co-author of SPIN-Gardening and SPIN-Farming, will show you how to grow and process like a pro by adapting many of the techniques of sub-acre farmers. Get ready to achieve levels of productivity and diversification that go far beyond conventional gardening practices! Prior to this session, you can learn more about how SPIN can help you follow the call to good eating from the garden at www.spingardening.com