Luis Garden Acosta

Luis Garden Acosta is the Founder/President/CEO of El Puente in his home community of Williamsburg , Brooklyn. For the past 22 years, he has led El Puente as a beacon for holistic learning and development. Luis embodies a commitment to the arts with a passion for scientific research, peace and justice. He is a founding member of The First Poets, a principal investigator of a federally funded, environmental justice research project and an impactful pacifist who is not unfamiliar with the inside of a jail.

Spirited by a unique background as a graduate of St. Mary's Seminary, as a Harvard Medical School student and as a community development organizer for New York City's Office of the Mayor, Luis led the community medicine division of a hospital and has produced and hosted popular culture radio and television programs. In the 60's, he launched a "university of the streets" and in the 70's he directed a statewide humanities program. In the 80's he led the nation's first and largest Afro-Cuban music school. Luis has contributed his leadership to the National Science Foundation, the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, New Yorkers for Parks, Citizens Union, The New York City Food Bank, the Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform, and the Young Lords Party. CAFE, (Community Alliance For the Environment), initiated and led by Luis, dramatically stopped the building of a 55-story incinerator at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in his home community of Williamsburg. He assisted in the writing of the Surgeon General's Report on Public Health and Self-Help and has helped guide projects for the Center for Children and Technology, The California Wellness Foundation and the National Network for Youth. He has worked directly to inspire and nurture El Puente-like organizations from California to Massachusetts.

His awards include the "Spirit of the City" from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Public Works Award and "Celebrating Success" from the Children's Defense Fund. Along with his partner, Frances Lucerna, Luis Garden Acosta is the 1998 Heinz Award Winner for the Human Condition.

John Ameroso

John is a County Extension Agent at Cornell University’s Cooperative Extension. As Horticultural Specialist for Cornell's NYC Programs since 1976, John has specialized in soils, vegetable crops, and fruit production. His efforts to promote urban agriculture have resulted in several successful projects and market farms including: Rikers Island Farm Project, Wheatfield Project and the Gericke Farm Project. As part of his a contribution to extension, he has piloted a program to develop urban space to produce food crops locally for 25 cities nationwide, thus increasing access to fresh food for many. John has authored several articles on food, ranging in topic from food production to topsoil preservation. John is a founding member of Just Food, a partner in the City Farms Project, and is the recipient of several awards for his work.

LaRae Cunningham

LaRae Cunningham is a Brooklyn-based writer and communications consultant. Previously, she spent six years at Goldman Sachs in internal communications, corporate philanthropy, and the Office of the Chairman. LaRae’s professional background includes speechwriting, internal messaging, communication plans, web content and administration, executive correspondence, and more. As a project manager, she has coordinated volunteer and fundraising events with more than 35 New York City nonprofit organizations in focus areas ranging from hunger relief to environmental conservation. Prior to her work in the private sector, she taught cultural studies, media analysis, and literature courses at universities and community colleges on both coasts. LaRae earned a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. in English from San Diego State University, and a Ph.D. in English/Cultural Studies from Binghamton University (SUNY). Her dissertation, completed in October 2007, explored the "molecular gastronomy" trend, tracing its historical origins, class implications, and attempts to expand traditional ways of thinking about food.

Helena Durst

Helena Rose Durst is the Public Affairs Director, Corporate Liaison and Assistant Vice President for The Durst Organization, a company that owns, manages and develops real estate and is known for pioneering work in implementing environmental design. Helena studied real estate at Baruch College , and is involved in several non-profit organizations. She is a member of the Board of Voices Unbroken and Citizens Union . Voices Unbroken provides under- heard voices with the tools and opportunity for creative self- expression, through creative writing workshops. Citizens Union of the City of New York is a 100- year old nonpartisan, good government organization, working to ensure that local and state government values its citizens, addresses critical issues, and operates in a fair, open, and fiscally sound manner. Helena is also the Real Estate advisor for her sister's non- profit arts organization, Chashama, which supports the development of art by awarding grants, producing shows and providing subsidized studio, rehearsal and performance space. Great granddaughter of Joseph and Rose Durst, Helena continues a family tradition of leaving places better than when she found them.

Kristen Greer

Kristen Greer has worked in finance for the past eight years.  As a consultant for Arthur Andersen she advised companies and municipalities in financial distress; as an equities analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman she conducted research and made recommendations for institutional investment opportunities.  Most recently, she served as an operations project leader and financial reporting manager at Christie¹s Auction House.   She holds a B.S. in Finance and Management from the University of Virginia, and a M.P.A. with a concentration in nonprofit management and public policy from New York University.  Kristen has been a food activist since she became a vegetarian at age six.

Joan Gussow

Joan is the Mary Rose Professor Emerita of Nutrition and Education at Teacher’s College, Columbia University (NYC), where she formerly headed the Nutrition Education Department. She has a B.A. from Pomona College and earned her M.Ed. and Ed.D. from Teacher’s College. She is author, coauthor or editor of a number of articles and several books – most recently This Organic Life. From 1980 to 1983, Dr. Gussow served on the Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Panel of the National Academy of Sciences followed by two terms on the NAS Food and Nutrition Board. She has also served on the FDA's Food Advisory Panel and most recently on the National Organic Standards Board. She is a founding member of Just Food.

Kathy Lawrence

Former Director of Just Food and founder. Most recently Kathy server as Executive Director of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture. Prior to founding Just Food, she managed education and outreach for the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG). Kathy holds a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs where she specialized in economic and political development. She has a B.A. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Kansas. She has also apprenticed on an organic farm in Maine.

David Moody

David is a partner at The Purrington Firm, where he represents investment managers and investors in connection with the structuring of investment funds. A highly experienced corporate legal generalist, David was formerly General Counsel for Ziff Brothers Investments for five years and was previously associated with Cleary, Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York. David graduated magna cum laude from Cornell Law School, where he served as Note Editor on the Cornell Law Review. A longtime member of a CSA farm, David has been assisting Just Food on a variety of legal issues since he was first introduced to us by Lawyers Alliance.

Liz Neumark

Lynn Shafran

Abu Talib

Urban farmer, City Farms Trainer, farmer’s market organizer, beekeeper, and long-time partner, Abu Talib has been planting the seeds of wellbeing in his community for over 30 years. When asked why, his answer was this: “We are not just raising food, we are raising people. It is not right that a handful of people control the whole food industry, because he who controls your breadbasket controls your destiny. We live in the most fabulous country in the world, with the best land. Why are some of us still hungry?” Abu Talib lives in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx and grows food at Taqwa Community Farm.

Karen Washington

Karen Washington has lived in New York City all her life, and has been a resident of the Bronx for over 22 years. Since 1985 Karen has been a community activist, striving to make the Bronx a better place to live.  As a community gardener, Karen has worked with neighborhoods to turn empty lots into community gardens, as an advocate, she has stood up and spoken out for garden protection and preservation, as a City Farms Trainer, she has helped people all over the city grow more food and build healthier neighborhoods, and as a member of the La Familia Verde Garden Coalition, she launched a City Farms Market, bringing garden grown and farm fresh vegetables to her neighbors.  Her motto is: you can’t say you’ve made it, if the people around you are still struggling, I am because we are.

Karen attended NYC public schools, graduated from Hunter College with honors in physical therapy in 1977 with BS degree magna cum laude, and received her Masters degree from NYU in occupational biomechanics and ergonomics in 1981. She is the mother of two children: Kendra, a principal at a NYC public school; and Bryant, an inspector for the department of health and a singer, and has two grandchildren, Julian and Justice.