Join us on Thursday for our monthly general meeting and Board Elections.
We have some big changes to announce...Karen Washington will be leaving our board (after nearly 20 years of leadership) to pursue her dream of farming! We're so excited for her, all we want to do is dance. Come dance with us. We also thank and honor Kate Temple-West and Vandra Thorburn for their years of service to NYCCGC.
There are new garden leaders running in this election, as well as long-time board members. All members are eligible to vote. Please come and exercise your right!
NYCCGC BOARD ELECTION & GENERAL MEETING
WHERE: Neighborhood Preservation Center
232 E. 11th St.
Manhattan
WHEN: Thursday, 3/19, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
In addition to elections, we will carry on with our usual general meeting business. We'll hear updates about HPD-threatened gardens, plan for our upcoming fundraiser, and share what's going on in our gardens.
Who's running, in alphabetical order by last name:
Ray Figueroa: Ray is a strong advocate for community garden preservation, and the current president of the board of NYCCGC. He is the coordinator of Alternatives-to-Incarceration (ATI) (2011 – Present); Policy Advisor to the NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL’s FoodWorks initiative: “FoodWorks: A Vision to Improve NYC’s Food System – Accomplishments and New Ideas;" member of the MAYOR’s Inter-Agency Taskforce on Urban Agriculture (2012 – Present); recipient of in-kind grant from Columbia University’s Institute for Social & Economic Research (2009 – 2010).
Mara Gittleman: Mara is the Farm Education Manager at KCC Urban Farm at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY. Mara founded and is currently Project Director of Farming Concrete, a community science project to help gardeners measure the good things happening in their gardens, and is currently vice president of the board of NYCCGC.
Aresh Javadi – Aresh has promoted the enhancement and preservation of community gardens as well as the cultivation of fallow land in New York City for decades. Since 1998, he has led the effort to preserve and enhance over 400 community gardens through art, education, grassroots organizing, legal, legislative and direct action and currently serves as Executive Director of More Gardens.
Charles Krezell: Charles Krezell has served on the NYCCGC board since 2011. He has been the NYCCGC Treasurer since 2012. He is the founder and president of LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens). He has been an active East Village gardener since 1996 and is a member of DeColores Community Garden on East 8th St.
John McBride – New Board Candidate! John is a member of the Electric Ladybug Garden. He has been working with the NYCCGC and 596 Acres and has been very active in the fight to protect and preserve gardens currently threatened by HPD's recently issued development program, which immediately puts the future of 17 community gardens in question. John has helped with the recent demonstration at City Hall, and has spoken numerous times at Manhattan's Community Board 10 along with representatives from other threatened gardens.
Renée Peperone – New Board Candidate! My background is in documentary filmmaking, not-for-profit sector work as well as community organizing. The daughter of a retired NYC private sanitation worker/owner in the pre-Guiliani era I have a unique perspective on NYC, its people, its development, its waste. A life long New York resident I grew up along the Hudson River, spent my whole adult life in Brooklyn and for the last 15 years I’ve called Bushwick my home. During Diana Reyna’s final term in City Council (2013) I sat on the Rheingold Advisory Committee as a community member advocating for the Environment and Open Space. My voice at the table expanded the demands beyond the either/or paradigm of ‘affordable’ housing or open space and healthy communities, and helped to insert community land ownership (CLTs) as a tactic to protect neighborhoods from real estate speculation and outside moneyed interests. The experience stressed to me the power of unaffiliated community members having a voice at the table, the overall lack of vision and creativity held by private and political players and the urgency to protect land in service of the public good. NYC’s Community Gardens are a huge community asset accessible to all.
NYCCGC ‘s collective voice must be included in all future citywide planning and it is necessary that existing gardens obtain full garden permanency once and for all. It’s clear to me, that’s the space in our city's decision making NYCCGC needs to occupy. I’m happy to help move this agenda forward if asked to do so.
As Co-Director of BK ROT I focus on grassroots composting efforts in public spaces through a lens of social justice, effectively changing the methods and culture around waste. BK ROT is a project that could not exist without free access to public land. Every Sunday year round our work is done in a community garden in Bushwick. Joining NYCCGC’s board would allow me to connect such localized community determined resiliency work with larger NYC efforts, by working to protect public land keeping it accessible to all.
Thanks for your consideration.
Garden Affiliations: EL Garden (2013- Present, Member), 1278 Myrtle Community Compost Site & Wildlife Garden (2014 - Present, Member/Organizer)
Jill Poklemba: Senior Director of Grant Development, The Fortune Society Prior to joining Fortune was the Director of Communications and Fund Development for STRIVE International. She has also worked as a Senior Policy Analyst for Income Security and Workforce Development for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA). In each of these positions, Jill has been a staunch advocate and supporter of Green Pathways out of Poverty and programs that offer sector-based skills training related to green construction and environmental sustainability, including urban agriculture and community gardening.
Magali Regis: My involvement with community gardens started 20 years ago when two firemen came knocking at my apartment door (after a complaint from my landlord) ordering me to remove all the plants I had growing on the fire escape. I then transferred my plants to a local community garden, the Creative Little Garden on East 6th Street in the East Village and became a member. It was the mid-90s and many gardens were being bulldozed by the Giuliani administration and the land sold to developers. My friend and neighbor Francoise Cachelin, an avid and determined garden activist, drafted me to attend rallies at City Hall, make flyers and phone calls to elected officials and help plan the ‘Standing our ground’ rally at Bryant Park with Pete Seeger as our special guest. I’ve been a garden activist ever since. I joined the NYCCGC in the fall of 2005 and currently a member of Campos Garden on East 12th Street, Toyota garden on East 11th Street and LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens). I am also an architect, a world traveler and I love avocados.
Sharon Sockwell: I have been a member of the NYCCGC for the last 4 years as well as a member and on the Steering Committee of the Phoenix Community Garden. I have worked with BEES school, Shirley Chisolm Day Care and the Serpendity program. Bringing the community together. I enjoying sharing the goods news of the Coalition.
Haja Worley: Long time activist and community organizer. Member of the Black Panther Party. Co-Director, Project Harmony, Inc.-1987-present. President of the NYCCGC, 1996-97.Chair, Parks and Recreation Committee, CB#10, 1990-2000. NYCCGC Board Member, Circle of Brothers-chair, of COB Council. CERT-member Community Emergency Response Team, Manhattan 10. WHCR-90.3FM (City College public radio), Engineer ("Inside Housing" ) -Co-Host of Harlem 411. Chair, Parks and Recreation Committee, CB#10, 1990-2000.NYCCGC Board Member, Circle of Brothers-chair, of COB Council.CERT-member Community Emergency Response Team, Manhattan 10.WHCR-90.3FM (City College public radio), Engineer ("Inside Housing" ) -Co-Host of Harlem 411.
