People

Anita Singh is a program manager and youth educator with Keep Growing Detroit (KGD), a garden resources organization supporting 1500 gardens across Detroit. Anita builds and manages KGD’s Youth Leadership Program and Summer Youth Apprentice Program, and develops the capacity of gardens and youth-serving organizations working in the food system. She also works to build the capacity of young people to affect change in the food system. Anita mentors and develops a staff of 6 youth and young adult leaders and collaborates with 30 community organizations to reach more than 1,000 young people per year. She hopes that her participation in the ee360 Fellowship will help her build a sustaining alumni engagement program for her graduated youth leaders and participants. Anita pursued a career in farm-based education and leadership after witnessing the powerful growth and transformation of her HS science students on an Outward Bound trip. She is an educator and farm owner with eleven years of teaching, mentorship, and curriculum development experience. She holds a Master’s Degree in Secondary Science Education and uses farming as a medium to connect food to justice and leadership. In her free time, Anita is interested in reclaiming the relationship that folks of color have with the outdoors.

About Anita‘s ee360 Community Action Project

Anita has partnered with Quilden Blackwell to develop an educational, off grid sustainable flower farm as a part of her community action project. The farm is a collaboration between, Get Down Farm and EcoHouse on Eastside of Detroit. We built from the ground up transforming a vacant lot into a sustainable production flower farm while providing education to the communiy and opportunity for future youth employment. The project will further build the capacity of Chicago EcoHouse to impact the local community in Detroit and we plan to continue our partnership as we grow the capacity of Detroit EcoHouse.

I enjoy spending time birdwatching in lovely Northern California with my two boys. When I'm not working at Pepperwood, I love traveling abroad, and learning about other cultures and different wildlife species. I worked for years as a wildlife biologist, so I'm happiest in a tent in the woods!

My name is Sydney Barnason and I received my Masters Natural Resources at the University of Missouri Columbia. I have ten years of experience in environmental education as an educator and volunteer.

Currently working at the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, heading up Project Learning Tree (PLT) and PLT Canada, connecting young to young adults to our forests, through meaningful school experiences, green jobs, and mentorship