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Staff

Mayra Betancourt, Public Health Projects Manager email
Liliana Chazaro, Food System Change Agent (AmeriCorps) email
Anne Evans, Nutrition and Garden Education Coordinator email
Sarah Grandin, Garden Educator (AmeriCorps) email
Matt Harnack, Garden Educator (AmeriCorps) email
David Kane, Interim Executive Director email
Eron Sandler, Program Director email
Liz Snyder, Development Manager email
Sheila Vreeburg, Bookkeeper and Office Manager email
Justin Wiener, Garden Educator (AmeriCorps) email 
Nicole Wires, Food System Change Intern email

Mayra Betancourt is the Public Health Projects Manager for Collective Roots and is a recent graduate from University of California Berkeley where she holds a degree in Molecular Environmental Biology with an emphasis in Human and Environmental Health. Her future plans include medical school and further work in the community to promote healthy living. She is currently working on the Immigrant Integration Health Advocacy project where health baseline data will be collected for the East Palo Alto community. In addition the immigrant experience will be documented using various forms of media communications. Ultimately this information will be published and will be available to all East Palo Alto residents with the hopes of empowering the community for social change.

Liliana Chazaro is a Food System Change Agent and member of the Silicon Valley HealthCorps. She is a full-time student at San Jose State University majoring in Global Studies with a concentration in Latin America, and minoring in Environmental Studies. She plans to merge the two areas of study to help develop sustainable communities. On her spare time she volunteers with Veggielution, an urban community garden in San Jose. Liliana works with the Backyard Gardener Network to start backyard gardens in an effort to increase the access of fresh, healthy, and sustainable food in East Palo Alto. 

Anne Evans has an M.S. in Nutrition and is a Registered Dietitian.  She recently moved to California by way of New York where she spent the last 2 years working as the head nutritionist for an HIV/AIDS Adult Day Treatment Program.  Anne has extensive experience in nutrition education, curriculum development, garden based learning, and community outreach.  In Seattle, Washington Anne managed the implementation of a Farm-to-Cafeteria program at a local public school through coordination and collaboration of farmers, school administrators, kitchen personnel, parents and the community. For Lettuce Link in Seattle, she also developed and taught a nutrition education program for third and forth graders which included nutritional science lessons as well as cooking demonstrations and tasting exercises.  Anne is replacing Katie Gadsby as Nutrition and Garden Education Coordinator at the end of October.

Sarah Grandin is a Garden Educator and member of the Silicon Valley HealthCorps (an AmeriCorps program). She teaches Garden Club at the East Palo Alto Charter School and will soon be teaching gardening and cooking at Girls to Women. Born and raised in San Francisco, Sarah has been cooking in Bay Area restaurants since she was fourteen, and she took a year between high school and college to work as a line cook in Paris. Currently, Sarah is a junior at Stanford majoring in Comparative Literature and Art History, with a minor in Modern Languages. When not in the library, she can be found tutoring, working as a research assistant for the Cantor Centor for the Visual Arts, catering, and frequenting local farms and farmers’ markets.  

Matt Harnack is a native Californian, self-proclaimed eco-geek, and committed to making films about environmental challenges and their solutions. Matt received his Bachelors from UC Santa Barbara and his Master of Fine Arts from Stanford University. During the summer before Stanford, Matt traveled across the country in a vegetable oil and solar powered bus, teaching youth and adults about sustainability. At Stanford he created four short environmental films including his thesis, Fossil Fuel Free Film that featured Collective Roots. Matt is a Garden Educator and member of the Silicon Valley HealthCorps.  He is co-teaching at the EPACS garden where he hones his skills as an educator and environmental activist.

David Kane is Interim Executive Director as of March 2010. In his prior role as Food System Change Coordinator, he was responsible for engaging the community and cultivating broad support for increased food access and an improved food system in East Palo Alto. A native of California, David returns to the peninsula after working as a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow at a hospital in Boston, where he helped immigrant families obtain food stamp benefits, and at a research institute in Washington, D.C., where he advocated for a broad national anti-poverty agenda—including a focus on food security for low-income families. He has organized youth in Chicago, developed voter educational materials for immigrants in San Francisco, and led fitness and nutrition classes for children. David graduated with a BS in Education and Social Policy. Visit David's blog by clicking here.

Eron Sandler is the Program Director for Collective Roots. Eron worked for many years on organic farms and as a teacher and coordinator for environmental and educational non-profit organizations. Eron studied Environmental Education at both Hampshire College and earned an M.S. in Environmental Studies at Antioch New England Graduate School. Her travels and experiences learning about cultures, food, and farming in Europe, India, the Philippines, Mexico and Thailand greatly influence her views on food security, nutrition, community and education. She is inspired by growing food, establishing community relationships and getting people excited about being in the garden. 

Liz Snyder is Development Manager for Collective Roots. Liz comes to us from her former position as Interim Executive Director of Full Circle Farm, a sustainable, educational farm in Sunnyvale. Liz received her M.Sc. from Oxford University in 2003, where she examined the relationship between community food systems, exposure to food marketing messages, and childhood nutritional status. As a Research Associate in UCSF's Department of Social Medicine, Liz managed a team of medical practitioners and research personnel on a major NIH-funded project.

Sheila Vreeburg brings 30 years of experience as a bookkeeper and office manager. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art, Magna Cum Laude, from Notre Dame de Namur University, and has experience working with organizations both large and small.

Justin Wiener is a Garden Educator and member of the Silicon Valley HealthCorps (an AmeriCorps program). He teaches garden workshops alongside our Garden and Nutrition Education Coordinator at the East Palo Alto Charter School and will soon be teaching gardening at the 49ers Academy. As a graduate of Garden For the Environment’s Gardening and Composting Educator Training Program in San Francisco, Justin contributes to many urban garden programs in horticulture and agro-ecological education. He is currently working to obtain his credential for teaching elementary education, with a focus on bringing gardening, ecology and food justice into his curriculum. Justin graduated with a BS in Psychology.

Nicole Wires is an intern in the Food Systems Change Initiative. She works primarily with the Backyard Gardener Network to start backyard gardens in an effort to increase the access of fresh, healthy, and sustainable food in East Palo Alto. Nicole is a full time masters student at Stanford University studying Earth Systems, with a focus on sustainable agriculture and food justice.  She previously focused on issues of international food security, working abroad in Ecuador, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso, but she has more recently become interested in developing ecologically and culturally appropriate regional food systems here in the US. Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, she loves the west, the mountains, backpacking, climbing, biking, and being outside. 

 

Collective Roots is supported by a team of consultants and volunteers, including the following:

 

 



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