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2020 Fellowship Selection Committee

2020 Racial Justice Fellowship Selection Committee

This beautiful and brilliant crew is going to be selecting the 2020 CoFED Racial Justice Fellows!

Kriss Mincey, 2019 Racial Justice Fellow, DivestEd

pronouns: she, her, Kriss

Kriss Mincey is a Black, Afro-Southern American lyricist, writer and asker of questions. She likes her coffee hot, even in summer, and is learning how to make records. She lives and grows in Baltimore with her mom, partner and community of Black farmers and healers.

Dallas Robinson, 2019 Racial Justice Fellow, CoFED Enchanter of Engagement

pronouns: ey, em, eirs

Dallas is a Black farmer and land steward. Dallas is committed to healing Black life in the south through agriculture. As the Enchanter of Engagement, ey are looking forward to connecting and building cooperative power amongst young BIPOC. Dallas was one of 2019’s Racial Justice Fellows at CoFED. Eir fellowship project was a mix of oral history collection and on-farm workshops [at the Harriet Tubman Freedom Farm]. Ey listened to and learned from the stories of farmers and eir rural elders, many of whom are the children of sharecroppers, to bring light to the rich history of eir region as well as inform eir context for growing in Eastern North Carolina. Dallas loves all things cats and mushrooms!

Maya Indira Reyes, 2019 BUD / SCA alum, chef extraordinaire

pronouns: she/they

Maya is a food sovereignty advocate, with experience creating change in almost every facet of the food system, from community gardens to fine dining to cooperative organizing. She was introduced to the world of CoFED and food + land cooperatives through her previous work with Woke Foods, a Bronx-based Afro-Dominican Food Cooperative, and Farm School NYC, an urban farming program with a food justice lens. She was a member of the 2019 CoFED Summer Academy (now BUD) cohort. Her most recent endeavor is in the wine world – Maya is currently working towards attaining Sommelier certification. She hopes to bring her commitment to earth and farmworker justice, as well as a deep gratitude to the land, to this new endeavor. Outside of her studies, Maya is a farm apprentice at East New York Farms.

Ayano K. Jeffers-Fabro, network homie, East Oakland Grocery Co-op

pronouns: she, her, we, sis

Ayano K. Jeffers-Fabro is currently the Project Manager for the East Oakland Grocery Cooperative; and an independent consultant for community food initiatives, specializing in place-based, sustainable food system practice. Ayano grew up in the rural sugar-plantation town of Waialua, Hawai`i, a very different built environment from East Oakland, her experience in both places gave her the insight to draw urban-rural parallels around impacts that gentrification, social disenfranchisement, economic disinvestment and lack of resources in communities of color, has on creating and sustaining a healthy, thriving community. Being a resident and community builder in East Oakland, Ayano sees and lives through the food apartheid mechanisms in motion, such as lack of prioritized availability to fresh, healthy foods. Bridging these urban-rural connections has given Ayano the insight needed to utilize her talents and callings to combat these oppressive forces and inter-generationally heal community. Her consulting business is named Kauhale Honua, which in Hawaiian translates to “earthly village”, and is the lens in which she views the world.

Amethyst Carey, board member, Center for Economic Democracy

pronouns: she, her, hers

Amethyst is a Boston based co-op advocate, organizer and solidarity economy practitioner. As a Program Associate for the Center for Economic Democracy, Amethyst coordinates the Massachusetts Worker Ownership Table, a multi-stakeholder racial and economic justice initiative advancing policies, financing and technical assistance to grow employee ownership across the state. Before joining CED, Amethyst served as an Associate and Consultant for Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative’s nationally recognized Community Land Trust, Dudley Neighbors Inc., where she supported resident and community engagement.
Amethyst is a Board Member for CoFED and is the Board President for Boston Community Cooperatives, a network of housing co-ops in Dorchester, MA. She is an avid community gardener, music lover, and is passionate about envisioning new futures for the poor and working class Black communities that raised her.

Tim Lampkin, board member, Higher Purpose, Co.

pronouns: he, him, his

Tim Lampkin is the co-founder and CEO of Higher Purpose Co. a nonprofit social impact agency building wealth in communities of color across Mississippi by supporting the ownership of land, businesses, and homes. Ashoka recognized him in 2018 as an emerging innovator addressing the racial wealth gap in the United States. An BALLE and Movement Voices Fellow, he has a decade of community development experience. He previously managed the Racial Equity Program for the Mississippi Humanities Council which won the national 2018 Schwartz Prize. Lampkin also worked for Southern Bancorp to implement several community initiatives and assisted rural entrepreneurs at Delta State University. He continues to produce narrative change documentaries highlighting relevant Mississippi topics. Lampkin serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Advisory Council. He is a proud HBCU graduate of Mississippi Valley State University and currently finishing his Doctorate of Education at the University of Arkansas.

Teia Evans, Director of The Dolla Dolla Bill

pronouns: she, her, hers

Teia Evans is the Director of Finance and Operations at CoFED. Ms. Evans has been with the organization for 2.5 years, first serving as a board member and now as Director of The Dolla Dolla Bill. She now works with the internal operations and finance for the organization. She has been working to provide the tools for people to start their own cooperatives for the past 5 years and is passionate about cooperative development and building thriving communities. She serves on the boards of both local and national organizations that are committed to economic justice and advancement. Ms. Evans earned her Juris Doctorate and Master of Business Administration degrees at North Carolina Central University.

Suparna Kudesia, Choreographer for Collective Change

pronouns: she/they

Suparna is a decolonial educator and immigrant mother. She brings with her over 15 years of experience imagining and breathing life into educational programs and leading organizational development. Suparna believes in the power of unraveled unlearning to shift narratives, heal trauma, and transform systems. She is guided by ancestral re-visioning, abolitionist and decolonial praxis, and manifesting collective dreams. Suparna responds to the call to return stolen wealth as the Choreographer of Collective Change by moving money where it can have a critical impact on building a beautiful regenerative food system – into the hands of young cooperators of color. Suparna lives on unceded Kumeyaay land with her partner, toddler, and numerous bunches of mint.