Program Overview

Ron Finley is the gangster gardener from Los Angeles. He's also an activist, educator, and founder of the Ron Finley Project, a nonprofit with a mission to transform food deserts into food sanctuaries. His work reflects his passionate belief that access to fresh food, and the agency to grow that food, can fundamentally transform and empower communities. His nonprofit also nurtures young scientists by connecting garden initiatives with STEMM education.

IG: @ronfinleyhq

Travis McKenzie is a Chicano educator and food-justice organizer from the East Mountains of New Mexico. He teaches New Mexico history and serves as Garden Resource Teacher at Polk Middle School, while also working with the Southwest Organizing Project, co-founding Project Feed the Hood, and serving on the leadership team of Rooted In Community. For nearly two decades, he has created edible landscapes and youth internship programs that reconnect young people with our sacred Mother Earth and inspire positive social change.

Mariah Gladstone is a Native American chef, environmental advocate, entrepreneur, and educator. She founded Indigikitchen, an online cooking platform that leverages Indigenous recipes and ingredients to teach traditional food preparation. Through her work, she empowers Native American communities to reclaim and revitalize their culinary heritage.

Khaliah D. Pitts is a Philadelphia-born author, multidisciplinary activist-artist, and speaker who crafts spaces of liberation and joy through storytelling in literature, poetry, video art, and land and kitchen arts. A trauma-informed facilitator with over fifteen years’ experience—from community center basements to corporate boardrooms—she was honored with a Leeway Transformation Award for her socially engaged art. As co-founder of Our Mothers’ Kitchens and a member of the Leadership Team of the National Black Food & Justice Alliance, she advances cultural preservation and food justice.