Toxic Free NC's Community Leadership Council
About the Council
Toxic Free NC’s Community Leadership Council
is a group of emerging and experienced leaders from
across North Carolina who work together to reduce pesticide
pollution. They are an energetic
and diversely talented community of leaders who find common
ground and inspiration in each other's efforts for farmworker
health and justice, clean and healthy food for rural communities,
toxic-free spaces for children, and much more.
The Council meets approximately
six times a year, five times by telephone and once in person.
Members partner directly with Toxic Free NC on specific projects
and campaigns, pursue training and skill-sharing for activism
and leadership, and offer one another support and advice
in their work. Toxic Free NC draws on the Council for advice
and assistance with outreach and community organizing work
around the state.
The Council formed in 2008, and is intended to reach full size (approximately
10 members) by the end of 2009. If you are interested
in supporting the work of the Council by making a financial
or in-kind contribution, or if you'd like to be considered
for membership in the Toxic Free NC Community Leadership Council, please contact
us!
Members
of Toxic Free NC's Community Leadership Council
(last updated 12/08)
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Melissa
Bailey
Kinston
Melissa Bailey is originally from a small
coal mining community in southern West Virginia.
She has worked for Lenoir County Migrant
Education for
the past seven years as a recruiter. She is
a co-founder of the Migrant Education Outreach
Cooperative in eastern North Carolina and a
volunteer Coordinator for AMEXCAN's
Agri-LiNC Project (Agriculture LIVES in NC).
Most recently, she completed her Certificate
in Nonprofit Management from Duke University.
She is a proud mother of three children and
enjoys camping, reading and writing in her
spare time. |
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Mary James
Maple Hill
Mary James, together with her
husband Nelson, owns and operates Dogwood
Nursery Farms, LLC. They grow
a wide variety of pesticide-free vegetables, and raise
pigs, chickens, turkeys, guinea hens and more.
They also lead the NC Willing Workers
Cooperative, a growers cooperative that
helps limited-resource farmers in the Maple Hill area
learn more about sustianable agriculture and niche marketing.
Mary and Nelson are 2008 NC Small
Farmers of the Year - visit
this link to read more about
the award, and see a slide show and watch a video about
their farm.
Photo: Mary James with her husband Nelson at their
farm.
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Anna
Jensen
Benson
Anna Jensen is originally from Winston-Salem, and graduated in 2008
from UNC-Chapel Hill. She now works at the NC Farmworkers Project doing
health and safety outreach for farmworkers. As a student, Anna interned at Toxic
Free NC through the Into
the Fields program
at Student Action with Farmworkers.
She also helped to found a farmworker solidarity organization at UNC called
Alianza. |
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Silvia
Peterson
Burnsville
Silvia Peterson is originally from Mexico City
and has lived in NC since 2002. She works for
the Toe River Health District Farmworker Program
in four counties, helping farmworkers and their
dependents access the health care system, providing
health and safety education and reimbursing eligible
providers. In addition, Silvia works for the Service
Center for Latinos, Inc., a non-profit organization
assisting Latinos and low-income families to meet
their basic needs and become an integral and valuable
part of the community.
Photo: Silvia Peterson with her daughter Alexis at a December, 2008 meeting of the Community Leadership Council.
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Juvencio
Rocha Peralta, Jr.
Greenville
Juvencio Rocha Peralta, Jr. is originally from Veracruz,
Mexico, and has lived in NC since 1980. He is the founder
and president of the Association
of Mexicans in North Carolina (AMEXCAN), a grassroots
organization with five chapters across the state that
advocates for the rights of Latino immigrants. Juvencio
also works at Lenoir
Community College in the Occupational
Extension department. Juvencio recently received the
Defenders of Justice Award for Grassroots Empowerment
from the NC Justice Center, and has joined the Executive
Board of the National
Alliance of Latin American & Carribean Communities. |
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