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SPEAKERS & WORKSHOP SESSIONS
NATALIE S. BURKE, CommonHealth ACTION
Cultivating interconnection: The power of equity work to catalyze connection

A nationally-known speaker, strategist, master facilitator, and public health leader, Natalie S. Burke is President and CEO of CommonHealth ACTION–whose mission is to develop people and organizations to produce health through equitable policies, programs, and practices.
She serves as co-director for the Robert Wood Johnson funded Culture of Health Leaders Program and directs Kaiser Permanente’s Institute for Equitable Leadership.
A graduate of the University of Maryland, Natalie has participated in the Emerging Leaders in Public Health Fellowship (University of North Carolina’s Schools of Business and Public Health) and New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service Lead the Way Fellowship for entrepreneurial leaders in the nonprofit sector.
Natalie believes that to alter our collective health destiny, we must change our language; challenge deeply held beliefs about equity in our society and accept the role we each play in the production of the public’s health.
JESSICA HOLMES, Wake County Board of Commissioners
It Takes a Village: Facing the challenge of hunger head-on through policy, passion and people

Jessica N. Holmes is a workers’ rights advocate, policy expert, and fighter for fairness and social justice.
Jessica was born and raised in eastern North Carolina. She earned her undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.
In 2014, Jessica became the youngest commissioner ever elected in Wake County’s history. She is currently serving her second term as chair of the Board of Commissioners; her colleagues elected her unanimously.
Jessica has been successful with these key initiatives that support workforce development: increasing access to early childhood development programs, advocating for increased education funding across North Carolina and development of career and technical programs in high schools, and leading a campaign to provide capital funding for our state’s largest community college system, Wake Technical Community College.
16 WORKSHOP SESSIONS
THURSDAY WORKSHOP 1
1:15 – 2:30pm
NASH ROOMS 1-4
I Can See Clearly Now:
How to Use Your Equity Lens
Natalie Burke,
Common Health Action
The Faces of Poverty
in North Carolina
Dr. Gene Nichol,
Boyd Tinsley Professor, University of North Carolina
Creating Resiliency Hubs in the Face of Climate Change
Jodi Lasseter,
NC Climate Justice
Lessons on Preserving Farmland Alongside Development
Margaret Sands (Triangle Land Conservancy), Tandy Jones (Grassy Ford Farm)
THURSDAY WORKSHOP 2
2:45 – 4:00pm
NASH ROOMS 1-4
Incorporating Racial Equity Principles
LaShauna Austria (Alamance Food Collaborative),
Sue Perry-Cole and Kendrick Ransome (Just Foods Collaborative), Ashley Heger (Orange County Food Council)
Placing North Carolina in the National Context: Lessons Learned from Food Councils Across the US
Raychel Santo,
Food Policy Network, John Hopkins Center for Livable Futures
Double Up Food Bucks Impact and Implementation
Sonsera Kiger (Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC); Christina Bailey (Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and the King St. Market, Watauga Food Council)
Accountability and Values in Sustain Community Food Systems Work:
A Funders’ Dialogue
Jen Zuckerman (Duke World Food Policy Center), Sohnie Black (Fund for Democratic Communities); Merry Davis (BCBSNCF); LindaJo Doctor (W.K.Kellogg Foundation); Monica McCann (Resourceful Communities)
FRIDAY WORKSHOP 3
8:30 – 9:45AM
NASH ROOMS 1-4
Ancestral Awakening: Waccamaw Siouan Tribal Healing Greenspace
Mrs. Darlene Graham (Waccamaw Siouan), Mrs. Sue Young-Jacobs (Waccamaw Siouan), Mrs. Jean Brown (Waccamaw Siouan), Randi R. Byrd (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians)
Lenesha Northington
(ABC2), Zachary Clemons (ABC2), Coreya Lynch
(ABC2), Chester B. Williams (ABC2), Anthony Gregg (YA, MWYUF),
Chance Snowden (YA, MWYUF), Randolph Keaton (MWYUF)
The Financial Realities of Farming
Scott Marlow,
Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA
Reshaping Communities By Grounding the Work of Health Equity into the Community Health Assessment Process
Ann Meletzke (Healthy Alamance, Alamance Food Collaborative) & Zo Mpofu (Buncombe County Public Heath)
FRIDAY WORKSHOP 4
11:15 – 12:30PM
NASH ROOMS 1-4
Race Wealth Gap Simulation
Rosa Saavedra (Bread for the World), LaShauna Austria (Benevolence Farm)
Racial Equity in Local Government
Ariana Flores (Race Forward), Shorlette Ammons (Center for Environmental Farming Systems, Committee of Racial Equity)
Celebrating Stories of
Black Farmers
Moderator Gabrielle Eitienne (Revival Taste Collective), plus a farmer panel
CEFS Food Youth Initiative – Transplanting Traditions, Jovenes Lideres En Accion (JLA), Growing Change, Men & Women United for Youth & Families representatives
2019 IGNITE PRESENTERS
An exciting series of quick 5-minute presentations highlighting community work.

Randi Byrd,
Healthy Native North Carolinians
Healthy Native North Carolinian Network

Julius Tillery,
Black Cotton
Cotton is our Culture, Bringing Awareness to Black Farmers and Landownership

Sarah Daniels,
Cape Fear Food Council
Food Systems Resilience in the Lower Cape Fear Area

Mark Anthony Lucas Jr,
Conetoe Family Life Center
Experiences on Conetoe Farm

Ashley Page,
Columbia SC Food Policy Committee
Developing Food Policy Recommendations by Hosting Food Gatherings

Ryan Morin, Terrence Smith, and Noran Sanford
Growing Change
Can Prisons be Flipped for Good?
Randi Byrd, Healthy Native North Carolinians
Julius Tillery, Black Cotton
Sarah Daniels, Cape Fear Food Council
Mark Anthony Lucas Jr, Conetoe Family Life Center
Ashley Page, SC Food Policy Committee
Ryan Morin, Terrence Smith, and Noran Sanford, Growing Change
SPEAKER BIOS

Jessica Holmes
Sarah Daniels
Julius Tillery
Food Youth Initiative
Ann Meletzke
Youth Ambassadors
Rosa Saavedra
Jodi Lasseter
Emi Yoko-Young
Gene Nichol
Tandy Jones
Randi Byrd
Jen Zuckerman
Darlene Graham
Scott Marlow
Sue Young-Jacobs
Monica McCann
ABC2 World Changers
Jean Brown
Raychel Santo
Christina Bailey
Sonsera Kiger
Natalie S. Burke
Margaret Sands
Growing Change
Ashley Page
Sohnie Black
LaShauna Austria
Gabrielle Eitienne
Ariana Flores
See past Ignite Presentations