Meet Our Staff

Yasmin Schwartz
United Community Centers Division Director
(718) 649-7979 ext 17
[email protected]

Yasmin is the UCC Division Director overseeing all programs run by UCC. In her role, she leads a team of directors to deliver programming focused on leadership, urban agriculture, early childhood education, and sexual wellness. She is a camp kid for life and believes in the impact of caring adults on the lives of young people. In the past few years, she has participated in Restorative Justice and Talent Management initiatives. She received her Master’s in Education at Lesley University and earned her BA in Women and Gender studies at Rutgers University.

 

Karen Alessi 
(718) 649-7979
[email protected]

Karen Alessi is our Development Associate Director. Hired in fall of 2015, Karen works in all aspects of fundraising for UCC including grant writing, donor development, and event planning. Karen has a background in health education program design, holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from Hunter College, and is a Certified Health Education Specialist.

 

Sarah (Sol) Bacio
East New York Farms, Assistant Project Director 
[email protected]

Sol is originally from Los Angeles and moved to NY in 2017 to pursue a bachelors in Public Health and Sociology from New York University. Sol’s introduction to food justice was in 2020 when they co-founded the Los Angeles-based mutual aid collective, Farm2Power, which continues to distribute free CSA produce boxes to Angelinos in need of food support. After realizing their passion for food justice and community organizing, Sol began exploring the urban agriculture field and is a current Horticulture Urban Farm and Garden Training fellow through New Roots Community Farm in the Bronx. Sol is excited to be a part of the important work at ENYF and hopes to continue learning and connecting with the ENY community!

 

Jesse Miller
Garden Educator
[email protected]

Jesse is the Garden Educator for ENYF! and will be primarily working with the community at Spring Creek Educational Garden.  Jesse is originally from Los Angeles, but he moved to the east coast in 2018. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Geoscience from Brown University, he is passionate about growing beautiful food, learning about the environment and collecting rocks! Jesse has worked on several farms in the past including organic vegetables farms, a conventional corn farm in Illinois and a maple syrup farm in Pennsylvania.  He is excited to bring his passions for growing good food and improving STEM education to his position at ENYF!

 

Elli Sol Strich
Market Manager & Outreach Coordinator
(718) 649-7979 ext 14
[email protected]

Elli Sol is from Albany, New York, where she saw the importance and impact of community activism growing up. She studied Environmental Studies and Food Systems at Tufts University, while working for environmental education and food distribution efforts in the Boston area. Prior to joining ENYF, Elli Sol was working on a coffee and plantain farm in Colombia, where she was connecting with her ethnicity and family, and learning about regenerative agriculture. Elli Sol is grateful to work with everyone at ENYF, and she is excited to learn alongside and from the ENY community!

 

Sra Feigelman
East New York Farms, Compost Project Manager
[email protected]

Sra is the Compost Coordinator at East New York Farms! Sra has always been deeply rooted in food and the natural world, which led them to positions in urban and rural agriculture, restaurants and food systems, and to a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont. Sra returned home to New Jersey to reconnect with the food justice movements in the tri-state area. After teaching food and garden education at an elementary school in Paterson, NJ and managing marketing, outreach, and a community garden for an urban farm in Morristown, NJ, Sra came to East New York Farms to coordinate their compost operations. Sra is looking forward to helping ENYF's community-based compost program grow, and to deepening connections with the East New York community.

Michelle Neugebauer
Interim Executive Director
Michelle Neugebauer is our new interim Executive Director. Michelle has been the Executive Director of the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation (CHLDC) since 1984 where she grew the organization into a highly impactful, resident governed settlement house and community development organization with a staff of 500 and 16 service sites. Under her leadership, CHLDC has developed new public schools, 700+ units of affordable housing, and a continuum of youth development supports from early childhood education to college graduation and a legion of very empowered community leaders. Michelle is super excited about working with the amazing organizers, educators, board and staff of UCC as the strategic partnership between the two East New York nonprofits advances and deepens. Michelle attended Barnard College, and holds M.S. degrees in Social Work and Urban Planning from Columbia University. She is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development and serves on the Steering Committee of the Coalition for Community Advancement.

 

LaSalle Miller 
(718) 649-7979 ext 18
[email protected]

LaSalle Miller is the Fiscal Officer for United Community Centers. She has been with UCC for 20 years.

 

Deidre Miller
Protecting the East, Project Director

(718) 649-7979 ext 16
[email protected]

Deidre Miller is the Project Director of Protecting the East. Deidre is a former youth program participant and has been involved with UCC for more than 10 years. As project director Deidre is responsible for developing and implementing a community-level intervention for HIV prevention and developing curriculum and training of PTE staff and Youth Peer Educators. She has many years of experience working in youth development as well as extensive training and experience in sexual health education. Deidre holds a Bachelor’s degree from Baruch College in Business Management and Psychology.

 

Tiana Rainford
East New York Farms, Project Director

(718) 649-7979 ext 29
[email protected]

Tiana is a CUNY Brooklyn College graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Food and Nutrition Studies. Her interests in food sustainability and how food politics and culture affect one's access to preventative health care grew during her academic studies. She wanted to find a way to use her knowledge of food and nutrition to directly benefit her community of  East New York. Tiana previously worked with City Harvest and Harvest Homes Farmers' Market teaching nutrition education while performing cooking demonstrations. During the school year, she works with College Now at Brooklyn College as a nutrition tutor. As market manager, she combines her devotion to food justice in her community with her extensive knowledge in nutrition sciences to encourage food security in East New York.

 

Alec Chi
East New York Farms, Community Gardens Organizer

[email protected]

Alec is the Community Gardens Organizer at East New York Farms! Alec was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and moved to Flatbush to study nutrition at Brooklyn College. He joined ENYF through the CUNY Food Justice Leadership Fellowship. Prior to that, he was cooking in restaurants and apprenticing at organic farms. Alec's love for food has brought him from the foodservice industry to farms to ENYF where he is currently assisting with community organizing and strengthening their autonomy with growing food through restorative and regenerative agriculture.

 

Alexx Caceres
East New York Farms, Youth Farm Manager

[email protected]

Alexx Caceres (They/Them) is a land steward, artist, and animal lover born and raised in East New York, Brooklyn, with ancestral roots in Honduras.  Alexx's journey in reconnecting to land and beings across the ecosystem has led them graduate from Farm School NYC's Citywide Certificate Program, apprentice at Hattie Carthan Community Garden & Market, and become an alumni of Rocksteady Farm's queer farmer-centered Pollinate Training Program. Alexx is a seed keeper with Reclaim Seed NYC & a consultant with Cultivemos Queer Farmer Cohort with National Young Farmers Coalition. Their path continues as they steward the land at East New York Farm's UCC Youth Farm site where they're currently the Farm Manager. Some of Alexx's other passions include rescuing animals, painting, and making plant medicine such as salves and tinctures.

Meet the Board of Directors

Sarita Daftary
Board Chair

Kelebohile Nkhereanye
Board Member

Kim Bylander
Board Member

Gemma Garcia
Board Member

 

Kelleen Kiely
Treasurer

Mel Grizer
Board Member

Anita Faulding
Board Member

Michael Golan
Board Member

Could You Be Our Next Board Member?

We're looking for new members to join our board, especially professional men and women who can help us locate and secure grants, provide financial advice and services, or provide legal assistance.

Our Board Members bring with them new avenues for UCC to explore, and in exchange, they enjoy the opportunity to make a lasting, positive impact in our neighborhood.

Whether you’re from East New York or somewhere else, your energy and skills can help our organization grow. To find out more about Board Member opportunities, please contact us.

Contact Yasmin Schwartz at [email protected] for more information.