Help EcoStation
raise $5000
for two awesome
Youth Empowerment
initiatives!
In our work at Bushwick Campus Farm, EcoStation:NY is training the next generation of environmental and food justice leaders through dialogue about the interconnectedness of human and environmental health and hands-on training in sustainable agriculture. Help us deepen the impact and meaningfulness of our work by donating to our campaign to raise $5,000 in support of two current initiatives.
Food & Social Justice Workshop
Led by three amazing facilitators, EcoStation's Food & Social Justice Workshop for 35 area youth will focus on food justice issues and their impact on our culture and society. Participants in this innovative seminar are from Bushwick Campus, Make the Road New York, and El Puente's Bushwick Leadership Center - all progressive champions of youth empowerment. Ten of these young people will be working for EcoStation this summer; this workshop will put the work into context.
Educational Scholarship / Work Stipend
Diamond Martin exemplifies the kind of student EcoStation seeks to nuture and support. Bright, determined, articulate, and giving, she was one of Academy of Urban Planning high school's first "Food Fighters," an after-school student group focusing on food justice issues - and an excellent volunteer at Bushwick Campus Farm. She will be working with EcoStation this summer, and attending Brooklyn College this Fall. We plan to help her get there with a $2000 contribution to her college fund.
In her own words...
My name is Diamond Martin and I am currently a student at the Academy of Urban Planning. I first moved to America from my homeland of Dominica at the age of four, leaving behind my mother and brothers, to live with my aunt. I believe it is always hard to make a change and take a step into unfamiliar territory. It takes courage to let go of the life you knew and take a chance somewhere new. However, instead of seeing a situation as a negative, I am determined to make the very best of it. I see myself as an achiever who goes against the odds. Whether in school or out of school, I push myself for a brighter future. I consider myself to be outgoing and social. Although I can work independently, I work very well with others.

As a senior in high school I am on track to graduate with an approximate grade point average of 3.7. While in high school I have been enrolled in several honors and advanced placement courses, along with college-level electives. I have taken honors accounting, physics, personal finance, Spanish, pre-calculus, AP calculus and AP English classes.

As of now I am enrolled in Brooklyn College for the fall 2012 semester but listed as an international student, meaning a higher tuition. My legal status and financial situation has set a lot of obstacles in my path but I refuse to let them get in the way of my success. Like any other teenager, I want the opportunity to work and and support myself.

Working with the Food Fighters has been an amazing learning experience. Not only can I work indoors, but outdoors as well. Since starting the Spring internship, my eyes have been open to new methods of food production and various ways we can create healthy eating habits in an urban environment. This program has allowed me to develop the self-confidence, leadership, and social skills essential to my future success.


Diamond Martin


Food & Social Justice Workshop Facilitators

Javier Salamanca is an educator for liberation with the Popular Education Institute at the Brecht Forum and provides trainings that focus on power analysis, consensus, and political education for youth and immigrants. Javier has facilitated workshops on NYS Prison Justice/Abolition, Radical Educational Justice, led interactive dialogues on Community Envisioning & Development, and has allied with organizations such as Domestic Workers United and FIERCE. He is committed to inspiring and enabling all people tap into their power and voice for freedom and liberation.
 
Rachael M. Ibrahim, MSW, is an anti-oppression social worker and community organizer, activist, and trainer. She provides experiential and interactive workshops with an anti-racism lens. Trained by the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond through Undoing Racism and earning a Masters' degree from Hunter College's School of Social Work in Community Organizing, Rachael brings a wealth of experience to the table. From International Solidarity work and anti-oppression trainings at OWS, to Youth Leadership Development and organizing, Rachael works with a variety of communities to create sustainable change that is humanistic and healing.

Rafael A. Mutis Garcia is an immigrant from Colombia and Spanish Harlem resident working in community and academic settings in defense of poor and working-class communities of color, immigrant communities, women, LGBTQ folks, and young people. He has worked in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, New Jersey, and New York City, and also in Nicaragua, Mexico, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. He has served as a popular educator at the Escuela Popular Norteña, an organizer with Critical Resistance NYC, and has worked with the Anarchist People of Color (APOC) since 2003 (particularly in defense of the South Bronx's Morning Glory Garden, which was tragically destroyed in 2011). He has worked with young people for 13 years on topics ranging from HIV/AIDS prevention to police brutality to community gardening, including coordinating the Seven Neighborhood Action Partnership (SNAP) of JusticeWorks Community. He is also a founding member of Take Back the Bronx, which is addressing police violence and promoting community autonomy and control. Rafael carries an M.A. in Political Science, an MPH in Community Health, and a Family Herbalist Certificate. He has been accepted to the doctoral program in Earth & Environmental Sciences with a focus on Geography at the CUNY Graduate Center. He teaches at Hostos Community College (CUNY) and at Boricua College, and is currently planning an ethnobotany project with indigenous & Afro-Colombian communities in Cauca, Colombia.  
For more information email [email protected] or call 646-393-9305

EcoStation: NY, Inc. • 130 Palmetto St, Suite 350 • Brooklyn, NY 11221