WEST COUNTY DIGS STEERING COMMITTEE 2017 - 2018
Graciella Rossi, (Project Director) a resident of Richmond for 28 years has taught in the WCCUSD schools for 20 years. During that time, she also managed school gardens at Tara Hills and Mira Vista Schools and worked with a team to create a curriculum connecting garden activities to the core curriculum. She holds a Multiple Subjects and Education Specialist Teaching Credential and currently teaches special education and runs the garden program at Mira Vista School. As an active environmental activist and educator, she has worked for forty years to provide access to nature for low- income youth and special need populations, training many environmental education organizations in fundraising and planning skills.
Kelli Cochran-Barram has a master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and worked in the mental health field for 11 years, before switching gears and pursuing her passion for urban farming. Currently, Kelli holds two part-time positions: (1) she stewards the Legacy Garden at Saint Mary’s College of California, where she partners with professors to offer students out-of-the-classroom experiences that bring their environmental and food justice courses to life; and (2) she directs the after-school internship program, Plant to Plate, teaching students in the low-income areas of Richmond how to grow food organically (from seed to harvest), and how to cook and serve it—while developing job skills that will prepare them to secure and maintain employment upon graduating from high school. Kelli's passion for organic gardening and urban farming is rooted in her concern for nutrition education and environmental and social justice.
Patricia Gangwer has been a resident of Richmond for the past 34 years and a classroom teacher in California public schools for over 32 years. She has recently retired. She holds a BA degree and a multiple subjects teaching credential from UC Berkeley and an MA in Education from SF State University. She helped establish a school garden in the kindergarten yard and assisted in creating a garden in the main yard of Washington Elementary School in Pt. Richmond. Patricia is a member of the Education Committee, has acted as a professional development coordinator and volunteers at the Richmond Art Center. She serves on the Contra Costa Regional Health Foundation board, and is a member of the Art of Health and Healing committee. She is currently mentoring in a school garden at Lincoln School in WCCUSD, is on the Washington Edible Education committee and has been a member of WC DIGS for 9 years.
Leah Ingram is an east bay native and graduate of WCCUSD schools. She is happy and grateful to be working in the community she was raised in, encouraging school gardens and outdoor education. She has worked in Environmental Conservation and Education since graduating with a degree in Landscape Architecture, Sustainable Design, and Soil Science Rehabilitation. Leah has a diverse background of local nonprofit work as an Elementary School Water Conservation Educator for the Alameda Conservation District, Farm Educator For SAGE Sustainable Agriculture Education, and
Garden Manager for the Lafayette Community garden. She currently is the Garden Teacher and Outdoor Coordinator at Madera Elementary School and Environmental Educator for the New Leaf Collaborative in Martinez. Leah co-manages the Growing Strong Starts greenhouse program for DIGS supplying seedlings, free of charge, to over twenty West County schools each year that it has operated. She is passionate about the health of youth and the environment and working on bringing plants and people together through education.
Anthony Ramirez, currently teaches at Dover Elementary School and has taught since 1990. In the past ten years he has taught nutrition education, gardening and cooking and is a Spanish bilingual teacher. He is committed to educating youth and families in healthy eating and active living. He volunteers time with the San Pablo Obesity Prevention Task Force, Richmond Food Policy Coalition and DIGS.
Elóra Henderson, a Richmond homeowner, has been teaching at Lincoln Elementary School for the last 5 years. She has earned a Bachelors degree in Anthropology and Biology from the University of Chicago and a Masters degree in Special Education from Loyola Marymount University. She runs the Resource Specialist Program at Lincoln working to encourage students with special needs to delve into their varied interests (just as she has). This is her second year working in the Lincoln garden (under the tutelage of Patricia Gangwer, Garden Mentor), and she is committed to teaching through gardening as a way of empowering students to take charge of their own education and their academic, social, and emotional growth.
Vanessa Bonnie Janora is passionate about helping kids get on track with healthy eating habits at an early age. Having grown up in a household with sugar laden and highly processed foods a daily consumption, she realized at an early age that she wanted to devote her life to finding out how to eat healthy and share that information with others. She writes nutrition curriculum and teaches her students how to eat a rainbow. She loves taking kids out into the garden and having them understand the source of their food and develop ownership in growing their own food and cooking it. Equally important is teaching students how to take care of their bodies with a stretching and body rebalancing program called Essentrics. She is a certified Essentrics Trainer and a Registered Nurse. She has worked as an educator in the WCCUSD for over 20 years. She serves as Liaison in the District’s Visual and Performing Arts Program.
Melanie Pepper is a fifth generation bay area native with a passion for environmental education. Her bachelor's degree in Community Studies from UC Santa Cruz synthesized botany, social justice, and experiential youth education - three pillars that have defined her professional work. Melanie has trained with LifeLab, Education Outside, The Institute for Inquiry, Children and Nature Network, Horticultural Therapy Institute, and a myriad of local gardens. In 2014 Melanie was recognized by Alameda Unified with the Innovate Programs Award for her work building school garden programs at public schools. Melanie has also worked at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery and holds a certificate in Permaculture Design from Occidental Arts & Ecology Center. She currently helps West County DIGS train classroom teachers in how to bring their curriculum to life outside. In Spring 2018 she plans to break ground with Family Harvest Farms on their new horticultural therapy project working with foster youth in Pittsburg, California.
Graciella Rossi, (Project Director) a resident of Richmond for 28 years has taught in the WCCUSD schools for 20 years. During that time, she also managed school gardens at Tara Hills and Mira Vista Schools and worked with a team to create a curriculum connecting garden activities to the core curriculum. She holds a Multiple Subjects and Education Specialist Teaching Credential and currently teaches special education and runs the garden program at Mira Vista School. As an active environmental activist and educator, she has worked for forty years to provide access to nature for low- income youth and special need populations, training many environmental education organizations in fundraising and planning skills.
Kelli Cochran-Barram has a master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and worked in the mental health field for 11 years, before switching gears and pursuing her passion for urban farming. Currently, Kelli holds two part-time positions: (1) she stewards the Legacy Garden at Saint Mary’s College of California, where she partners with professors to offer students out-of-the-classroom experiences that bring their environmental and food justice courses to life; and (2) she directs the after-school internship program, Plant to Plate, teaching students in the low-income areas of Richmond how to grow food organically (from seed to harvest), and how to cook and serve it—while developing job skills that will prepare them to secure and maintain employment upon graduating from high school. Kelli's passion for organic gardening and urban farming is rooted in her concern for nutrition education and environmental and social justice.
Patricia Gangwer has been a resident of Richmond for the past 34 years and a classroom teacher in California public schools for over 32 years. She has recently retired. She holds a BA degree and a multiple subjects teaching credential from UC Berkeley and an MA in Education from SF State University. She helped establish a school garden in the kindergarten yard and assisted in creating a garden in the main yard of Washington Elementary School in Pt. Richmond. Patricia is a member of the Education Committee, has acted as a professional development coordinator and volunteers at the Richmond Art Center. She serves on the Contra Costa Regional Health Foundation board, and is a member of the Art of Health and Healing committee. She is currently mentoring in a school garden at Lincoln School in WCCUSD, is on the Washington Edible Education committee and has been a member of WC DIGS for 9 years.
Leah Ingram is an east bay native and graduate of WCCUSD schools. She is happy and grateful to be working in the community she was raised in, encouraging school gardens and outdoor education. She has worked in Environmental Conservation and Education since graduating with a degree in Landscape Architecture, Sustainable Design, and Soil Science Rehabilitation. Leah has a diverse background of local nonprofit work as an Elementary School Water Conservation Educator for the Alameda Conservation District, Farm Educator For SAGE Sustainable Agriculture Education, and
Garden Manager for the Lafayette Community garden. She currently is the Garden Teacher and Outdoor Coordinator at Madera Elementary School and Environmental Educator for the New Leaf Collaborative in Martinez. Leah co-manages the Growing Strong Starts greenhouse program for DIGS supplying seedlings, free of charge, to over twenty West County schools each year that it has operated. She is passionate about the health of youth and the environment and working on bringing plants and people together through education.
Anthony Ramirez, currently teaches at Dover Elementary School and has taught since 1990. In the past ten years he has taught nutrition education, gardening and cooking and is a Spanish bilingual teacher. He is committed to educating youth and families in healthy eating and active living. He volunteers time with the San Pablo Obesity Prevention Task Force, Richmond Food Policy Coalition and DIGS.
Elóra Henderson, a Richmond homeowner, has been teaching at Lincoln Elementary School for the last 5 years. She has earned a Bachelors degree in Anthropology and Biology from the University of Chicago and a Masters degree in Special Education from Loyola Marymount University. She runs the Resource Specialist Program at Lincoln working to encourage students with special needs to delve into their varied interests (just as she has). This is her second year working in the Lincoln garden (under the tutelage of Patricia Gangwer, Garden Mentor), and she is committed to teaching through gardening as a way of empowering students to take charge of their own education and their academic, social, and emotional growth.
Vanessa Bonnie Janora is passionate about helping kids get on track with healthy eating habits at an early age. Having grown up in a household with sugar laden and highly processed foods a daily consumption, she realized at an early age that she wanted to devote her life to finding out how to eat healthy and share that information with others. She writes nutrition curriculum and teaches her students how to eat a rainbow. She loves taking kids out into the garden and having them understand the source of their food and develop ownership in growing their own food and cooking it. Equally important is teaching students how to take care of their bodies with a stretching and body rebalancing program called Essentrics. She is a certified Essentrics Trainer and a Registered Nurse. She has worked as an educator in the WCCUSD for over 20 years. She serves as Liaison in the District’s Visual and Performing Arts Program.
Melanie Pepper is a fifth generation bay area native with a passion for environmental education. Her bachelor's degree in Community Studies from UC Santa Cruz synthesized botany, social justice, and experiential youth education - three pillars that have defined her professional work. Melanie has trained with LifeLab, Education Outside, The Institute for Inquiry, Children and Nature Network, Horticultural Therapy Institute, and a myriad of local gardens. In 2014 Melanie was recognized by Alameda Unified with the Innovate Programs Award for her work building school garden programs at public schools. Melanie has also worked at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery and holds a certificate in Permaculture Design from Occidental Arts & Ecology Center. She currently helps West County DIGS train classroom teachers in how to bring their curriculum to life outside. In Spring 2018 she plans to break ground with Family Harvest Farms on their new horticultural therapy project working with foster youth in Pittsburg, California.
