A photo record of my rural and/or land-based organizing work centered on food sovereignty, seed preservation, and the reclamation of place (most photos were taken by me).

December 2024

Pocasset Cedar Swamp — Land Back, Tiverton, R.I.

After more than 300 years of dispossession, the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe (of the Pokanoket Nation) reclaimed nearly 40 acres of forested ancestral land in Tiverton, Rhode Island — the first time the tribe has owned this sacred portion of the Pocasset Cedar Swamp since the colonial era. This land return is the result of years of organizing, fundraising, and legal work. The reclamation was covered by the Boston Globe and the Providence Journal.

landbackpocasset wampanoagland sovereigntytivertonrhode islandcedar swamp

→ Boston Globe→ Providence Journal

2021 – present

Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust — Institutional Organizing

Secured $650,000 in Inflation Reduction Act funding through the US Forest Service to bring agroforestry back to the Northeast as a living Indigenous practice — expanding BIPOC access to land management programs across New England. Supported $1.5M in USDA cooperative agreements (NRCS, OPPE, NIFA). Trained 300+ farmers and ranchers in indigenous land management. Built coalitions with the Rural Coalition, Northeast Farmers of Color, and academic partners including UVM, American University, and Harvard.

landbackpocasset wampanoagagroforestryrematriationnew englandindigenous rightsfood sovereigntyusda

2024 – present

The Northeast Seed Cooperative

An independent collective of BIPOC farmers and gardeners organized to grow, clean, and process culturally meaningful heirloom seeds. This seed hub is dedicated to preserving heritage crops, reclaiming agricultural identity, and building a more resilient food system. The broader initiative focuses on expanding the number of BIPOC seed farmers, offering agricultural education, and preserving biodiversity.

seed sovereigntybipoc farmersheirloom seedsfood sovereigntynew englandbiodiversity

2019 – present

Mentorship & Field Training — Jaime Chavez, The Rural Coalition

Ongoing training and mentorship received from poet and National Field Organizer Jaime Chavez of the Rural Coalition. This sustained relationship has shaped an understanding of relational powerbuilding, coalition strategy, and the poetics of land-based struggle — rooted in the Chicano farmworker tradition and decades of frontline organizing across the rural Southwest.

mentorshiprural coalitionpowerbuildingfarmworkerchicanofield organizing

2023

Defending Addiction Treatment on the Route 2 Corridor

Emerson Hospital shuttered the only outpatient medication addiction treatment program serving the Route 2 corridor — a treatment desert spanning rural Middlesex County — citing finances. We organized patients, providers, and advocates, and forced Emerson to transfer care to a community-based addiction center rather than simply abandon hundreds of people in recovery.

healthcare justiceaddiction treatmentopioid epidemicmassachusettscommunity organizing

→ WBUR Coverage

2018 – 2020

Hemp, Land, and Federal Policy — National Latino Farmer & Rancher Trade Association

Organized ~50 agencies and growers around industrial hemp policy and production. The campaign succeeded: industrial hemp was included in the 2018 Farm Bill. Also secured $1.2M in USDA-NRCS equity conservation funding for historically underserved farmers, and led land-use negotiations between the USDA Forest Service and New Mexico Stockmen's Association on traditional Hispaño Land Grants in the Carson National Forest — including spatial analysis mapping potential conflict zones at the intersection of historic land grants and Forest Service boundaries.

industrial hempfarm billland sovereigntyindigenous rightsnew mexicofederal policy

2018 – 2019

Agroecology & Language Preservation — Ixil Territory, Santa Avelina, Guatemala

Traveled to Santa Avelina to work alongside the Ixil people on co-developing agroecology plans rooted in traditional land knowledge. Sessions covered technical assistance on soil health, polyculture design, and seed selection, alongside language preservation work to document Ixil agricultural vocabulary at risk of being lost. Also planned campaign tactics for community-centered change — including relational powerbuilding within the municipality and negotiations with the Guatemalan state around investment in community infrastructure and territorial rights.

agroecologyixilindigenous rightslanguage preservationguatemalapowerbuildingfood sovereignty

2019

Building Wastewater Treatment and Food Security in the West Bank

Supported farmers' organizing around projects including household- and community-level wastewater treatment systems, solar energy systems, and date farming in the Jordan and Arava valleys. Access to clean water and reliable energy are not amenities in this landscape—they are the conditions of survival, sovereignty, and the continued cultivation of a land that has been farmed for millennia. Free Palestine.

west bankwater sovereigntyfood securitysolar energydate farming