Isaac Carroo, Associate Project Manager, P─ü to Plate

Isaac works at the intersections of sustainability, community development, and social enterprise. With P─ü to Plate, he is promoting food sovereignty in M─üori communities of Tai Tokerau (Northland), New Zealand by helping small-scale horticulturists increase their gardening capabilities, building community between their projects, creating a market for their produce, and keeping culturally-important food narratives alive. Isaac has past career experience as a strategy consultant, and earned degrees in Religion and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Rice University. He is a proud Jamaican-American of Indo-Caribbean descent.

Lina Ghanem, Saba Grocers Initiative

Lina Ghanem is the Executive Director of Saba Grocers Initiative, a grassroots based non-profit located in Oakland, CA. Saba provides support to corner store owners in Oakland in order to increase produce sales and stock in their stores, and operates a twice weekly fresh produce distribution service. Lina comes to food systems work with a background of public health, research and policy, and from a linage of olive and orange farmers in the occupied West Bank, Palestine. Motivated by personal health conditions related to diet and sugar consumption, she organized her community members and store owners from the Arab-American Muslim community on Oakland's Soda Tax in 2019, and successfully garnered City Council support in investing local Soda Tax revenues in establishing a local fresh produce distribution service exclusively for corner stores - the Saba Food Hub.

Andrea Salinas Dehesa, Despensa Solidaria

Andrea is a partner of Cooperativa Despensa Solidaria, where she coordinates the area of finance, social audit, and participatory certification. She has imparted several presentations and classes on ethical finance, food sovereignty, fair trade and solidarity economy to youth projects and cooperatives in Mexico and Latin America and other public universities. She is an active participant in different networks such as: Red Raíces cooperatives where she work as a member, she belongs to the facilitation committee of the Alternative Food Networks of Mexico and to the driving group of the Participatory Guarantee System of Mexico City.

Nidia Alejandra Galindo Coronado, Despensa Solidaria

Nidia is a founder and collaborator in Cooperativa Despensa Solidaria, and coordinator of Outreach and Social Communication. She was an advisor to Cooperatives and Cultural Collectives within the First School of Social and Solidarity Economy, as part of the Cultural Innovation project of the Ministry of Culture in Mexico. She has advised the development of social and community projects from the Solidarity Economy with a Networking approach for various Civil Associations in several states throughout Mexico. Since 2019, she is part of Red Raíces Cooperativas, which articulates 10 organizations of Solidarity Economy.