Eleanor Sweeney was a public school teacher for 12 years in San Francisco and Chicago. She currently works as a School Partnerships Educator at the Field Museum, where she brings inquiry-based workshops to CPS classrooms.

Christina Woods is the Professional Development Educator at the Field Museum, where she creates programming and facilitates educator learning experiences that embody the Field Museum mission of creating connections to the natural world and the human story. Prior to her work at the Field, she worked with pre-service teachers in Loyola University Chicago's School of Education, and was the founder of The Future Perfect consultancy.

Kenneth Strickland is the Employment and Farm Education Specialist at Growing Home, Englewood's organic urban farm. He is committed to enriching the community through economic, ecological, and social justice. Kenneth recently moved to Chicago from Durham, North Carolina where he completed his mental health internship through Duke University’s Counseling and Psychological Services. Kenneth has a love for gardening and the life lessons gleaned from the fields.

Born and raised in Chicago, Allen Cosnow has been a charter member of Midwest Fruit Explorers since the early 1980s. Allen has lived in the same home on a half-acre residential lot in Glencoe since 1975, where he has learned how to grow a lot of fruit in a limited space, while still keeping the grounds acceptably neat-looking for his neighbors.

A former president of Midwest Fruit Explorers, Tim Hamilton is now retired and pursuing his hobbies of hardening and managing a honey business. On his three-quarter acre property in Gurnee, Tim has around 50 fruit trees, including pears, apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, plums, and currants.

Ben Balskus has been the Midwest Fruit Explorers president since 2021 and a member since 2018. In his backyard orchard in Beverly, Ben and his family tend over a dozen dwarf fruit trees including apples, peaches, pears, and cherries, alongside their backyard chicken flock. When not puttering around the yard, Ben works as an ecological project manager with a focus on vegetation development for utility scale solar facilities.

Over the past fourteen years, Paul Floyd has worked as a passionate educator serving as an assistant principal and award-winning physical education teacher. Outside the classroom, he owns a company that provides in-house wellness programs to businesses. Paul’s experience working with clients that include both professional athletes and people stepping into the gym for the very first time has solidified his belief that high-quality health and physical education programs can create an impact that lasts a lifetime.

Alejandro Gomez serves students at the Academy for Global Citizenship as a Community Health Worker in collaboration with Esperanza Health Centers. Previously, Alejandro studied integrated health studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Alejandro aims to work with all aspects of a person, instead of looking at them as just a patient.

Bryan G. Soto is a grade 3–8 health and wellness teacher at the Academy for Global Citizenship, where he is passionate about the mission of serving the whole child and championing all aspects of wellness. Born in Mexico City and raised in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, Byran is an alumnus of both CPS and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he studied community health and urban planning.

Gaby Garay is a Salvadoran-Mexican youth worker, educator, crafter/maker, and land steward. They have seven years of experience in youth programming and curriculum writing, with a focus on storytelling, relationship with the land, creativity, and art as crucial tools that bring transformative change. Her making practice includes crochet, hand/machine sewing, quilting, and natural dyeing using primarily thrifted fibers.

Sarai Redmond is a Black and queer Chicago-born multidisciplinary artist, musician, educator, and restorative justice practitioner. Over their past ten years as an educator, Sarai has facilitated learning with people ages 2-87 across various subjects including bike mechanics, urban agriculture, and how to hold a talking circle. Their current visual work explores concepts around the body as terrain, Earth as ancestor, and ancestor as self. Learn more about their work at saraibernice.com.

Irina Zadov is an artist, educator, and cultural organizer. They are a queer, post-Soviet Jewish immigrant and settler on the unceded territories of the Three Fires Confederacy, also known as Chicago, Illinois. Their practice explores the liminal space between the individual and the collective, diasporic community and chosen family, and the home and the state. Irina aims to co-create joyful, healing, and liberatory spaces by, for, and with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, immigrants, young people, and LGBTQIA+ communities.

Amanda Anderson is the Urban Agricultural Program Manager at the Gary Comer Youth Center, which specializes in youth development and workplace readiness on the South Side of Chicago. She has over 10 years of experience working with youth and their families in agriculture and environmental education programs. Amanda also loves gardening, raising quail for eggs, and working with teenagers to help them discover their own strengths and passions.

Stef Funk is a multi-racial Chicagoan who has worked with various institutions and nonprofits to support Chicago's local food system. She is passionate about educating all Chicagoans about the importance of community control over local food systems and advocating for justice and equity for our growers, producers, and consumers. Stef leads the Chicago Food Justice Rhizome Network, Productive Landscapes Task Force, Annual Chicago Food Justice Summit, and cares for 13 backyard chickens on the Southwest Side of Chicago.

Jen Cullerton Johnson is a CPS teacher who helped create the Karma Garden and is the author of the children's book Seeds of Change.

Karen Fair is the founder of Growsumthin, an organization that promotes gardening and sustainability education on Chicago’s South Side. Over the last twenty years, Karen has grown plants in both northern and southern climates and has experience with annuals, perennials, plant design, house plant care, succulents, and edible gardens. As a garden educator, Karen likes to teach others about what will grow well in Chicago gardens. Growing has allowed Karen to combine two things she loves: gardening and people..

Olessor Anthony has served families across Chicago with the CPS Office of Early Childhood Education for 24 years. Currently, Olessor is a Family Engagement Coordinator for Network 11 where she assists with building welcoming school environments, enhancing two-way communication, leveraging community partnerships, assisting with enrollment, and supporting the ongoing educational well-being of families and their children on the South Side of Chicago. She is certified as a Family Specialist with Gateways to Opportunity through the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA).

Teresa Weed ran a completely outdoor preschool on public lands on Chicago’s Northwest Side for five years, and she is the founder and Policy and Advocacy Coordinator of Forest Schools for Illinois, a volunteer organization committed to removing systemic barriers to outdoor play and early learning for Illinois kids. Teresa is currently enjoying student teaching in a first grade CPS classroom.

Naaman Gambill has been a beekeeper in Chicago for over a decade. In 2016, Naaman founded The Hive Supply Company to provide quality equipment, education, and management services to over 350 hives throughout the Chicagoland area. Naaman is deeply committed to educating Chicago’s youth and the general public on the importance of bees and pollinators.

Gina Jamison is the president of Garfield Park Advisory Council, (GarfieldPAC), co-chair of the Garfield PAC Health & Wellness Committee, board member of the Best Babies Zone Advisory Council, member of the Garfield Park Garden Network and the Garfield Park Neighborhood Market, a volunteer for the Garfield Park Community Council, member of the Garfield Park Rite to Wellness, and board member of United to Preserve Affordability and Sustainability in Garfield Park. Gina was born and raised in Garfield Park until 1960 and returned in 2016 after retiring from 20 years of service as a tractor-trailer driver with FedEx. She now pours her energy into her true passion: gardening and community organizations.

Adonnis Platt serves as the Land and Community Steward for Grow Greater Englewood, where he works with community members to advance food sovereignty by creating access to healthy, nourishing food through backyard and community garden installations. He is currently working with a cohort of young interns to develop skills around growing organic food, carpentry, and community organizing practices.

Nate Haefelin and a crew of community gardeners started building and maintaining gardens in 2019 on Chicago's South Side. He also helped start Wood St. Collective, alongside co-founders Martell Collins and Peace Coleman, planning Garden Action days and Neighborhood Market days.

Tiffany Watkins is a teacher and wellness champion at Westcott Elementary School who led the development and design of Westcott’s Space To Grow Green School Yard. In her work, Tiffany creates health and wellness initiatives for the Westcott community, champions the school’s Learning Garden, and organizes healthy and fun activities throughout the year (including Bike Out Days, Glow Parties, Eat What You Grow Tasting, Healthy Cooking Classes, and Weekly Fruits and Vegetable Tastings).

Michael (Chris) Hershier has been a teacher at Prairie Crossing Charter School for almost 20 years. In 2013, Chris was honored by the Center for Green Schools as a Trailblazing Teacher for bringing environmental concepts to the classroom. In addition to his years of classroom teaching, Chris has also worked for four years as a naturalist. Chris earned a master of education degree in integrated learning from Antioch University New England and a bachelor’s degree in ecological assessment and mathematics from the University of Findlay.

Cynthia McGovern has worked in the education field since 1983 in diverse class settings, including urban, suburban, and rural areas. She recently completed Montessori Secondary training and currently teaches an adolescent program at Nature Walk Montessori in Round Lake, Illinois. At her current school, Cynthia has engaged students through the installation of two pollinator gardens, a vegetable garden, and a rain garden.

Carolyne Banks is a University of Illinois Extension agriculture and environmental educator located at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. By making research-based information accessible and engaging for all learners through educational best practices, Carolyne hopes to increase environmental awareness and systems thinking in the community.

Naomi Dietzel Hershier is the Dean of Sustainability at Prairie Crossing Charter School, where she works with students and teachers to incorporate environmental and sustainability learning into the daily school experience. Naomi manages the learning garden spaces on the school’s five-acre campus, which includes over 50 food-growing gardens, six outdoor classrooms, and numerous native plant gardens. In 2022, Naomi was awarded the Trailblazer Award by the Green Schools National Network.

Monica Romano took the University of Illinois Extension's Master Urban Farming course in the fall of 2020, and it changed how she gardens. For more than 10 years, she's served as a co-lead on her school's garden team, and she has an indoor seed-starting station and raised beds in her back and front yards in Albany Park. Monica is gradually installing native plants in places where food doesn't grow at home and at school.

Jeannine Wise is a chef, community herbalist, and veggie gardener currently serving as the director of Good Food is Good Medicine, a nutrition education and food justice program teaching cooking and nutrition to people on the South and West Sides of Chicago. They also recently opened the first Little Free Apothecary in the city, growing and offering medicinal culinary herbs and remedies as a love letter to the community of Little Village.

Connie Kollmeyer is an Environmental Educator and Garden Coordinator for The Conservation Foundation (TCF), where she enjoys spending time with kids and families in nature and the TCF's McDonald Farm gardens in Naperville, Illinois. She also teaches sustainable urban agriculture and study abroad at College of DuPage (CoD) and DuPage County Corrections through a partnership with CoD. Connie is an organic gardener, urban farmer, forager, permaculture instructor, animal lover, nature lover, foodie, traveler, mushroom grower, and herbalist!

Kyla Muhammad is a Community Engagement Coordinator at The Conservation Foundation. Kyla’s curiosity about living systems and the ecosystem led her to become a Master Naturalist, through which she participates in community science, community education, rain monitoring, seed collecting, and native plant projects. She is also passionate about promoting sustainable and regenerative landscapes that nourish people, wildlife, and the soil.

Christopher Weber is the outdoor learning educator at the Ancona School in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood. A certified horticulturist and environmental educator, he previously worked as an environmental journalist.