About BUGs

Washington is a farmer and community activist who has worked to improve the New York City community and beyond through her role as a community gardener, board member of the New York Botanical Gardens, and Soul Fire Farm. She has also co-founded Farm School NYC, and the Black Farmer Fund. Recognized for her leadership and contributions to the food system, Washington has received the James Beard Leadership Award and is named as one of Ebony magazine's 100 most influential African Americans and Essence magazine's Essential Heroes.

Ginyard is a founding member of La Finca Del Sur, the first women-of-color-led farm in the South Bronx. She has worked to address inequalities around access to healthy food for over ten years, serving as a strategist for underserved communities. She directed the first Bronx Food Summit and served as a board member of the Brooklyn Food Coalition. In addition to leadership, she has supported engagement and marketing at the Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger; project management for Farms at NYCHA and the Building Healthy Communities Initiative.

Baab is a senior co-director of US Programs at WhyHunger, where she supports the growth of BIPOC-led food sovereignty organizations by mobilizing resources and providing technical support to create the legislation, and infrastructure required to build equity and social justice. She led the planning of the inaugural Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners conference in 2010 and has more than 15 years of experience in community development in both Canada and the US and holds a BS from Concordia University and MPH from Columbia University.

Clevenger has a rich career in food and farm education and community organizing. She served as assistant garden manager and educator/mentor at the University of California Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, was a community gardener at Taqwa Community Farm in the Bronx, founding member of Black Urban Growers, Volunteer General Coordinator for the first annual Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners Conference in 2010 and founding member of Farm School NYC, part of the Executive Board since its inception in 2008.

Wilson comes from a lineage of plant people and has been active in chemical-free farming for over a decade in California.  She brings passion and commitment to uplifting Black agrarian legacies; advancing environmental justice and saving seeds for the future.