We are thrilled to announce that we have hired our next Executive Director:

Congratulations to our own Ellie Angerame!

For Immediate Release:

Local Food Justice Nonprofit Announces New Leadership

BRIDGEPORT, CT, June 23, 2020 - Green Village Initiative, a food justice and urban agriculture nonprofit organization, is excited to announce the promotion of Bridgeport native Eleanor (Ellie) Angerame to Executive Director. Green Village Initiative’s mission is to grow food, knowledge, leadership and community through urban gardening and farming, to create a more just food system in Bridgeport. Ellie’s promotion into the Executive Director position reflects one of the focus areas of the organization: to develop leaders in Bridgeport. 

Ellie began working at Green Village Initiative (GVI) in 2015 as a part-time Program Coordinator. She has had leadership and frontline roles in all 4 of the organization’s core programs and championed the shift of GVI’s mission to center on anti-racism and food justice. While in the roles of Farm, Community Gardens, and Youth Leadership Program Manager, Ellie led her teams to grow over 15,000 pounds of food at Reservoir Community Farm, connected more than 50 Youth Leaders to food justice and urban farming, and provided spaces and educational workshops for hundreds of Bridgeport families growing food for their tables. Most recently, Ellie took on the role of Director of Outreach and Educational Programming.

Ellie has played a key role in developing the organization’s strategic vision and building a culture rooted in values of anti-racism and youth leadership, while representing GVI’s voice, values and work in statewide alliances and committees, such as American Farmland Trust’s Working Lands Alliance and the New CT Farmers Alliance.

“Stepping into this role would not be possible if I did not work alongside youth, farmers, gardeners, community partners, and friends as passionate as I am,” Angerame said. “Our shared goal is not only to fill Bridgeport with nourishing fruits and vegetables, but to build a community-determined food future through leadership, education, and policy change. My Bridgeport neighbors are so strong and resilient - we have seen this in the face of COVID-19 and the local defense of black lives. Leading the work to help Bridgeport reconnect our youth and one another to our soil, land, and food traditions is a privilege I am so grateful to continue doing as Executive Director.

“We are so thrilled to see Ellie step into this leadership role,” said Eileen O’Reilly, Chair of the Board. “Ellie’s passion for the mission, vision for a more just food system, and commitment to the Bridgeport community will drive GVI through our next phase of growth and impact.”

GVI operates Reservoir Community Farm, manages community gardens, implements urban farmer training programs, facilitates youth leadership programs, and supports Bridgeport’s teachers in using school gardens as outdoor classrooms. Their programs engage thousands of community members in growing and consuming Bridgeport-grown food and dreaming of a future with a community-run food system.

Ellie and the GVI Team will be hosting a live online get together for Bridgeporters to ask about Ellie’s vision for Bridgeport’s food future, hear about how our farm and gardens are growing, and connect with one another. There will also be a live “GVI Trivia” contest between Ellie and GVI’s outgoing Executive Director, Cristina Sandolo! The event will be filled with joy and an opportunity to learn more about the future of GVI. The live zoom event will take place on July 9th at 6:00pm. If you would like to join, email info@gogvi.org or call 203-612-4107 by July 1st and ask for zoom meeting details. You can also follow the event on Facebook live (follow Green Village Initiative) or follow GVI on Instagram: @greenvillageinitiative. You can sign up for GVI’s emails and newsletter at www.goGVI.org/contact.

GVI’s Farmers Market will be reopening on June 27th and will be open from 10-2 on Saturdays through mid-October at Reservoir Community Farm, 1469 Reservoir Ave, Bridgeport, with social distancing and extensive food safety measures in place. To learn more, visit ww.goGVI.org.

ELLIE’S BIO

(she/her) A proud Bridgeport native, Ellie returned to Bridgeport after pursuing an undergraduate degree in visual socio-anthropology from Wheaton College and apprenticing on an organic vegetable farm in Maine. Ellie has brought her skills as a farmer, youth educator, and lifelong-learner to her passion for working at the intersection of food justice, community food security, and agriculture. She is passionate about connecting black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), and first-generation urban farmers and entrepreneurs to land and resources they need to build a food landscape that is just and nourishing. For over five years Ellie has seeded and farmed thousands of pounds of vegetables alongside gardeners, farmers, volunteers, neighbors, friends, and “farm-ily” on Reservoir Community Farm and looks forward to continuing to grow alongside the city she loves. She serves on Bridgeport’s Farmers Market Collaborative, the New Connecticut Farmer Alliance, American Farmland Trust’s Working Lands Alliance and acts as an urban agriculture advisor for Bridgeport’s Food Policy Council.

MORE ABOUT GVI AND ITS MISSION

Green Village Initiative (GVI) is an urban agriculture organization whose mission is to grow food, knowledge, leadership and community through urban gardening and farming, to create a more just food system in Bridgeport. GVI recognizes the importance of addressing the systemic inequities that cause poverty and hunger and is working towards a Bridgeport in which all people can access healthy, culturally relevant, locally grown foods at school, at work, and at home. Green Village Initiative cultivates community wellbeing and self-sufficiency in Bridgeport by operating Bridgeport’s only outdoor educational urban farm, managing 12 community gardens, leading youth through leadership development programming, and supporting Bridgeport’s teachers in using school gardens as outdoor classrooms. GVI’s programs engage thousands of community members in growing and consuming Bridgeport-grown food.

Media Contact:Cristina Sandolo, media@gogvi.org