ELP is delighted to announce the Delaware Valley Regional Network Fellows Class of 2008!

Martina C. Barnes, Regional Planner with the USDA Forest Service - Northeastern Area

Todd Baylson, Manager of Open Space Planning with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Philadelphia Green Program

Tali Engoltz, Coastal Resource Scientist with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Coastal Management Program

Andrea Ferich, Greenhouse Manager for The Heart of Camden, a community development corporation in the Waterfront South neighborhood of Camden, NJ

Kristen Frentzel, Assistant Easement Manager at the Brandywine Conservancy's Environmental Management Center

Lindsay Gilmour, Owner of Organic Planet Handcrafted Foods

Jonathan Hamm, Activist with the Clean Air Council

Jennifer Heisey, Mid-Atlantic Recreation Planner for the Appalachian Mountain Club

Roy Jones, Co-Chair and Coordinator of South Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance

Taneshia Nash Laird, Executive Director of the Trenton Downtown Association

Leslie W. Ledogar, Esq., Attorney with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Legal Affairs

David Matushik, Co-Founder and CEO of Green Delaware Recycling

Dianne Moore, Manager of the Healthy Food in Healthcare Program at the Women’s Health & Environmental Network

Nicole Ross, Director of Marketing & Multicultural Affairs for the Greater Philadelphia Film Office (GPFO)

Jessica Greenblatt Seeley, Deputy Executive Director for the FoodRoutes Network

Dawn Serra, Communications Coordinator for the Highlands Coalition

Kenneth D. Smith, Ph.D., Director of Chronic Disease Prevention for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health

Jessica Sprajcar, Natural Resource Program Specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR)

Khaled Tarabieh, Project Manager at the department of Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn)

Martina C. Barnes is a regional planner with the USDA Forest Service - Northeastern Area in Newtown Square, PA. Her work focuses on two main areas: coordinating completion of a regional environmental assessment of the Connecticut-Pennsylvania Highlands and co-directing the WET "Watershed Exchange Technology" Partnership, which focuses on delivery of information tools developed specifically for source water watershed forest managers. Martina's interest is in making technical information about natural resource management available to local decision makers and environmental interest groups. Previously, she managed urban conservation projects for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's New Jersey office and wrote environmental impact statements for Buckhurst, Fish and Jacquemart, Inc., a planning consulting firm based in New York City. She is a licensed professional planner in New Jersey and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Martina has a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Studies and a Master's in Regional Planning from Cornell University. She and her husband and their new daughter live in Jersey City. She enjoys hiking and long distance running, and is fluent in German.

Todd Baylson is Manager of Open Space Planning with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Philadelphia Green Program, located in Philadelphia PA. Philadelphia Green works with government agencies, political leaders, community organizations, residents and others to plan and implement greening projects and initiatives, support community development, host educational offerings about greening topics like how to plant and maintain trees, and plan for a greener and brighter future for Philadelphia. Using a variety of types of technology and other tools as well as his background in urban planning, Todd supports the operations of the various programs and projects of Philadelphia Green and helps to document the wide breadth of the organization's work and its impact. As an ELP fellow Todd hopes to explore the potential for a new kind of 21st century environmentalism that would tweak and better align individual self interest and the environmental agenda in order to empower and grow the environmental movement. Born and raised in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia, Todd is recently engaged and plays drums in two bands: Mellow Veneer (www.myspacecom/mellowveneer) a unique contemporary soul band, as well as The Bro's Perspective, a jazz-funk-fusion trio.

Tali Engoltz is a coastal resource scientist with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Coastal Management Program in Trenton, NJ. She serves as the NJ Clean Marina Program Coordinator. This educational initiative encourages marina owners to implement best management practices to protect NJ’s coastal water quality, resources, and habitat. Tali is also the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway Coordinator. She assists with the planning of this long term initiative to develop a publicly accessible multi-use walkway and open space corridor along the along the Hudson River and adjacent to the highly urbanized landscape directly across from the spectacular New York City skyline. Tali facilitated a partnership with the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ to create a non-point source pollution education program. She currently manages a grant program for Boat Shrink Wrap Recycling in New Jersey. Prior to joining the NJDEP, Tali was a NOAA Coastal Management Fellow at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Tali’s long term goal is a career in environmental dispute resolution in order to facilitate compromises between parties that can be characterized as win/win rather than win/lose such as so often happens when disputes end up in the court system. When disputing parties are able to negotiate a solution that, in at least some way, benefits both, the solution is far more likely to also benefit the community at large and the natural environment. Tali received her Bachelor of Science at the University of South Carolina and her Master of Marine Affairs at the University of Washington.

Andrea Ferich is the Greenhouse Manager for The Heart of Camden, a community development corporation in the Waterfront South neighborhood of Camden, NJ. In addition to directing healthy educational community building activities at a greenhouse, garden, and breadoven she works as a community organizer in South Camden. She helped the Heart of Camden to develop an Environment Division to be a model for restorative environmental justice through community-based urban ecosystem renewal. When she isn't propagating plants with the neighborhood or teaching art and gardening she seeks decorative solutions for proactive environmental change. She has most recently worked on the Waterfront South Neighborhood Revitalization Plan, while working with local, and state officials to discuss land-use related to Delaware riverfront and the South Jersey Port Corporation. She is always hawk-counting in Waterfront South.

Kristen Frentzel is an assistant easement manager at the Brandywine Conservancy's Environmental Management Center in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. The Brandywine Conservancy is a regional non-profit land and water conservation organization. Conservation easements are the Conservancy's principal preservation tools. As the assistant easement manager, Kristen is responsible for conducting annual monitoring inspections of easement properties and maintaining and updating easement records. She also participates in landowner education seminars and outreach activities to help landowners better understand their land preservation and stewardship options. Kristen graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Environmental Studies degree, which offered a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the environment. Kristen focused on resource management in her graduate program.

Lindsay Gilmour is New Zealand born chef who has 30 years in the culinary industry and 20 years studying and teaching the use of food as a tool for disease prevention and healing. Lindsay is the owner of Organic Planet Handcrafted Foods, providing personal chef services and cooking instruction for clients with specialized dietary needs. In all its operations Organic Planet is committed to the principle that our health and the health of our environment are inextricably linked. Lindsay is manager of the Farm to Institution Project at White Dog Community Enterprises, working to develop viable wholesale markets for local farmers and make fresh food available to the widest possible audience. Lindsay is a founder and co-chair of Green Village Philadelphia, (GVP). The goal of GVP is to develop and manage a vibrant model for sustainable urban living near center city Philadelphia, a “Green Village” with a central marketplace and public common spaces, where commerce, education, creative expression, social interaction, and environmental stewardship are built into the daily flow of life. The Green Village will be a diverse community of socially responsible businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, and mixed income residents. The Green Village marketplace will house an incubator and accelerator for clean technology, green retail and triple bottom line businesses. It will bring together, in one accessible destination, the goods, services and jobs of a Green Economy that will be integrated into and serve the needs of the neighborhood and wider community. Lindsay also serves on the board of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN), acts as co-chair of the SBN programming committee, and leader of the SBN Food Building Block.

Jonathan Hamm is an activist with the Clean Air Council where he is pursuing various projects in energy policy issues. He volunteers as a Tree Tender and as an environmental education teacher in Norris Square. Jonathan has recently returned from Honduras where he served as a community liaison for a Shoulder to Shoulder medical brigade. Facilitating the village leadership committee in its decision making and project implementation, he was able to realize an ecological stove project, as well as the sanitation and soil conservation projects he had initiated there as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Jonathan hopes to use his community organizing experience toward establishing a sustainable urban ecology in Philadelphia.

Jennifer Heisey is the Mid-Atlantic recreation planner for the Appalachian Mountain Club in Bethlehem, PA. Her work focuses on the recreational aspect of protecting the Pennsylvania Highlands, a greenway spanning roughly 1.4 million acres from south-central PA at the Maryland border to New Jersey. Specifically, Jennifer coordinates planning and creating the Pennsylvania Highlands Trail Network that will promote and protect the Pennsylvania Highlands and provide communities with a physical connection to the outdoors through close-to-home recreation. She also supports her organization’s Mid-Atlantic chapters with trail efforts and coordinates chapter trip leaders to lead activities to “critical treasures” in the Highlands. Previously, Jennifer has worked for as a district resource specialist in Virginia State Parks, a research assistant on a recreation Benefits-Based Management project, a project coordinator for a community tourism assessment program as well as seasonal positions as a backcountry caretaker and park naturalist. Overall, Jennifer feels very strongly about advocating, planning, and protecting public open space and trail systems that provide recreational opportunities for the public to benefit from on-site and off-site in their daily lives.

Roy Jones is the Co-Chair and Coordinator of South Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance. In that capacity he coordinates environmental justice activities in seven counties in South Jersey, which includes urban, rural & suburban communities. Mr. Jones has an extensive civil rights and environmental justice background. He began his environmental justice work in 1980, when he made a decision to run for Mayor and included environmental justice in his platform. Since 1966, Mr. Jones has also been involved in numerous civil rights and social justice activities including the organizing of a series of town hall meetings about lead in the water at schools, stopping the export of radioactive water to the City of Camden, and drafting recommendations to local and state officials to improve Camden’s natural environment. He also helped organize a massive class-action lawsuit on behalf of Camden residents affected by contaminated water. Mr. Jones was awarded the 2003 New Jersey Environmental Federation Outstanding Achievement Award and served as a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Fellow at New Hampshire College. He is also a founding member of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance.

Taneshia Nash Laird is the executive director of the Trenton Downtown Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to making Trenton, NJ's capital city, a more competitive location for business owners and a more engaging center for workers, residents and visitors. Taneshia is spearheading TDA's comprehensive initiative to promote the arts, cultural resources, heritage including historic preservation, and natural resources to enhance civic pride, develop tourism, attract business investment and increase economic growth and development in the Capital City region. Gov. Jon Corzine recently appointed Taneshia to be one of five public members of the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Authority. A history buff, Taneshia and her husband Roland co-authored Still I Rise: A Cartoon History of African Americans published by W.W. Norton in 1997. In August 2006 Taneshia had her daughter Imani, reinforcing her commitment to making their home city of Trenton the best that it can be.

Leslie W. Ledogar, Esq. is an attorney with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Legal Affairs, where she serves as in-house counsel on diverse teams of scientists and policy makers that formulate and amend the regulations through which New Jersey’s environmental laws are implemented and by which the Department carries out its mission of protecting human health and the environment. Prior to becoming an environmental attorney, she was a consulting forester, managing portfolios of timberland assets for private non-industrial and industrial clients. Ms. Ledogar currently serves on the Board of Directors of NetworkArts, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide an environmental education to inner city middle school children through a unique curriculum grounded in both science and art. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Society of Women Environmental Professionals, a cross-disciplinary organization of women with more than 400 members, and she is a former co-chairperson of the Philadelphia Bar Association Environmental Law Committee. She is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and in the Federal District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

David Matushik is co-founder and CEO of Green Delaware Recycling, a grassroots recycling company in Northern Delaware that focuses on the capture of material flows from the business sector while concurrently promoting elementary and high school programs that educate students on environmental stewardship and resource sustainability. David consults with clients to mitigate their environmental impact through conservation strategies, knowledge based decision making and recycling programs. He became involved with recycling in his high school environmental club and later traveled the country working for a national outdoor event waste management company. David has also collaborated with the City of Newark, DE as well as the University of Delaware on various projects, is currently engaged in building a bio fuels cooperative and hopes to continue making great advances in Delaware’s emerging recycling industry.

Dianne Moore is the Manager of the Healthy Food in Healthcare Program at the Women’s Health & Environmental Network. She works with the healthcare sector in the Philadelphia region on sustainable food purchasing and practices, including rBGH-free milk, locally grown produce, meats/poultry free of hormones and non-therapeutic antibiotics, fair trade products, and composting food waste. Dianne has coordinated and facilitated food roundtables for healthcare and assisted with overall planning of FoodMed 2007, a national conference held in Boston, MA, June 2007. She currently participates in several national and local food subgroups within Health Care Without Harm. Dianne has 15 years experience working in hospitals in the Philadelphia region with both adults and children. Additionally, she volunteered in her local school system trialing healthier snacks for possible inclusion in the school menu, and for her local Earth Day celebration She lives in Narberth with her husband and two sons.

Nicole Ross is the Director of Marketing & Multicultural Affairs for the Greater Philadelphia Film Office (GPFO). With more than a decade of experience in entertainment marketing via music, theater and film, Nicole brings a robust arsenal of instinct and tested knowledge to her position. She spearheads general marketing initiatives for GPFO and its community outreach program, Greater Philadelphia Filmmakers, which includes planning and execution of workshops & events, promotional strategies, corporate branding and new initiative development. In addition, Nicole manages the marketing and advertising sales for GPFO’s annual publication, the Greater Philadelphia Film& Video Production Guide as well as for the website, www.film.org. Nicole joined GPFO in May 2005 as the Marketing Manager. An impressive two years later, in July 2007, she expanded her role to encompass Multicultural Affairs initiatives focused on engaging underserved ethnic communities, women, LGBT and professionals with disabilities in the local film industry. In 2008, Nicole will launch GPFO’s Going-Greener campaign, intended to encourage more eco-friendly film production in the region. Nicole is extremely passionate about marketing and about bringing to light new perspectives and new practices that encourage positive change in the local film production industry.

Jessica Greenblatt Seeley is the Deputy Executive Director for the FoodRoutes Network , a national nonprofit organization based in the Arnot, Pennsylvania. Her work involves rebuilding local food systems, mainly through the Buy Fresh Buy Local program, which is over 50 chapters strong across the country. Her previous work with Pennsylvania Certified Organic, a USDA-accredited organic certifier included managing a 350-client certification program, quality management systems, and grant work. Jess has spoken at numerous events, conferences, and workshops, speaking to farmers and educational professionals about agricultural, local food, and certification systems. Farming and the importance of local food systems are prevalent in her every day life – She lives with her husband on his 4th generation family dairy farm in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania. They provide milk, sustainably-raised meats, and dairy products to their local community through the farm’s own on-farm bottling facility, restaurant, and store.

Dawn Serra is Communications Coordinator for the Highlands Coalition, which works to protect the 3.5-million-acre PA, NJ, NY and CT Highlands as an enduring source of clean drinking water, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities for millions of Americans. Dawn is responsible for developing printed communications materials, including the Coalition's newsletter, and is currently working on a complete redesign of its website as well as its first annual report. Dawn previously worked as a junior designer and art director at different advertising and marketing firms and served as Publicity Coordinator for the Sawtooths to Selkirks Hike, an 800-mile trek from Idaho to British Columbia, which activist Josh Burnim undertook to advocate for wildlife corridors in the wild Rockies. She has contracted design work for The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, the Great Burn Study Group, Yellowstone to Yukon, Native Forest Network, the National Forest Protection Alliance and the Appalachian Mountain Club, plus design and advertising firms and private clients in NYC, NJ, MT and PA. Dawn earned a BFA in Graphic Design from The College of New Jersey and has continued her education through biology, chemistry and ornamental horticulture classes. Dawn enjoys organic gardening, reading, biking, hiking, photography and yoga. She lives with her husband and two cats in an historic Delaware River village in PA.

Kenneth D. Smith, Ph.D. is a health economist with over a decade of experience in health services research, and the Director of Chronic Disease Prevention for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. In that capacity, Kenneth oversees the Tobacco Control Program, and is the Principal Investigator of the Steps to a Healthier Philadelphia Program, and is the Co-Project Director for the W.K. Kellogg foundation-sponsored Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance. He also is responsible for convening all chronic disease related coalitions in the Health Department, including the Healthy Environment Collaborative, which develops cross-sector collaboration among planning and public health practitioners to promote physical activity, improve access to healthy food, and reduce environmental pollution. Dr. Smith received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University, where he studied population economics and developed a keen interest in the relationship between population change, economic growth, and the environment.

Jessica Sprajcar is a natural resource program specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). She works out of the agency’s central office in Harrisburg, where her work includes invasive species trainings for state park and forestry staff and writing public outreach pieces on conservation subjects. Jessica’s main focus, however, is encouraging parks to focus more attention on balancing the needs of natural resource protection with recreation. She is doing this through the publication, “Creating Sustainable Community Parks,” and a training program based on the book. Prior to arriving at DCNR, Jessica earned a Master’s degree in urban and environmental policy and planning from Tufts University and spent a year as an environmental educator in Ohio.

Khaled Tarabieh is the Director of Project Management for Real Estate Development at the department of Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). His role is to represent Penn as owner in all aspects of project planning, design and construction and currently manages the development portfolio of capital projects on campus as well specific projects with emphasis on sustainability and environmental awareness at Penn. Aside from his professional work, Khaled is also pursuing his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning at Penn and expecting to graduate in 2008. His areas of expertise are in building energy performance, urban design and sustainable campus planning. He is particularly interested in project implementation strategies, conflict resolution and team building to help in achieving sustainability on both the local and regional levels.