POLLINATE! 2024 COHORT

Monti Lawson (he/him) is the Founder and Lead Land Steward of Catalyst Collaborative Farm and Site Steward of WILDSEED Community Farm & Healing Village. He is a Black and Gay beginning farmer who has been a community gardener and urban farmer in NYC for over a decade. He graduated from Farm School NYC and is an active member of the FSNYC alumni community. He is also a member of Black Farmer's United of NYS, Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, and NYS BIPOC Grower Support Network. For 2023, he was honored to serve as the inaugural representative for Manhattan and Staten Island on the USDA Farm Service Urban County Committee for New York City.

Pao (she/they) is a land listener/steward and guardian del territorio, weaving the prayer of the eagle and the condor between the north and south of abya yala. They are the Managing Director of the BIPOC Intentional Community Council, and a facilitator in the movement of the unlearning of land ownership, and moving land, wealth, and resources to BIPOC hands. Their lifeway is guided by practices of Indigenous traditional knowledge, building autonomy, community resilience and generative economy. They are in a collective process of seeking long term relationship to land in the northeast, with the intention of creating community space where more folks can remember how to receive from the elements and reckon with ancestral healing.

Fallon Davis (they/them) is a Non-binary Healer & Visionary, Afro-Native Vegan, Radical Educator, Sustainable Fashion Designer, Urban Farmer, and Creative Culture Worker devoted to enhancing and uplifting the lives of Black and Brown, and Queer individuals. As an Anti-racist Organizer and Entrepreneur since they were a teenager, Fallon has cultivated a wealth of knowledge in the areas of Liberated Brave Space Creations, Transformational Mentorship for Racial & Gender Equity, Healing-Centered holistic care and Community Self-Sustainability, strengthening their work as a Community Advocate. As the Founder & CEO of STEAM URBAN, a S.T.E.A.M.-disciplined, Culturally Responsive, & Healing Arts educational non-profit for Black and Brown students of all ages, their organizational pillars are Environmental Justice, Social Justice, and Educational Equity. In recognition of their work, Fallon received the prestigious Dr. Arnold Brown Racial Justice Award from the YWCA of North Jersey. Their episode of PBS’s docuseries, 21, was nominated for a 2023 Webby Award in the category of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Fallon’s body, mind and soul are a daily dedication to making real change in the world through intergenerational storytelling, effective planning, and intentional implementation of programs and processes that will make the lives of systemically marginalized individuals better.

jai is a founder and farmer of Ujamaa Garden in the Northeast Bronx, New York.