Afia is an Independent Africana Studies, Political Scientist/Ecologist, Policy Analyst, Organizational Development expert, Educator and Global Sustainability Scholar-activist.  She holds a doctorate from Clark Atlanta University’s Mack Jones/Atlanta School of Political Science.  Afia’s work focuses on Black environmental history, politics and social ecology justice movements, agroecology, climate change, the food-water-energy nexus and the origins of Black nationalism, self-governance and sovereign land ownership in Historic Black towns, Freedmen’s Settlements and Maroon societies.  She has spent over 20 years in international development and global health movements for the human right to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and researching, documenting and preserving Africana indigenous culture and endogenous knowledge systems (accent on spiritual, governance, gender, education, eco-philosophies) and Reparatory Justice.

Currently the education lead for the Ubuntu Climate Initiative, Afia has lived and led national and front-line community initiatives affecting the sustainable environment and development of people of African descent in the USA, Brazil and Africa.  In 2024 she received the ISRL Fellowship with the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana Champagne to research Black resistance and built environment of Black towns in the USA and was a 2019-2020 Sr. Fellow (Water Infrastructure and Workforce Development) with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation where she published policy papers and organized forums introducing youths to environmental science and green/water infrastructure careers.  Afia is past Executive Director of the Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation and was Country Director for WaterAid Ghana for nearly a decade. .  A member of numerous Pan African and historical preservation institutions and boards, including Blacks in Historical Preservation, NCOBRA, Afrospectives, All Things Africatown, the Deep South Center for EJ, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, the Chisholm Legacy Project and the Black Sustainability Network among others, she has since 2003 been a prestigious ICAP Fellow,

Dr. Zakiya’s been a guest speaker in various fora including the Tavis Smiley KBLA Radio Show, Reparations Now! Podcast, the keynoter for the distinguished W.E.B. DuBois Lecture (University of Illinois-Urbana) and for the James N. Eaton Colloquium on the Africa diaspora at FAMU.  A Fulbright Scholar with numerous publications for local community newsletters and global peer-reviewed journals, her most recent publication “Water Justice, Reparations And Human Rights: Advancing Black Liberation Through Equitable Water And Healthcare Policies Beyond The Covid-19 Pandemic” in, Africa – America 2021: Re-envisioning Liberation for the Global Black Diaspora (CBCF, Inc.: DC) traces the origins of contemporary water and EJ crises in Black front line communities.  Afia is currently working on a forthcoming environmental book project, among other initiatives.  She resides in Mississippi, Georgia and Ghana.

Ahisamar, a Puerto Rican antiracist artivist and community organizer, is deeply committed to advancing reparative spatial justice through cultural preservation and the revitalization of abandoned spaces. Her work seamlessly integrates art, history, and social justice, with projects like Casa Borges and the Jardín Comunitario Pedro Flores focusing on transforming neglected spaces into hubs for cultural resilience and sustainable development in marginalized communities. As the Carolina Regional Coordinator at the Centro para la Reconstrucción del Hábitat, Ahisamar provides technical assistance to local governments and communities, applying cross-sectoral strategies to address systemic issues such as abandonment, housing, and spatial justice.

Her perspective, shaped by lived experiences as a Black Puerto Rican woman (Afro-Indigenous descendant) and her professional accomplishments, offers invaluable insight into collective efforts to address the intersections of race, gender, and land tenure in spatial policies. As a Spatial Futures Fellow, Ahisamar seeks to further amplify her work in decolonizing planning systems, ensuring that community-driven solutions remain central to reparative spatial justice frameworks.

Connie is the Food Systems Specialist for Douglas County, Kansas, where she serves as the staff liaison to the Douglas County Food Policy Council. Her work is rooted in advancing reparative justice, fostering economic empowerment, and creating a just and equitable food system. She also leads as the staff liaison for the Douglas County Indigenous Food Systems Study and Action Plan, furthering her commitment to food sovereignty and cultural preservation. 

Alongside her food systems work, Connie is a muralist, public arts administrator, and advocate for cultural equity. Born in Peru, her heritage deeply informs her multidisciplinary approach, intertwining themes of cultural preservation and justice. Her murals, such as “Compartiendo Culturas” (“Sharing Cultures”), created with students at the Carver Dual Language School, and “Justicia Para Las Madres Inmigrantes” (“Justice for Immigrant Mothers”), developed in collaboration with the Horizontes Project, are celebrated for fostering cross-cultural dialogue and empowering marginalized communities. Additionally, Connie designed and developed the Independent Markets Initiative with the Kansas Arts Commission, pairing culture-specific grocers with public artists whose heritage reflects the cultural heritage of the grocers. A program that recognizes independent grocers as cultural centers and integral community hubs.

Recognized as the first Kansas National Association of Latino Arts & Culture ALI Fellow, Connie combines her expertise in food systems and the arts to amplify the voices of BIPOC and immigrant communities. Through her work, she champions systemic change and cultivates opportunities for cultural preservation and community resilience.

 

Eric serves as the National Homelessness Law Center’s Senior Policy Director, leading the development, oversight, and implementation of the Law Center’s policy advocacy agenda to cultivate a society where every person can live with dignity and enjoy their basic human rights, including the right to affordable, quality, and safe housing. Eric helped spearhead the launch of the Law Center’s national Housing Not Handcuffs campaign, has served as counsel of record in multiple precedent-setting cases, including Martin v. Boise, and is frequently quoted in national and local media, including NPR, AP, New York Times, and Washington Post.

Before coming to the Law Center, Eric was a Fellow with Global Rights’ U.S. Racial Discrimination Program and consulted with Columbia University Law School’s Human Rights Institute and the US Human Rights Network, where he currently serves as the vice-chair of the Network’s Board.

Eric received his J.D. magna cum laude as a Global Law Scholar at the Georgetown University Law Center. He received his B.A. magna cum laude in political science from Haverford College and studied international human rights in Vienna at the Institute for European Studies and at the University of Vienna.

 

Jessica is a multicultural communications specialist and reparative justice advocate based in the Washington, DC area. Aiwuyor is the founder of the National Black Cultural Information Trust, Inc. NBCI Trust shares cultural information, stories, and resources that uplift the collective freedom of Black communities, while correcting cultural misinformation.

In her past role as the Associate Director of Communications at the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), Aiwuyor spearheaded strategic communications for federal housing discrimination lawsuits against Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Facebook Inc. She also led communications efforts in NFHA’s federal lawsuit against the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) concerning the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. Additionally, Aiwuyor led communications for state lawsuits concerning race, color, familial status, and source of income housing discrimination. 

In addition to her work with national organizations and firms, J.A.M. Aiwuyor serves as a Commissioner on the National African American Reparations Commission, member of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, movement partner with Liberation Ventures, and a former member of the Case For Reparations Advisory Committee, an initiative of Liberated Capital's Decolonizing Wealth Fund. She frequently appears on national media discussing disinformation targeting Black communities, African American cultural heritage and ethnicity, social justice issues, Pan Africanism, and reparations. Additionally, J.A.M. teaches about African American history and culture on TikTok and other platforms.  J.A.M. is also the author of Black Voices: Inspiring and Empowering Quotes from Global Thought Leaders (2024) published by The Quarto Group and Wellfleet Press.

Kedar has over 15 years of "deep organizing" experience. His work centers around facilitating the development of collaborative, leaderful, and deeply democratic transformative-justice projects. Kedar's specific issue areas of interest are community control of land, housing justice, and food sovereignty. He has an unwavering belief in the power of marginalized communities to band together to resist immediate harms and to build long-term capacity for a radical new future - one step at a time over and over again.Originally from Milwaukee, WI, Kedar resides in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago with his wife and their three children.

Kenya directs the Black Land & Power working group at the National Black Food & Justice Alliance (NBFJA), a coalition of Black farmers, land stewards, and food cooperatives working collectively to achieve land justice and food sovereignty. NBFJA's North Star with regard to reparative land justice is removing 15 million acres of land from the speculative market for the benefit of Black farmers so that every community has access to nutritious, culturally-relevant foods. In order to reach that goal, Kenya's work includes securing land for collective stewardship, offering capital and farmer training to ensure sustainable production, and supporting families at risk of losing their land. Along with a council of NBFJA members, Kenya piloted the Resource Commons in 2023 to provide non-extractive funds to NBFJA members to secure land and equipment or build infrastructure. Kenya represents NBFJA on several advisory committees, including Land Justice Future's Movement Advisory Council, and Black Farmer Fund's Rapid Response Council. Prior to joining NBFJA in January 2021, Kenya spent twenty-five years working in the community development field implementing and managing programs that build the capacity of community-based organizations. Kenya holds a BA in business economics from Brown University and an MPA in public policy from New York University.

K. Melchor (she/her) is a popular educator and community researcher, currently working as a 2023 - 2025 postdoctoral fellow with Wellesley College’s Anti-Carceral Co+Laboratory. She is the founder of Solidarity Arts & Education Decolonial initiatives (SAEDi) Collective, an organization working at the intersection of Black reparations, food sovereignty, and prison abolition movements. Currently, SAEDi Collective is touring “Aiming for Freedom: Race, Reparations & Right Paths,” which explores Black feminist visions for shared liberation. Hall is the author of Naming a Transnational Black Feminist Framework: Writing in Darkness and the co-editor (with Gwyn Kirk) of Mapping Gendered Ecologies: Engaging with and Beyond Ecowomanism and Ecofeminism

Luis has been a community organizer in Virginia since he arrived from Puerto Rico in 2008 to study at the University of Virginia. The stark differences within Charlottesville in race, class, and geography led him to get immediately involved in local issues of housing, immigration, environmental justice, police violence, anti-fascism, and more, under the banners of many local organizations. His organizing work, both grassroots and professional, has taken him from the Wayside Center of Popular Education, to street confrontations with white supremacists in 2017, to immigrant rights organizing at Legal Aid Justice Center, to becoming LAJC’s first Director of Organizing, to his current role as the Director of the Piedmont Community Land Trust with the Piedmont Housing Alliance. Luis seeks to weave his ties to Puerto Rico and its history of anti-colonial resistance with Southern struggles against racism and oppression.

Priya (she/her) is an organizer, film/media-maker, and researcher. She is based out of the Bay Area — unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land — and grew up in Chennai, India. She currently works as a Housing and Land Use Organizer and Multimedia Producer at People Power Media. There, she produces grassroots film, multimedia, and research and organizes with the Race and Equity in all Planning (REP) Coalition — more than 40 grassroots organizations throughout San Francisco building people power through policy advocacy, community expertise, and narrative change, working towards community-centered planning and the de-commodification of housing and land. 

In 2023, Priya was a fellow in the MediaJustice Network Fellowship, focusing on skill-building and harnessing community power towards combatting radicalized disinformation. Her process of media production (video, audio, web) is rooted in the confluence of anti-capitalist struggle with a materialist exploration of archival and contemporary art, music, film, and design. 

Priya is also a member of the Oakland chapter of Critical Resistance, a grassroots organization working towards abolishing the prison industrial complex. These days, Priya is enjoying listening to qawwali, playing chess, building lamps, and reading works of critical fabulation.

Tana (Citizen of The Klamath Tribes, she/her) brings deep expertise in spatial justice and Indigenous perspectives to the Spatial Futures Fellowship. As Indigenous Community Coordinator for the City of Portland Parks & Recreation Department, she builds strong relationships between tribal and municipal entities through innovative land use and community engagement approaches. Her past leadership as Executive Director of Nesika Wilamut, an Indigenous-led network, showcased her dedication to environmental justice and community-driven stewardship of the Willamette River.

Through roles at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Tana has championed Indigenous rights and environmental protection. Her work in higher education administration at Portland State University, the University of Oregon, and Lewis & Clark College focused on creating educational equity and workforce development pathways for tribal members.

A proud citizen of The Klamath Tribes with Modoc, Paiute, and Karuk heritage, Tana brings vital expertise in developing transformative policies that address racial harms and spatial injustices. In her free time, Tana and her husband enjoy exploring nature with their two children throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Télyse (Masaoay) (she/her) is the Chief of Staff for Philadelphia City Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, one of only two Working Families Party members on the council. At 27, she is one of the youngest Chiefs of Staff in the city’s history, leading a movement-driven office dedicated to realizing a Philadelphia that “loves you back” by amplifying community voices, meeting urgent needs, and resourcing residents’ dreams.

Télyse is especially proud of her team’s work during Councilman O’Rourke’s first year in office to advance spatial and reparative justice, including:

• Securing $43 million in the city’s 2024 budget, with $19 million to fund Philadelphia’s Eviction Diversion Program and $5 million for home repairs for low-income homeowners,
• Passing legislation to ban rental algorithm price-fixing to protect renters, and
• Fighting a predatory arena proposal that threatens to displace Chinatown residents, harm public transit, and divert resources from community priorities.

A trained social worker, Télyse’s career has focused on advancing equity at the intersection of social policy, grassroots organizing, and local government. She previously served as the Director of Racial Equity Policy & Practice in the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office and worked in health and social policy research at Mathematica.

Télyse lives in South Philly with her husband, Henry, and their dog, Brooks. She holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and an MSW from Washington University in St. Louis.

Ty currently serves as a program manager and community organizer at Sustainable Georgia Futures (SGF), a Black-women-founded and operated organization dedicated to creating pathways to the green economy for Black and communities of color throughout Georgia. With a specific focus on workforce development, public health, and sustainability, Ty supports program creation and implementation across SGF.

When Ty isn’t working, you can find them catching up on their watch-later playlist on Youtube, playing the Sims or Stardew Valley, or hiking with their partner. She also considers herself an enthusiastic plant parent that loves good books, black coffee, and trips to the farmer’s market.