Food, Farms & Health Fellow Tori Craig is amazed by the power of food to heal people, tell stories, and nurture friendships. She has a history of designing creative programming for Americans to come together around food across generational, class and cultural divides. Having managed a culinary mentorship program for at-risk youth, a cross-class community meal, and a farmers market vended by refugee women of color, she has learned alongside those most marginalized by our food system. Tori is excited to expand the scope of her work, moving from community-specific program management into statewide advocacy for an equitable, human-centered food system.

Food Equity Fellow Arcelia Moreno’s love for nature, gardening, nutritious food, plants and animals developed at a young age as she grew up in a rural, working-class town in Northern California. After graduating from Bates College in Maine, Arcelia did a year of AmeriCorps volunteer service in Providence, Rhode Island. There she met her now husband, Matt. Together they developed an afterschool extension program for low-income children. Following that, Arcelia returned to California to continue working on behalf of impoverished children in the public schools in Oakland and Berkeley. She attended culinary school and became a baker, then worked for Whole Foods Market for 10 years as a baker, green mission director, and as a vitamin specialist. Arcelia has lived in various countries, studying agriculture, nutrition and herbal medicine. She is incredibly pleased to be part of Groundwork’s Food & Farming program. For the past three years Arcelia has visited northern Michigan as an Interlochen Arts Academy parent (her daughter graduates next spring), and this year she decided to stay here and give back to the community.

Groundwork Fellows complete projects alongside our policy staff, attend conferences and networking sessions, and receive professional development training. Each fellow completes an independent project to complement Groundwork’s program areas based on their area of expertise, and presents this project to conclude their term. The Groundwork fellowship program aims to address key issue areas in our community and showcase cross-program understanding of community resiliency.