Now in its sixth year, HEAL's School of Political Leadership (SoPL) supports teams of talented, passionate, food and farm justice leaders who are advocating for policies and solutions that will reimagine how our food and farm systems work for our communities. The six month program will equip a cohort of 4 teams composed of 14 leaders from Mississippi, California, Colorado, and New York, with the tools, knowledge, and skills they need to lead campaigns and drive political change.
About the School of Political Leadership

Our Cohort
The 2025 HEAL SoPL leaders are community activists, organizers, land stewards, policymakers, non profit leaders, educators, and storytellers. Our dynamic cohort was selected for their commitment to racial, economic, and environmental justice and their campaign ideas, which center the knowledge, wisdom, and leadership of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) who have been on the frontlines of the fight for food sovereignty, racial justice, climate justice, food security, worker justice, land justice, and environmental justice for decades. Through SoPL, these visionary leaders will gain the tools, skills and knowledge to grow grassroots political leadership in their communities while addressing urgent and systemic flaws in our current food and agricultural system.
Mississippi Fresh
Mississippi Delta
Mississippi Fresh plans to mobilize their Delta GREENS Food Policy Council (FPC) to empower farmers within their community and reduce health disparities. Farmers in the FPC are local Black residents who grow fruits and vegetables and distribute produce boxes to rural health clinic patients. By increasing fresh and local produce consumption among residents, we can gather support for Mississippi policymakers to adopt Medicaid 1115 demonstration waivers to utilize food as medicine.

LeBroderick Woods
Co-Founding Program Director of the Tougaloo Agri-Growth Initiative, Reuben V. Anderson Center for Justice

Sharon Jimerson
Student Researcher, Reuben V. Anderson Center for Justice
LAFPC - Good Food Zones
Los Angeles, CA
Good Food Zones will be focusing on their campaign to encourage the Los Angeles City Council to make the Good Food Zones pilot a permanent program within the city. Good Food Zones is modeled after Promise Zones and Opportunity Zones in an attempt to concentrate efforts to address historic disinvestment in healthy food retail in known areas of food apartheid. This policy and program aims to support existing food businesses to expand healthy food offerings through technical assistance and grants.

Alba Velasquez
Executive Director, Los Angeles Food Policy Council

Ana Alicia Carr
Director of Policy & Coalitions, Los Angeles Food Policy Council

Déjà Thomas
Manager of Strategic Partnerships and Community Initiatives, Los Angeles Food Policy Council
Food Justice NW Aurora
Aurora, CO
Food Justice NW Aurora is working to bring about systemic changes in the local food system of northwest Aurora to create a just, sustainable, and complete food environment. They aim to address significant barriers to access, opportunity, and power that currently exist in our community's food landscape. By influencing policy levers and cultivating systems change, they seek to close gaps in food access and affordability, particularly in our neighborhoods with limited options for large grocery retailers.

Imelda Gutierrez
Community Organizer, Food Justice NW Aurora

Caitlin Matthews
Executive Director, Food Justice NW Aurora

Jorge Michovich
Community Organizer, Food Justice NW Aurora
Salt City Food Future
Syracuse, NY
Salt City Food Future is working to ensure affordable, long-term access to land for urban and rural agriculture, especially for underrepresented farmers - Black, Brown, New American, and next generation.

Brittany Taylor
Community Impact Director, American Heart Association for Central New York

Maura Ackerman
Director, Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance

Micah Orieta
Food Systems & Networking-Building Organizer, Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance

Renee Marcoux
Equity, Inclusion, and Engagement Manager, Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance
Your tax-deductible donation will support diverse leaders from across the country who are committed to developing solutions to reimagine our food and farm systems. Donate now to support the HEAL School of Political Leadership!