Staff

 Isaac Bearg, Program Director – Food, Climate and Environment: Isaac is excited to join the RIFPC to focus on the myriad of ways we can make our food systems more sustainable from seed to soil. Prior to joining RIFPC Isaac was a founding member and Vice President of the NJCC. He received an MBA in 2017 from Boston University Questrom School of Business in Energy and Environmental Sustainability. After receiving his degree, he completed a research project for Impact Venture Capitalists Mission Point Partners on investments supporting the anaerobic digestion and composting industry understanding the challenges and opportunities to supporting the industry. 

Moving back home to NJ with a new understanding of the organics space he helped form and serves as the VP of the NJCC and chair of the advocacy committee. He traveled frequently to the state capital to advocate for better policy and served as a compost and organics diversion educator across the state. Isaac was also instrumental in the NJCC being awarded federal USDA, statewide Department of Environmental Protection, as well as private foundation grants. Serving on the project team for these grants he helped teach backyard composting, completed university-wide waste audits, wrote official progress and final grant reports, and worked collaboratively on university-wide educational programs designed to increase food scrap diversion. To further his education in the field he has taken and is certified by the NJ Compost Operators Training Course and the USCC Principles of Manufacturing Course. 

Isaac is working to form the Waste Food Solutions Action Network and Plan as well as promote municipal composting and advocate for better food waste reduction and recycling policy in RI. 

Marlena is spending the fall helping the council support municipalities in creating a more equitable and sustainable food system. She performs research and data management for the Municipal Fact Sheets project investigating RI food systems, ranging from aquaculture farms to SNAP benefits. Marlena is also creating a database of grants to make it easier for municipalities to find food systems grants and apply for funding.

Aside from her work at RIFPC, Marlena is a senior and Voss Fellow at Brown University, where she researches climate science and emergency management. She is currently creating a temperature record during the 19th century to help us understand global climate, as well as investigating drought prediction on Kiritimati Island, Kiribati. Marlena is passionate about food security, and she believes that that starts with a strong local food system whose decisions are strengthened with data. 

Josh helps build the capacity of the organization: managing and overseeing internal operations, coordinating the Council, and serving as the secondary liaison to the Board. His work is central to RIFPC’s strategic growth and sustainability.  He served as an active Council Member for four years (the maximum term), and was a founding board member and treasurer. Most recently serving as Director of the Southern Region for the RI Small Business Development Center at URI, Josh specialized in small business development and smart economic growth. His tenure as a Council and board member has given him a deep understanding of the impacts of food systems advocacy, legislative engagement, and network resilience. Josh holds an MBA from Loyola University New Orleans and honed his professional skills in great cities like NOLA, San Francisco, and Ottawa, Ontario, before returning home to Rhode Island. He’s community-minded and passionate about creating social change and benefits for our communities through social enterprise and shared entrepreneurship/employee ownership.

Max is food justice researcher and policy advocate, based in Pawtucket, RI. They recently completed a Master of Food and Agriculture Law and Policy at Vermont Law School. Before coming to RIFPC, Max worked with the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School, researching food safety for donation laws, legal requirements of SNAP access at farmers markets, and equity in USDA agricultural programs. Prior to Vermont Law School, they served as an Emerson National Hunger Fellow with the Congressional Hunger Center, advocating for greater inclusion of people with lived experience in research, advocacy, and program implementation based on their own experience with childhood hunger and poverty. Max earned their B.A. in Geography and Spanish with a minor in Political Science from Clark University in Worcester, MA. They have also worked on urban farms and organic farms domestically and internationally. In their free time, Max enjoys cooking, reading, and learning languages.

Meilyn Farina is a rising junior at Brown University studying International and Public Affairs as well as Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She is interested in education and environmental policy and is passionate about accessible journalism. In her free time, she enjoys writing, running, and cooking!

For nearly two decades, Rachel has been working with policymakers, community-based organizations, and under-represented communities to increase equitable access to and control of the resources we need to live healthy lives. Food policy and food equity have been strong threads throughout Rachel’s career, from developing and managing community gardens in Boston and Providence, serving as the founding staff member of Sankofa World Market in Providence’s West End, and most recently driving health policy and programs as Acting Director of the City of Providence’s Healthy Communities Office. Rachel earned her MA in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University and lives with her family on the South Side of Providence.

Kalliana is a dedicated environmental advocate and a double major in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems and Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island. She got her start in environmentalism while in high school, serving as co-group Leader of the Rhode Island Citizens’ Climate Lobby and volunteering with several other non-profits. Kalliana served as former RI State Senator Cynthia Mendes’s Chief of Staff for the 2022 Legislative Session and worked at Flux Marine, a start-up company developing electric outboard boat motors, as their Operations Coordinator throughout a gap year. She will graduate from URI in May of 2026. In her spare time, Kalliana loves reading (especially Tolstoy), baking, and trying new coffee shops.

Allison supports the Council’s growth, leading activities that strengthen capacity, foster learning and collaboration, uplift advocacy actions, and drive results and successes of partners and other stakeholders across our projects and initiatives. She has been a part of the local hospitality, food, and nonprofit sectors for over 18 years, including work with Hope & Main, local farmers markets, small food businesses, and WaterFire Providence. Allison is a Connecticut native, but after graduating from Johnson & Wales University she remains a proud Rhode Islander and currently lives in Warren. She is also an ambitious home cook, a spirited Bully breed advocate and owner, and a hopeful porch gardener.

Nessa leads the Council in achieving its mission to promote a more accessible, equitable, and sustainable food system in Rhode Island. Externally, she represents the network in a variety of settings. Internally, she cultivates leadership within each of the organization’s staff. She works closely with Rhode Island’s Director of Food Strategy and other state leaders to advance good food policy and implement the Rhode Island food strategy, Relish Rhody, which is a comprehensive five-year plan unveiled in May 2017 to grow and sustain markets for locally grown food for the good of communities, the environment, and the economy. Nessa is a native Rhode Islander who returned to her hometown of South Kingstown ten years ago after living and working in Austin, Texas and the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Nessa has earned a self-designed degree in Political Economic of Natural Resources from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Rozie leads Council activities that support the success of Rhode Island farmers, seafood businesses, and processed food entrepreneurs. Her love for food supply chains and growing local and regional capacity has developed through her work with food hubs, including both Red Tomato and Farm Fresh RI. In addition to working in New England food systems, and at one point serving as a member of the RIFPC, she also completed her Masters in Global Finance, Trade, and Economic Integration at the University of Denver and most recently worked as a federal government consultant in Washington, DC. Rozie now lives in Narragansett and is making her way through every nature walk Rhode Island has to offer.

Kolya recently graduated from Brown University, where they studied Modern Culture and Media. As a writer, editor, and video artist, they are interested in community engagement, building more equitable, sustainable state food systems, and place-based artistic and journalistic practice. Kolya is looking forward to meeting people from across the state, working to feed Rhode Island! Kolya currently works at Small Format, a queer cooperative cafe in Providence. When not working, you can find Kolya DJing, playing basketball, or drawing.