Rickey Miller is our awesome manager for Expanded learning and the Summer Youth Apprentice Program. When he’s not planning out a lesson exploring the rich cultures and history of Richmond, you can find him around the farm munchin on a pepper and cultivating some beds! He’s an avid environmental enthusiast and supporter of greening our communities! His experience with production farming, farm management, event planning, and outdoor education makes him a great contact if you’re looking to figure out where to begin your personal journey into the sphere of everything community oriented agriculture has to offer.

Tj Sykes is a Richmond Native, Artist and Author. He enjoys hiking, skating, riding bikes and meditating. His journey to gardening started when he started his first gardening job in Richmond through youth works in 2014. His work as the Ujima Program Manager primarily focuses on coordinating the Summer SYAP program and supporting Crescent Park community members learn more about gardening and organic sustainable living. Tj is excited to meet new community members and connect them with the available resources.

Bienvenida Meza has been working for close to 20 years at the Verde Elementary School garden, planting, harvesting, as well as teaching the youth firsthand on the fundamentals of urban gardening. Ms. Meza is known for her love for nature and her storytelling, both through conversation and through her endless of albums of photographs and videos. Aside from teaching, Bienvenida Meza is very active in the North Richmond community, giving away food, seeds, and plants whenever she can. She is a North Richmond Historian.

Diana Leal was born in Tepatitlan De Morelos, Jalisco, Mexico and has lived in Richmond since the age of 6. She joined Urban Tilth in March 2017 as a staff apprentice at Adams Crest Farm, slowly building up her skills and supporting all types of Urban Tilth projects like the Farm to Table CSA, the North Richmond Farm expansion, & the Education programs. Diana currently co-teaches the urban agriculture classes at Richmond High School and helps care for the school garden, while also working on the CSA added value products like herbal salves, floral bouquets, jam, and more. 

Diana has completed the permaculture course at Soul Flower Farm and is currently enrolled at Ancestral Apothecary School, taking a 9 month herbal training course called Cecemmana. She has packed and distributed medicine for the Community Care Herbal Response Project  as well. Diana started the Healing Movement after-school club at Richmond High in 2019, which taught healing using herbs and exposed young students tpo healthier alternatives for medicine, whether that be with exercises, food, aromatherapy, horticulture therapy, etc. She is passionate about decolonizing our medicine, learning how to be in community with plants, building a more sustainable world, creating spaces for people to heal/reflect on the trauma of our people who have faced centuries of colonization. And loves to roller skate!

Nathalie Rivera recently joined Urban Tilth as a Greenway Garden Coordinator in 2021. They are very passionate about native plants, especially the wildlife that each one supports and the ethnobotanical uses of them. They studied Critical Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies with a Pathway Emphasis in Ethnic Studies at Humboldt State University. Nathalie is also interested in food sovereignty and community empowerment. They hope to share their knowledge and learn more from the rest of the UT team and community in Richmond.

Alejandro Castro, or Ale as he likes to be called, is fairly new to Urban Tilth, working as a Greenway Garden Coordinator since March 2021.  He first heard about UT from his friends who are already employed there. He was born in Vallejo, California and raised in Richmond, California. Alejandro’s work includes overseeing and maintaining the vegetable garden on the Greenway. One aspect of Alejandro’s work which he enjoys the most is the community engagement. Having the opportunity to speak with new people each from the community is very rewarding and exciting!  Hobbies include daydreaming, listening to music, embroidery, gardening, and… trying different mozzarella sticks.

Lu was born in Yahualica, Jalisco and raised in Richmond, CA. Lu is Queer and Non-Binary. They attended WCCUSD schools. They pursued an A.A. in Social & Behavioral Sciences at Contra Costa College and a B.A. in International Studies: Global Environment at CSU East Bay.  Their passion for environmental justice led them to work in the solar, education and government relations industries. Lu  joined Urban Tilth’s Education Team, because they are committed to empowering youth to work with the land and develop program curriculum around social justice.