Jonah Fertig-Burd [EN] he/him
Over the past 20 years, Jonah has built deep, collaborative relationships; developed new nonprofits, cooperative businesses, and collaboratives; worked in restaurants, food pantries, and farms; and helped to grow racial equity in our food system. He is a farmer and worker-owner of Celebration Tree Farm & Wellness Center, a multi-stakeholder cooperative in Durham, Maine with an organic tree farm, agritourism, and wellness classes and retreats. For the past two years, he has been a Community Partner for Food Systems at the Sewall Foundation, overseeing food systems grants, programs, and impact investments. He previously was at the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI), Jonah worked with farmers, fishers, cooks, and food producers to form cooperatives, particularly New American farmers in Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, and the Northeast and supported the development of urban housing cooperatives. He supported the development of New Roots Cooperative Farm, Maine Farm and Sea Cooperative, Cooperative Maine Business Alliance, Isuken Co-op, and others. Prior to CDI, he co-founded Local Sprouts Cooperative, a worker-owned cafe, and catering business, and was a worker-owner for 7 years.
He’s on the board of the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast, Land in Common Community Land Trust, and Maine Inside Out. He was a 2018 BALLE Local Economy Fellow, 2017 Democracy at Work Institute Cooperative Network Fellow, 2016 Democracy at Work Institute Worker Cooperative Developer Fellow, Food Solutions New England Network Leadership Institute graduate, and Sustainable Food System Leadership Institute graduate. He was a part of the Democracy at Work Network starting in 2014 as a peer advisor. He loves to cook, make art, play music, and walk in the woods. He lives with his wife and two children in Durham.