Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP)

271 Grant St. Buffalo, New York 14213 Phone (716) 882-5327 Fax (716) 882-5338

"Building the local community through food, urban farming and entrepreneurship"

 
   

Staff

Diane Picard, Massachusetts Avenue Project's Executive Director

Diane has been with MAP since 1997. She was instrumental in opening the Neighborhood Outreach Center in 1998 and she currently directs Growing Green. She received a Masters of Social Work from Boston University, specializing in Program Planning and Community Organizing. Her undergraduate degree in International Agriculture and Development from Cornell University prepared her to teach agriculture and art at a rural secondary school in Botswana, where she served as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1986-1988. Diane is devoted to grassroots community-building as a means of making positive change.  Email Diane or call her at 716-882-5327 x2

 


Jesse Meeder, Farm Education Coordinator

Jesse Meeder has worked in and around Boston MA as a Youth Activity Leader, English and
Drama Teacher, and Gardener.   He has also worked as a Wilderness Trip Leader throughout
the northeast, including New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  Jesse has an
educational background in literature, theater, and creative writing, which he blends with
experience in teaching, backpacking, and leadership training. Email Jesse or call him at 882-5327 x 3


Erin Sharkey, Growing Green Communications Director

Erin is a transplant from Minneapolis MN, where she developed a great love for community organizing. Erin received grassroots organizing training while working at the Park Avenue Foundation and while serving on MN Senator Paul Wellstone’s final term. She is also a mural painter and creative writer and has studied studio arts, literature, creative writing, and women's studies at Bethel University (St. Paul), Minneapolis College, Oregon Extension and now studies at SUNY Buffalo.   Email Erin or call her at 716-882-5327 x4.

 

Zoe Hollomon, Growing Green Markets Manager


Zoe developed the youth enterprise, Growing Green Works, at MAP as part of the Growing Green Program in 2006.  She currently teaches business development and supervises the youth-led and managed social enterprise.  Zoe was formally trained as an Urban Planner at Cornell University and found her love for community organizing in Buffalo while training neighborhood leaders at United Neighborhoods Block Club Incubator. Zoe received an M.S. in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University in 2007.  Zoe has a specific interest in cooperative business development, has worked with the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) in Greenfield, Massachusetts and has developed youth economic education programs in New York City and in Buffalo.  Email Zoe or call her at 882-5327 x4.

The AmeriCorps Crew