Meet the newest members of our LEAF Youth Program staff!

We’d love to introduce you to the two newest staff on our LEAF Youth Program Team.  Please join us in officially welcoming Nhaomie Douyon and Trinitee Oliver who along with Juan & Emily make up our team of LEAF Educators.  

Nhaomie initially started volunteering on the farm about 4 years ago and we were excited to bring her on as part of the Common Good staff in summer 2021. She has a Master’s in Public Health with a focus on Behavioral and Community Health. She has always had passion for hunger and homelessness which has led her to continuously engage in community initiatives. She enjoys learning about agriculture, healthy eating habits, and how to grow and maintain a garden. With the knowledge and skills gained, she plans to add healthy habits to her personal life and expand her knowledge base with the long term goal of running her own non profit homeless transitional shelter that would incorporate health education and access.

She has recently been working on a series of  herbalism lessons to share with the youth and brings a passion for making sure the program reaches the youth most in need.

She also stays busy with her position as a housing coordinator and youth rehabilitation specialist providing resources, supports and care for many clients and she brings her valuable experience in the social service field to the team.

Trinitee’s interest in gardening and growing plants developed in middle school after she helped with a project to plant trees around her community in Baltimore, MD. In high school, she and her friends sought to promote community health and decrease the number of food deserts by growing fresh food on an empty lot. As a current biology major at Howard University, she hopes to become a biomedical scientist to research inflammatory diseases in children which have shown a link with nutrition. Furthermore, she is interested in projects to address food deserts in underserved communities.  Trinitee is our newest team member, joining in November 2021, but already building relationships with the youth and adding her talents to the program.

We asked Trinitee a few questions about her experience with LEAF so far.

What inspired you to want to work with the program?

I was looking for an opportunity to give back to the community and learn more about growing food. The relationship that Common Good has with the community was what really drew me into the program. From the community events to the weekly Farm Market and especially the involvement of youth with the initiatives, I felt the program’s initiatives directly aligned with my own aspirations.

What has been your favorite part so far?

I would have to say my favorite part of the LEAF class so far has been already developing relationships with the youth. It is really rewarding that they want to hear more from me and look to ask me questions even though I have just started. Sharing this experience with youth will really make a difference for the future of the community.

What are you looking forward to in the program?

I am excited about the youth’s response to the end of year lesson with LEAF. As we are looking to make holiday themed recipes, I hope they appreciate the connection of the world around them with the food they can make. In the future, I hope we can do more of this and show them how they can grow and prepare food they can relate to their daily lives.

Thank you Trinitee and Nhaomie! We are so happy to have you on the team! Check out some pictures below of them in action with our LEAF youth!