Welcome to our New Board Members!

There is some great new energy and membership on the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust as of this year! Here are our new members:

Tiffany Dixon

Gardener Board Member (2024 – 26)

Tiffany is a lifelong advocate for developing sustainable food systems. Raised by a family of farmers from Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica, she’s always had a passion for food. Post-undergraduate, she served as Food Systems fellow for the Jamie Kirk Hahn Foundation, where she honed her abilities to execute research and development initiatives at Camden Street Learning Garden and Interfaith Food Shuttle, both North Carolina nonprofits with missions to combat food inequality. Tiffany’s journey led her to graduate school at NYU for Food Studies, where her focus spanned researching urban food challenges, entrepreneurship, and digital communication. Tiffany now serves as a Digital Media and Development Strategist, supporting non-profits to amplify their impact. She compliments her skill sets by taking a hands-on approach to community building and volunteering. She serves as St. John’s Renaissance Garden rep and has led its continued revival. She collaborates with food systems experts, donors, and government officials, all which she aspires to utilize in service to BQLT’s Board.

Maya Kutz

Resource Board Member (2024 – 26)

Maya (she/they) is a young urban farmer born and raised in Brooklyn. With a degree in engineering and a passion for sustainability, she’s had a fruitful career so far: gardening, farming, and running hydroponic operations around NYC, most recently at Brooklyn Grange. Maya is a well-rounded plant nerd, and she loves geeking out about plants (transpiration is so cool) and trading tips with fellow gardeners. As a resource board member, she is excited to pitch in with building infrastructure projects in the gardens, learn some non-profit bookkeeping, and help to maintain this wonderful organization. Growing our own food in our shared greenspaces is a powerful way to live joyfully and in resistance to the dominant food system.

Elisa Margarita

Gardener Board Member (2024 – 25)

Elisa is an NYC DOE teacher and educator. Witnessing the transformative power of community gardens for six years at Greene Garden has ignited her passion to contribute to BOLT’s mission.  Her skills as an educator, particularly in curriculum development, can be instrumental in creating engaging workshops and fostering partnerships with schools to integrate gardens into their programs. Community gardens are vital for building a sense of belonging and environmental awareness, especially for younger generations. Elisa’s love for experimenting with organic gardening methods in her plot and her educational background allow her to bring a unique perspective to the board and to help BQLT flourish.

Courtney Morgan

Resource Board Member (2024 – 26)

Courtney is an artist, storyteller, and design strategist of Jamaican descent, whose work redistributes power by using art and design as a social practice. Courtney’s interest in plants began in her childhood home that was overflowing with plants indoors and outdoors. Her passion for plants transformed into an environmental practice that centers community voice, youth perspectives and helping organizations develop ways to thrive alongside nature. Courtney is the owner and President of a design strategy firm SCRD and is a professor of Design Strategies at Parsons School of Design.

Dee Perry

Board Treasurer (2024 – )
Gardener Board Member (2024 – 26)

Dee (she/they) is a community organizer, researcher, and BQLT gardener at large who works with Q Gardens, Rogers/Tilden/Veronica Place Garden, and Northside Community Garden, among others. Dee spent ten years as a manager of youth informal science educators in the Bay Area, CA before moving to North Brooklyn in 2022. Beginning with her MA program at NYU, Dee researches democratic community learning toward climate justice and resilience in cities and neighborhoods. Working and learning with BQLT since early 2023, Dee collaborates with gardeners to collect surveys, conduct interviews, make maps, and write about findings from that work. These same collaborations aim to build a shared understanding of the diverse approaches taken by BQLT gardens while consulting on best practices. Dee continues to serve gardeners using her varied experiences in non-profits, educational spaces, and NYC community gardens to support BQLT’s capacity-building and collective learning efforts.

Natalia Sucre

Gardener Board Member (2024 – 26)

Natalia is a librarian with the Brooklyn Public Library, an educator, and a community composter and gardener in Brooklyn. For nearly fifteen years, Natalia has actively participated in local grassroots food and environmental justice initiatives including the Flatbush Farm Share CSA, Compost for Brooklyn, Sustainable Flatbush, and Q Gardens. A co-founder of Q Gardens, Natalia has served as co-general coordinator and lead compost coordinator since the garden opened. Having grown up in densely urban areas (Pittsburgh; Caracas, Venezuela), she finds the world of community gardening to be a constant revelation. That learning, sharing environment inspired her to become a Master Composter, citizen pruner, and graduate of the BBG Horticulture program and the soil start farm apprenticeship at Earth Matter. Natalia believes in the power of community gardens to foster mutual support between people who might otherwise never speak and to cultivate positive community action. Natalia deeply appreciates BQLT’s stewardship of garden communities and is happy to apply her grant writing, programming, teaching, and community organizing experience to BQLT’s work.