Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation

Fellowship Year: 2010

Academic Background: Yale University - MS 2011- (Environmental Justice, Sustainable Food Systems)

From rice paddies to rooftops, Kyra is keenly interested in making sustainable food more accessible in both urban and rural areas. She is currently a Masters student at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies where she focuses on environmental justice, community development and sustainable food systems. This summer her research has taken her to Panama where she is learning about successful models of bicultural and place-based education and the connections between food sovereignty and the transfer of environmental knowledge. Previously, Kyra lived in Thailand working to bring Fair Trade rice to the U.S., coordinated national fair trade and trade justice campaigns for the ENGAGE network, and developed an indigenous Farm to School curriculum with the White Earth Land Recovery Project, co-authoring a report on Native American Farm to School programs. In New Haven, she is developing a farm-based education curriculum and training environmental educators in her role as the Public Schools Program Coordinator for the Yale Sustainable Food Project. Upon graduation, Kyra plans on returning to community food systems programs working on both a project and a policy level. Kyra received her bachelor's degree in Environmental and Social Justice and Political Science from Indiana University.

Expertise: Sustainable Ag / Food Policy, Environmental Justice, Environmental Education