Expertise
- Nutrition
- School Food Environment
- Farm to Cafeteria
- school gardening
- SNAP-Ed
Chrissa coordinate's Maryland SNAP-Ed's work to support healthy school environments, with a focus on best practices for promoting fruit and vegetable selection in school cafeterias, and the implementation of school wellness policies and practices.
Chrissa holds a BS, Biology from University of Maryland, and an MS, Ecology from University of Georgia. She is a Maryland Master Gardener and received training in sustainable agriculture at Full Moon Farms in Athens, Georgia. Before her appointment as Healthy School Communities Coordinator for UME's SNAP-Ed program, Chrissa served as Executive Director of Friends of Great Kids Farm, a nonprofit foundation supporting Baltimore City Public Schools' Great Kids Farm. Through her work with the farm, she became deeply involved in the complex challenges of improving school food, including farm-to-school initiatives. Prior to that, she ran an edible landscaping business and directed a holistic nutrition and gardening program at Hampstead Hill Academy, a charter school in East Baltimore.
Chrissa previously worked with Maryland SNAP-Ed as the Gardening for Nutrition Educator and Project Leader for the Baltimore City/County SNAP-Ed project. During that time she authored the Growing Healthy Habits curriculum, which continues to be used at schools and youth-serving sites across the state. She has held positions on the board of directors of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore and the advisory committee of the Community Greening Resource Network, a program she helped found.
Chrissa is passionate about the far-reaching impacts that good nutrition and physical activity can have on individual and community well-being. These values are reflected in her constant adventures in her own kitchen and garden.
