THE TEAM
Our team is wildly passionate about holding space for teenage women so that they might bring their whole selves to the work of creating a fulfilling life and a better world! Emily and Jo came together through the work of Joanna Macy, attending a facilitator training in The Work that Reconnects in Northern California during the summer of 2015. We soon realized that each of us holds expertise and experience in aligned and complementary fields. It is in the work of weaving together these diverse threads that we have created Root Down Rise Up!
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Emily Zionts has been deeply immersed in the question of how we can empower our youth to face the crises and opportunities of this unique time in human history with compassion, resilience, innovation, and joy! For over 15 years, she has been a part of learning communities with experience teaching everyone from pre-school to adult education. In 2008, she had the amazing opportunity to earn a M.A. in Peace Education at The U.N. University for Peace in Costa Rica while researching the power and potential of youth to be engaged changemakers. Later, she found her life calling while teaching courses: Peace Studies, Global Citizenship, and Youth Activism to teens at a farm school in northern California. In addition to Root Down Rise Up, Emily also is faculty and mentor at The Wayfinding Academy (a progressive community college focused on living life on purpose), The Institute for Permaculture Education for Children (where she teaches social justice education to K-12 educators), and The Village Home School (where she facilitates education for social-emotional learning, community building, social justice, and sustainability to upper elementary and middle school students).
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Jo Linden is an educator, facilitator, writer, and naturalist based in Portland, Oregon. Her roots reside in the Yampa River Valley of Colorado, where she grew up with a deep sense of place and connection to the natural world. The threads of passion and curiosity that weave through her work include ecology and environmental science, spiritual wisdom and mindfulness practices, community building and group dynamics, and personal empowerment work, all of which flow together to create what she considers the inner work of sustainability. From a decade of diverse pursuits, including restoring wildlife habitat in urban natural areas, practicing therapeutic massage, running a place-based, experiential science education program for at-risk youth, and facilitating emotional growth and personal empowerment experiences for teens and adults, she draws on a broad array of skills and perspectives. She has a B.A. in Ecological Studies from Seattle University, and an M.S. in Teaching from Portland State University, with a focus on ecology and sustainability education.
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Community Partners
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The Institute for Permaculture Education (IPEC) is our 501c3 parent organization for Root Down Rise Up. Their courses and services apply permaculture principles and design to popular and alternative educational models. IPEC's work supports the shift towards regenerative learning and living, and the recognition that each are inextricably connected in the practice of life.
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Special thanks to...
- Chelsea Nichole for her hard work in designing our beautiful logo!
- Kerri Drumm at Purpose Aligned Consulting for hours of wise council around fundraising
- Jules Heck, Grants and Partnership manager at Tufts University for donated time in support for grantwriting