Debra is the Communications and Outreach Director of the National Farm to School Network and the Center for Food and Justice (CFJ), which is a program of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College. She plows with her pencil from Washington, DC and continues her passion for organic farming on her fifth generation family farm in Ohio. Growing up on a dairy farm in rural Ohio, Debra was ingrained with an understanding and appreciation of agriculture and real food at an early age. Debra is now dedicated to making safe, affordable, healthy food available for all people. One Tray, FoodCorps, and Farm to School Everywhere! are the projects on Debra’s fellowship plate. Through policy, prose, and practice, Debra aims to restore the connections between food, community, land and place. Debra has placed hundreds of Farm to School articles in media outlets around the country including the Wall Street Journal and TIME magazine. A proponent of social media as a tool for food democracy, Debra writes for the leading food and farm policy blogs including Civil Eats and Ethicurean. Debra's previous nonprofit work spans the globe in the humanitarian, conservation, sustainable agriculture and food justice realms. Most recently, Debra was the Project Director at the National Family Farm Coalition in Washington, DC, where she focused on U.S. agricultural policy and food sovereignty initiatives among grassroots domestic and international rural advocacy and social justice networks. Debra currently serves on the design team of the Real Food Alliance.