Announcement of Executive Director Transition

After over eight years of dedicated service at Farm School NYC, Onika Abraham has decided to step down as Executive Director. She will transition out of her role at the end of May 2023 and step into a new leadership role AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF BLUE SKY FUNDERS FORUM.

Less than four months after joining as Director in May 2014, Farm School NYC faced imminent closure due to lack of funding. In response, Onika gathered constituencies committed to saving Farm School - students, teachers, alumni and community supporters - to share the news, hold space and listen to ideas. She took courageous steps to keep FSNYC alive: cutting her own pay, galvanizing volunteers, forging new partnerships and diving headlong into fundraising.  

Due to these efforts, Farm School NYC continued to offer all 20 courses to 50+ students in 2015 —with only 1/6 of the budget and 1/3 of the staffing. Under Onika’s financial leadership, Farm School NYC grew from a fiscally sponsored initiative with one part-time employee and an annual budget of $50,000 to an autonomous nonprofit with eight staff and an annual budget of over $1 million with multi-year commitments and contracts extending into 2028. 

Thanks to Onika’s collaborative leadership style, programming evolved and grew while staying true to the core values of Farm School NYC’s community-centered model. She gracefully led our young, non-traditional, place-based, justice oriented, BIPOC-centered alternative education program flourishingly through its growing pains, community repair processes and the pandemic. And most recently, she diligently worked with partners and FSNYC constituencies to develop an initial theory of change and strategic plan that accurately reflected a collective vision for the future of the organization. 

Across these last eight years of Onika’s directorship, she never lost sight of the mission, nor the raw and potent underlying force that guides Farm School NYC. So many of us have worked in the movement for and out of love, generating a collective energy that could not fail because our fight for food justice, food sovereignty and food security could not fail. 

In this parting phase, it is even more evident that Onika was exactly what our movement needed. She is leaving with the same integrity, commitment and intentionality as she led and her legacy will continue to shine bright as she has brilliantly poised Farm School NYC for a new chapter.  In alignment with the collective governance values that led to the development of a community-elected board for Farm School NYC, we are excited to announce a shift to a less hierarchical staffing model. Due to Onika’s visionary guidance and perceptive hiring practices, our current staff members - Claudia, Connor, Dyaami, Frances, Jazz and Vianca - have the trust, dedication, and skills necessary to do this work collaboratively with minimal additional support. We are excited to report on this new phase of our work as it emerges.    

We celebrate Onika’s inspiration and leadership in building and strengthening our community. With our deepest appreciation, please join us in expressing gratitude for her leadership. Send her an email to share memories or sentiments. We will share more about this new phase of collective leadership at Farm School NYC in the coming weeks, and we look forward to celebrating this new chapter with you!

Sincerely,

Tutu, Kelly, Momo, and Ruby

The Board of Farm School NYC