GreenStar Community Projects, Inc. (GSCP) is the tax-exempt affiliate of GreenStar Cooperative Market, a food co-op in Ithaca, New York, that has been in existence since 1971. The Co-op created GSCP in 2006, as a way to work on the parts of its broad social, economic and environmental mission that go beyond the operation of community-controlled natural foods grocery stores. As a separate legal entity, GSCP has its own Board of Directors and budget, but it collaborates very closely with the Co-op.
Ellen Baer has worked in the non-profit sector for approximately 28 years.
She graduated from Cornell University in 1978 and with an MBA from
Syracuse University in 1999. Besides serving on the GSCP board, she also
serves on the Ithaca Town Planning Board. Other community activities
also include helping coordinate the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration
Day and the Sisterfriend's Celebration Day.
Lenore Olmstead is a founding member and current president of GreenStar Community Projects, Inc. She worked for GreenStar Co-op as Coordinating Manager in the late 1980s for three years, HR Manager for five years ending in 2002, and as a member of the GS Council for three years. She currently serves as Director of Human Resources at Alternatives Federal Credit Union.
Before coming to Ithaca, she worked as a manager of natural food stores in Oneonta, NY and Boston, MA. For six years, she worked at Oxfam America in Boston where she was Co-Director of the Fast for a World Harvest, a member of the Commission of Dialogue with the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka, and a staff member on an Oxfam America study tour linking farmers and farm workers in the United States with farmers in Nicaragua. In Ithaca, she has worked as Associate Director and Acting Director of the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy. She has BA in Sociology from Fordham University, an MS in Adult Education from Cornell University with a thesis on diversity trainers and racism and a Senior Professional in Human Resources Certificate.
Her interests focus on providing healthy food options in an affordable and inclusive way to low income members of the community and on educating the broader community on the role of cooperatives and a sustainable local food system in community well being.
Joanna Green has been the director of Groundswell since 2009, working closely with Groundswell's diverse collaborators to design, conduct, and evaluate farm-based education and training programs. Joanna has 30 years of experience as a pioneer in the fields of sustainable agriculture and regional food systems development. Before retiring from Cornell University in 2009, she served as Extension Associate with the Cornell Small Farms Program and as Senior Extension Associate with Cornell's Community, Food and Agriculture Program and Farming Alternatives Program. She is the coauthor (with Groundswell Advisor Duncan Hilchey) ofGrowing Home: A Guide to Reconnecting Agriculture, Food and Communities, as well as coauthor of the award-winning publication, Farming Alternatives: A Guide to Evaluating the Feasibility of New Farm-Based Enterprises. She produces much of her family's food on a 2-acre homestead farm in Enfield, NY.
Liz Karabinakis helped form GreenStar Community Projects, Inc.
(GSCP) as GreenStar Cooperative Market's first Member Services Manager
in 2004. She served as GSCP's Coordinator until 2013, and continues her work to improve the community's access to
healthy food as an advisor to GSCP and as the Director of Healthy Food For All.
Program Coordinator
Luke JonesBoard of Directors
Ellen Baer (President) Phoebe Brown Gary Fine Daniel Hoffman (Secretary) Brandon Kane Lenore Olmstead Rene Carver (Vice President) Joanna Green Allison (Alli) Sribarra (Treasurer)Former Program Coordinator
Elizabeth Karabinakis
Ellen Baer has worked in the non-profit sector for approximately 28 years.
She graduated from Cornell University in 1978 and with an MBA from
Syracuse University in 1999. Besides serving on the GSCP board, she also
serves on the Ithaca Town Planning Board. Other community activities
also include helping coordinate the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration
Day and the Sisterfriend's Celebration Day.
Lenore Olmstead is a founding member and current president of GreenStar Community Projects, Inc. She worked for GreenStar Co-op as Coordinating Manager in the late 1980s for three years, HR Manager for five years ending in 2002, and as a member of the GS Council for three years. She currently serves as Director of Human Resources at Alternatives Federal Credit Union.
Before coming to Ithaca, she worked as a manager of natural food stores in Oneonta, NY and Boston, MA. For six years, she worked at Oxfam America in Boston where she was Co-Director of the Fast for a World Harvest, a member of the Commission of Dialogue with the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka, and a staff member on an Oxfam America study tour linking farmers and farm workers in the United States with farmers in Nicaragua. In Ithaca, she has worked as Associate Director and Acting Director of the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy. She has BA in Sociology from Fordham University, an MS in Adult Education from Cornell University with a thesis on diversity trainers and racism and a Senior Professional in Human Resources Certificate.
Her interests focus on providing healthy food options in an affordable and inclusive way to low income members of the community and on educating the broader community on the role of cooperatives and a sustainable local food system in community well being.
Joanna Green has been the director of Groundswell since 2009, working closely with Groundswell's diverse collaborators to design, conduct, and evaluate farm-based education and training programs. Joanna has 30 years of experience as a pioneer in the fields of sustainable agriculture and regional food systems development. Before retiring from Cornell University in 2009, she served as Extension Associate with the Cornell Small Farms Program and as Senior Extension Associate with Cornell's Community, Food and Agriculture Program and Farming Alternatives Program. She is the coauthor (with Groundswell Advisor Duncan Hilchey) ofGrowing Home: A Guide to Reconnecting Agriculture, Food and Communities, as well as coauthor of the award-winning publication, Farming Alternatives: A Guide to Evaluating the Feasibility of New Farm-Based Enterprises. She produces much of her family's food on a 2-acre homestead farm in Enfield, NY.
Liz Karabinakis helped form GreenStar Community Projects, Inc.
(GSCP) as GreenStar Cooperative Market's first Member Services Manager
in 2004. She served as GSCP's Coordinator until 2013, and continues her work to improve the community's access to
healthy food as an advisor to GSCP and as the Director of Healthy Food For All.