Citlaic Jeffers Peña
To whom it may concern,
My name is Citlalic Jeffers Peña. I was employed at Sixth Street Community Center from June 2005 to November 2012 as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program Coordinator. I have stayed connected to Howard and Sixth Street long after my time at the organization ended.
Sixth Street, Howard and Annette Averette’s mentorship played a pivotal role in my personal development and helped steer me in the direction of what eventually became life-long commitment to community based initiatives. I arrived at Sixth Street as a high schooler while volunteering at May Day Books; I had dreams of starting a rooftop garden, and asked Howard if I could organize a punk show at Sixth Street to fundraise for it. After the success of the fundraiser, Howard offered me an internship to help service the CSA.
What started out as a summer internship transformed into an opportunity to become a part of Sixth Street staff. Howard fostered a work environment of open communication and support for new ideas, processes and structures which always made me feel confident to share and discuss any concerns, proposals, or critiques openly and freely. Over time, I developed a vision to expand the program from a distribution point into a site of community engagement.
Howard championed my idea of creating committees made up of CSA members to organize community events, cooking demos, film screenings, and put out a weekly newsletter with recipes and political discussions around food justice and food safety. Our efforts increased the CSA’s membership to an average of 200 members per season.
Howard always ensured that we had the funding and resources to achieve our organizational goals and staff development, such as funding our trips to conferences and trainings. Through one of the conferences, I generated a new proposal to transform the payment structure by accepting food stamps, payment plans and a sliding scale share price based on income to make the program more accessible to community members on a fixed income. This was a lofty undertaking which required Howard’s approval and there were times when I had differences in how to bring this vision to fruition. Despite our differences, Howard always cultivated an environment in which I felt safe to voice my thoughts, critiques or differences without any fear of retaliation and instead encouraged me to bring forth data and evidence to support my ideas.
Throughout it all, Howard supported these efforts and offered guidance on how to turn our goals into accomplishments, a reflection of his devotion for his community, openness to new ideas, and collaborative practice. Howard’s devotion to Sixth Street and his staff is unparalleled, as executive director of the organization he was dedicated to elevate and encourage us to accomplish what we set out to do. I am grateful to Howard, Annette and Sixth Street for granting me a formative and foundational experience in food justice and community service.
Sincerely,
Citlalic Jeffers Peña M.A. CCC-SLP