Jamese Kwele is a shaper of change, a strategic pattern weaver, and a mama of two, who brings over twenty years of experience building community, supporting organizational change, and driving impact. In 2020, she partnered with three other Black women to co-found the Black Food Fund, an organization that builds resources to fuel transformative, Black-led change primarily within the PNW regional food system.
The Black Food Fund operates within an ecosystem of Black-led partners and organizes its work across three main strategies: land justice, climate resilience, and reparative capital. As VP, Organizational and Food Systems Equity at Ecotrust, she works in partnership with teams across the organization to support the organization’s antiracist transformation, while also providing strategic leadership across a variety of community-based, programmatic efforts. Jamese also serves as a board member of the Black Oregon Land Trust, the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition, and the National Farm to School Network. Originally from California, she spent over twenty years living and working in the greater Philadelphia region before returning to the West Coast in 2019.
Fueled by authentic connection, subversive humor, radical candor, and expansive joy, Jamese holds deep gratitude for the love, wisdom, and fortitude of ancestors, comrades, and communities who make her work both joyful and possible.