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Freedom Lecture: Sow Liberation: Black Agriculture
As part of our ongoing Freedom Lectures, Sow Liberation delves into the legacy, resilience, and radical possibilities of Black agriculture. This gathering brings together farmers, organizers, and land stewards who are reimagining the relationship between Black communities, the land, and environmental health. Through storytelling, conversation, and connection, we’ll explore how food, farming, and freedom are inseparable and why tending the soil is a pathway to liberation. Come ready to listen, learn, and dream of a freer, greener future together.
Bios
Timothy Lewis, is a community farmer, equity advocate, and relationship curator whose work bridges people, purpose, and place.
Timothy serves as the Outreach Director at Rid-All Green Partnership, a 22-acre urban farm located in Cleveland’s Central/Kinsman community. For over a decade, he has dedicated his career to connecting corporations, communities, and classrooms through sustainability, workforce development, and agricultural education.
Guided by his late mentors, Damien Forshe and David “Dr. Greenhand” Hester, co-founders of Rid-All, Timothy continues their legacy of transforming land and lives through agriculture. He is a proud graduate of the Neighborhood Leadership Development Program (NLDP) Cohort 17 and Case Western Reserve University’s R.E.A.C.H. Program, which focuses on racial equity and community health.
Timothy is also the visionary behind the All Farmers Matter campaign — a movement that connects and consults farmers from both rural and urban communities under the powerful message: “From City Blocks to Mountaintops, All Farmers Matter.”
Samira Malone
Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Samira Malone is an urban planner and national leader in equitable green infrastructure and community resilience. She serves as Director of Programming and National Portfolio Lead at the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), where she manages special projects, including a $28 million Urban and Community Forestry grant funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. Through this initiative, Samira supports 25 low-canopy, historically underrepresented communities to advance equitable urban forestry, workforce development, and climate resilience. She also oversees grant-funded projects nationwide that strengthen sustainable infrastructure and expand access to green resources in communities that need them most.
Previously, Samira was Executive Director of the Cleveland Tree Coalition, guiding a 52-member alliance through its first strategic plan, new grant programs, and major milestones toward Cleveland’s canopy restoration and environmental justice goals. Her earlier work with MidTown Cleveland, Inc. and Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc. focused on inclusive planning, neighborhood revitalization, and community engagement.
Samira holds a Master of Urban Planning and Development and a Bachelor’s in Urban and Regional Planning from Cleveland State University, along with a Graduate Certificate in GIS and executive education from Harvard Business School’s Women of Color Leadership Program.
A committed civic leader, she was the inaugural Chair of the Cleveland Urban Forestry Commission and serves on the boards of the Trust for Public Land Ohio Advisory Board, Rid-All Green Partnership, and the Cleveland Print Room. She also co-leads the Black Environmental Prosperity Group (BEPG), a national collective advancing Black leadership, equity, and career pathways in the environmental sector.
Grounded in her Cleveland roots and guided by a commitment to restorative environmental justice, Samira works to bridge people, policy, and place to build a more sustainable and just future. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, visiting museums, cooking for loved ones, and leading community hikes that promote Black joy and connection with nature.
As part of our ongoing Freedom Lectures, Sow Liberation delves into the legacy, resilience, and radical possibilities of Black agriculture. This gathering brings together farmers, organizers, and land stewards who are reimagining the relationship between Black communities, the land, and environmental health. Through storytelling, conversation, and connection, we’ll explore how food, farming, and freedom are inseparable and why tending the soil is a pathway to liberation. Come ready to listen, learn, and dream of a freer, greener future together.
Bios
Timothy Lewis, is a community farmer, equity advocate, and relationship curator whose work bridges people, purpose, and place.
Timothy serves as the Outreach Director at Rid-All Green Partnership, a 22-acre urban farm located in Cleveland’s Central/Kinsman community. For over a decade, he has dedicated his career to connecting corporations, communities, and classrooms through sustainability, workforce development, and agricultural education.
Guided by his late mentors, Damien Forshe and David “Dr. Greenhand” Hester, co-founders of Rid-All, Timothy continues their legacy of transforming land and lives through agriculture. He is a proud graduate of the Neighborhood Leadership Development Program (NLDP) Cohort 17 and Case Western Reserve University’s R.E.A.C.H. Program, which focuses on racial equity and community health.
Timothy is also the visionary behind the All Farmers Matter campaign — a movement that connects and consults farmers from both rural and urban communities under the powerful message: “From City Blocks to Mountaintops, All Farmers Matter.”
Samira Malone
Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Samira Malone is an urban planner and national leader in equitable green infrastructure and community resilience. She serves as Director of Programming and National Portfolio Lead at the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), where she manages special projects, including a $28 million Urban and Community Forestry grant funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. Through this initiative, Samira supports 25 low-canopy, historically underrepresented communities to advance equitable urban forestry, workforce development, and climate resilience. She also oversees grant-funded projects nationwide that strengthen sustainable infrastructure and expand access to green resources in communities that need them most.
Previously, Samira was Executive Director of the Cleveland Tree Coalition, guiding a 52-member alliance through its first strategic plan, new grant programs, and major milestones toward Cleveland’s canopy restoration and environmental justice goals. Her earlier work with MidTown Cleveland, Inc. and Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc. focused on inclusive planning, neighborhood revitalization, and community engagement.
Samira holds a Master of Urban Planning and Development and a Bachelor’s in Urban and Regional Planning from Cleveland State University, along with a Graduate Certificate in GIS and executive education from Harvard Business School’s Women of Color Leadership Program.
A committed civic leader, she was the inaugural Chair of the Cleveland Urban Forestry Commission and serves on the boards of the Trust for Public Land Ohio Advisory Board, Rid-All Green Partnership, and the Cleveland Print Room. She also co-leads the Black Environmental Prosperity Group (BEPG), a national collective advancing Black leadership, equity, and career pathways in the environmental sector.
Grounded in her Cleveland roots and guided by a commitment to restorative environmental justice, Samira works to bridge people, policy, and place to build a more sustainable and just future. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, visiting museums, cooking for loved ones, and leading community hikes that promote Black joy and connection with nature.
