Athena bernkopf

Athena is a cross-pollinator tending to the intersecting roots of black and queer liberation, and land, housing, and healing justice. Raised in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, their work as organizer and facilitator has taken them across New York City in roles such as anti-gentrification paralegal case handler at the Legal Aid Society, core member of The Audre Lorde Project's 3rd Space Wellness Collective, and Project Director of the East Harlem/El Barrio Community Land Trust.

As the current Steward of Sustainable Futures, Athena is facilitating processes to vision and build out enduring land tenure and collective governance structures for WILDSEED. They have also been a long-standing member of the Oasis Solidarity Collective, cultivating popular education-based learning spaces that deepen capacity for consensus-focused solidarity economy formations.

Athena continues to explore strategies for strengthening and expanding the scale of solidarity economies as a board member of the Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC. Driven by a vision of cityscapes abundant in ancient trees taller and more common than skyscrapers, they are committed to co-creating liberated futures rooted in mutual care, collective stewardship of resources, and being in right relationship with land.