Kathy Lawrence
Kathy Lawrence has sown her passions into a career focused on sustainable agriculture, food justice, and environmental programs. An entrepreneur at heart, she has founded several action-oriented non-profit advocacy organizations, including the Greater Newburgh Parks Conservancy. She is most proud of her work running the Environmental Justice Fellowship (EJP) program that creates training and opportunities for young adults in Newburgh. These future leaders plant trees that shade and cool Newburgh’s streets, create events, and conduct educational programming for the community.
Kathy is also an Advisor to the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at George Washington University, where she consults on the Certified Responsible Antibiotic Use (CRAU) standard, which helps preserve the effectiveness of life-saving antibiotics for when they are most needed to treat sick people and animals. Kathy was the co-founder and senior director of School Food Focus, a national group that leveraged the procurement power of large school districts to make U.S. school meals more healthy, regionally sourced, and sustainably produced.
Kathy served for five years as Executive Director of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture and prior to that directed Just Food, the New York City-based non-profit organization she founded in 1995. Early in her career, Kathy coordinated public information and outreach for the New York and Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Groups and facilitated citizen advocacy at the United Nations.
Kathy’s first career was in trade with the People’s Republic of China, and she revisited her love of Mandarin when, decades later, she established a Chinese language program at Storm King School in Cornwall, NY.
Kathy holds a Bachelor's degree in East Asian Languages and Culture from the University of Kansas and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University. Kathy sings and performs music locally (her favorite genre is show tunes from the 1930s and 40s), and is a devoted gardener. Kathy loves her community and is honored to help create equitable access to green space and thriving pockets of nature in Newburgh.
