天美传媒

Stephen Ritz is an internationally-acclaimed, award-winning educator, author of best-selling book, The Power Of A Plant, and founder of Green Bronx Machine.  Known as "America's Favorite Teacher," Stephen is responsible for creating the first edible classroom in the world, which he has evolved into the National Health, Wellness and Learning Center.

Using his acclaimed, proprietary whole-school curriculum designed around urban agriculture aligned to key school performance indicators that grow healthy students and schools, Stephen and his students have grown and distributed more than 115,000 pounds of vegetables in the South Bronx.  In the process, Stephen has moved school attendance from 40 percent to 93 percent daily and helped provide 2,200 youth jobs in the Bronx.

The State University of New York uses his curriculum to train elementary school teachers statewide in all content areas, while New York City Department of Education offers professional learning credits for all Green Bronx Machine professional development. The curriculum also is being used in hundreds of schools across the United States, and internationally in Colombia, Canada, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and beyond.

Recently honored with the 2020 Change-Maker Award by NYC Food Policy Center, Stephen also has been recognized as a Top Ten Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize, and named as both a Global Humanitarian and Food Tank Hero.  He and his students have presented at the Obama White House three times, been featured on the cover of TIME for KIDS and are the subject of a new, full-feature documentary called, 鈥淕eneration Growth.鈥�  

Stephen is available to speak on topics, including:

Education
鈥� Education Post-COVID:  What Teachers, Students and Parents Will Need for Successful Transition Back to the Classroom
鈥� The 21st Century Education Ecosystem:  Linking Food and Nutrition to Learning and Academic Achievement to Workforce Development and Living Wage Jobs to Justice, the Environment and Fully Circular Economy Communities
鈥� Social-Emotional Learning
鈥� Project-based Learning
鈥� Compassion is the New Curriculum

Food Justice/Food Insecurity
鈥� Urban Farming
鈥� Food and Economic Justice through Ag 鈥� Urban, Rural, Suburban
鈥� Food Insecurity in the U.S.
鈥� The 21st Century Education Ecosystem:  Linking Food and Nutrition to Learning and Academic Achievement to Workforce Development and Living Wage Jobs to Justice, the Environment and Fully Circular Economy Communities

Community Health and Wellness
鈥� The 21st Century Education Ecosystem:  Linking Food and Nutrition to Learning and Academic Achievement to Workforce Development and Living Wage Jobs to Justice, the Environment and Fully Circular Economy Communities
鈥� Next Gen Sustainability Leaders
鈥� Childhood Obesity and Diabetes

Jane Rongerude's research interests focus on the role of housing within urban systems of poverty management. Within these systems, she investigates how poverty is being dispersed, shifted and reformed within the urban landscape. As a result, she has developed a strong foundation of expertise in the areas of housing needs, housing policy, neighborhood revitalization, and community development.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she shifted her research to focus on the problem of rental housing instability. This work seeks to understand the role of landlord decision-making as it relates to rental housing outcomes. It investigates landlord characteristics, impacts, and responses to the pandemic.

Melita Belgrave is an expert in music therapy with older adults and intergenerational programming.

Belgrave has worked as a music therapist in special education, mental health, rehabilitation, hospice, geriatric, and intergenerational settings throughout Texas, Florida, Kansas, and Missouri.

Belgrave is the associate dean for Culture and Access in the Herberger Institute, and an associate professor in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre. Belgrave has also been appointed as a research affiliate at The Mayo Clinic in Arizona and conducts creative aging music groups in the community.

Her research has been published in national and international journals including the Journal of Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives and Frontiers Medicine.

In 2018, Belgrave was recognized by the Black Music Therapy Network, Inc. with the annual service award in recognition for her exemplary commitment to advanced knowledge and practice in the field of music therapy.

Joanne Cacciatore is an expert in community development, traumatic grief, psychology and mental health. 

Cacciatore is an associate professor at the School of Social Work. Her research is focused in traumatic death and grief including: etiology, epidemiology, culturally-appropriate interventions, social support, coping, meditation and mindfulness-based approaches. 

Cacciatore started The Selah Carefarm, the first carefarm for the traumatically bereaved in the U.S. and it's just outside of Sedona, Arizona. It鈥檚 a 10 acres of farmland where bereaved family members can come to both give and receive connection, compassion, and understanding. All the animals on the carefarm have been rescued from abuse, neglect, and torture.

Her work was featured on Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry's Apple TV docuseries The Me You Can't See that explores the current state of the world鈥檚 mental health and emotional well-being through storytelling.

Cacciatore's best selling book, Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief, is a national award winning best seller that has helped revolutionize the way our culture thinks, and feels, about grief. She works with and counsels families from all around the world who have experienced catastrophic deaths.

Derek Slagle is the director of the School of Public Affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He formerly served as the director of the Survey Research Center.
Concomitantly, he served as a state lead for Occupational Licensing Policy Learning Consortium, a three-year project supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and managed jointly by the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Council of State Governments, and the National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices. Dr. Slagle has worked on over 2.5 million dollars of funded research – included grants from the CDC, Robert Wood Johnson and contracts with various state agencies, nonprofits, and for-profit companies.
As faculty in the Master of Public Administration program, he focuses on training the next generation of Arkansas leaders while emphasizing service and connecting theory to praxis. His research in Public Affairs Education, Higher Education, Community Development, & State Government have been published in a variety of academic journals.