Jodi Falk comes to Rachel’s Table with years of leadership and fundraising in the arts, community engagement, and social justice activism. As the former Founding Director of Dance at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School in South Hadley, MA, the Director of Choreography and creator of community-engaged programming at the Laban Centre, London, UK, (now Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance), and Coordinator of Community Engagement and Outreach for the Five College Dance Consortium in Amherst, MA, Jodi has created programs that build bridges, break down barriers, and reach across difference to promote equity and champion justice.
Researching and working with diverse communities in South Africa, Israel and Brazil, and in our own western MA backyard, Jodi recently earned a PhD that focuses on community activism and socially-engaged arts. As a local leader in a special needs parents’ rights watchdog group and a developer of projects that serve diverse populations such as incarcerated young women, vulnerable seniors, adults with intellectual disabilities, teen mothers, and foster families, Jodi’s work has focused on nourishing bodies and nurturing lives – clearly a mission of Rachel’s Table. Jodi is honored to join the team of incredible volunteers and dedicated staff and together with them lead Rachel’s Table into its next phase of growth and alignment while continuing its rich tradition of tikkun olam (repair of the world) and its important place in the field of food justice.