Biographical Info

Nick serves as the Executive Director of Franklinton Gardens, a 2.5-acre nonprofit urban farm in Columbus, OH. During his 3.5 years as the organization’s ED he has guided the organization from a small collection of donation-based food production gardens into a financially sustainable 12-garden biointensive urban farming organization that is building a food distribution system compatible with the extreme poverty prevalent in the Franklinton neighborhood. Prior to his time as ED he served 2 years as an AmeriCorps VISTA member at Franklinton Gardens and completed an M.S. in Soil Science at OSU. In addition to building urban farm infrastructure, Nick has coordinated 6 major home renovations in the Franklinton neighborhood, and maintains a strong commitment to influencing equitable redevelopment in Franklinton as the neighborhood undergoes demographic changes induced by gentrification. He developed a passion for local food system development during his time in Athens at Ohio University while he completed his B.S in Plant Biology. Nick is also on the board of the Franklin County Local Food Council. Nick is especially thrilled to see how much attention OSU has recently directed to building state-wide community food system initiatives and he hopes that the investment will help create a state-wide food community identity that fosters a vibrant landscape of small-scale and financially viable fruit, vegetable, and livestock farms.