Agenda
Keynotes
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Sponsor Session 1
Dr. Janie C. Clay, DrPH, MSPH, RD
Founder and Creator, Let’s Chat at the Farm
Dietetics Practice Coordinator, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Dr. Janie C. Clay is a Registered Dietitian, dedicated public health professional, and farmer with a focus on health promotion, access, and equity especially in rural communities. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Alabama A&M University (Huntsville, AL), a Master of Science in Public Health from Meharry Medical College (Nashville, TN), and a Doctor of Public Health from Samford University (Birmingham, AL). Dr. Clay completed her Dietetic Internship at Bradley University (Peoria, IL). Dr. Clay began her career as a Pediatric Dietitian at Children's of Alabama before advancing to the role of Assistant Nutrition Director for Alabama's WIC Division. She also served as the Clinic Supervisor for the Jefferson County Health Department WIC program.
Currently, she is the Dietetics Practice Coordinator at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Nutrition Sciences. Dr. Clay was honored as the Young Dietitian of the Year in 2023 and serves as a Delegate for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics on the Alabama Dietetic Association Board.
Dr. Clay is also the Founder and Creator of “Let’s Chat at the Farm,” a community health initiative offering nutrition education in a serene environment at Charleston Family Farms in Marengo County, Alabama. This program is designed to serve residents of the Black Belt, providing vital resources to promote health and wellness.
Outside of her professional pursuits, Dr. Clay enjoys cooking, gardening, and fishing with her husband, their two children, and their dog, Luke.
Jimmy Wright began his grocery career in 1973 at age 12 as a bagger at the Opelika store that his father managed. In 1997, Wright bought the store from William Ennis and rebranded it as Wright’s Market in 2003. His 22,000-square-foot independent grocery, known for its fresh meat and produce, employs more than 30 people. Wright also serves as project consultant for retail and wholesale for GusNIP through his work with the National Grocers Association Foundation. Wright serves on the Board of Directors for the Alabama Grocers Association, Alabama Retail Association, and National Grocers Association. He has presented to Congress on multiple occasions and has been awarded numerous local, state, and national awards.
Session 2
Dr. Caree Jackson Cotwright serves as the Director of Nutrition Security and Heath Equity for the Food and Nutrition Service at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In this role, Dr. Cotwright leads a whole-of-Department approach to advancing food and nutrition security. She also serves as one of two Departmental representatives on accelerating action on the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health goals to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, and reduce diet-related diseases and disparities and implementing the corresponding National Strategy. Her work includes building public awareness of USDA’s actions to advance food and nutrition security, as well as collaborating and building partnerships with key stakeholders to maximize our reach and impact. Dr. Cotwright is on leave as an Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences in the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences’ Department of Nutritional Sciences. Her research centers on promoting healthy eating among infants through age five-years-old with a particular focus on accelerating health equity among historically underserved populations via community-based participatory research and focusing on developing, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining best practices and policies in the early child education setting. She has developed a variety of innovative interventions, which use theater, media, and other arts-based approaches. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and secured over $1M in grants focused on obesity prevention and health equity from Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the USDA. From 2010-2013, she worked as an ORISE Research Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, where she was highly engaged in the early care education elements of the First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative dedicated to helping kids and families lead healthier lives. Dr. Cotwright holds a PhD in Foods and Nutrition and Community Nutrition and MS in Foods and Nutrition both from the University of Georgia and a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Howard University.
WILLIE C. TAYLOR, Regional Administrator
USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Southeast Regional Office—Atlanta, GA
Willie C. Taylor brings nearly 25 years of federal and 8 years of localgovernment service to the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). FNS provides children and families in need with better access to food and a more healthful diet through its 16 nutrition assistance programs and nutritioneducation efforts.
As Regional Administrator for the Southeast, Mr. Taylor provides executive direction and leadership while orchestrating the execution of all 16 federal nutrition programs, which provide annual benefits in excess of$31 billion through cooperating state agencies in Alabama, Florida,Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Previously, Mr. Taylor served as the Regional Director for the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Job Corps (OJC) Atlanta Regional Office. In this role, he provided managerial oversight for the agency’s financial resources, programs and staff, with an investment portfolio in excess of $500 million dollars. Prior to joining DOL, Mr. Taylor served as the Deputy Regional Administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Atlanta region. There he managed a staff of over 1,000 employees with direct responsibilities for nine field offices which included managerial oversight for the agency’s financial resources and programs.
Mr. Taylor also served as the Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Philadelphia Regional Office. While there, he provided managerial oversight for the agency’s financial resources, programs and staff with an annualized investment portfolio of nearly a quarter billion dollars.
In local government, Mr. Taylor served as the Assistant County Administrator for Community Services and Public Services agencies for the Escambia County (FL) Board of County Commissioners. He managed an annual budget in excess of $140 million and provided oversight for 1,100 employees covering eighteen departments, including the Public Safety, Fire Rescue, Purchasing Solid Waste Management and Community Corrections just to highlight a few.
In addition, Mr. Taylor’s local government experience includes nearly six years of employment with Miami-Dade County (FL) Government. In his tenure with Miami-Dade County, he held various administrative and professional positions within the Planning Department, the Housing Agency, the Solid Waste Management Department and the Office of Community and Economic Development.
Mr. Taylor earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Florida A & M University, and a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from Clemson University. Mr. Taylor is also the 2005 recipient of the United States Department of Commerce’s Silver Medal for Leadership for his role in assisting the State of Florida in the recovery phase from the natural disasters it suffered in 2004. This is the Commerce Department’s second highest award.
Session 3
Karen Washington is a farmer and community activist, striving to make the New York a better place to live. As a former community gardener and current board member of the New York Botanical Gardens, she worked with Bronx neighborhoods to turn empty lots into community gardens.
As an advocate, and former president of the New York City Community Garden Coalition, she stood up and spoke out for garden protection and preservation. As a member of the La Familia Verde Garden Coalition, she helped launch a City Farms Market, bringing fresh vegetables to the community.
In 2010, Washington co-founded Black Urban Growers (BUGS) an organization supporting growers in both urban and rural settings. Karen has received numerous awards most recently the co-recipient of the 2023 James Beard Humanitarian Award and the 2024 Emerson Collective Fellowship. She has been credited with the term food apartheid instead of food desert, to bring to the forefront the inequities seen in the food system. Mama K as she is known in the community, serves on the boards of the New York Botanical Gardens, Black Farmer Fund, Soul Fire Farm, the Mary Mitchell Center, and Green Workers Cooperative
Session 4
ANGELICE LOWE
Program Director
ALSDE Child Nutrition Programs
Phone: 334-694-4683
E-Mail: alowe@ALSDE.edu
Angelice Lowe is the State Agency Program Director for Child Nutrition Programs (CNP) with the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE). Programs under the umbrella ALSDE CNP are the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) which consists of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, Seamless Summer Option, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, and Afterschool Snack Program; the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) which consists of the At-Risk Afterschool Program, food assistance for Family Day Care Homes, Adult Day Care Centers and Childcare Centers; the Summer Nutrition Programs (SUN) which consists of the Summer Food Service Program and the newly implemented Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer Program (S-EBT); the Farm to School and Farm to Early Childcare Programs; Food Distribution Programs which encompasses The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) and the USDA Foods in Schools Programs; and the Statewide Procurement Program.
Angelice previously worked as the Administrator for the Food Distribution/Statewide Procurement Programs for 9 years. She obtained both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees from Troy University.
In her spare time, Angelice enjoys traveling with her husband of 28 years, spending time with her children and grandchildren.
Brandon Hardin is the current SNAP Director for the State of Alabama. He has been with the Alabama Department of Human Resources for over 24 years. He has served in several capacities including Assistant Director Jefferson County and County Director in Coffee County. Brandon has a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Alabama and is a Licensed Graduate Social Worker.
Don Wambles was born and raised in Alabama. He attended Troy University where he studied Business Administration and Marketing. He served seven years in the Alabama National Guard. Don lives in Pike County, Alabama where he operated the 450-acre family farm and leased another 1250 acres until 1995—major enterprises of the farm: peanuts, cotton, beef cattle, corn, and vegetables.
Don has been Director of the Ag Promotions/Farmers Market Authority Division for the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries for 29 years. His Division has powers and duties to establish agricultural markets to prevent waste and to provide marketing facilities where farm products, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, truck crops, and other agricultural commodities, and fish products, including, but not limited to, farm-raised fish, shellfish, and wild fish, may be processed, graded, packaged, displayed, or exhibited to encourage the buying and selling of the commodities, and to encourage the public interest, thus promoting goodwill between the rural and urban sectors of the State of Alabama.
Through Don’s leadership, the ADAI has provided marketing and technical assistance to Alabama farmers and small businesses resulting in tremendous growth in food production, retail, and wholesale sales. A few of the program areas his division is responsible for are Farmers Markets, the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, Farm to School, Farm to School Incentive Program, Local Food for Schools, and Local Food Procurement Agreement.
Don has represented Alabama farmers through many county, state, and national boards and associations that he has served on. He proudly states he loves waking up every morning to go to a job where he gets to help farmers.
Pamela J. Galloway, MS, RDN
Nutrition Services Director/Assistant Program Director for the Alabama WIC (Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) Program since August 2020. Responsible for all direct clinic services to implement and run the federally funded WIC Program for the state providing services to an average caseload of 111,000 women, infants, and children. Prior to joining the AL WIC Team, Pam worked in many clinic settings including Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital, Fresenius Kidney Care, AL Department of Rehabilitation Services/Children’s Rehabilitation Service, and number long-term care facilities in the East Alabama area. Pam also spent time as an adjunct instructor for Troy University teaching several nutrition courses. However, Pam’s first full-time nutrition position was for the AL WIC Program as a Nutrition Associate in Lee County, so it is a special feeling to come full circle in this amazing Program. Pam earned a Master of Science in Nutrition/Dietetics from Auburn University in August 2004 and a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition/Dietetics in March 1998. She completed a dietetic internship through the University of Alabama at Birmingham in July 2002.