17342727_10203274928632101_4995279842643197712_nAndrée Collier Zaleska, Founder and Director, is the mother of two teen boys, a environmental activist, and an urban gardener. She has spent the past two decades as a teacher and community organizer, working in schools, churches, and nonprofits. She has also organized summer camps, and she taught ESL in Czechoslovakia for much of her 20s.

Andrée’s teaching is inspired and informed by the philosophy of”unschooling” and self-directed learning, and also by Montessori, the 8 Shields, and forest schools.

Andrée is the owner of JP Green House, an energy positive urban homestead, and the nonprofit which created JP Green School.

Kannan Thiruvengadam, Co-Founder and Director, is a permaculture-certified technologist. He believes we can use our intelligence and modern technology carefully and consciously to work with nature in order to heal our ecosystems and nourish ourselves. 24831444_10156914442690558_4980522873145804722_o

In the US, he works on eco-friendly food growth practices in the urban setting and on education. He runs Eastie Farm, a non-profit organization whose mission is community resiliency, and co-directs JP Green School. He hosts What’s up Eastie? on Zumix Radio, a show about hot topics of East Boston, a dynamic and diverse Boston neighborhood on the water and therefore on the frontline of climate change. He is also a Climate Ready Boston leader.

Kannan spends part of his year in India, where he supports and guides alternate school systems and promotes the participation of urban youth in agriculture.