Our Staff

Christie Balch

Executive Director

Christie grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, and holds an M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She joined the Crossroads Board of Directors in 2012, and became Executive Director in 2013. Christie’s leadership is centered around strategic community partnerships and an assets-based lens through which all community members are viewed as valuable and essential contributors to Crossroads’ mission.

Janet Rumble

Deputy Director

Janet’s background is in architecture, urban design, and journalism, and she is especially interested in the role that public spaces like Crossroads Farmers Market play in strengthening communities and creating a sense of place. She holds a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an M.Arch from the University of Miami School of Architecture. At Crossroads, she keeps a lot of balls in the air, juggling words, numbers, images, and resources.

Michelle Dudley

Community Outreach Specialist

Joining Crossroads a year after its inception in 2007, Michelle has held a variety of jobs ranging from Market Manager to founding the Healthy Eating Program. Hailing from a family of Western New York dairy farmers, she attended Syracuse University before earning her M.A. from UMBC, studying in the Shriver Peaceworker Graduate Fellowship. Today, she finds inspiration from her mid-Atlantic farmer and herbalist peers, and enjoys hunting for wild edibles.

Jennifer Underwood

Community Kitchen Program Manager

Jennifer, who grew up in a bilingual home in Honduras, earned a B.A. from Texas A&M University, an M. Ed. from Trinity Washington University, and recently worked on a farm in Virginia. Drawing on her additional skills and background in education, culinary arts, and hospitality, she helps our food entrepreneurs grow and strengthen their businesses.

Sara Servin

Farmers Market Program Manager

Sara holds a dual M.A. degree in international affairs and natural resources and sustainable development from American University and University for Peace in Costa Rica. Previously she worked at Up Top Acres and in Nicaragua for Project Bona Fide. She’s excited to be doing work that is rooted in the community, and thinks that farmers markets, SNAP, and their joint role in food access have a vital role in the development and security of communities.

Ariel Rothman

Healthy Eating Program Manager

Ariel received her B.A. degree from American University in international studies and economics with concentrations in environmental sustainability and global health. Her passions lie in environmental and nutrition education, research, and sustainable urban development.

Rosa Sanchez-Osegueda

Fresh Checks Coordinator

Rosa, a long-time resident of the Crossroads area and trained Community Connector through Montgomery County Health and Human Services, has been with Crossroads since 2009. For three years she led the SNAP outreach team, and now she helps to distribute Fresh Checks at Crossroads Farmers Market.

Liz Whitehurst

CSA Coordinator

Liz’s relationship with Crossroads started way back in 2009, when she sold produce for the Farm at Our House at the market. Since then, she’s worked for a variety of nonprofits and farms, including Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture and Angelic Organics Learning Center. She’s currently running her own farm, Owl’s Nest Farm, in Prince George’s County.

Shayia Johnson

Fresh Checks Assistant

Shayia can be found happily and calmly assisting hundreds of Crossroads Farmers Market senior shoppers at the Fresh Checks table. This year will mark her fifth season working with Crossroads; after her first season, she was chosen as a 2014 Summer Youth Employee by the City of Takoma Park.

Board of Directors

 

Wendy Nevett Bazil
Cooking coach, recipe developer, and food writer at Healthier Kitchen; member, Montgomery County Food Council

LaVerne Davis, RN
Retired community health professional

Kate Scaife Diaz
Director of Impact, TechnoServe

Tracey Goldman
Elementary school teacher, coordinator of Crossroads’ Healthy Eating Program at Piney Branch Elementary School

Steven Mandel
Retired, Former Deputy Solicitor for National Operations, Office of the Solicitor, US Department of Labor 

Elizabeth McMeekin
Freelance Interpreter Spanish <> English

Christian Melendez
Urban farmer

Michelle Nelson
Community Garden Program Manager, Montgomery County Parks Department

Michael Rubin
Managing Director, Impact Silver Spring

Lois Wessel, RN, CFNP
Consultant, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, School of Nursing and Health Studies, Georgetown University

Tamika Yourse
Patient Coordinator Manager, Takoma Park Integrative Care

Advisory Council

 

Kate Clancy
Food Systems Consultant and Visiting Scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Center for a Livable Future; Adjunct Professor at Tufts University; and Senior Fellow in the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, University of Minnesota

Kate Fitzgerald
Independent consultant to the Fair Food Network and the Farmers Market Coalition

Liz Tuckermanty
Faculty member at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation; Board of Directors, Cheverly Community Market in Cheverly, MD

 

 

Founders

 

Gus Schumacher (1940-2017)
Co-founder of Crossroads Farmers Market; co-founder and VP of Policy of Wholesome Wave; former Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services at USDA 

John C. Hyde (1945-2009)
Co-founder of Crossroads Farmers Market; journalist, author, and co-founder with Louise Swartzwalder of Takoma Kitchens

Michele Tsucalas
Inaugural Crossroads Farmers Market manager; founder and owner of Michele’s Granola

Crossroads is thankful to the following partners and supporters:

Alternative Gifts of Greater Washington | Anthem, Inc. | Bethesda Central Farm Market | Bethesda Magazine | Blue Note Title | Carl M. Freeman Foundation | Catalyst Fund of the Greater Washington Community Foundation | City of Takoma Park | Community Foodworks | Finn Family Group | Gleicher Burness Fund of the Greater Washington Community Foundation | Harry Chapin Foundation | Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation | John Edward Fowler Memorial Foundation | Kaiser Permanente | Lusid Media | Maryland Farmers Market Association | Maryland Physicians Care | Michele’s Granola | Montgomery County | Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation | Nora Roberts Foundation | Nora Roberts Family Foundation | Prince George’s County | Prince George’s County Department of Social Services / Transforming Neighborhoods Initiative | Saul Centers | Sharing Montgomery Fund | Synod of the Mid-Atlantic Speer Trust Fund | Takoma Foundation | Takoma/Langley Crossroads Development Authority | Takoma Park Gynecology, LLC | The Catalogue for Philanthropy – Greater Washington | The Cliff and Deborah White Family Foundation of the Greater Washington Community Foundation | The Greater Washington Community Foundation | The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc. | The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation | The Richard E. and Nancy P. Marriott Foundation | The Winters Group Fund to Promote Diversity & Inclusion at the Rochester Area Community Foundation | USDA Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program | USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program | USDA Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Grant Program | Washington Adventist Hospital/Adventist HealthCare

Voted one of the DC area’s best charities!