Board of Directors
Josie Dominguez-Chand
Josie Dominguez-Chand strives to create a legacy that engages, excites, and inspires climate action to leave a better planet for future generations. She is a proud first generation college graduate in her family, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Radio & Television from San Francisco State University and Master of Science in Environmental Earth Resource Management from Kingston University located in London, England. Josie believes her academic background and lived experience has helped her accomplish all that she has in her work in San Francisco and abroad (China, England, Taiwan, and Spain.) In her free time she loves traveling, finding new vegetarian dishes, thrifting, and celebrating with the community.
Alec Hawley – Board Chair
Alec Hawley is a landscape architect and gardener with 3 decades of experience internationally. He has a passion for helping local communities make their cities greener and more community oriented. He can most often be found with his daughters outside playing in the dirt or riding bicycles. He’s always thrilled to help others discover why trees, plants, the birds and the bees are the healing salve we all need.
Marilyn Ong – Vice Secretary
Marilyn Ong is a former public school math teacher with 13 years of experience working with high school students in San Francisco. After stepping away from the classroom, she has been exploring where she can contribute in the climate space by bringing her background in education to sustainability efforts. Marilyn is especially interested in making learning accessible, interactive, and engaging for all types of learners. She loves volunteering with mission driven organizations, learning through games, and spending time with her two dogs. She is excited to support meaningful climate action and learn from others doing this important work. And my photo is attached.
Rachel Pomerantz
Rachel Pomerantz has been involved in the environmental education field for over 20 years. While earning her master’s degree in Anthropology & Social Change from the California Institute of Integral Studies, she co-founded and directed a wilderness adventure non-profit to engage youth in the outdoors. Rachel later applied her non-profit acumen and justice-oriented mindset to local government as the School Education Coordinator for the San Francisco Department of the Environment, where she worked for almost a decade. She has served on the boards of the Green Schoolyard Alliance and Recology’s Artist in Residence Program, and volunteers with various environmental and racial justice causes. Currently, Rachel uses her skills to raise her own children as nature-loving, equity-oriented earth stewards.
Sarah Selvidge
Sarah Selvidge is a historian and academic editor, a gardener and nature enthusiast, and native plant aficionado. After joining the garden committee at her kids’ elementary school in 2020, she was pulled into a pandemic-era outdoor classroom design project and started gardening more at home. She is currently leading a native planting project at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland, and gardening just about every day.
Owen Sowerwine
Owen Sowerwine is invested in helping communities develop healthy relationships with their local ecosystems through responsible land stewardship and conscious action. His work at the Alameda County Resource Conservation District focuses on providing technical and financial assistance to land managers and partners across the East Bay who are planning or implementing soil and agricultural conservation work. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Owen enjoys giving back to the communities that cultivated his love for open spaces, wildlife, food, and music. He’s excited to support others to discover and build spaces that provide benefits in their neighborhoods.