our planning committee

Hiawatha Jon Brown, an enrolled member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island and a resident of Newton. He is one of the tribe’s longest-serving Tribal Councilman who served for more than 35 years. Born to the late Mr. John Brown and the late Dr. Ella Sekatuau, Medicine Woman, Linguistic Specialist of Algic and Late Algonquin Woodland Narragansett Language, Hiawatha was raised with a deep respect for Narragansett culture.

Dr. Darlene Flores is a traditional Medicine Keeper for her Taino Higuayagua Caribbean Tribe and facilitates groups in such ceremonial practices.  She is also a highly decorated U.S. Veteran for her participation in the War in Iraq where she was an Interrogator and Human Intelligence Collector for Military Intel. Dr. Flores is a Newton resident and mother, and runs and owns Karaya Wellness Clinic in Brookline.

Andromeda Lisle is a multi-medium artist living in Cambridge, MA with her two cats and two ferrets. She received a BS in Fine Arts from Skidmore College and focuses her creative energies on works related to indigenous animal mythos and her own multi-ethnic background consisting of Cherokee, Black, and Irish heritages. Recently she has begun painting public art murals, hoping to further preserve and educate about the cultural importance of animals.

Vera is a Peruvian, Boston area, public health professional getting their MPH from Boston University that focuses in mental health advocacy, particularly around their lived experience with psychosis. Vera loves working to serve the communities they belong to & fighting for liberation of all people marginalized by modern settler colonial states. Vera is passionate about abolition of the carceral state, abolishing the modern psychiatric system (& replacing it with a system of community-based care), the fundamental right to adequate housing, & fighting for an end to coercive mental health treatment all of which disproportionately affect Black & Indigenous people through structures of systemic violence.

6 years experience community organizing in Newton; CoFounder Countryside Elementary School  FORJ Chapter (Families Organizing for Racial Justice), CoFounder FORJ at Brown Middle School Chapter, Countryside Elementary School PTO CoPresident (2015-17); Founder and Chairperson, Countryside and Brown PTO ELL Committees, Understanding Our Differences School Coordinator. Kerry resides in Newton.

Christa is a Research Fellow at Boston University & is interested in researching innovative, accessible, & decolonial solutions that improve mental health. Christa is passionate about creating identity-affirming counterspaces that uplift individuals who experience marginalization & oppression, especially those who are LGBTQ+, BIPOC, disabled, first-generation students, & low-income. Christa is Dominican, Cuban, & Italian & reconnecting with her Taíno roots.

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