Ashley Gripper

Ashley Gripper was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. Her work focuses on Black people’s connections to Earth and reclamation of spiritually-rooted land based living and organizing practices. Ashley is also a PhD Candidate in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research explores the impacts of urban agriculture on mental health, spirituality, and collective agency, and is supported by the Health Policy Research Scholars program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Ashley is the Founder of Land Based Jawns, a spiritually-rooted organization that provides education and training to Black women on agriculture, building, land based living, and safety with a focus on self and community healing. She is also a farmer at Sankofa Community Farm and working with Soil Generation to design Philly’s first Urban Agriculture Strategic Plan.