Co-Directors
Leah (she/they) joined Groundwork Somerville in April 2023 as a seasonal Farm Manager & Educator shortly after moving to Boston. They have been passionate about social and environmental justice since working in a refugee camp in Greece in 2016, but only discovered their love of food justice when volunteering on an urban farm in Montreal in 2022. After a life-changing summer tending to South St. Farm and helping with Green Team workshops, hosting events, and harvesting food, she stayed on as the School Gardens Manager throughout the Fall until transitioning into her current role as the Urban Agriculture and Green Spaces Director. In this exciting new position, they aim to expand inclusive programming at all of Groundwork Somerville's green spaces, and create welcoming, beautiful, and productive environments that empower all community members to engage with their local food system. When not on the farm, Leah can often be found playing violin, wandering the Arnold Arboretum, or experimenting in the kitchen.
Leah McCarthy
Em (they/them) is a passionate advocate for equity in youth development and joined Groundwork in Spring of 2024. While studying Sociology at Rice University, they developed a deep care for community-centered advocacy and solutions across many areas of social equity work. Em’s excitement about access to healthy produce and green space inspired them to live and work on homesteads through WorldWide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), where they learned about different methods of small-scale farming.
Em comes to Groundwork Somerville with a strong background in outdoor and environmental education. From hiking the Blue Hills just outside Boston with college students to guiding canoe trips in remote Canadian wilderness, Em loves to introduce people to all they can learn from the outdoors. Enthusiasm about climate justice begins with a care for our natural world, and Em is excited to work with Groundwork Somerville’s Green Team to instill appreciation and knowledge of the environment through hands-on learning in Somerville’s green spaces. Outside of the garden, Em can often be found making and watching live music, camping, crafting, or soaking up the sun wherever it falls!
Em comes to Groundwork Somerville with a strong background in outdoor and environmental education. From hiking the Blue Hills just outside Boston with college students to guiding canoe trips in remote Canadian wilderness, Em loves to introduce people to all they can learn from the outdoors. Enthusiasm about climate justice begins with a care for our natural world, and Em is excited to work with Groundwork Somerville’s Green Team to instill appreciation and knowledge of the environment through hands-on learning in Somerville’s green spaces. Outside of the garden, Em can often be found making and watching live music, camping, crafting, or soaking up the sun wherever it falls!
Em Plotkin
Kenzie (she/her) joined GWS in 2023 after graduating from Tufts University with a Master's in Agriculture, Food, and the Environment. Kenzie has taken on many roles at GWS, including leading the Green Team, GWS's teen employment program, and teaching at school gardens across Somerville. Now, Kenzie focuses specifically on building the civic engagement skills of Somerville's youth residents and implementing community-informed solutions for cooling and climate resilience.
Kenzie loves working with community and city partners and youth residents to build inclusive green spaces and co-create a cool, healthy, and equitable Somerville for the city's residents. Outside of GWS, Kenzie enjoys supporting the Somerville Bike Kitchen's volunteer program, exploring nature and small towns, and spending time with friends, family, and her cat Teddy.
Kenzie loves working with community and city partners and youth residents to build inclusive green spaces and co-create a cool, healthy, and equitable Somerville for the city's residents. Outside of GWS, Kenzie enjoys supporting the Somerville Bike Kitchen's volunteer program, exploring nature and small towns, and spending time with friends, family, and her cat Teddy.
Kenzie Ballard
The Green Team!
Each season, Groundwork Somerville employs a new group of youth to our Green Team. These teens are Groundwork Somerville employees and support the food production at South Street Farm. They also plant and care for trees around the city, collect and analyze climate data, meet with stakeholders, and generally work to make Somerville a cleaner, greener, healthier, and more equitable city. Read more about the Green Team here.
Board of Directors
John is a patent attorney who works in private practice and teaches as an Adjunct Professor of Legal Writing at Suffolk University Law School. John loves to stay active and to build community with his neighbors, so supporting Groundwork Somerville’s urban-farming initiatives was a natural fit. In his spare time, John enjoys reading and running marathons.
John Spangenberger
PRESIDENT
Patricia (Trish) Cafferky (she/her) is a registered architect in Massachusetts and is the Deputy Chief of Operations for the City of Boston. She has also been a Lecturer of Urban Design and Planning at MIT since 2022. Trish holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University and a Master in City Planning from MIT. As someone focused on the use of urban land and the way it can be deployed to service communities, Trish joined the GWS Board in 2025, thrilled to support the organization’s land stewardship as a means of fresh food production and youth empowerment.
Patricia (Trish) Cafferky
SECRETARY
A former Green Team leader and School Gardens Manager at Groundwork Somerville, Rwick is excited to support GWS in a new capacity as a board member. He brings experience as an environmental educator, advocate, and organizer in Somerville, across Massachusetts, and beyond in Puerto Rico and Ecuador. Rwick is a strong believer in the power of youth and community leadership, especially when fostered in connection with land. A graduate of Williams College and a 2024-2025 Fulbright grantee, Rwick now serves as a Youth Development Manager at The Food Project. In his free time, Rwick can be found running, reading, or cheering on Boston sports teams.
Rwick Sarkar
BOARD MEMBER
Maggie Lacwasan (she/they) is a passionate advocate for healthy communities and environments. They originally got involved with Groundwork Somerville as a community partner and organized hiking and camping trips with the Green Team. Since then, Maggie moved on to coordinating programs and volunteers for an urban mediation center but wanted to stay involved in supporting all of the impactful work that GWS does. Maggie also organizes climbing events to celebrate representation and uplift People of the Global Majority in the outdoors through Brown Girls Climb and shares her love for skiing and snowboarding with youth from the Boston area as a volunteer for Youth Enrichment Services. Maggie also enjoys roller skating, reading a good book and cooking with friends.
Maggie Lacwasan
BOARD MEMBER
Ilana Krepchin (she/her) has lived in Somerville for 28 years, where she has been an active participant in the community. From the Argenziano school PTA to the Somerville School Committee, to working directly with students to support literacy, she has dedicated her volunteer time to supporting students. Her day job as an artist combines her passion for large outdoor sculpture with her love of nature. She joined the GWS board in 2026 to help steward a wonderful small non-profit dedicated to bringing nature into her urban community by engaging local youth. She brings years of experience working in a non-profit as well as serving on other non-profit boards. In her free time, she loves to read a good mystery novel, kayak with her family and spend time with her cat.
Ilana Krepchin
BOARD MEMBER
Maggie (she/her) has lived and worked in Somerville for the last six years. She has worked as a middle school science teacher for five years, leads summer backpacking trips for youth groups in the greater Boston area, and is currently a MSW student with aspirations to continue working in education as a social worker. Maggie joined this board eager to support sustainability education and youth engagement in Somerville, and hopes to continue building community as a board member with Groundwork Somerville. In her free time, you can find Maggie trail running in the Fells, buying the bulk gummy bears at Neighborhood Produce, and tending bar at Somerville’s own Winter Hill Brewery.
Maggie Painter
BOARD MEMBER