Launched in 2024 by New York Sea Grant with funding from NOAA, the Jamaica Bay Community Flood Fellowship Program connects leaders from flood-prone neighborhoods across the Jamaica Bay watershed to build local knowledge, share tools, and identify solutions to flooding. In 2025, with funding from FEMA, the program supported 13 fellows, who shared their own expertise and learned to use a wide range of tools in order to bolster community flood resilience.
2025 Flood Fellows
Latanya Collins
Latanya Collins is Vice President of the Springfield Rosedale Community Action Association (SRCAA) and a longtime Brookville, Queens homeowner. Living in a wetland community, she has firsthand insight into the environmental and infrastructure challenges of flooding.
Latanya is committed to community-led efforts that build flood resilience and support the long-term sustainability of vulnerable neighborhoods.
Femi Falade
Olaitan (Femi) Falade is a Climate and Health Implementation Scientist focused on improving environmental public health in underserved New York City communities. As Managing Director of the Climate and Health Equity Foundation, Femi leads research to identify climate and health risks that disproportionately impact vulnerable communities.
This research informs CHEF’s targeted awareness and training programs, strategic outreach, and policy advocacy. CHEF collaborates with individuals, academia, healthcare, government, and other community organizations to improve health outcomes and foster resilience. Through his work with the Community Flood Fellowship, Femi will continue to partner with, empower, and advocate for these communities to build climate change resilience and reduce disaster risks.
Paola Garcia
Paola Garcia, a Queens native with Argentinian roots, is a Consultant, Educator, and Earthship Builder dedicated to ecology, sustainable systems, and adaptive design. Her work focuses on creating resilient spaces and strengthening the connection between people and the environment.
She recently founded Born Carbon, a company that promotes Earth and human stewardship by developing programs and curricula focused on climate, culture, and resilience.
Paola serves as an Ambassador for the Billion Oyster Project, a Super Steward with NYC Parks, and a leadership member of the Climate Reality Project’s NYC-Metro Chapter. She actively supports climate education legislation through the Climate & Resilience Education Task Force and holds a Master’s degree in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from The New School.
Zakhia Grant
Zakhia Grant is the co-founder and a current board member of the ReAL Edgemere Community Land Trust on the Rockaway Peninsula, where she advocates for community-driven land use and housing solutions.
As a Flood Fellow, she is focused on understanding and addressing flood mitigation and adaptation, particularly in the face of increasing residential and commercial development. Her commitment centers on ensuring equity in access to flood-related resources, home protection, and information distribution. With over 20 years of experience in science and sustainability education at both high school and collegiate levels, Zakhia is deeply passionate about advancing equity in environmental education and climate resilience.
Martin Grillo
Martin Grillo has over 45 years of experience in public safety and communications. A retired Port Authority Police Officer, he currently serves as a New York State and New York City Paramedic and Instructor. He is credentialed in several NYS Communications Unit roles, including COM-L Instructor, COM-T, INTD, INCM, RADO, and AUXC Instructor.
Martin holds an Amateur Radio Extra License (W1EMR) and a General Radiotelephone License with radar endorsement. Throughout his career, he has responded to major incidents such as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Avianca plane crash, the 9/11 attacks, and the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens.
He currently serves as the Disaster Services Technology Supervisor for the American Red Cross in NYC, Training Officer for the Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps, a member of the NYCEM CERT Radio Advisory Committee, Chief of Emergency Medical Rescue of NYC, and the ARRL New York City District Emergency Coordinator.
Mel Julien
Mel (Melissa) Julien is the Community Engagement Director of the NYC Plover Project. In her role, Mel builds relationships with community members and elected officials, creating programs that reflect community needs, and leading grassroots advocacy to engage the public.
Mel brings her prior experience in marketing and business consulting to the role. A life-long resident of the Rockaways, Mel can often be found at the beach.
Gloria Martindale
Gloria Martindale is a retired teacher formerly of Brooklyn who now loves living in the Rockaways. She loves gardening, reading, trying new foods, learning, and having a good laugh. Gloria is affiliated with The Garden by the Bay.
Sakena Sampson
Sakena Oliver, a Flatbush, Brooklyn native and current resident of Brooklyn South—a neighborhood that has experienced repeated flooding. Sakena joined the Community Flood Fellowship to deepen her understanding of flood resilience tools.
As a District Administrator with the Department of Education and parent, she is committed to bringing practical preparedness strategies back to her community and helping families navigate the impacts of a changing climate.
Winnie Wu
Winnie Wu was born and raised in Canarsie, Brooklyn, where her deep-rooted passion for community building took shape. She currently serves as the Deputy Executive Director of The Flossy Organization, a grassroots advocacy nonprofit dedicated to uplifting and empowering the people of Canarsie.
Shantae Johnson
Shantae Johnson is an environmental enthusiast, who is currently working in sustainable construction. She is constantly looking for creative ways to educate community members on how they can thrive in the ever changing landscape of coastal communities.
Sandra Long
2024 Flood Fellows
Sonia Moise
Sonia Moise is a local resident, homeowner and President of Edgemere Community Civic Association. Sonia became interested in the Community Flood Fellowship because there were a lot of organizations talking about flood resilience but not enough initiative.
The Community Flood Fellowship Program wanted to bring community knowledge and input into the implementation of ideas about flood resilience. As a part of the Civic Association, residents in the community rely on Sonia’s information to be informed and made aware of the resources available to them. Sonia hopes to see improved infrastructure, but while she waits for that to come, she hopes to see more resources available to residents in flood prone communities. For example: shelters, charging stations for electronic devices, disaster recovery, and insurance companies to assist families to fill out forms.
Abby Jordan
Abby Jordan is a Brighton Beach, Brooklyn native, and the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador. As a former Parent Coordinator of Liberation Diploma Plus High School, a small but mighty public transfer high school, she helped students and families in Coney Island.
Currently she’s a SIPA Environmental Fellow at Columbia University working to earn a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy. Abby is an avid open water swimmer through CIBBOWS and loves swimming in the ocean year round. Passionate about helping educate and build resilient coastal communities, she has science education experience with the National Wildlife Federation Resilient Schools Consortium as an educator and community advisor. Abby joined the Community Flood Fellowship Program after she and her family were devastated by the historic storm surge of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. She hopes to see urgency and acknowledgement of the realities of flooding, of climate change.
Deborah Alves
Deborah Alves is a resident of East Flatbush, a neighborhood that has experienced an increase in flooding due to unprecedented rain events, destroying businesses and homes. Deborah is a community activist helping to create and support a network of resources for disaster preparation and health justice, aiming to reach different communities.
Deborah joined the Community Flood Fellowship Program because people in her community suffered flood losses and were being ignored and I wanted to help provide resources to them. Deborah hopes to see in my neighborhood that would enhance flood resilience are the implementation of catchment basins, planting of more green areas eg. trees and native grasses in rain gardens.
Harold Jones
Harold has a passion for improving the Canarsie Community and was one of the founders and current Executive Director of the Canarsie Community Development Inc (CCDI). CCDI works to identify and fund projects that impact the Canarsie in addition to providing a forum that addresses common concerns affecting the residents.
CCDI is also one of the leading community advocates for environmental and climate justice issues in New York State working with many Universities. Harold was formerly a Nuclear Engineer with Raytheon Engineers and a Power Plant Design Engineer with General Electric Co. Harold is also the President of the Flatlands 8th Street Block, an Association Member of the NYC Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and Member of the Brookdale Hospital Center Community Board. Harold joined the Community Flood Fellowship Program in hopes of providing important resources on and knowledge on flooding resilience to Canarsie Residents.
Pamela Pettyjohn
Pamela Pettyjohn is the Founder and President of the Coney Island Beautification Project, Inc. When her Coney Island home and a large part of her community was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Pamela came to the realization that despite her losses, she had to give back to the many thousands in need.
Founded in 2014, the Coney Island Beautification Project was formed in response to Hurricane Sandy to foster community involvement, resilience, and education to enhance the local environment. The organization focuses on neighborhood greening, developing and enhancing parks, street tree beds, waterfronts and other green spaces for public use. Pamela also serves on the board of the Waterfront Alliance, an organization that works to inspire and effect resilient, revitalized, and accessible coastlines for all communities. And finally, Pamela serves in a leadership role on several coalitions, including Rise to Resilience, the Forests For All NYC Coalition, Northeast Regional Council Member of the National Parks Conservation Association and several others.
Kiera Maloney
Kiera Maloney is currently the Vice Chair of Surfrider NYC and a Farmer at Edgemere Farm. Living in Rockaway, Kiera encounters a lot of flooding caused by storms and high tides. With her work with Surfrider and Edgemere, she has seen the benefits of green spaces in flood mitigation.
With her work through the Community Flood Fellowship, she hopes to see more open spaces in Rockaway become flood-resilient gardens.
Rona Taylor
Rona Taylor is the Executive Director of the Central x South East Brooklyn CDC (CxSE BK). Rona was drawn to participate in the Community Flood Fellowship because she understands that extreme weather events will only become more frequent and severe over time.
Rona aims to be a resource to her community to help mitigate the impacts of flooding. She hopes to see a community that is better prepared to meet the challenges of climate change.
Roger Gendron
Roger Gendron is currently the President of the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association, has formerly coordinated a relief center after Hurricane Sandy, and workshops for area residents with FEMA.
As the president his main role is to serve as the connection between his community and the city’s elected officials and agencies. Additionally, Roger provides peace of mind to the New Hamilton Beach community by updating members through the Civic Association’s social media pages about when they can expect coastal flooding conditions. Through these updates, Roger has seen and documented how coastal flooding has become “a quality of life issue” and continues to affect many coastal communities. As a member of the Community Flood Fellowship, Roger hopes to create a larger community amongst one another and share knowledge so no community feels alone.
Lauren Cosgrove
Lauren Cosgrove is a Northeast Campaign Director for the National Parks Conservation Association, a 100+ year-old nonprofit organization advocating for America’s national parks. As a resident of Rockaway, Queens, NY for over a decade and serving as a Board Member of the Coney Island Beautification Project since 2015.
Lauren leverages her skills to train community leaders and center local voices in the rebuilding and future development of vulnerable coastal communities. Lauren has written publications, spoken at noteworthy public events, and served on numerous Citizen Advisory Committees in NYC helping to shape innovative approaches in land conservation, urban and suburban resilience, and cultural preservation. Lauren recently became a certified WEDG® (Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines) Associate joining a network of over 500 professionals in waterfront planning, design, engineering, and community development.
Jackie Rogers
Cory Wright