40 Under Forty 2020: Grace Sliwoski
Photo | Matthew Wright
Grace Sliwoski
- Title: Director of programs
- Company: Regional Environmental Council, in Worcester
- Residence: Worcester
- Birthplace: Worcester
- Colleges: Columbia University, Clark University
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Raised in Main South, Grace Sliwoski spends her time committed to her community’s youth and increasing its accessibility to healthy, local food.
She served as the program coordinator for the YouthGROW program from 2012-2017, which employs 40 low-income teens to work on urban farms, producing more than 4,000 pounds of food. Sliwoski expanded YouthGROW to a year-around program while helping the program’s creation of a product line, Drop It Like It’s HOT SAUCE. Her commitment to youth empowerment led her to co-found the Central Mass Youth Jobs Coalition, a network of organizations educating and advocating for quality youth employment. She has served on the board of Worcester nonprofit Stone Soup, the Community Center for Nonviolent Solutions, the Youth Jobs Task Force, and the Youth Worker’s Alliance. Currently, Sliwoski is on the board for Central Mass Grown, part of the Worcester Food Policy Council, and part of the research and evaluation committee for the Community Health Improvement Plan for the Worcester Division of Public Health. Sliwoski oversees all three of the Regional Environmental Council’s programs including 62 community gardens. She helped create the AGES Conference, Worcester’s first school gardens conference. The REC School Gardens network supports gardens at 20 schools and provides opportunities for more than 2,000 students.
If you could spend 24 hours only in one city, which would you pick? Venice, Florence or Barcelona. I'm an art history major, so somewhere with museums and good food!
If you gave a keynote graduation speech, what would your message be? Be humble and do the work. Don't assume your degree makes you an expert, get out and get experience. Learn from everyone around you.
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