/sovereignty Kirtrina M. Baxter, M.A. is a dedicated mother, drummer, food justice activist and community organizer. As an Agro-Africanist, she has a passion for preserving and creating cultural traditions through nutrition, growing food, seed-keeping, and advocacy. Kirtrina is currently the community organizer for the Garden Justice Legal Initiative–a program of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia. She works with gardeners around the city, assisting them with gaining access to land and other resources. In this capacity, she also organizes Soil Generation, a diverse body of urban agriculture advocates and food justice activists who help inform policy and provide community education and support to gardeners in the city.
Though certified in permaculture, Kirtrina identifies with agroecology as a more politically informed way to practice her land work. As well as being an urban grower, Kirtrina has volunteered to help create and maintain various community gardens in Upstate NY as well as Philadelphia. Before moving back to Philadelphia in 2012, Kirtrina co-founded the Ithaca Youth Farm Project, a youth-run farm CSA that engages students from culturally different backgrounds; the Congo Square Market which is an outdoor summer cultural market designed to offer opportunities for start-up entrepreneurs of color to build economic means; and the 1st Annual Food Justice Summit in Ithaca, NY. Kirtrina is also the farm manager at Urban Creators, a member of the Black Dirt Farm Collective, she teaches parenting classes, and is invested in a locally-owned bakery, Sweet Nectar. In 2008, she received her M.A from Union Institute and University in Cultural Studies.