Lisa M Fernandes
Communications, Engagement, and Systems Change in New England & Beyond
Lisa serves as the Director of Marketing & Communications for the Institute for Nonprofit Practice based in Boston. Her focus areas include strategic narrative and engagement, centering justice & equity, environmental history, and supporting democratic & participatory methods. She was most recently the Communication Director for the Food Solutions New England network.
She founded the Maine-based Resilience Hub in 2005 and directed the organization until 2018, growing it to nearly 3K members and delivering more than 800 community-building and educational events. She and members of the Hub community appeared in the 2015 film "Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective." To hear more about the emergence of The Resilience Hub, listen to the Forest Garden Podcast episode from August 5, 2022: “Establishing a Regenerative Community Network - The Resilience Hub with Lisa Fernandes.”
She is an experienced communications professional, organizer, strategist, facilitator, speaker, network weaver, and educator who believes that resilience-building, community connectivity and democratized, participatory approaches are among the best tools we have for creating vibrant futures and for navigating the challenges we face.
She's currently a Trustee for the North American Marine Alliance, Advisor to Interlace Agroforestry Commons, a member of Grist's New England Fix! Network, and on the editorial board of the Journal of Agriculture, Food & Community Food Systems. She's been on the boards of the Eat Local Foods Coalition (ELFC), the Permaculture Association of the Northeast (PAN), the Grant Review Committee of the Grassroots Fund and on the Advisory Panel for Green & Healthy Maine Homes magazine. She has also been active in the Portland Mayor's Initiative for Healthy Sustainable Food Systems, MOFGA's Ag Services Committee, the Portland Food Coop, Hour Exchange Portland and is a Master Food Preserver and Master Composter.
An avid gardener, orchardist and forager, she and her family have been actively converting their 1/3 acre Maine home site into a model for comfortable, affordable "post-fossil fuel" living while beginning to work on their regenerative forest farm in Nova Scotia, Canada.