About Lisa Freeman
Community Youth Program Director
Community Youth Program Director
community-youth@st-john-aptos.org
831-854-7265 |
Lisa is originally from Key West, Florida, a small island community at the southernmost point of the United States.
She first developed a call for working with youth while serving in the Hands and Feet of Asheville program in North Carolina, a social justice-oriented ecumenical service program for young adults. During her time there, Lisa worked under the Asheville Poverty Initiative to successfully start a community café (using 100 percent rescued food!) to create a space for people from all walks of life to come together while reducing food waste and hunger in the Asheville community. As part of her work there, Lisa interacted with youth groups from across the country and was impressed with their gifts and desire to do social change work in their communities. Previously, Lisa was employed through Vanderbilt University School of Nursing as a Program Coordinator for a grassroots community health program that focuses on positive youth development for refugee and immigrant youth and families across Nashville. While at Vanderbilt, Lisa served as a Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative Fellow where she received grant funds to start the Commuter Collective, a summer youth-driven public art project that lifted up the voices of youth by placing their artwork on bus advertisement spaces throughout Nashville. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science with a minor in Nutrition from Belmont University and a Master of Theological Studies degree with a concentration in Spirituality and Social Activism from Vanderbilt Divinity School. In her free time, Lisa enjoys gardening, reading as often as she can, being around dogs, stargazing and going on adventures in the ocean. |