Charles Yurgalevitch & Joel Mejia

Teaches at New York Botanical Garden

The Program Coordinator, Charles Yurgalevitch, Ph.D., is the Director of the Garden's School of Professional Horticulture. A professional urbanhorticulturist and educator, he is an ISA-certified arborist and serves as President of the Metro Hort Group, Inc., an association of horticulture professionals practicing in the New York City region. Previously he was with the University of Florida's Extension Service, where he developed programs for arborists, landscape architects, and the commercial landscape industry. He has a BS in plant science from the University of Rhode Island and a Ph.D. in horticulture from Rutgers University.

Joél Mejia is the founding member of Mi Oh My Hydroponic Farms, a hyperlocal worker-owned cooperative started in 2020 with a vision of pioneering hydroponic farming in the Bronx. His work around food security began when he earned his permaculture design certification in 2019 after many years of personal research into nutrition, mycelium, and using food as medicine.

Mi Oh My Hydroponic Farms believes in the power of cooperative economics as a way to address the inequities of capitalism and for the financial freedom of those left out of the mainstream labor force. This cooperative considers itself part of the POC-led urban and rural farming initiatives we see proliferating throughout the Northeast.