Biography

Rebecca Wiggins-Reinhard is Co-Director and Farm to School Director at La Semilla Food Center, a 501c3 nonprofit organization with the mission of creating a more equitable, healthy and sustainable food system in the Paso del Norte region of southern New Mexico and El Paso, Texas. She is currently working with teachers and school administrators to implement Edible Education programming that teaches youth about where food comes from, how to prepare it, and how it affects our bodies, communities, and environments – all while meeting education benchmarks and standards, and teaching life skills. Rebecca has also worked with school districts on local food procurement and classroom tasting activities, assisting local farmers with selling products to schools. She has also worked with farmers’ markets in the region to accept and promote EBT at the market. Prior to La Semilla, Rebecca was a Youth Conservation Corps site supervisor and youth garden educator. In Anthony and Chaparral, NM, she helped collaborate with youth and families to create community gardens, construct greenhouses, provide community trainings on gardening basics, pest management and harvesting techniques, and fostered youth understanding of civic involvement and higher education opportunities. A dedicated human rights activist, working to raise awareness and organize support to find solutions to social justice issues, Rebecca currently helps direct and manage Sophia’s Circle, a volunteer non-profit organization devoted to finding and expanding markets for fair trade products from women’s cooperatives in Chiapas, Mexico, and throughout the U.S.-Mexico border region. She currently lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico.