OUR TEAM

Matt is a historian, writer and researcher. A graduate of Eastern Michigan University with degrees in History and Historic Preservation, much of his work has been on connecting local history to broad historical moments. With a focus on race, class, gender and power in our social landscape, Matt believes that the ground and built environment we walk through every day is alive with worlds of history and can speak to us about why we live the way we live.

In his role with the Coalition, Matt designs and facilitates adult professional development which focuses on social landscape histories, supports teachers in upper elementary through high school to design curriculum, and do historical research. For more about Matt’s work, please visit his website: mattsiegfriedhistory.com

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Amy (pronouns: She/her/hers) is focused on matters that create strong communities. She brings over 18 years of experience in relationship management, project direction, event leadership, campaign strategy, digital and offline fundraising, program development, and public relations to her work. In her role in SEMIS Coalition, Amy is responsible for fundraising administration, database management, solicitation and stewardship, campaign strategies, and fundraising goal-setting in collaboration with the Directors. She also supports the creation of monthly newsletters, social media campaigns, and project management tools for the team through her company, ClairvoyAgency. She and ClairvoyAgency also manage SEMIS Coalition’s website presence, media creation, video production, and graphic design. 

Amy lives in what is now known as Ypsilanti, Michigan (ancestral land of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Indians, along with the many other Indigenous peoples who have lived along the Huron River over the last 12,000 years). She enjoys living near the river, music, dancing, being with loved ones of all ages, making delicious food, swimming, creating, supporting her community, and learning more about how to live in harmony with nature. She is passionate about making Self-Directed Education and Place-Based Education accessible for all people across all age groups.

Email Amy at aclarice@semiscoalition.org

Nigora (pronouns: she/her/hers) is an international scholar who is indigenous to Central Asia. She identifies herself as an ecofeminist, ecojustice, decolonizing, and place-based scholar, who is also a mother of two wonderful boys. Nigora graduated with her PhD in Educational Studies from Eastern Michigan University in 2021. Her research focuses on ecojustice education, place-based education, ecofeminism, settler colonialism, postcolonial theory, social justice, indigenous wisdom, and connection of local to global situation. She uses these theories to make sense of the current social, ecological, and economic injustices which informs her work in education and at schools. She is excited to use this interdisciplinary expertise and passion to build healthy, just, and sustainable communities working with teachers, students, community partners and colleagues. 

Nigora’s research focuses on supporting teachers to connect with indigenous communities and incorporate land-based and indigenous wisdom to their place-based projects.  She uses an ecojustice approach to lead her work in the SEMIS Coalition. 

Dr. Erkaeva believes that injustice and inequality is structural but each of us can change it by making small steps in our core beliefs that further shapes our actions.  Her MA and PhD background focused on cross disciplinary analysis of school-community relationships and what role educators can play to build inclusive, transformative, and democratic learning communities that are rooted in seeing humans as part of a complex and interdependent ecosystem. She is passionate about decolonization of our mind, system, knowledge production, our actions and how we start this process at the grassroots level as well as structural level.

Additionally, in the SEMIS Coalition leadership team, Nigora provides assistance in coordination of the daily functions of the organization, works with teachers to incorporate land-based and indigenous cultures curriculum, support on the planning and facilitation of professional development, budgeting, building local and international research community, communications, leads ecojustice sessions, and engages in research to share the impact of our work. 

Nigora is a mother to two beautiful children and loves her time with them camping, reading, watching movies, playing board games, and simply staying at home laughing, cuddling, and resting. For her, love is an action and to work towards communities that are ecologically, socially, and economically healthy, just, vibrant, diverse, sustainable and democratic is a path worth living for.

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Sarah has been a member of the SEMIS Coalition since 2009, when she joined as a community partner representing The Greening of Detroit. She supports teachers in their PBE curriculum planning, specializing in outdoor learning. Sarah also supports planning and facilitation of professional development, provides expertise in guiding new initiatives, classroom content, school inquiry projects, teacher tools and multimedia resources and connecting with our community partners.

Sarah received an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies and Science, Technology and Society from Pitzer College in 1998. She has over 20 years of experience in field-based and school-based environmental education program development and management at several Metro Detroit nature centers and as the Environmental Education Director at the Greening of Detroit. She was selected as the Informal Science Educator of the Year by the Michigan Science Teachers Association in 2012.

Sarah lives in Oak Park, MI with her mom, wife (Kim), daughter (Maia), 2 cats (Dinah & Molly) and their dog (Bear.) In her free time, you may find Sarah singing, walking, birding, camping or snuggled on the couch with her daughter watching the latest Marvel movie.

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Willie serves as a Program Associate for the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition. In his role, Willie’s responsibilities consist of developing new place-based initiatives for youth activism and civic engagement, developing arts infused PBE initiatives, and cultivating stewardship and art based community partnerships. He also supports planning and facilitation of professional development and provides expertise in classroom content.

Willie holds an undergraduate degree from Eastern Michigan University in History with a minor in Political Science. Willie also serves as the current alumni president of King’s Of Color Incorporated. Prior to joining the SEMIS Coalition, he served as an activist and mentor within the Ypsilanti Community for over 8 years and worked as a restorative graduate assistant, math intervention teacher and long term substitute at WIMAHI. Willie was also an employee with SEMIS partner, EcoWorks, in the Detroit Youth Energy Squad and was a Site Coordinator/Assistant Director within the Washtenaw Parks and Recreation.

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