Aya Yamamoto
She/Her
California Academy of Sciences
Dialogue & Deliberation Fellowship
Aya Yamamoto is a Public Programs Specialist at the California Academy of Sciences and an active member of the Academy’s Indigenous Solidarity subcommittee.
Previously, Aya served as a main organizer for the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign and has worked to build community and schoolyard gardens in New York and California.
Community Partner
The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone – The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone (ARO) represents the interests of the original peoples of the San Francisco Peninsula, including ancestral responsibilities to care for the earth and to care for the people who reside in Ramaytush Ohlone ancestral homeland.
Cafe Ohlone – Cafe Ohlone works towards the restoration of Ohlone Indian culinary traditions as a part of a larger, ongoing effort that empowers Ohlone people with their rich cultural identity. To create food that is truly representative of the values of traditional Ohlone cuisine, Cafe Ohlone reconnects with community food traditions, both ones that are practiced by elders in Ohlone families, and older food traditions that are preserved in ethnographic documentation.
Project Description
Aya will hold listening sessions with each of her partners to support the relationship building necessary for meaningful collaboration moving forward.
Indigenous leadership is critical to the California Academy of Sciences’ mission of regenerating the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration, exemplified in the Academy’s strategic initiative Thriving California, which aims to fight climate change, stop biodiversity loss, advocate for nature in the Golden State, and much more.
These listening sessions will be a chance to establish shared principles that will guide our upcoming work together, and kick-start collaborative projects. We hope our future collaboration will result in further connections between our partners, educational institutions, researchers, community scientists, and policymakers around California.