Center for Regional Food Systems

May Tsupros joined the Center for Regional Food Systems as the Director of Farm to Institution programs in 2024, where they coordinate the Michigan Farm to Institution Network, oversee the local food purchasing campaign, Cultivate Michigan, and support the growing local food procurement incentive program: 10 Cents a Meal.  As an educator, grassroots community connector, and sustainable food systems designer their work centers on racial and economic equity.  Previous to their work at CRFS, they served a seven-year tenure as an award winning high-school science teacher, Teach For America Alum, and Dean in Chicago’s North Lawndale community. During this time, they co-founded and led Gardeneers, a thriving Chicago Public School garden non-profit. After their work with the Chicago Public School District, they moved to Ishpeming, Michigan, in the beautiful Upper Peninsula, to support the re-imagining of this rural mining community into a regenerative agriculture epicenter as Executive Director of Partridge Creek Farm; a non-profit specializing in farm-to-school, placed based education – growing community through local food. They also founded SunTree Collaboration, weaving threads at the intersection of plant medicine, permaculture, spirituality, and intergenerational education to heal the human-nature connection.

May is the current Board Chair of the National Farm-to-School Network, and an Executive Board member of Gardeneers and Partridge Creek Farm. May earned an undergraduate degree in Conservation Ecology and Biology from Indiana University and a Masters in Teaching from National-Louis University in Chicago. In their free time, May is a dog parent to Luigi and Greta, bee steward, permaculture teacher, mountain biker, certified community yoga teacher, gardener, and racial and food equity advocate.