BLUEPRINT TEAM
Meet our small but mighty team! The following staff members, listed in alphabetical order by first name, make up the program office for the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger. (Why do pronouns matter? Learn more.)
Bryanna Patinka (she/her)
Development Director
Bryanna oversees the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger’s development strategy and implementation. She’s passionate about creating an equitable food system and honored to be a part of the team, joining in August 2024.
Bryanna brings years of experience promoting funding and organizational capacity-building for institutions of higher education, Tribes, and nonprofits. Her career has been marked by a diverse range of projects – from creating opportunities for underrepresented minority students to participate in a dinosaur excavation to developing food security programs for Alaskan Indigenous communities.
A commitment to social justice has been the consistent driving force behind all of Bryanna’s work. She studied Political Science, with a concentration in Political Theory and a minor in Economics, at American University in Washington, D.C.
Outside of work, Bryanna tries to spend as much time outside as humanly possible, with her weekends spent backcountry skiing, rock climbing, and hiking. She also enjoys curling up with a good novel and playing board games.
Staff liaison for:
Colorado Food Justice Funders’ Collaborative / Funders’ Committee
Fundraising for the Blueprint
Charlie Kestler (they/elle)
Community Justice Manager
Charlie officially joined the team in June 2024 after serving as a policy advocate focused on healthcare and food access through legislative and administrative advocacy.
Their true passion lies in community engagement and community-driven efforts to affect systems change at local and state levels. Their experience in Panama as an environmental health specialist with the Peace Corps sparked their passion for community engagement. After returning from Panama, Charlie began working directly with unhoused individuals and developed a strong sense of trauma-informed practices. They’re also working toward a Master’s in Public Administration (which is nearly finished!) at the University of Colorado in Denver.
Charlie is a queer, trans person who loves performing improv, curling up with a sci-fi/fantasy novel, hiking and camping with their dog, and watching reality TV shows.
Staff liaison for:
Dayana Leyva (she/ella)
Policy Manager
Dayana joined the team in May 2024 with expertise in grant management, policy analysis, and stakeholder engagement. She is passionate about food policy after having personal lived experience with food insecurity.
Dayana hopes to bridge the gap between community and policymakers by removing systemic barriers to advocacy and political engagement in the food policy space. She holds a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Colorado with an emphasis in Health Systems, Management, and Policy, as well as maintains her credential as a Certified Health Education Specialist.
In her free time, Dayana can be found on a hike or paddle boarding with her husband and dog, riding her Peloton with her best friends, and engaging in DIY projects around her home.
Staff liaison for:
Dolores Ramirez (she/ella)
Executive Director of Community
Dolores is charged with cultivating partnerships with communities across the state to understand and co-create solutions in alignment with the Blueprint’s efforts. She also oversees the teams for policy and community justice, along with communications and accessibility, to ensure all are in alignment with our organizational commitments and values.
Prior to joining the team, Dolores served as the Chief Program and Impact Officer for Growing Home, a local nonprofit organization serving families in North Metro Denver. In that role, Dolores developed and implemented the organization’s programmatic strategy and provided leadership and oversight to all programs.
During her free time, Dolores enjoys performing with an all-female band, as well as traditional Mariachi, to promote classic Mexican songs while eliminating cultural, racial, linguistic, and political borders through musical performance.
Staff liaison for:
Community collaborations
Projects: Community Leadership and SNAP/WIC Retailers
Grace Benasutti (they/she)
Community Justice Coordinator
Grace joined the Blueprint team in October 2024 to support The Colorado Trust’s Community Resilience Initiative grantees focused on increasing food access and building resilient food systems. They ensure that grantees receive the necessary support to successfully implement their programs, fostering community resilience and enhancing food justice across Colorado.
Having spent a decade working various roles within community and social service organizations, Grace recently received their Master’s in Social Work and is especially excited to be working in the food justice world. She continuously tries to center her passions for community care and systemic change in the way they approach their work, both professionally and personally.
Grace loves hanging out with her dog, finding oodles of time for family and friends, chasing rivers and lakes, watching goofy TV shows, exploring new hobbies, and trying to be a good student by staying on top of their physical therapy exercises.
Staff liaison for:
The Colorado Trust’s Community Resilience Initiative grantee cohorts — Accessing Healthy Foods and Building Food Systems
Greta Allen (she/her)
Policy Director
Greta leads the Blueprint’s Policy & Community Justice team. She joined the Blueprint in Fall 2022 after six years in local public health.
She completed her dietetic internship in 2017 and subsequently spent four years working for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Greta’s work for WIC included partnership building, establishing successful co-locations of services across the Denver metro area, and supervising the Westminster WIC clinic. In 2021, she transitioned to the role of Regional Health Connector where she built and strengthened relationships between public health, community-based organizations, and primary care providers in Adams County.
Greta is a registered dietitian nutritionist and holds a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration. For fun, Greta enjoys being physically active with friends, trying out allergy-friendly recipes, and spending time with her husband and pup.
Staff liaison for:
Projects: Connecting Food & Health, Food Access for the Unhoused, Project UP (for WIC & Medicaid), and Restaurants in Community
Questions about the Community Food Grants? Contact our grant consultant, Greta Zukauskaite.
Joël McClurg (he/him)
Executive Director of Systems
Joël leads organizational operations and systems-centric collaborations for the Blueprint. He also oversees the teams for funding and philanthropy, along with data and evaluation, to ensure that work is impactful and transformative.
Previously, he served as the Blueprint’s policy and communication manager. In this role, Joël advanced the Blueprint network’s legislative agenda by coordinating with lobbyists and stakeholders to support policy priorities. Prior to joining the Blueprint, Joël was the SNAP Compliance Officer at the Colorado Department of Human Services and the Policy Director for Hunger Free Colorado.
He holds an MS in Food Security from Colorado State University. For fun Joël likes to hike, snowboard, and spend time with his wife and two young daughters.
Staff liaison for:
Colorado Food Systems Roundtable (formerly known as Food Access Update Meetings)
CO-FARM, a community food sovereignty model
Project: Farm Equity Coalition
Justice Onwordi (she/her)
Impact Director
Justices' passion in public health is to serve underrepresented communities as an advocate and ally. She aims to utilize the social determinants of health to bridge the gaps that have been created through systemic barriers. Every day there is more to learn and do, and Justice wants to ensure all people have access to the foods they deserve when they want them.
Justice earned her Master of Public Health from the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus, with an emphasis in Maternal and Child Health and Global Health. She joined the Blueprint team in Fall 2022.
When she’s not talking about social justice and public health issues, Justice is most likely at a concert, skiing pow-pow, or lost in the mountains.
Staff liaison for:
Project: Healthy School Meals for All microgrants
Kassandra ‘Kasey’ Neiss (they/she)
Data & Evaluation Analyst
Kasey joined the Blueprint team in October 2024, bringing her expertise in community-based evaluation and passion for equitable food systems, agriculture, and data governance.
They hold an MA in cultural anthropology from the University of Denver and a BA from Hampshire College in U.S. ethnic studies and oral history. In addition to owning their own research consulting company, Kasey has taught anthropology at the Community College of Aurora and worked with many food sovereignty nonprofits in Colorado. Before coming to the Blueprint, they served as FrontLine Farming's and Project Protect Food System Workers' Director of Data Activism, where they led data storytelling projects that centered farmworkers, women, and people of color in Colorado's food system.
Kasey is always hungry for science fiction novels and strategy board games. And, if she pedals fast enough, perhaps she'll achieve her goal of biking to the moon (239,000 miles).
Staff liaison for:
Data and evaluation needs for the Colorado Trust’s Community Resilience Initiative grantee cohorts — Accessing Healthy Foods and Building Food Systems
Leticia Macias (she/ella)
Language Justice Coordinator & Executive Assistant
Leticia ensures language justice and accessibility for all network members, along with compensation for community members. She also provides administrative support for all of the Blueprint, including organizing logistics and meetings.
Prior to joining the team, Leticia worked in Denver Public Schools for 24 years as a school secretary and also as a parent liaison for nearly 15 years. She currently serves on the board of directors for Horizons.
Leticia is a native Spanish speaker who has lived in Colorado for over 40 years. She’s a grandmother and has two amazing children. Her love of her family and her community — and her strong ability to build relationships — are just a few of the reasons she is so passionate about the work.
Staff liaison for:
Language justice, in addition to other accessibility requests
Compensation for community members
Michelle Ray (she/her)
Communications Director
Michelle elevates the work of the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger and its network of partners through accessible and inclusive communications initiatives, brand management, and meeting facilitation.
Michelle brings more than 16 years of experience from the nonprofit and public service sector fields as a strategic communicator, project manager, connector, and collaborative changemaker. She holds a BA in Integrated Strategic Communications.
Before joining the Blueprint, Michelle led communications for Pikes Peak Library District and Hunger Free Colorado. She joined the Blueprint team in Spring 2023.
When she’s not working, you might find Michelle hiking or paddling in the mountains, devouring a new book, volunteering in her community, or simply spending time with her family and pets.
Staff liaison for:
Project: Community Events
Blueprint’s external communications, including newsletters and email updates, social media, websites, network job board, and media relations