Jamila Walida Simon
Phone: 607-255-0287
Jamila Walida Simon grew up in New York City. She earned her High School Diploma from Benjamin N. Cardozo High School as an engineering major. Ms. Simon graduated from Wells College in 2001, with a degree in Environmental Science and Policy Values and with two limited edition books she printed at the Wells College Press. Shortly after graduation, Ms. Simon entered the corporate world and then reentered academia as a Master’s of Science student in natural resources at Cornell University.
During her MS work, Simon’s work brought her to Durban, South Africa in 2005 where she explored community gardening for poverty alleviation in township schools. Since then the National Science Foundation, the Garden Mosaics Program, and the National Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences have honored her. As a Cornell graduate student Ms. Simon served as a Cornell Urban Scholar, and she was involved in a participatory action research project focusing on gentrification in the Rockaways. Ms. Simon joined the staff of Cornell University Cooperative Extension - New York City while she was a master's candidate and served as a Project Coordinator for the CYFAR CITY Project (Children, Youth, Families at Risk, Community Improvement through Youth). NYC CYFAR's CITY project encouraged youth to conduct community improvement projects in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, NY.
Simon earned her M.S. from the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University under the direction of Dr. W. Trochim, Dr. S. Hamilton, and Dr. C. Kraft.
For five years, Simon served as the Project Manager at Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County where she oversaw undergraduate and graduate students who served as volunteers in her 4-H after-school programming. Simon worked with Cloverbuds, preteens, and teens who worked on civic engagement, healthy living, and STEM projects
Simon currently works full time with the NYS 4-H Office as their Civic Engagement Specialist.