Bennett Olupo

The founder, Bennett Abayomi Olupo, is deeply dedicated to the sustainable development of communities. His vision is to create an equitable and healthy environment, and he sees initiatives promoting food sovereignty as a powerful means to achieve this future.    

He was raised in Shakopee, Minnesota, and went on to study biology and Spanish at the University of Minnesota. Following graduation, Bennett taught physics and chemistry in Los Angeles at Huntington Park Senior High. Bennett forged strong connections with his students to create a holistic educational experience. While teaching, he also obtained a Master of Urban Education degree at Loyola Marymount University, where he researched the experience and effect of Black male educators in the United States school system. He spent his free time hiking or surfing, which furthered his affinity and appreciation for the natural world.

After the onset of the Coronavirus-19 Pandemic, Bennett moved back to Minnesota. Upon his arrival, Bennett joined his local Board of Adjustment and Appeals, Shakopee Diversity Alliance Board, and substitute taught in his hometown. He also organized a community in Longfellow, South Minneapolis. During his organizing, he helped initiate a hardship fund at the Longfellow Community Council to provide residents with rental assistance. Bennett also created the “Reclaiming the Outdoors” project to increase environmental access while empowering the community by working with predominately BIPoC organizations and an anti-recidivism non-profit to build Leopold benches with repurposed wood to be placed in community gardens for bird watching. He also led a canvassing campaign and community conversations focused on redeveloping the dilapidated 3rd Precinct building as a community-oriented site.

After some time, Bennett left to attend Yale School of the Environment because he felt the need to refine his professional skills, learn more about environmental studies, and access positions of power to better his community. At Yale, Bennett focused on studying food sovereignty and sustainable development to learn how to employ regenerative practices in the communities he is a member of. Over the summer of 2023, he volunteered at CANDO in Minneapolis to better understand food sovereignty in Minneapolis. Bennett installed raised beds, worked on preserving heirloom crops, and interviewed community members about their experiences growing food. Culminating his time in Minneapolis, Bennett made a documentary focused on urban agriculture and the resilience of Minneapolis following the 2020 Uprising, wrote policy memos promoting food sovereignty, and became a board member at Project Sweetie Pie.   

Aside from his environmental work, Bennett also finds great joy in studies related to the African Diaspora. He found a family on campus in his Yoruba language class and deepened his understanding of global affairs by taking Reopening and Reimagining Africa with Ambassador Harry Thomas. Bennett's leadership roles at Yale as the president of the Forestry Club, president of ROOTS, the Student Affairs Committee Academic Affairs Chair, and founder of a graduate-undergraduate advising program for Black students have given him great insight into empowering others, building connections in the community, and advocating for himself. 

Bennett has experience with reparative investing with Black Farmer Fund and Potlikker Capital, large-scale event planning with the Gardens of Golden Gate Park through the Environmental Fellows Program offered by Dr. Dorceta Taylor’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative (JEDSI) lab at Yale School of the Environment, and food sovereignty initiatives with grassroots Minneapolis organizations. He is eager to apply his knowledge and skills to construct a more desirable future with communities in Minnesota and Nigeria.