Resident Advisory Council 

Taylor Smith-Hams is a Baltimore-based advocate, organizer, and artist committed to advancing environmental and social justice. She is passionate about community-driven equitable and intersectional policy and views art as a critical component of social change and movement building. Taylor holds a BFA in Painting & Humanistic Studies from MICA and an MPA in Sustainable Infrastructures & Public Policy from UCL.

Inez Robb has been a home owner in the Sandtown Winchester Community for 30 plus years. She retired from the Federal Government after 42 years. Inez has been a community leader for 27 years. She is active with Western District Community Relations Council, the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, the Baltimore Good Neighbors Coalition, the Community Law Center and the Johns Hopkins Community Research Advisory Council. Inez is a captain with the Baltimore Energy Challenge and certified as part of Baltimore’s Community Emergency Response Team.

Michael Anthony Farley is an artist, curator, drag performer, writer, adjunct professor, and activist who lives between Mexico City and their native Baltimore. Recent projects include a proposal for green transportation infrastructure that addresses stormwater management issues in Mexico City, which won first prize when that city hosted the Foro Internacional de Infraestructura Verde y Cambio Climático. A dedicated car-free Baltimorean, they are currently in the midst of a DIY conversion of a vacant building snuggly between the Lexington Market subway station and Maryland Ave Cycle Track into a mixed-use live-work art space using mostly recycled materials. Hobbies include vegetarian cooking, fire escape compost bins, and sheepishly asking friends who drive if they want to go to thrift stores in the suburbs.

Dick Williams has retired from career work in real estate lending, urban planning, public/private venture development, and green building consulting. In September 2020, he became certified as a Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional (CBLP), and is now working part-time as a sustainable landscapes consultant.

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Dick was the co-originator/project manager of the Mount Royal E/M School 2,160 sq. ft. pollinator micro-habitat/outdoor classroom, dedicated in November 2018. He remains its steward. Dick co-founded what became known as BALTIMORE ● Blue+Green+Just in May 2019 and serves on its Steering Committee as Treasurer. He is co-lead of GreenGrace, the environmental ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

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Since May 2020, Dick has been a contributing member of the “Reimagine Middle Branch” Public Planning Advisory Committee. In the fall of 2020, Dick retired from his 10-year LEED AP accreditation. That work included the LEED Silver certification of “The Fitzgerald,” a transit-oriented mixed-use $75M apartment building in Midtown Baltimore.

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Dick is a U. S. Navy veteran.

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Naadiya Hutchinson is a legislative associate to Congressman Donald McEachin. In her role, she oversees policies related to public health, the environment, and agriculture. Key policies Naadiya has advised on include, but are not limited to the Environmental Justice for All Act and the Environmental Justice Legacy Pollution Clean-Up Act.

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Naadiya got her Masters of Health Science from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Environmental Health. While pursuing her Masters, Naadiya also received three certificates in health communications, global health, and risk sciences & public policy.

Naadiya serves as the Communications Lead on the Circle of Wise Counsel for the Black Yield Institute. Naadiya is a trained meditation and yoga teacher, with an additional certification in Psychological First Aid.

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In her academic, professional, and personal life, Naadiya approaches every situation with a holistic lens, recognizing that there is often more to a person or situation than what meets the eye. When Naadiya was mentoring a teenager, he told her that “he wanted to be free, he just didn’t know how.” Naadiya seeks to help Black youth and broader pan-African and indigenous communities achieve freedom by advancing youth education, improving health outcomes, demanding a cleaner environment, and ensuring a just future through our current climate catastrophe.

Don Halligan has 37 years of experience in the public sector at the local and state and regional levels, holding a variety of planning positions. Ten years of his career were in Cecil County, Maryland overseeing, land use, transportation and environmental planning areas. He spent over twenty-one years at the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), retiring in 2015 as Director of the Office of Planning & Capital Programming. During his state career he served for a short period as Assistant Secretary in the Maryland Department of Planning, running a wide range of planning functions there before returning to MDOT.

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After retiring from the State, he took a position at the Baltimore Metropolitan Council as Senior Transportation Planner for Strategic Initiatives. He spends his days producing reports and data bases, providing technical support to local governments in the region, and most recently managed the Transit Governance and Funding study as a special projects for the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.

He lives in the Lake Walker neighborhood in north Baltimore with his wife and dog and has two adult children running wild in NYC and Philadelphia. He volunteers at the Station North Tool Library where he can be found making furniture, household items and teaching knife making.

Lisa M. Ferretto, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, has been committed to sustainability throughout her life, since her first “eco-city” designed at 8 years old. Since 2005, she has been with Hord Coplan Macht, as a Sustainability Director, Principal and Architect. She describes herself as an “urban scientist” studying the interconnected systems of people with each other, nature, and cities. Ms. Ferretto is a frequent lecturer and has volunteered with AIA COTE, Portland’s City Repair Project, Baltimore’s Green Building Task Force, and previously served on the MD Green Building Council. She is a Climate Reality Climate Leader, SEED Accredited, a Green School Leader, an Eco-Charrette Accredited Facilitator, and also the founder of GREEN events | Baltimore.

Ashley Esposito is a mom, local artist, community advocate, and bee friend living in Southwest Baltimore. She works for the State of Maryland as a tech professional with a background in data analysis and database development. Originally from Southern Arizona, she has always been environmentally conscious. She is a graduate of the Baltimore City's Planning Academy. She is also a member of Baltimore City's Trash & Illegal Dumping Coalition along with several environmental advocacy groups.

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She is a co-founder and current board member of Village of Violetville, Inc., a neighborhood wellness association. She is looking forward to sharing ideas to bring community, youth, and families into the climate change conversation. She is passionate about crafting outreach and meeting people where they are.

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