Adriana Young

I love Pono because it is a community where everyone is nurtured and loved as a whole person, and no one is judged or stigmatized. I am elated that my son, Rui, is growing up in this learning environment, and this inspires my work leading Pono’s fundraising efforts.

My background is in city design, social research, and the democratization of emergent technologies. I started my career by founding my own school for immigrant families, called English for Action. For 19 years, the school offered free language learning in the context of social issues and community activism, and received support from many local and national foundations. For the past decade, I have taught urban design history, social innovation, and design research at Parsons School of Design at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

My own independent research work focuses on immigrant and refugee communities and their agency in shaping their own urban surroundings. With support from the India China Institute, Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation, I have led studies on the built environment of informal economies of migrant and refugee communities in Ahmedabad, Kuwait City, London and New York. I have also written on the politics of inclusive public space for publications such as The Journal of Urban Technology, Makeshift Magazine, GOOD, Ethnography Matters, and CITY Journal. I also previously led consumer research and insights for littleBits, a DIY hardware product for kids and educators to invent their own technology.

I have a B.A. in History from Brown University, an M.A. in International Affairs from The New School, and an MSc. in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics.

I live in Riverdale with my son, Rui, who from his first week at Pono asked: “Can I stay at this school forever?”

Blaze Lightfoot Jones-Yellin

Blaze Lightfoot Jones-Yellin designs tools and strategies to solve challenges at the intersection of people, cities and nature. With over ten years of green community development experience, Blaze has helped hundreds of urbanites create value for their communities, build leadership skills, and develop lifelong connections to nature. He supported the recovery of impacted communities in Far Rockaway after Superstorm Sandy, led The Nature Conservancy's Leaders in Environmental Action for the Future (LEAF) program in the eastern US and drove the equitable development strategy at the Lowline underground park in NYC. Blaze is a graduate of Cornell University, Next City Vanguard fellow, senior fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program, and was named one of the "100 most influential urbanists you don’t know about, but should” by In Our Back Yards.