

About Us
AEUFN is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and is managed by our Board of Directors. Learn more about our team below.
Nathaniel Abrams,
Founder, Board Chair & Executive Director
Nathaniel (Nate) Abrams is a native Georgian who has called Atlanta home since 2003. Having grown up surrounded by gardeners and farmers, growing food has always been a part of life. An aerospace and systems engineer by training, Nate became heavily involved in ministry in his early-twenties. An interest in the intersections of theology, systems theory, and economics, coupled with his lifelong interest in eating well, led Nate to explore whether communities of faith could help reshape food systems in a more just and equitable manner. The Atlanta Ecumenical Urban Farm Network is the result of those explorations.
Nate is married to Joya, an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church. They have two children and reside in Cobb County.

Valerie Hill Rawls,
Co-Chair
Valerie Hill Rawls is Director of the Black + Green Agenda Environmental Justice Campaign for the New GA Project. She is CEO/Founder of Hill Rawls Marketing Consultants (HRMC), which has provided marketing communications, strategic planning, project management, and stakeholder engagement services for 34 years to a wide range of corporate organizations and start-ups in public, philanthropic, faith-based and business sectors.
Over the past decade, Valerie has engaged diverse stakeholders in sustainability initiatives within the Southeast region, ranging from Equitable Transit Oriented Development (ETOD), Clean Energy Public Policy, Ecotheology, Environmental Justice, Social Impact Bonds, Homelessness and Public Health. The city of Atlanta included the Integrated African American faith-based, civil, human, environmental rights and disaster preparedness program developed by Valerie Hill Rawls in the City of Atlanta’s Rockefeller Foundation 100 Resilient Cities plan. Valerie is a 2013 Chicago cohort Climate Reality Leader.

Whitney Brown,
Secretary
Whitney serves as Georgia Interfaith Power & Light's (GIPL) Communication Director. She has worked in the non-profit sector for 13 years, with a background in marketing/communications and fundraising. She is a 2019 Climate Reality Leader through the Climate Reality Project.
Whitney calls Neighborhood Church in Candler Park her current church home. She has a passion for working with youth and young adults, and enjoys finding the intersections of faith in our everyday activities. When not at work, she enjoys hiking around Georgia, and she has a passion for the arts. Whitney holds a Master of Divinity from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Prior to joining the GIPL team, Whitney worked as the Music Events Manager for seven years at Agnes Scott College — where she also received her B.A. in Music History & Psychology in 2007.

Amy King,
Treasurer

Amy King, CPA, is the Conference Benefits Officer of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. She administers the pension, health and welfare plans for the clergy and Conference lay employees. She serves as an educator for the clergy and staff and an advocate for the North Georgia Conference to Wespath, the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits. Amy earned a Master of Accountancy from Auburn University. She has fifteen years of experience in the accounting industry, including time in public accounting at both Mauldin & Jenkins and Metcalf Davis (now merged with Warren Averett) and time in the private sector as controller of Oglethorpe University and finance manager at the City of Dunwoody.
Amy serves the community as a member of the GSCPA Business and Industry Advisory Committee, as a coach with the Atlanta Track Club, and as an event volunteer and fundraiser with The Giving Kitchen. She is an active member of the United Methodist Church, as a member at Sandy Springs United Methodist Church, and she was elected as a delegate to the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference. In her spare time, Amy is an avid runner, an organic gardener, and a wrangler of chickens.
Rev. Scott Parrish, Member-At-Large

Rev. Scott Parrish is clergy serving the North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church assisting almost 800 congregations in missions and disaster response. He also lives on the family farm outside of Augusta, enjoys tending to garden and orchard, as well as caring for their poultry flock and a few goats. Scott has always been interested in small scale, family sustainable agriculture as a lifestyle. He's been active in the Augusta area with the locally grown movement, community development with focus on food, and networking with hobby farmers and local foodies.



