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Claire Peterman grew up in North Carolina, and graduated from UNC with a degree in Spanish and Literature. She moved further south after graduation to work with food and farming organizations in Birmingham, Alabama. There, she developed a love for experiential education, compost, and sungold tomatoes. Claire recently relocated to Atlanta and began service as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Concrete Jungle.

Concrete Jungle is an Atlanta-based nonprofit that seeks to turn overlooked fruit trees and land into healthy food sources for communities in need. Concrete Jungle started in 2009 with a cider press gifted to two college students, who looked to foraged fruit for their first pressing. They harvested more than they could manage and donated what they and their friends couldn’t use to local hunger relief organizations. Since then, Concrete Jungle has donated over 117,000 lbs. of fresh produce — both foraged and grown on their ½ acre urban farm–  to organizations that might not have access to high quality, fresh, local fruits and vegetables otherwise. Concrete Jungle also runs a nutrition education program in conjunction with several of their partner organizations and has partnered with Georgia Tech to create technology to monitor fruit tree ripening.