Yoshi Silverstein catalyzes the innate potential of people, place, and community through education, coaching, consultation, landscape design, and writing. He holds close to two decades of experience in both Jewish and secular outdoor, food, farming, and environmental education (JOFEE) with a focus on place-based learning through design and education. Yoshi is an alumnus of the Selah Leadership Program, the Dorot Fellowship, and the PresenTense NYC Accelerator for Social Entrepreneurship (now a part of UpStart). He is a member of the Selah Advisory Council, and is a founding member of the Repair the World NYC Advisory Board and the UpStart Alumni Advisory Council.
Yoshi’s written work has been published in ArchDaily, ASLA’s The Dirt, Haaretz, and Green Prophet, and featured in Planetizen, ArchNewsNow, and the American Planning Association. Yoshi completed his masters degree in landscape architecture at the University of Maryland with an innovative interdisciplinary thesis project, “Parchment to Touchscreen: Landscape Journey and Experience for 21st Century Learning.” The approach combined landscape design for outdoor learning environments and collaborative curriculum development with Jewish day school educators.
A Pacific Northwest native, Yoshi has resided in roughly thirteen different places since his eighteenth birthday – including the Olympic Mountains, central and northern Idaho Rockies, Berkshire Mountains, and the Arava Valley – and now lives in the Bushwick Plains of Northern Brooklyn with his wife, daughter, and pup. Also a 2nd degree blackbelt and certified CrossFit coach, Yoshi continues to explore and expand his teaching and practices around movement ecology and the intersections between wellness and nature education. He makes a mean Chinese Roast Duck.
“Yoshi is an amazing, thoughtful, passionate leader. His passion for the JOFEE field is so evident.” ~Cohort 1 JOFEE Fellow
Yoshi Silverstein 