CAFE Latino Membership

CAFE Latino is comprised of agricultural and natural resources specialists with diverse backgrounds and concentrations. Along with general membership (which is open to all UF/IFAS faculty and staff), CAFE Latino also features an executive committee and program area team leads.

Executive Committee

• John Diaz

  

  John Diaz
  President
  
  Dr. John Diaz is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication (AEC) at the University of Florida. He focuses on program evaluation, behavior change, social marketing and local resilience. Diaz has responsibilities in research, extension and teaching.

  Diaz’s extension program supports the mission of the University of Florida by developing strategies for creating and measuring impacts of Extension programs through program planning and evaluation. He focuses on enhancing the program development and evaluation competencies of extension and outreach professionals across a breadth of program areas.

  Dr. Diaz also provides key leadership for IFAS in his role as president of the Coalition of Florida Extension Educators for Latino Communities (CAFE Latino). Diaz led the development of this new organization that now provides key services of IFAS Extension to its educators have the capacity and competency to serve the needs of Florida’s multicultural audiences. This include training (cultural competency, culturally responsive teaching and facilitating civil discourse), translation services, bilingual educational material development and general inquiries.

• Jonael Bosques-Mendez

  

  Jonael Bosques-Menendez
  Executive Committee Member and Program Team Lead
  
  Jonael Bosques is the Hardee County Agriculture Agent and County Extension Director for UF/IFAS Extension. He is also serves as an association director with the Hardee County Cattlemen’s Association. He holds Bachelors degree in Animal Science and a Masters degree in molecular genetics of beef cattle and enjoys educating clients in livestock production and advocating citizens in agricultural topics and what it really takes to grow our food and fiber. His program area expertise includes livestock production, soil science, plant science, hydroponic production, gardening, agribusiness development, beekeeping, small farm production and poultry production.

• Laura Valencia

  

  Laura Valencia
  Executive Committee Member

  Laura E. Valencia has served as the 4-H Youth Development Agent in Lake/Osceola County Extension since 2012. Ms. Valencia specializes in developing and implementing new, innovative cultural programming for youth of diverse audiences to increase their participation in the 4-H Youth Development Program. She is recognized for her work on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. For the past eight years, she has been involved on DEI initiatives at the national, regional, state and university level. Some of the organizations she has been involved with include: National Diversity Council, NAE4-HYDP Diversity Committee (Chair), and a member of the National 4-H Latino Advisory Council from 2014-2019. At the Regional level, as the Youth Development chair of SERA-37: Latinos in the New South. At the State level, Ms. Valencia is a member of CAFÉ Latino, FAE4-HA Diversity Committee and 4-H Diversity/Grow/Quality Action Team.  She is been part of the UF/IFAS Diversity & Inclusion Committee since its beginning on 2019. On 2017, she was the recipient of the University of Florida Diversity and Inclusion Superior Accomplishment Award recipient.

  Qualified Trainer of: Navigating Difference; Coming Together for Racial Understanding; Everyday Democracy; Intercultural Development Inventory, LLC

• Karla Shellnut

  

  Karla Shelnutt
  Executive Committee Member

  Dr. Shelnutt is an Associate Professor, Extension Nutrition Specialist, and Registered Dietitian in the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences. She also serves as the State Program Leader for Nutrition for UF/IFAS Extension. She received her BS and PhD in Food Science and Human Nutrition from the University of Florida. She obtained her Masters in Clinical Nutrition and completed her dietetic internship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

  Since starting her current position, Dr. Shelnutt has provided statewide leadership for her Extension program that addresses obesity prevention and healthy lifestyles through the lifecycle with a focus on low-income families. She serves as the Principal Investigator of the Family Nutrition Program (Florida’s SNAP-Education Program) and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, which teach low-resource families to make better food and physical activity choices. Dr. Shelnutt has developed curricula and Extension publications based on the most updated dietary guidance that are widely used throughout the state as part of her program.

  Dr. Shelnutt’s research focuses on addressing food insecurity, developing evaluation tools to assess the healthfulness of low-income neighborhoods, and assessing the impact of nutrition curriculum on health behaviors. She is currently the PI of a Walmart Foundation grant to evaluate the impact of meal kits on the health behaviors of families with low income and co-PI of a USDA NIFA AFRI grant that teaches, enables, and motivates parents to shape their home environments and weight-related lifestyle behavioral practices (diet, physical activity, sleep) to create and support optimal child growth and family health and reduce the risk of childhood obesity.

General Membership

• List of Current CAFE Latino Members

  First Name	Last Name	Region	UF/IFAS Focus Area
  Armando	Ubeda	Sarasota	SEA Grant
  John	Diaz	GCREC	Evaluation Specialist
  Cesar	Asuaje	Palm Beach County	Agriculture
  Alex	Bolques	FAMU	Horticulture
  Henry	Mayer	Miami Dade	Commerical Urban Horticulture
  Vanessa	Campoverde	Miami Dade	Commercial Hort
  Victor	Blanco	Taylor	SEA Grant
  Ana	Zangroniz	Miami Dade	SEA Grant
  Andrea	Albertin	NW District	Water RSA
  Laura	Valencia	Osceola	4-H
  Eva	Pabón	Osceola	Horticulture
  Johanna	Ramirez	Osceola	FCS-Finance
  Ada	Medina	Palm Beach	FCS
  Jonael	Bosques	Hardee	Agriculture/Livestock
  Francisco	Rivera	Hillsborough	Small Farms
  Karla	Shellnut	Family Nutrition	FNP
  Diana	Giraldo	Family Nutrition	FNP
  Lorna	Bravo	Broward	Urban Horticulture
  Francisco	Peñagaricano	Animal Science	Genomics
  Nicolas	DiLorenzo	Animal Science	Nutrition
  Nelly	Nelson	Manatee	Finance (FCS)
  Tatiana	Sanchez	Alachua	Commercial Hort
  Vanessa	Spero	South District	4-H
  Danielle	DeVries Navarro	Palm Beach	EFNEP
  Jenny	Rodriguez	Orange	FCS
  Carol	Alberts	St. Lucie	FCS
  Virgilia	Zabala	Orange	FCS
  Kristina	McIntyre	Seminole	FFL
  Cecilia	Suarez	AEC	Intercultural communication
  Kate	Fogerty	FYCS	4H
  Jose	Zayas	Hardee	4-H
  Marina	Ascunce	Emerging Pathogen Institute	Plant Pathology
  Marcello	Wallau	Agronomy Department	Forage Specialist
  Diana	Hagan	IFAS Communications	EDIS
  Chris	Kerr	Duval	Horticulture
  German	Sandoya Miranda	Everglades REC	Plant breeding and genetics
  Fernando	Alferez	SWFREC	Citrus Horticulture
  Cesar	Peralta	Lee County	FFL/GI-BMPS
  Madeline	Rosa	Orange County	FNP
  Tim	Wilson	St Johns County	Agriculture/Livestock
  Ronald	Rice	Palm Beach County	CED/Ag
  Kevin	Athearn	North Florida Reearch and Education Center	RSA: RURAL AND AGRIBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
  Liza	Garcia-Jimenez	North Florida Reearch and Education Center	Ag Research Coordinator
  Lourdes	Rodriguez	SE District	PR Specialist
  Daniel	Gonzalez	Palm Beach County	4-H
  Maria	Morrerra	AEC	Farmworker Health and Safety
  Angelita	Ortiz	Manatee County	4-H
  Tatiana	Borisova	Food and Resource Economics	Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, Water Economics and Policy
  LuAnn	Duncan	Sumter County	FCS Food Systems
  Nicole	Walker	Polk County	CED, 4-H and Community Development
  Anne	Yasalonis	Polk County	Residential horticulture
  Jessica	Sprain	Osceola County	4-H
  Morgan	Pinkerton	Seminole County	Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
  Katherine	Marin	Miami-Dade County	Community Resource Development
  Norma	Samuel	Sumter County	Horticulture