LOCAL LIVING PROJECT
About Us
A love story and a mission.
Local Living Project is, at its heart, a love story between co-founders Erin Pope and Dave Naftalin and the places they call home. Long before there was an app, there was a relationship built around farmers markets, evenings spent discussing the wonders of the universe, and a quiet conviction that local communities deserve better than being an afterthought in a big-box world. Local Living Project turns that conviction into something practical, beautiful, and usable in everyday life.
Together, Erin and Dave bring a rare blend of education, farming and animal husbandry, natural resources management, and operations experience. But what truly animates Local Living Project is their shared choice to build a life around knowing the people who grow their food and make their goods, and to prioritize local artisan products over anonymous convenience.
“Every local purchase is a small positive win for our community,” they say.
Local Living Project is their invitation to you: to make it easy, joyful, and powerful to keep your energy, your money and your heart rooted right where you live.
Who We Are
Erin Pope, Co‑Founder
Dave Naftalin, Co‑Founder
Dave Naftalin, Co‑Founder
Erin is a change agent who spots gaps in communities and creatively designs and leads locally rooted solutions. With a Master’s in Education (Curriculum & Planning) and over a decade leading early childhood and nature-based programs, including founding Elemental Forest School and co-founding ROOTS, Erin brings a place-based, relational le
Erin is a change agent who spots gaps in communities and creatively designs and leads locally rooted solutions. With a Master’s in Education (Curriculum & Planning) and over a decade leading early childhood and nature-based programs, including founding Elemental Forest School and co-founding ROOTS, Erin brings a place-based, relational lens to everything she builds. As a Head Start Site Director and former organic farmhand, she bridges big-picture vision with on-the-ground implementation, designing systems that are scalable, deeply human, and rooted in real soil. Drawing from her neurodivergent way of seeing patterns and possibilities, Erin helped co-create Local Living Project as a living system for community resilience and truly local commerce, centering small business support and structures that keep local economies alive and connected.
Dave Naftalin, Co‑Founder
Dave Naftalin, Co‑Founder
Dave Naftalin, Co‑Founder
Dave’s path bends toward stewardship and community, from the wild to the marketplace. He holds a Master’s in natural resources management and has served as a ranger in Maryland and Oregon, caring for the forests and rivers that create a sense of place. As Director of Operations for Humm Kombucha and later CEO of Naftaland Farms, a 40-acr
Dave’s path bends toward stewardship and community, from the wild to the marketplace. He holds a Master’s in natural resources management and has served as a ranger in Maryland and Oregon, caring for the forests and rivers that create a sense of place. As Director of Operations for Humm Kombucha and later CEO of Naftaland Farms, a 40-acre agricultural haven with more than 150 alpacas and diversified crops, he learned how to grow mission-driven enterprises without losing their soul. Today, as CEO of the Academy of Intrinsic Studies, a legal psilocybin facilitator training program in Colorado, he continues to bridge rigorous systems with deep respect for human transformation, a balance at the heart of Local Living Project. He also serves on the board of the Psychedelic Medicine and Therapies (BPMT) and as a patient ambassador for Boston Scientific, extending his commitment to ethical innovation, patient-centered care, and community-focused impact.