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Full Alphabetical listing:
Heather Axford
Field Placement: Florida Impact (Tallahassee,
FL)
In order to increase participation in the Summer Food Service
Program, Heather coordinated community outreach and led meetings
of community leaders in northern Florida counties not yet
providing adequate Summer Food Service Program meals to eligible
children. She was also trained in current Food Stamp Program
regulations and prescreening software, and assisted in the
expansion of the Florida Food Resource Helpline, a project
designed to facilitate the Food Stamp Program application
process for low-income adults and families across the state.
Hunger Free Community Report: Five
Year Strategic Plan to Stamp Out Hunger is a report for
Florida's Food Security Team, the coalition of state agencies
that administer USDA nutrition programs and their community
based partners. The report outlines the coalition's progress
of 2003 and makes recommendations for the future. It is available
at www.flimpact.org.
Policy Placement: Food Research and Action
Center (Washington, D.C.)
Heather is working on three Food Stamp related research projects
at FRAC: a "best practices" guide to the Employment
and Training Program, a report on the Food Stamp Program in
the Southeast region focusing on the state options set forth
in the 2002 Farm Bill, and a report on language access barriers
for immigrants.
Education/Experience: Heather is a 2003
graduate of Vassar College with a major in History, and spent
a semester studying at the Instituto Cultural in Oaxaca, Mexico.
She served on the Executive Committee of Vassar College Hunger
Action for three years, spent two summers working with the
Poughkeepsie Farm Project and the Eleanor Roosevelt Center
Community Programs through the Vassar Community Fellows Program,
and served as Vassar's Hunger and Homelessness Community Action
Coordinator.
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Corina Bullock
Field Placement: Florida Impact (Tallahassee,
FL)
In order to increase participation in the Summer Food Service
Program, Corina coordinated community outreach and led meetings
of community leaders in northern Florida counties not yet
providing adequate Summer Food Service Program meals to eligible
children. She was also trained in current Food Stamp Program
regulations and prescreening software, and assisted in the
expansion of the Florida Food Resource Helpline, a project
designed to facilitate the Food Stamp Program application
process for low-income adults and families across the state.
Hunger Free Community Report: Five
Year Strategic Plan to Stamp Out Hunger is a report for
Florida's Food Security Team, the coalition of state agencies
that administer USDA nutrition programs and their community
based partners. The report outlines the coalition's progress
of 2003 and makes recommendations for the future. It is available
at www.flimpact.org.
Policy Placement: Rural Coalition/Coalición
Rural (Washington, D.C.)
Corina is working to expand communication and outreach efforts
among members of the Coalition's alliance of regionally and
culturally diverse organizations working to build a more just
and sustainable food system. Coalition goals include bringing
fair returns to minority and other small farmers and rural
communities; ensuring just and fair working conditions for
farmworkers; protecting the environment; and delivering safe
and healthy food to consumers.
Education/Experience: Corina, originally
from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, earned a Bachelor of Arts
in Sociology and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and
Sustainable Systems from Berea College in Kentucky. She has
tutored and mentored community school children, studied cultural
anthropology in Kenya, and worked on organic farms in Ireland.
Corina also spent a summer as an intern for Hartford Food
Systems' Community Supported Agriculture project near Hartford,
Connecticut.
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Patience Butler
Field Placement: Greater Pittsburgh Community
Food Bank (Duquesne, PA)
Patience worked to encourage and engage the Food Bank's member
agencies and their clients, helping to develop and channel
them into a more active role in the anti-hunger community.
Her goal was to equip them with the tools needed to foster
greater involvement in public policy and advocacy on the local,
state, and national levels. Patience also conducted research
on advocacy participation among other anti-hunger agencies
and developed an "advocacy volunteer" work plan.
Hunger Free Community Report: Advocacy
Retooled is an innovative anti-hunger and poverty advocacy
toolkit targeted at community level anti-hunger leaders. It
was produced in collaboration with co-Fellow Sarah Garrett
and is designed to communicate the importance of advocacy
work in eradicating hunger and poverty, and to present a hands-on,
engaging approach to advocacy.
Policy Placement: Share Our Strength (Washington,
D.C.)
Patience is working with the Grants Department to develop
a staff training module on hunger. She is also authoring a
section of Share Our Strength's "20 Year Strategy To
End Child Hunger In America" and assisting in the design
and implementation of the anti-hunger workshop at Share Our
Strength's Conference of Leaders.
Education/Experience: Patience, a Washington,
D.C. native, graduated with honors in 2003 from Hampton University
where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.
At Hampton, Patience was inducted into the Student Leadership
Program where she served on the community service and public
relations committees. She has worked on a variety of issues
including homelessness, education, and financial security.
In 2002, she developed a funding and grant writing program
for Six House, a Christian-based non-profit organization.
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Roxanne Caines
Field Placement: Just Harvest: A Center for
Action Against Hunger (Pittsburgh, PA)
Roxanne coordinated efforts to promote and strengthen the
WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP). This program
addresses both hunger and community food security by expanding
WIC program benefits to include fresh, locally grown produce
at farmers' markets during the marketing season. Roxanne assessed
the actual reach and impact of FMNP in Pittsburgh, identified
barriers to participation in the program, and developed recommendations
for overcoming those barriers.
Hunger Free Community Report: The
WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) in Allegheny
County: Barriers to Participation and Recommendations for
a Stronger Future is a survey analysis and report identifying
challenges that prevent utilization of the FMNP and outlining
measures to increase WIC recipients' access to fresh fruits
and vegetables.
Policy Placement: RESULTS Educational Fund
(Washington, D.C.)
Roxanne is conducting outreach to establish new RESULTS chapters
in the U.S., especially in low-income communities. As a regional
coordinator, Roxanne is also providing support to current
RESULTS volunteers.
Education/Experience: Roxanne is originally
from Atlanta, Georgia and she received her Bachelor's degree
from Howard University with a speech communications major
and psychology minor. Roxanne's interest in education led
her to teach English in Japan for two years with the JET Programme.
She has also worked with several youth-centered organizations
in Washington, D.C. including Martha's Table, Brainfood, and
the CEED Youth Leadership Program.
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Allegra Cira
Field Placement: Center for Economic Progress
(Chicago, IL)
Allegra served as the Local Community Liaison with the Center
for Economic Progress, which works to increase economic opportunities
for low-income families, children and individuals, and offers
nationally recognized free tax-preparation services. Allegra
worked to link anti-hunger and other programs to the Center's
free tax preparation services and the Earned Income Tax Credit
by collaborating with local organizations to develop and implement
successful methods and materials for incorporating public
benefits screening, voter registration and other programs
at existing tax sites. Allegra also led various training sessions
to prepare volunteers for the 2004 tax season.
Hunger Free Community Report: Coordinating
Complementary Services: Intake Training Manual is a curriculum
for use in training volunteers to direct the new network of
complementary services at the Center's tax sites. The manual
educates volunteers and directs clients to various on-site
complementary services, including screenings for food stamps
and children's health insurance.
Policy Site: Center for Community Change
(Washington, D.C.)
Allegra is focusing her work on transportation and voting
issues affecting low-income communities and communities of
color. She is tracking issues related to reauthorization of
the Transportation Equity Act, and conducting interviews with
member groups of CCC's Transportation Equity Network-a coalition
of grassroots organizations working on transportation issues
in communities around the U.S. Allegra is also providing support
to local grassroots grantees of the Community Voting Project,
which trains and funds local groups to design voter registration,
education, and get-out-the-vote projects based on their community
needs and perspectives.
Education/Experience: Allegra earned
a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from the University
of Miami, where she double-majored in Motion Pictures and
English. After participating in alternative break trips focused
on worker rights, Allegra co-founded and co-facilitated the
campus Living Wage Coalition, which was instrumental in establishing
health benefits for maintenance staff at UM. Allegra has also
worked as a community organizer with public awareness and
social justice campaigns in south Florida.
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Rachel
Clay
Field Placement: Community Harvest (Washington,
D.C.)
Rachel conducted a community assessment of food security in
the Ward 8 area, a low-income neighborhood. She gathered demographic
and statistical data on poverty rates and unemployment, free
and reduced school lunch consumption, food stamp and WIC use,
and nutrition related diseases and mortality. Rachel also
conducted surveys with residents, informal interviews at food
pantries, and focus groups with area high school students
about how their lives are affected by the current state of
the Ward 8 food system.
Hunger Free Community Report: Assessment
of Food Security in Ward 8 is a reference guide to the
state of the food system in this historically underserved
area of Washington, D.C. The guide identifies the problems
an inadequate food system in the neighborhood brings to its
residents and serves as a tool to direct Community Harvest
program activities.
Policy Site: Corporation for Enterprise Development
(Washington, D.C.)
Rachel is working with the Assets team to advance CFED's mission
to promote asset building among the working poor mainly through
Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). She is a member of
the asset policy work group and is creating a state-by-state
manual for the Saving for Education, Entrepreneurship, and
Downpayment (SEED) project, which advocates for the creation
of children's savings accounts.
Education/Experience: Rachel is originally
from Chicago, Illinois and is a 2003 graduate of Syracuse
University with a major in public relations and a minor in
African American studies. She also studied the influence of
Blacks on literature, culture and art in Paris. Her interest
in social policy and love for children led her to serve as
a mentor to elementary age children, East African refugee
children, and high school girls. Rachel has interned with
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Clear Channel Radio, and
Prudential Financial.
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Sean Coffey
Field Placement: Human Services Coalition
(Miami, FL)
Sean served as a member of the Food Stamp Outreach Team at
the Human Services Coalition. He coordinated efforts to bring
together business, nonprofit, faith, and grassroots community
groups for the development of a common agenda and action plan
for a hunger-free Miami. Sean also worked to develop relationships
with Miami-Dade grocers and retailers in order to encourage
them to assist in outreach and serve as strong allies for
the Food Stamp Program.
Hunger Free Community Report: Hungry
in Florida: Three Options in the Food Stamp Program to Help
Alleviate Poverty and Improve Food Security examines three
federal options that Florida can adopt to dramatically improve
its Food Stamp Program. The report recommends that the state
agency administering Food Stamps change its sanctions policy,
automate short-term Food Stamp benefits to families leaving
welfare, and restructure its vehicle restrictions.
Policy Site: National League of Cities (Washington,
D.C.)
Sean is working with NLC's Institute for Youth, Education,
and Families on the Helping Working Families Project. He is
providing technical assistance to six cities as they work
with NLC to improve their multi-benefits outreach campaigns
so that more eligible people can access programs such as the
Earned Income Tax Credit, Food Stamps, and Medicaid.
Education/Experience: Sean is a graduate
of Colorado College where he majored in Sociology. In college,
he chaired a Head Start volunteer group as well as an Adaptive
volunteer ski program that works with disabled skiers in Breckenridge,
Colorado. He was awarded a Colorado College Spirit award in
2002 and the Center for Community Service's Class of 1981
Award for Outstanding Service in 2003; served as a class officer,
student government representative, annual fund volunteer;
and was an opinions writer for the student newspaper. He also
chaired two successful Thanksgiving food drives at CC that
sent more than $800 each to Care and Share, a local food bank.
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Yesenia Garcia
Field Placement: Children's Alliance (Seattle,
WA)
Yesenia's project focused on building the capacity of the
Children's Action Network (CAN), the action arm of the Children's
Alliance made up of individuals who actively advocate on behalf
of children in Washington. Yesenia reconnected with members
of the Latino community and recruited them to join CAN. In
addition, Yesenia identified and developed community leaders
in various legislative districts in Washington State.
Hunger Free Community Report: Understanding
Hunger in Washington is a story bank exploring barriers
that keep families from accessing or affording sufficient
food and highlighting three main themes that contribute to
food insecurity in Washington: housing, health care and unemployment.
The stories are based on Yesenia's interviews with families
from Washington who relied on assistance outside their own
incomes in order to put food on the table. The report helps
the community to better understand hunger in Washington and
support the efforts of anti-hunger organizations in the state
and can be viewed at www.childrensalliance.org/publications/reports.htm.
Policy Placement: National Council of La
Raza (Washington, D.C.)
Yesenia is the point person on hunger issues in Latino communities
for the National Council of La Raza. She is serving as the
key contact for NCLR in the broader anti-hunger advocacy community
with the goal of informing coalition work on issues pertinent
to Latinos. Yesenia is also developing a series of documents
exploring a broad range of issues concerning hunger in the
Latino community to both support and inform NCLR's advocacy
efforts.
Education/Experience: Yesenia is originally
from Miami, Florida, and graduated from Boston College with
a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and a minor in
History. She is particularly interested in Latin American
issues, such as the School of the Americas, FTAA, and immigration.
She served on the Undergraduate Government at Boston College
as co-director of women's issues, and volunteered for three
years at the Women's Lunch Place, a day shelter for women
in Boston. While abroad in Quito, Ecuador, she volunteered
at the Center for Working Children as a tutor in the special
education department.
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Sarah Garrett
Field Placement: Oregon Food Bank (Portland,
OR)
Sarah developed a Community Advocacy and Action Report for
two of Oregon Food Bank's 18 regional food banks. She advocated
for solutions to the root causes of hunger by working with
stakeholders at regional agencies to conduct a thorough assessment
of local advocacy needs and capacity. The finished report
addressed local advocacy needs, community resources, capacity
building techniques, and local and state best practices, and
outlined recommendations for increasing both local advocacy
efforts and the advocacy capacity of the statewide network
as a whole. It also provided step-by-step instructions for
developing an effective advocacy plan and putting it into
action.
Hunger Free Community Report: Advocacy
Retooled is an innovative anti-hunger and poverty advocacy
toolkit targeted at community level anti-hunger leaders. It
was produced in collaboration with co-Fellow Patience Butler
and is designed to communicate the importance of advocacy
work in eradicating hunger and poverty, and to present a hands-on,
engaging approach to advocacy.
Policy Site: Lutheran Office for Governmental
Affairs (Washington, D.C.)
Sarah is supporting LOGA staff in their advocacy work on a
number of domestic anti-poverty issues. She is also developing
a survey to assess the effectiveness of the LOGA Hunger/Poverty
Action Network and recommend ways in which the network could
be more effective in its efforts to address hunger and poverty.
Education/Experience: Sarah, a New Jersey
native, graduated from Wellesley College in 2003 with a degree
in Urban Studies and a concentration in Education. She has
been active in a variety of community issues, including tutoring
under-performing elementary school students and residents
of a Family Shelter in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During a
semester at Trinity College, Sarah helped to establish and
coordinate an after-school tutoring program at a shelter in
Hartford and served as the Community Outreach/Public Relations
Chair for the Hunger and Homelessness Campaign.
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Katherine Gigliotti
Field Placement: Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee
(Milwaukee, WI)
Katherine served as a Field Assessor of the Child and Adult
Care Food Program (CACFP), which is offered at hundreds of
sites in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. She performed the first-ever
assessment of local CACFP utilization, dialoguing with participants
and administrators and using the research to identify strengths
and weaknesses of the program's administration.
Hunger Free Community Report: The
Child and Adult Care Food Program in Milwaukee County
is a comprehensive assessment of this federal feeding program's
utilization in Milwaukee County. The report includes results
of a survey project of all family home daycare providers and
group childcare centers in Milwaukee County, summaries of
interviews conducted with 40 CACFP stakeholders from all program
settings, and a mapping project depicting gaps in CACFP participation.
It is available at www.hungertaskforce.org.
Policy Placement: National Conference of
State Legislatures (Washington, D.C.)
Katherine is working with NCSL's Human Services Committee
researching state implementation issues in the Child Nutrition
and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Reauthorization
process. She is also working with NCSL's Immigrant Policy
Project researching immigrant access to federal nutrition
programs, particularly Food Stamps.
Education/Experience: Originally from
southern California, Katherine is a graduate of Boston College
where she majored in Political Science and minored in Faith,
Peace, and Justice Studies. She participated in a variety
of BC's volunteer programs, including an immersion trip to
the US-Mexico Border. She has interned with immigrants' rights
organizations such as the Migrant Legal Action Project in
Washington, D.C. and the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee
Advocacy Coalition in Boston, Massachusetts. Katherine spent
a semester in Washington, D.C. where she completed a research
project about immigrants and food stamp eligibility. She expanded
on this research in her senior thesis on immigrants and welfare.
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Kimberly Jones
Field Placement: Community Food Bank (Tucson,
AZ)
Kim worked to increase food access in rural Pima County by
developing a proposal for a mobile food market to sell locally
grown produce to under-served areas. She collaborated with
partner agencies of the food bank and branch banks throughout
the county, and researched the availability of funding for
appropriate materials and necessary staff. Kim also worked
with the CFB Farmers' Market Coordinator to expand, research,
market, and organize the Farmers' Market, local farmers, backyard
gardeners, and local growers to increase the volume of fruits
and vegetables available at the CFB Farmers' Market and increase
redemption of Arizona Farmer's Market Nutrition Program vouchers
in Pima County.
Hunger Free Community Report: Resources
& Reality: Food Security in Pima County is a complete
website exploring the diverse and unique array of food security
resources in the Tucson area, including local agriculture,
gardening, community resources, faith-based communities, federal
and local food programs, food policy, farmers' markets and
more.
Policy Placement: Families USA (Washington,
D.C.)
Kim is working with the health policy department to ensure
that low-income people have access to high quality, affordable
health care. She is assisting in the development of state-by-state
consumer education materials for "Cover The Uninsured
Week", a national campaign to raise awareness about the
44 million uninsured Americans as well as coauthoring the
revision of a report on the economic impact of Medicaid on
state economies. She is also providing research and writing
assistance on topics including the Medicare Prescription Drug
Discount Card and government proposals to increase health
coverage for small employers.
Education/Experience: Kim is a graduate
of University of Oregon with a degree in Planning, Public
Policy and Management. Committed to creating partnerships
between people and organizations, she worked closely with
the University of Oregon Community Outreach Partnership Center
and local community agencies throughout her time at the university.
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Lori Leibowitz
Field Placement: Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee
(Milwaukee, WI)
Lori recruited and organized members of Voices Against Hunger,
a grassroots group organized by Hunger Task Force taking action
on hunger issues with the goal of creating positive social
change. In 2003, the group worked to improve the Food Stamp
Program and the Summer Food Service Program in Milwaukee County.
Lori helped to shepherd the group into action by encouraging
activism, educating members, and developing members' leadership
skills.
Hunger Free Community Report: Developing
Leaders in a Community Group is a comprehensive guide
to developing community leaders. The guide is designed to
assist other community groups in replicating the structure
of Voices Against Hunger, and it includes instructions on
how to plan and run various trainings, useful forms-such as
a leader tracking chart and a workshop evaluation form, sample
workshops on food stamps and citizen advocacy, and references
to other leadership training resources.
Policy Placement: National Coalition for
the Homeless (Washington, D.C.)
Lori is assisting with housing policy at NCH by producing
educational materials related to the Bringing America Home
Act, the National Housing Trust Fund, and other housing issues.
She is also researching federal, state, and local affordable
housing programs and writing policy statements based on this
research.
Education/Experience: Originally from
New Jersey, Lori graduated from Brown University in 2003 with
a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. At Brown, Lori wrote an
honors thesis on changing attitudes and stereotypes about
the homeless community, directed the social justice branch
of the Jewish student organization, and participated in the
Student Hunger and Housing Action Coalition (SHHAC). She also
did extensive volunteer work and coordinated Brown's first
Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.
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Rachel Lopez
Field Placement: USDA Western Regional Office,
California Food Policy Advocates, and Los Angeles Regional
Food Bank (Los Angeles, CA)
Rachel worked to improve the rate of participation in the
Food Stamp Program in Los Angeles County by examining customer
service, access barriers, and accountability. Currently, only
slightly more than one-half of low-income households eligible
for the Food Stamp Program in California are actually receiving
food stamps. Rachel collected data about the processes of
the county offices administering Food Stamps and experiences
of applicants and county workers that affect participation
in the program, developed strategies to best improve participation,
and evaluated the project to determine what successful methodologies
could be used in other large metropolitan areas to improve
participation in the Food Stamp Program.
Hunger Free Community Report: Serving
Up Solutions: A Guide To Customer Service And Expanding Access
To The Los Angeles County Food Stamp Program, was designed
to assist local and national partners to increase participation
in the Food Stamp Program by improving customer service. The
report documented best practices and recommended improvements
to County procedures for outreach, accessibility, courtesy
standards, application process, and complaints and appeals.
Policy Placement: Corporation for Enterprise
Development (Washington, D.C.)
Rachel is supporting CFED's entrepreneurship and economic
development policy initiatives targeted at low-income communities,
specifically Rural and Native American entrepreneurs. She
is contributing to the design and implementation of the first
national rural entrepreneurship demonstration designed to
catalyze effective systems of support for rural entrepreneurs
across America. She is also developing an independent research
project that aims to identify ways that tribes and Native
non-profits can capitalize on the Indian Arts Market while
maintaining their independence and cultural autonomy.
Education/Experience: Rachel is from
St. Petersburg, Florida and graduated from Northwestern University
with honors in 2003. She majored in Political Science, Sociology,
and International Studies and studied European Union Studies
in Paris, France. While serving as student body president
of Northwestern, Rachel created the Eva Jefferson Civil Rights
Program, the first campus-wide Thanksgiving Dinner, the first
annual Community Action Fair, and the Alumni Speaker Series.
She has spent summers interning at the Red Cross in the Disaster
Services division, working at a Fortune 500 insurance company,
and serving as a teacher and caretaker in an orphanage in
Colón, Mexico.
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Rajiv Magge
Field Placement: Center for Economic Progress
(Chicago, IL)
Rajiv served as the National Community Liaison, working to
link work support programs, such as Food Stamps and child
health insurance, to free tax preparation services in Chicago
and on a national level. Rajiv analyzed the effectiveness
of programs in other states already linking free tax preparation
with work supports and researched model programs for add-on
services at free tax preparation sites so that they can be
duplicated by other organizations nationwide.
Hunger Free Community Report: Benefits
Outreach Resources is an online resource library developed
to assist organizations in designing outreach initiatives
that link work support programs (such as Food Stamps and energy
assistance) with the Earned Income Tax Credit and free tax
preparation services. The online library (www.tax-coalition.org/Library/Benefits)
highlights important research and catalogues the approaches
of various benefits outreach initiatives nationwide.
Policy Placement: New America Foundation
(Washington, D.C.)
Rajiv is helping to develop the international section of assetbuilding.org,
a clearinghouse for asset building research and policies.
He is also researching asset protection issues and working
with New America's Universal Health Insurance Program.
Education/Experience: Rajiv is a 2003
graduate of Dartmouth College where he was pre-med and received
a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology Modified with Psychology.
Rajiv has served as a Research Assistant in Psychological
and Brain Sciences, Biological Sciences, and Physiology, and
as an Executive Board Member and volunteer with VISIONS Worldwide,
where he conducted workshops in group dynamics, social issues,
and HIV/AIDS awareness with youth in Bangalore, India. While
at Dartmouth, Rajiv served as the Chairperson of Students
Fighting Hunger, a tutor with America Reads, a clinic manager
with the Good Neighbor Health Clinic, and Chairperson of the
Dartmouth Hindu Students Group.
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Shana McDavis-Conway
Field Placement: Hartford Food System (Hartford,
CT)
As the Strategic Planner for Urban Agriculture in Hartford,
Shana conducted a market analysis of the potential for urban
agriculture in Hartford and assisted in the development of
a pilot youth-oriented market garden project, GROW Hartford.
Her work included an assessment of current and historical
land use, a resource and skills inventory, a report on regional
examples of urban agriculture and an evaluation of existing
policy barriers. She conducted interviews with urban agriculture
practitioners to generate ideas for feasible models of urban
agriculture; researched city plans, zoning, and land-use to
determine potential sites; and networked with city officials,
local businesses, community leaders, and local organizations
to find potential partners and funding sources.
Hunger Free Community Report: Urban
Agriculture in Hartford is a compilation of Shana's research
on the benefits, challenges, and potential of urban agriculture,
including specific recommendations for the city of Hartford.
The multi-component presentation is adaptable to a variety
of audiences including policymakers, community members, and
organizations.
Policy Placement: Community Food Security
Coalition and the National Family Farm Coalition (Washington,
D.C.)
Shana is researching policies that impact both urban and rural
communities and developing a media and communications plan
for CFSC. She is also facilitating NFFC's Trade Task Force.
Background/Education: Shana is a graduate
of the University of Delaware, where she majored in Anthropology
and Women's Studies and minored in Theater and History. She
also spent a semester researching domestic partner benefits
at the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality in
Johannesburg, South Africa. Shana then served as an AmeriCorps*VISTA
in Sacramento, California and designed a county-wide outreach
program for the Medi-Cal program. Shana has been actively
involved in the preservation and creation of community gardens
in Sacramento where she most recently worked for the Sacramento
Hunger Commission, where she coordinated a local outreach
campaign for food assistance programs including Food Stamps
and Summer Food Service, and advocated on many anti-hunger
issues at the city and state level.
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Amaliya Morgan-Brown
Field Placement: End Hunger Connecticut!
(Hartford, CT)
Amaliya developed and administered a survey to document teachers'
perceptions of the School Breakfast Program and completed
a toolkit on the School Breakfast Program in Connecticut used
by EHC! to promote school breakfast. The finished product
includes the findings of the survey, fact sheets, talking
points, mock school breakfast budgets, and a resource list.
It also identifies cost, management, and operational barriers
to increased participation by schools in the School Breakfast
Programs, possible solutions to those barriers, outreach strategies
for schools that do not currently offer school breakfast,
and ideas for increasing participation in schools already
administering the program.
Hunger Free Community Report: Teachers'
Perceptions of the School Breakfast Program reports teachers'
experiences with the School Breakfast Program (SBP) in Connecticut
and includes a basic overview of the SBP, steps that various
groups can take to promote the program, and a resource guide
with fact sheets that can be used to advocate for expansion
of the SBP in Connecticut.
Policy Placement: RESULTS Educational Fund
(Washington, D.C.)
Amaliya is providing technical assistance and support to RESULTS
volunteers working to promote and expand access to Individual
Development Accounts and encourage asset building among low-income
children and families. She is also working with RESULTS partners
to highlight asset building initiatives in the media.
Education/Experience: Amaliya graduated
from Lewis and Clark College in Oregon with a degree in International
Affairs and a senior thesis titled The Agreement on Agriculture:
Food Security in Developing Countries. As a 2002-2003 AmeriCorps*
VISTA volunteer working with Just Food of New York City she
helped organize a Community Supported Agriculture program
creating linkages between rural and urban areas and increasing
access to affordable, fresh vegetables in low-income urban
communities. Amaliya also served on the Planning Committee
of the Brooklyn Agriculture Entrepreneurship Group.
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Rebekah Park
Field Placement: Washington Citizen Action
(Seattle, WA)
Rebekah served as the anti-hunger organizer for WCA. Through
outreach, interviews, and advocacy, Rebekah gained first hand
knowledge on problems related to hunger and poverty, and empowered
community members to join the anti-hunger movement.
Hunger Free Community Report: Unnoticed,
Unaddressed & Unacceptable: Revealing and Attacking Washington
State's Persistent Hunger Problem outlines six solutions
to reduce hunger, including increasing participation in School
Lunch, Breakfast, and Summer Food programs; lifting the lifetime
ban on Food Stamps for people with former drug felony convictions;
and adopting two Farm Bill options that streamline reporting
requirements for Food Stamps.
Policy Site: Poverty and Race Research Action
Council (Washington, D.C.)
Rebekah is working to organize the third National Conference
on Assisted Regional Housing Mobility and doing outreach for
three PRRAC reports focusing on classroom mobility, Civil
Rights teaching methods, and the relationship between segregation
and evictions, respectively. She is also helping to develop
the PRRAC website and providing research assistance for several
ongoing projects including: Domestic Violence and Housing,
and The Baltimore Project.
Education/Experience: Rebekah graduated
cum laude and with honors from Northwestern University in
2002, where she received the Jane S. Mansbridge Scholar Activist
Award by the NU Women Faculty for her leadership in activist
organizations and academic research grants. Rebekah worked
extensively on intersecting issues related to drug users,
HIV/AIDS, and women. Her senior thesis, supported by the University
of Illinois at Chicago's School of Public Health, was used
to improve the longest needle exchange study in the U.S. As
a 2002-03 Fulbright Scholar in Amsterdam, she conducted research
on long-term older heroin users and received an advanced Master
of Science degree in Medical Anthropology. She recently published
an article on heroin addiction in Medische Antropologie journal
of the Netherlands.
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Bridget Purdue
Field Placement: Los Angeles Regional Food
Bank and California Food Policy Advocates (Los Angeles, CA)
Bridget worked to increase awareness of the prevalence of
hunger in specific Los Angeles-area communities by conducting
a Hunger Education Project Plan. She collected and analyzed
data from the California Health Interview Survey and other
sources and created a portfolio of communications materials,
including fact sheets, resource guides, and public messages.
She used these materials to facilitate press conferences and
organize events with food banks, community organizations,
and local elected officials.
Hunger Free Community Report: Eliminate
Hunger: A Guide to Filling Empty Cupboards in your Region
is a resource guide for Los Angeles County food pantries highlighting
food stamp application procedures, welfare office locations,
pantry advocacy tips, and collaboration ideas for food pantries
within each of eight smaller geographic divisions of Los Angeles
County in order to better serve the specific needs of each
region.
Policy Site: NETWORK, A National Catholic
Social Justice Lobby (Washington, D.C.)
Bridget is working with the Education Program on several projects
designed to educate and empower voters in the 2004 election.
Bridget is designing NETWORK's online Presidential Election
Chart, contributing educational documents on economic justice
issues to NETWORK's election website, and organizing the distribution
of NETWORK's Voter Education Series to groups throughout the
country.
Education/Experience: Bridget is from
Lexington, Kentucky, and is a 2003 graduate of the University
of Notre Dame, where she majored in Economics with a minor
in Philosophy and Politics. At Notre Dame, Bridget worked
as a court watch volunteer for a local YWCA Domestic Violence
shelter, helped to research and develop a service-learning
course for students, and organized a dialogue discussing civic
engagement among Notre Dame students.
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M. Wick Ruehling
Field Placement: Worcester County Food Bank
(Shrewsbury, MA)
Wick served as a Community Food Resource Specialist for Worcester
County. He was responsible for developing and leading an in-depth
research project with the goal of identifying all available
food resources within the county, and creating a profile of
food security assets and needs for each community within the
county. His research included Geographic Information Systems
data, led to the establishment of area-specific hunger networks
and advisory councils, and provided a Worcester County profile
of food security, community by community.
Hunger Free Community Report: Creating
a Hunger-Free Worcester County: A Hunger and Food Security
Profile of Worcester County, Massachusetts is a detailed
analysis and summary of hunger and food security in Worcester,
including localized profiles of food security in each of four
quadrants of the country as well as the county as a whole.
Policy Placement: America's Second Harvest
(Washington, D.C.)
Wick is creating a survey of state-by-state TEFAP distribution
procedures and is developing a best-practices manual that
will be sent to state TEFAP administrators and food banks.
He is also developing a guide of Department of Health and
Human Services grants pertinent to food banks in the A2H system.
Education/Experience: Wick graduated
from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia
where he majored in Public Policy. At W&L he served as
vice president of the Student Activities Board and played
varsity soccer. Wick interned with Total Action Against Poverty
in Roanoke, Virginia where he worked with Head Start and the
Southwest Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank. He also served
as a research intern for The National Journal magazine, where
he contributed to the publication of the 2002 Cook Political
Report.
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Byron Stewart
Field
Placement: Worcester
County Food Bank (Shrewsbury, MA)
Byron is serving as a Community Food Resource Specialist for
Worcester County. He and his field site partner are responsible
for developing and leading an in-depth research project with
the goal of identifying all available food resources within
the county, and creating a profile of food security assets
and needs for each community within the county. His research
will include Geographic Information Systems data, will lead
to the establishment of area-specific hunger networks and
advisory councils, and will provide a Worcester County profile
of food security, community by community.
Education/Experience:
Byron graduated from Northwestern University in Illinois with
a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He has worked overseas
with the Friends of the Hanover Infirmary, an organization
dedicated to serving Jamaica's community of indigent elderly,
and with other organizations serving communities in Ghana
and his own hometown of Washington, D.C. He has also worked
for the University of the District of Columbia in its summer
enrichment program for secondary students and as a teacher
in the Washington, D.C. and Prince George's County (MD) Public
Schools.
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Jeanine Valles
Field Placement: South Florida Interfaith
Committee for Worker Justice (Miami, FL)
Jeanine served as the Outreach Coordinator, engaging new congregations
and faith-based organizations in Miami with activities and
campaigns to combat hunger by seeking justice for the working
poor. Jeanine improved communications with members and potential
supporters by formulating outreach materials and developing
the organization's website. In order to add a youth component
to SFICWJ's initiatives, Jeanine also identified partners
in college campus ministries and coordinated educational sessions
with them. Jeanine's other activities included serving as
a workers' rights counselor for faith-based feeding programs,
assisting in the development of a Decent Jobs for Miamians
Campaign, and promoting the organization's worker justice
focus in the Community Prosperity Initiative.
Hunger Free Community Report: Low
Wages and Basic Needs in the City of Miami: Facts for Advocates
examines the extent of low wage work in Miami, and outlines
local community and faith-based responses in order to raise
awareness and encourage further involvement from current and
potential advocates.
Policy Placement: Bread for the World Institute
(Washington, D.C.)
Jeanine is conducting research on the status of the existing
domestic public and private hunger safety net, and assisting
in the development of a coordinated plan for reform and expansion
of federal programs. Jeanine's research is concentrated on
nutrition programs and the elderly population.
Education/Experience: Jeanine, a native
of southern California, graduated magna cum laude from the
University of Notre Dame in 2003 with a joint degree in Political
Science and Theology and a concentration in Public Service.
She was elected to Student Senate, worked at the Center for
Social Concerns for three years, spent a summer serving full-time
at a women's homeless shelter in Baltimore, and worked as
a legislative intern for the Massachusetts State Senate. While
studying abroad in London, she worked for the Westminster
Parliament as a researcher for the Liberal Democrats.
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Bi Vuong
Field Placement: D.C. Hunger Solutions (Washington,
D.C.)
Bi created a campaign to promote School Breakfast expansion
for the District of Columbia. She interviewed school administrators,
surveyed students about barriers to increased participation,
prepared materials for the first D.C. School Breakfast report,
devised outreach and advocacy strategies to get schools to
adopt school breakfast, and conducted parent and community
forums with schools, neighborhood advisory councils, and community
groups. She also completed Smart Start, an outreach and promotion
tool kit that can help grassroots organizations to promote
the School Breakfast Program in their area using a power-point
presentation template and brochures detailing the benefits
of the school breakfast program.
Hunger Free Community Report: School
Breakfast Models is a report detailing several approaches
to School Breakfast Programs nationwide, such as Breakfast
in the Classroom, Delayed Breakfast, and Provision 2. The
report examines each of the model schools' demographics, barriers
to implementation, possible solutions, and a description of
daily operations so that the programs may be replicated nationwide.
Policy Site Placement: The Food Research
and Action Center (Washington, D.C.)
Bi is developing a best practices guide for collaboration
between schools and community-based organizations to feed
children through the Summer Food Service Program and the After-school
Snack/Supper Program. Bi is also researching the barriers
faced by rural communities in accessing the child nutrition
programs, particularly those that serve children during the
after school hours and the summer months.
Education/Experience: Bi is originally
from Hawaii and she graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio
with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. She has been
involved in programs for inner-city children and teenagers
from large, low-income families in both D.C. and Scotland.
While at Kenyon, she also served as a residential advisor,
community advisor and Board member for Asian Students for
International Awareness.
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Elizabeth Whelan
Field Placement: Community Food Bank (Tucson,
AZ)
Elizabeth promoted family food security by exploring micro-enterprise
opportunities with women of the Pima Community College Adult
Education Family Literacy Program. She provided technical
support and education as they developed a focused "plan
of action" to begin a value-added and prepared foods
business and developed the marketing strategy by using creative
assessments of the market for locally made food. The success
of this enterprise serves as an inspiration and template for
other women in the larger Tucson Family Literacy Programs
to begin small businesses.
Hunger Free Community Report: Resources
& Reality: Food Security in Pima County, a website
exploring the diverse and unique array of food security resources
in the Tucson area, including local agriculture, gardening,
community resources, faith-based communities, federal and
local food programs, food policy, farmers' markets and more.
Policy Site Placement: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service (Alexandria, VA)
Elizabeth is coordinating the new USDA nationwide food stamp
outreach coalition uniting national, state and local advocates
with policy makers to focus on outreach as a way to improve
participation in the Food Stamp Program. She is also involved
in management of the national media campaign, outreach grant
competition, and expansion and maintenance of a food stamp
outreach website.
Education/Experience: Elizabeth studied
Poetry Writing and Religion at the University of Virginia.
The summer after her first year of college, she returned to
Zambia (where her family had lived for five years) to volunteer
at an orphanage while compiling a photo-essay. Upon her return,
she created a website to raise funds and awareness for the
orphanage. She also created a photo-essay focusing on the
effects of Hurricane Mitch on a small community in rural Honduras.
At UVA, she co-founded an organization to educate students
about the prevalence and prevention of eating disorders.
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Robert Zager
Field Placement: Oregon Hunger Relief Task
Force (Portland, OR)
Bob assessed the utilization of the Food Stamp Program, Summer
Food Service Program, and After School Snack and Meal Program
in three Oregon counties to help increase program participation.
He collected and analyzed data to identify areas of high need
and studied the potential for expansion by identifying local
partners and leading outreach efforts, which included educating
potential community partners, securing community support,
exploring options for overcoming barriers to participation,
and developing suggestions for improving program operations
at the local level. Bob also worked with the Oregon Tax Credit
Coalition to coordinate the Earned Income Tax Credit outreach
efforts of numerous public and private organizations.
Hunger Free Community Report: Overcoming
Barriers to Access of Federal Food Programs is a report
on the utilization of federal food programs and a corresponding
set of fact sheets exploring barriers to program access and
possible solutions in three Oregon counties.
Policy Placement: Association for Career
and Technical Education (Alexandria, VA)
Bob is gathering and compiling state information on effective
career and technical education programs in communities throughout
the country. He is also tracking and analyzing legislative
developments affecting career and technical programs and developing
advocacy materials for use by ACTE members.
Education/Experience: Bob graduated from
Washington University in St. Louis in 2003 with a double major
in Mechanical Engineering and Political Economy. He led a
student service trip to Guatemala and participated in service
trips to Ghana and New Mexico. Bob spent a summer in Ghana
as an intern for the Missouri Department of Economic Development,
served as a student government senator and committee chair,
and was active in spiritual retreat and social justice group
leadership.
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