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Will Connors
Field Placement:
Food Bank of Alaska
(Anchorage)
Will was the Client Choice coordinator at the Food
Bank, where he promoted and implemented the Waste Not, Want
Not, Client Choice model of food distribution at pantries
around the state. This model is an alternative to the pre-packaged
food box model and has been shown to reduce waste, increase
client-volunteer interaction, and boost client morale. Will
also worked with the TEFAP and CSFP programs, and researched
the feasibility of adapting the Food Distribution Program
on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) for Alaska Natives.
Hunger
Free Community Report: The Face of Hunger in Alaska
is a compilation of interviews with Alaskans who have faced
or are still facing hunger, to serve as an awareness-building
tool to be distributed around the state. Also included is
a resource guide and fact sheet to assist those in need and
those looking to help.
Policy
Placement: Rural Coalition / Coalición Rural (Washington,
D.C.) Will is working to improve the marketing capabilities
of the minority and limited resource farmers whom the Coalition
represents. He is also updating the Coalition’s website, which
includes a Super Market Co-op that sells the farmer’s goods,
and is writing a case study on the success story of a black
farmer in North Carolina as part of the Coalition’s annual
report. Education and Experience:
Will is a 2004 graduate of the University of Chicago, where
he earned a degree in English and sociology. He has worked
with developmentally disabled children in New Hampshire, children
with AIDS in Boston, underserved middle schoolers in Brooklyn,
and determined high schoolers in Chicago. Will led a service
trip to Costa Rica, and worked on construction projects in
Honduras, Mississippi, and Chicago.
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Shawn Powers
Field
Placement: Food Bank of Alaska (Anchorage)
Through a collaboration with state
and local authorities, Shawn developed and taught a food safety
certification program for food pantries throughout Alaska.
He also worked with the staff of the recently-formed Kids
Café program in Anchorage to create safe food handling standards
and monitoring procedures for hot meal sites that serve needy
children after school. Shawn traveled to the native villages
of Seldovia, Noorvik, Point Hope, Kotzebue, and Atka to monitor
and help establish TEFAP distribution sites.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Fighting Childhood Hunger in
Anchorage: A Report on the Kids Café Program evaluated
Kids Café as a solution to the problem of childhood hunger
in Alaska’s largest city. The report included a mapping analysis,
data on childhood poverty and hunger, and recommendations
for expanding the capacity of Kids Café.
Policy Placement:
Food Research and Action Center
(Washington, D.C.) As part of the food
stamps unit, Shawn is writing three reports on the Food Stamp
Program for use by advocates in D.C. and around the country.
The Big Cities Report analyzes caseload trends and best practices
in major U.S. cities. The Disasters Report evaluates the response
of the Disaster Food Stamp Benefit Program to recent events
(including the terrorist attacks of September 11 and the 2004
hurricanes in Florida) and summarizes lessons learned. A third
report provides recommendations for more timely service to
food stamp recipients.
Education
and Experience: Shawn graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams
College with a degree in economics. While at Williams, he
served for three years as director of Williams Recovery of
All Perishable Surplus (WRAPS), which distributes surplus
dining hall food to agencies serving the needy in northern
Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Shawn also organized and
led alternative spring break trips to Vanceburg, Kentucky
and Washington, D.C., and served as community service coordinator
for the Newman Catholic Association. He spent his junior Winter
Study in Haiti, where he helped repair dirt roads and conducted
research on agricultural cooperatives.
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Barrett Ebright
Field Placement: Community Food Bank (Tuscon,
Arizona)
Barrett served as the Backyard
Garden Fellow with the Community Food Security Center, where
she provided backyard gardening support to Tucson community
members who grow food to provide for their families. She also
worked to develop and implement a mobile market program visiting
two rural communities, using the market as a venue to talk
with customers about backyard gardening.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Children and Their Food Practices
is the result of team research that assessed the food
security of Tucson elementary school children. The report
illustrates the influence that school meals and family eating
practices have on children’s food security, overall health
and wellbeing. The report has informed and inspired the creation
of a local food policy council to take action through advocacy,
education, planning and recommendations.
Policy
Placement: Community Food Security Coalition/ National Family
Farm Coalition
(Washington, D.C.) Barrett is working to strengthen grassroots
members’ participation in federal policy-making through the
creation of a policy advocacy handbook. She will also be researching
and writing issue briefs and educational materials to be used
by NFFC’s members in their work surrounding federal farm policy
change, food sovereignty and trade issues.
Education
and Experience: Barrett is a 2004 graduate of Willamette
University, where she earned a BA in sociology. Barrett has
had academic and practical experience with both urban and
rural issues: she served as a case manager for low-income
housing residents in Chicago, and later as an Undergraduate
Rural Poverty Research and Policy Fellow with the Rural Policy
Research Institute. She also worked at an after school program
for at-risk children, and coordinated campus events to raise
awareness about social justice issues.
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Chandra Kring
Field
Placement: Community Food Bank (Tuscon,
Arizona)
Chandra developed and implemented a Mobile Market pilot program
in two rural communities of Pima County. This market expanded
distribution of groceries provided by the food bank, and increased
access to nutritionally healthy and varied foods. The market
also created a convenient location for community members to
redeem their Food Stamp benefits.
Hunger Free Community Report: Children and Their Food Practices
is the result of team research that assessed the food security
of Tucson elementary school children. The report illustrates
the influence that school meals and family eating practices
have on children's food security, overall health and wellbeing.
The report has informed and inspired the creation of a local
food policy council to take action through advocacy, education,
planning and recommendations.
Policy Placement:
National Conference of State Legislatures (Washington,
D.C.)
Chandra is working with NCSL's Immigrant
Policy Project to develop a toolkit to provide state legislators
with a comprehensive overview of the federal, state, private
and non-profit sector initiatives to reduce hunger and improve
nutrition. She is also working with NCSL's Human Services
Committee, tracking the progress of legislation through Congress.
Education and Experience: Chandra
earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from The Evergreen State
College with a focus in community studies and public policy.
She produced a documentary, "Homeless in Olympia,"
that portrayed a group of homeless individuals' fight against
targeted ordinances. She is also an active member of the Welfare
Rights Organizing Coalition and served as a VISTA Volunteer
with Habitat for Humanity.
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Dennis Barrett
Field Placement: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Foodlink for Tulare Country, Fresno Metropolitian Ministry
(Central Valley of California)
Dennis increased food
stamp access and participation in California’s Central Valley
by training community based organizations to initiate the
application process for eligible clients, setting up a Food
Stamp Task Force in Tulare County, and undertaking a multi-level
media campaign to reach eligible participants and improve
public understanding of the Food Stamp Program.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Growing Health and Wealth:
Food Stamp Outreach in the Central Valley and Beyond
identifies major barriers to food stamp access and outreach
and makes recommendations for improving program participation.
It includes a project narrative, a toolkit for others working
on similar projects, a compilation of various perspectives
on food stamp outreach, and an appendix with print media coverage.
Policy
Placement: Families USA (Washington, D.C.)
Dennis is working in the Health Policy Department to ensure that low-income people have access to quality health care. He is revising sections of Preserving Medicaid in Tough Times, a toolkit for state health care advocates, and analyzing private insurance market issues and how they impact the availability and affordability of coverage for low-income individuals and families. He is also a part of a team of staff closely examining a range of policy proposals for providing coverage to the 45 million Americans who have no health insurance.
Education
and Experience: Dennis graduated magna cum laude from
the University of Notre Dame with a double major in political
science and history in the Honors Program. He tutored youth
in South Bend, worked with the ational publication Changing
Times, served as dorm president, and organized a weeklong
program encouraging students to employ their talents in the
service of others. Dennis also founded a Notre Dame Chapter
of the Children's Defense Fund, and interned in D.C. with
Human Rights Watch and the Children's Defense Fund.
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Laura Tatum
Field Placement: US Department of Agrigulture,
Fresno Metropolitian Ministry,
Fresno Community Food Bank
(Central Valley of California)
Laura increased food stamp access and participation in California’s
Central Valley by training community based organizations to
initiate the application process for eligible clients, working
with Food Stamp advocates in Fresno County to enhance a Food
Stamp Task Force, and undertaking a multi-level media campaign
to reach eligible participants and improve public understanding
of the Food Stamp Program.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Growing Health and Wealth:
Food Stamp Outreach in the Central Valley and Beyond
identifies major barriers to food stamp access and outreach
and makes recommendations for improving program participation.
It includes a project narrative, a toolkit for others working
on similar projects, a compilation of various perspectives
on food stamp outreach, and an appendix with print media coverage.
Policy
Placement: Volunteers of America (Alexandria, VA)
Laura is conducting research to identify the supportive services
provided to homeless families, evaluate the impact such serices
have on the families’ ability to obtain and maintain permanent
housing, and explore teh effects of federal, state, and local
policies on homeless families’ access to permanent housing.
Laura is preparing recommendations regarding specific types
of supportive services that should receive additional funding
from VOA in order to help more homeless families become self-sufficient.
Education
and Experience: Laura graduated from Bowdoin College in
2004 with a B.A. in sociology and Spanish. She served on the
Common Good Grant Committee and was involved in a variety
of volunteer programs on poverty and education at Bowdoin.
She studied abroad in La Paz, Bolivia, interned at a family
support center, raised funds through the San Francisco AIDS
Walk, and led middle-schoolers in community service activities
at a camp in her hometown of Palo Alto, California.
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P.J. Andrews
Field Placement: D.C. Hunger Solutions
(Washington, DC)
P.J. conducted a food stamp outreach initiative to improve
access to the Food Stamp Program in the District of Columbia.
He created a website that documents how to apply for food
stamps in the District and provides the food stamp outreach materials he created.
Through his partnerships with both food stamp administrators
and advocates serving low-income immigrant populations, P.J.
disseminated these materials throughout the District.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Food Stamp Outreach Toolkit
for the District of Columbia provides the information and
materials needed for community based organizations to spearhead
a food stamp outreach initiative in their office or in-take
center. It includes flyers, posters, a “necessary documents
for application” envelope, a food stamp program glossary,
and a community guide for organizations to assist in
the food stamp application process.
Policy
Placement: New America Foundation
(Washington, D.C.) Working with the Asset Building Program,
P.J. is conducting research to assist in the development of
the Congressional Savings & Ownership Caucus and the ASPIRE
Act; tracking existing federal legislation related to asset
building for Assetbuilding.org; and co-authoring a report
examining alternative methods for determining the federal
poverty level that takes into account asset wealth.
Education
and Experience: P.J. is a 2004 graduate of Tufts University
where he majored in American Studies, minored in Africa in
the New World Studies, and completed an honors thesis examining
Cape Verdean American identity. He also completed the Public Policy
and International Affairs fellowship at the University of
Michigan. P.J. co-founded and coordinated the Multiracial
Organization of Students at Tufts, and worked at Radio LOG,
a community radio station that works to empower teenage girls.
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Alexis Bylander
Field Placement: Campus Kitchens Project
(Washington, DC)
Alexis coordinated nutrition projects
with student groups at five Campus Kitchens, including a community
garden, nutrition education classes for elementary school
students, a produce delivery program, a food pantry delivery
program, and nutrition education bulletin boards and programming.
She also created a national nutrition education curriculum
for elementary school students and an advocacy toolkit for
students involved with the Campus Kitchen.
Hunger
Free Community Report: The
Campus Kitchens Nutrition Initiatives Guide highlights
the nutrition projects done by students at each Campus Kitchen
and serves as a step-by-step guide to re-create those projects
at other Campus Kitchens or through other student organizations.
Policy
Placement: RESULTS (Washington, D.C.)
Alexis is working on the domestic health care campaign, creating educational materials about health care programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and SCHIP, providing educational updates to members, and coordinating the health care sessions of the annual RESULTS international conference.
Education
and Experience: Alexis earned a degree in political science
from Concordia College in 2004. She also studied public policy
in seven European countries and spent a semester abroad studying
in Malta. She participated in Concordia’s mock trial team,
the TOCAR anti-racism taskforce, and was co-leader for a Habitat
for Humanity trip to Nicaragua. She also completed a research
project on the feasibility of enacting a universal living
wage in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
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Andrea Matsuoka
Field Placement: Florida Impact
(Tallahassee, Florida)
Andrea launched and evaluated universal breakfast pilots in
four Orange County elementary schools. Her work confirmed
the positive effects of universal breakfast programs on student
breakfast consumption, health, and readiness to learn. Andrea
also coordinated the final meetings and a news conference
for the Florida Food Security Team, the public-private partnership
dedicated to improving food security in Florida through the
expansion of eligible participation in the federal nutrition
programs. Finally, Andrea contributed to Florida Impact’s
biannual Hunger Report, “Feeding Florida.”
Hunger
Free Community Report:
Hunger in Florida: Five-Year Partnership Improves Food Security
documents steadily increasing participation in all the
federal nutrition programs in Florida. The report links quantitative
participation data with qualitative “highlights” (actions
or projects undertaken by each of the state agencies in the
coalition to improve eligible participation) to demonstrate
how crucial the unique public-private collaboration of the
Florida Food Security Team was in improving the state’s food
security. It can be viewed at: www.flimpact.org
Policy
Placement: Northeast-Midwest Institute (Washington,
D.C.) Andrea is conducting outreach to congressional members
and staff within the Northeast-Midwest Senate and Congressional
Coalitions and serving as a liaison to the anti-hunger, nutrition,
and community food security communities. She is also conducting
two targeted research projects. The first looks at the viability
of Internet-based alternative food distribution systems linking
low-income housing assistance recipients with fresh, locally
grown produce, and the second is a comparative analysis of
select “Farm Share” nutrition assistance programs in five
states, with recommendations for expansion strategies to other
states.
Education
and Experience: Andrea graduated with honors from Williams
College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in political
science. She was an outreach coordinator and counselor for
the Rape & Sexual Assault Network, served on the President-appointed
Committee on Diversity and Community, worked as a Junior Advisor,
and facilitated the student-run Williams Community Building
Program. After an internship at the Institute for Defense
& Disarmament Studies, her research on nonproliferation was
published in the Arms Control Reporter.
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Daniel Murphy
Field Placement: Florida Impact
(Tallahassee, Florida)
Dan helped lead a meeting of the Florida
Food Security Team, a coalition of state agencies and private
partners working to increase food security in Florida. He
also distributed a public service announcement about the importance
of school breakfast, compiled data on Florida’s Summer Food
Service Program, and assisted with the Food Stamp Helpline,
a resource through which low-income families and adults can
begin the food stamp application process.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Hunger in Florida: Five-Year
Partnership Improves Food Security documents steadily
increasing participation in all the federal nutrition programs
in Florida. The report links quantitative participation data
with qualitative “highlights” (actions or projects undertaken
by each of the state agencies in the coalition to improve
eligible participation) to demonstrate how crucial the unique
public-private collaboration of the Florida Food Security
Team was in improving the state’s food security. It can be
viewed at: www.flimpact.org
Policy
Placement: CFED (Washington, D.C.)
Dan is working with the policy unit to research and promote asset-building and entrepreneurial policies. He is surveying existing policies and researching innovative new solutions, including an entrepreneur tax credit. He is also assisting with the administration of Saving for Entrepreneurship, Education, and Downpayment (SEED) grants, which create progressive savings opportunities for children.
Education
and Experience: Dan is a graduate of the University of
Notre Dame, where he majored in math and economics. He completed
a thesis project combining game theory and Northern Ireland
politics based on research he conducted while in Belfast.
Dan also worked in a morgue for the Visible Human Project
(a biomedical research project), served as a diversity educator
and participated in service projects through the Center for
Social Concerns.
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Faith Nyirenda
Field Placement: Center for Economic Process (Chicago,
Illinois)
Faith worked to connect hunger-related organizations to outreach for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) by linking the Center to key anti-hunger partners and organizations. Faith established these working relationships to exchange information regarding program services and initiatives, and encouraged ongoing collaborative EITC outreach/anti-hunger efforts to benefit low-income families.
Hunger Free Community
Report: Linking Anti-Hunger Organizations to Free
Tax Preparation outlines the various outreach effort
of teh Center to connect clients of emergency food providers
in Chicago and Illinois to the EITC through the Tax Counseling
Project’s free tax services.
Policy Placement: America’s Second Harvest (Washington, D.C.)
Faith is working to help develop an EITC outreach strategy for America’s Second Harvest. She is facilitating and coordinating involvement between the organization’s affiliates, the Internal Revenue Service, and other stakeholders.
Education and Experience: Faith graduated from the University of Southern California in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She participated in USC’s Alternative Spring Break program in Uruguay and Argentina where she helped create a sustainable garden for the elderly in Montevideo and restored a community kitchen. Faith has also been involved with organizations that provide enrichment and educational programming to children from low-income families and foster children.
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Sarah Osmer
Field Placement: Chicago Interfaith Committee
on Worker Issues
(Chicago, Illinois)
As a Worker Rights Advocate, Sarah
supported low-wage Latino workers in their struggle to improve
conditions in their workplaces. She initiated collaborative
partnerships between IWRC and local anti-hunger and asset-development
organizations, and designed a Worker Rights Advocate Action
Manual for use in Chicago and worker centers throughout
the country. She also collected workers’ testimonies on the
connection between workplace injustice and poverty issues,
which were included in a testimony before the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Worker
Rights Advocate Action Manual includes information on
labor laws, as well as detailed action guides for addressing
a range of worker issues; the Manual was distributed to worker
centers throughout the country.
Policy
Placement: Center for Community Change (Washington,
D.C.)
Sarah is working with the immigration team and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) to develop immigration/immigrant rights research and reports on the DREAM Act (a legalization program for immigrant students) and other current immigration policies. She is also compiling a report on the hardships and injustices immigrant workers face in the workplace and organizing grassroots activities and events in Washington, D.C. for the release of the reports and other FIRM events.
Education
and Experience: Sarah graduated summa cum laude from Emory
University with a BA in sociology and religion, and a minor
in community building and social change. She participated
in the Kenneth Cole Fellowship in Community Building and Social
Change, studied abroad in Costa Rica, and wrote an honors
thesis on mixed-income housing. She has also worked for Habitat
for Humanity, a substance abuse treatment center for homeless
women, homelessness prevention agencies, and the Annie E.
Casey Foundation, where she helped develop an affordable housing
plan and coordinated public benefits outreach efforts.
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Lucinda Megill
Field Placement: Hope House
(New Orleans, Louisiana)
Lucinda researched and implemented the
technology that now allows the Crescent City Farmers’ Market
to accept Food Stamps/Electronic Benefit Transfer cards at
their outdoor markets. She also partnered with a public health
initiative to promote the farmers market as an affordable
way to purchase local fresh fruits and vegetables. Finally,
Lucinda authored Adult Literacy Tools, a series of three content-based
literacy packets for adult learners. The topics of hunger,
nutrition and community food security are covered using graphs,
charts, tables and text with questions designed to increase
literacy skills and prepare learners for the GED.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Bridging the Technological
Divide: A Guide to Accepting Food Stamps at Farmers’ Markets
details the process of making food stamp acceptance a reality
at outdoor farmers’ markets. It includes information about
Food and Nutrition Field Offices, systems for accepting food
stamps, equipment and management companies, funding and public
relations.
Policy
Placement: School Nutrition Association
(Alexandria, VA) Lucinda is supporting SNA members as they
become leaders in the creation of Local Wellness Policies.
She provides them with technical assistance and connections
to resources, and she collaborates with Hunger Fellows at
the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service
and the Food and Research Action Center to coordinate resources
and information about Local Wellness Policies.
Education
and Experience: Lucinda is a 2004 graduate of Juniata
College where she received a degree in Peace and Conflict
Studies and Elementary Education. She was a facilitator and
campaign leader for the Juniata College Peace Organization,
where she focused on fair trade coffee and landmine removal.
She has worked with Habitat for Humanity and other service
organizations around the United States, Haiti, Nicaragua,
England, Romania and Ecuador, and is certified to teach English
as a Second Language.
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Alexandra Cawthorne
Field Placement: National Policy and Advocacy
Council on Homelessness
(New Orleans, Louisiana)
Alexandra conducted a research and mapping project on the
intersections among housing, emergency assistance, and health
in several New Orleans neighborhoods. She designed a survey
instrument, conducted interviews and a focus group, and participated
in city council and community organization meetings and hearings
related to hunger, health, and housing. She also supported
community assistance programs at Hope House, a local direct
service provider.
Hunger-Free
Community Report: Federally Defined, Locally
Applied: Worst Case Housing Needs in the St. Thomas/Irish
Channel Neighborhoods of New Orleans, Louisiana delves
into the connection between health and housing in New Orleans,
and examines how community health could be improved if housing
resources were targeted to those with the greatest housing
needs.
Policy
Placement: Poverty and Race Research Action Council
(Washington, D.C.) Alexandra is compiling a guide to
local organizations currently completing work that relates
to the intersection of community health and housing across
the nation. She is also assisting PRRAC in putting together
a third "Best of Poverty & Race" book - containing the leading
articles and symposia from late 2001 to the present. Alexandra
is also supporting PRRAC’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit advocacy
project.
Education
and Experience: Alexandra is a graduate of Vassar College
where she earned a dual degree in psychology and urban studies.
She spent a semester at American University with the Transforming
Communities Program, and is particularly interested in issues
affecting disenfranchised communities of color, such as prison
reform and education. In college, she assisted with transitional
services at a correctional facility, and completed internships
with the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the National
Alliance of Black School Educators.
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Katherine Mastman
Field Placement: Massachusetts Law Reform
Institute
(Boston, Massachusetts)
Katy researched immigrant access barriers in the Massachusetts
Food Stamp Program. She conducted outreach in Spanish and
English in ESL classes, on radio shows, and in local newspapers
to recruit a population of food stamp eligible immigrants.
She then helped them apply, tracked their applications, and
assessed the obstacles to their participation in the program.
Additionally, she interviewed local human service providers
and legal service advocates about chronic barriers to participation.
She also participated in meetings with the State Agency responsible
for administering the Food Stamp Program, Food Stamp Improvement
Coalition meetings, and numerous advocate trainings.
Hunger
Free Community Report: A Closer Look: Immigrant Access
Barriers in Massachusetts’s Food Stamp Program provides
an in-depth look at the intersection between policy and implementation.
It links specific policy language to chronic obstacles to
implementation and offers recommendations for their improvement.
Policy
Placement: U.S. Department of Agriculture (Alexandria,
VA) Katy is working with the Child Nutrition Division at the
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service to create implementation
and evaluation resources for the Wellness Policy. She is helping
to coordinate Wellness Policy core group meetings with representatives
from the DOE, CDC and USDA and is the point person for meetings
of the 15 non-governmental organizations that are collaborators
on the Wellness Policy. She is also editing and redesigning
USDA’s Wellness Policy website.
Education
and Experience: Katy earned a B.A. from Brown University,
with a double major in political science and community health.
She studied abroad Sydney, Australia, and in Quito, Ecuador,
and conducted research in Guatemala and Mexico on foreign
assistance and women's health. She worked with Oxfam in Australia,
served as a mentor in an outdoor learning program for Dominican
girls, and interned for her state assemblywoman and the Global
Policy Forum.
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Deanna Wilson
Field Placement: Boston Medical Center
(Boston, Massachusetts)
Deanna worked with the Grow Clinic,
serving children who are underweight and undernourished. She
worked with their Children's Sentinel Nutrition Assessment
Program (C-SNAP), a national network of pediatricians and
child health researchers who conduct research to assess the
impact of public policies on children’s health. She led C-SNAP
advocacy and dissemination efforts, where she linked C-SNAP
with potential community partners, wrote popular reports and
research briefs to disseminate C-SNAP findings, and created
an advocacy network to share research and resources. She directed
the creation of an Advocacy Blueprint that outlined a plan
for a comprehensive media strategy and advocacy campaign for
C-SNAP.
Hunger
Free Community Report: The Children’s Sentinel Nutrition
Assessment Program Advocacy Toolkit compiles information
necessary for advocates, community-based organizations and
legislators to utilize C-SNAP research. The Toolkit summarizes
C-SNAP methodology, presents C-SNAP data, provides ways for
community partners to utilize C-SNAP research in their own
advocacy campaigns and serves as a model for unique approaches
to frame food, cash, housing and energy assistance programs.
Policy
Placement: American Dietetic Association
(Washington, D.C.) Deanna is conducting and analyzing
research related to nutrition security in federal programs
serving three groups: older adults, school-aged children,
and persons with HIV/AIDS. She is working with a range of
nutrition professionals to identify possible public policy
and nutrition interventions addressing specific cohort needs
and to overcome misperceptions and barriers to nutrition security
within federal programs. Deanna is helping to integrate nutrition
more successfully into food assistance programs and to build
bridges linking the nutrition community to the larger community
of anti-hunger advocates.
Education
and Experience: Deanna graduated from Swarthmore College
in 2004 with a Sociology-Anthropology major and Biology minor.
She coordinated an after-school tutoring and mentoring program
for high school students while participating in various community
organizations that empowered targeted community members, and
educated students about poverty and homelessness. She also
conducted sociological and biological research, including
a project at University of Pennsylvania where she collaborated
on a health services research study and community intervention
involving colon cancer.
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Shireen Cama
Field Placement: FoodChange
(New York , NY)
Shireen developed educational
and promotional materials that focused on the nutritional
benefits of the Food Stamp program. She also conducted cooking
demonstrations alongside FoodChange’s food stamp pre-screeners
in supermarkets in low-income neighborhoods of New York City
to expose people to healthy meals and to help them make a
clear connection between a healthy diet and participation
in the Food Stamp program.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Quick! Delicious! Healthy Recipes
on a Budget! is a comprehensive recipe booklet with nutritious,
inexpensive, and easy to prepare dishes. Each recipe includes
information on its nutrient value and average cost per serving,
and the booklet provides tips for shopping for and storing
fresh fruits and vegetables, and lists the benefits of buying
locally grown produce, information on how to apply for food
stamps, and free health and nutrition resources in New York
City. The booklet is distributed to food stamp eligible New
Yorkers and is featured as a USDA “promising practice.”
Policy
Placement: Food Research and Action Center
(Washington,
D.C.) Shireen is creating educational material for advocates
on local school wellness policies. The material will focus
on helping low-income school districts create wellness policies
that meet their unique needs. Shireen is convening a conference
of key stakeholders to discuss avenues for collaboration and
best practices on the wellness policies. She is also assisting
with the production and distribution of FRAC’s annual Summer
Food Report by analyzing state legislation and other data
relevant to summer food programs for children.
Education
and Experience: Shireen graduated with distinction from
Yale in 2004 with a degree in economics. She served as a freshman
counselor, coordinated an elementary school tutoring program,
and volunteered as a community health educator. She was also
a leader in the South Asian Students and Persian Students
Associations, worked on health education, disaster relief,
and HIV prevention in rural India, and health care policy
at Families USA.
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Mariestella Fischer-Vélez
Field Placement: Food Change
(New York City)
Mariestella explored the important role that the government
plays in providing greater food stamp access in NYC. She interviewed
food stamp workers and administrators, FoodChange pre-screeners,
and FoodChange clients in order to explore how food stamps
function at a local level. Part of the project's goal was
to suggest how advocacy organizations like FoodChange can
better assist with the food stamp enrollment process while
establishing stable relations with the administrators of the
Food Stamp Program and other relevant entities.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Sharing a Common Goal: A Qualitative
Study on the Challenges Faced by New York City’s Human Resources
Administration (HRA) and the Possible Role of Advocacy Organizations
in Helping to Overcome Them, offers suggestions for dispelling
misperceptions and miscommunication between and among advocates
and HRA workers.
Policy
Placement: National Puerto Rican Coalition
(Washington, D.C.)
Mariestella is researching child poverty among Puerto Ricans
on the mainland to determine areas where Puerto Rican children
are at greatest risk for hunger. She is also focusing on welfare
issues affecting Puerto Ricans in the mainland and on the
Island by tracking ongoing changes and updates in Congress.
Lastly, Mariestella is investigating the Nutritional Assistance
Program (NAP) as it pertains to Puerto Rico.
Education
and Experience: Mariestella is a 2001 psychology graduate
of Fordham University and earned a Master’s degree in urban
education from Temple University in 2004. As a VISTA Volunteer
in a Philadelphia inner city high school, she worked with
the Urban Nutrition Initiative educating low-income communities
about healthy eating while supporting locally-grown produce
and community gardens. She is originally from Puerto Rico,
and as a Latina she is especially drawn to the ways in which
policies affect and shape the lives of minorities and other
economically and politically disenfranchised groups.
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Erin Hoekstra
Field Placement: Oregon Faith Roundtable
Against Hunger
(Portland, Oregon)
Erin engaged the religious community in dialogue and advocacy
around the root causes of hunger in Oregon. She helped to
expand the organization beyond the existing Portland roundtable
by developing local roundtables in Eugene, Salem, and the
northern coastal region. Each meeting of the roundtables featured
an educational component, and she conducted trainings in media
outreach and messaging.
Hunger
Free Community Report: The Oregon Faith Roundtable
Against Hunger Manual is a detailed toolkit that provides
resources to newly-established roundtables about how to conduct
outreach, facilitate meetings, and train advocates on the
root causes of hunger. The manual includes fact sheets on
federal poverty programs and other hunger issues to aid in
educating the members of the organization.
Policy
Placement: Presbyterian Church USA
(Washington, D.C.) Erin is working with the Washington
Office on issues of low-income housing and homelessness, TANF,
and economic justice. She is preparing an educational resource
for Presbyterian churches on housing education and advocacy,
particularly focusing on the intersections between housing
and hunger and ways that Presbyterians can enact long-term
solutions for affordable housing.
Education
and Experience: A native Memphian, Erin graduated from
Rhodes College with a double major in English and anthropology/sociology.
She organized a student-run meals program that utilized food
salvage from the campus cafeteria and served as the Hunger
and Homelessness Coordinator. For two summers she interned
at the National Coalition for the Homeless in D.C. as a Civil
Rights Policy Analyst and Grassroots Organizing Fellow.
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David Pedulla
Field Placement: Oregon Food Bank
(Portland, Oregon)
David worked with the Advocacy Department to increase the
advocacy capacity of the regional food banks throughout the
state. In one community he assisted in the formation of an
anti-hunger advocacy committee of direct service providers
working to address the root causes of hunger. In another community,
David helped to create a county-wide Food Stamp Task Force
to increase participation in the Food Stamp Program.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Advocating
for Change is a step-by-step guide for food banks on
how to form anti-hunger advocacy committees in their communities.
The guide contains detailed information about what is needed
to successfully form an advocacy committee, useful tools to
facilitate the process, and a list of resources to make it
as easy as possible for food banks to increase their advocacy
capacity.
Policy
Placement: Center of Concern, Presbyterian Hunger Program
(Washington, D.C.) David is researching ways to ensure
that agricultural reforms benefit family farmers, agricultural
sector workers, and low-income people in the United States
and abroad, while guaranteeing food system sustainability,
rural prosperity, community food security and an end to the
“dumping” of food on developing countries. This research is
used to develop educational materials to mobilize people around
agricultural reform and international economic justice.
Education
and Experience: David graduated from Boston College in
the spring of 2004 with a degree in history. He worked to
combat hunger and homelessness at Haley House, a multi-service
organization for homeless men in Boston, and through an internship
as an organizer on issues of transportation and racial justice.
He also worked with the Global Justice Project of BC on issues
of international solidarity, which included organizing a delegation
of students to Chiapas, Mexico, to learn from the Zapatista
movement in their struggle for economic, political, and indigenous
rights.
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Micah Schwartz
Field Placement: San Antonio Food Bank
(San Antonio, Texas)
Micah conducted research on the viability of a community-wide
menu that the food bank’s feeding sites could employ in order
to lower costs, increase volume, and improve community nutrition.
He also helped manage the food bank’s participation in the
national America’s Second Harvest hunger study and assisted
with food stamp outreach and local nutrition education.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Putting
a Price on Nutrition: The Viability of a Universal Menu Program
for the San Antonio Food Bank analyzes the costs and
benefits to a food bank for operating a community-wide menu
program. It calculates the value of collaborative purchasing
and high nutritional standards for any food bank considering
managing such a program, and includes a road map for full
implementation of a community-wide menu.
Policy
Placement: Office of Senator Blanche Lincoln
(Washington, D.C.) Micah provides research and support
to the Senator in her role as co-chair of the Senate Hunger
Caucus. He is also designing a resource guide on the history
of the federal government’s hunger-fighting programs intended
for Congressional members and staffers.
Education
and Experience: Micah graduated in 2003 from the University
of Virginia with a B.A. in political and social thought. He
completed an honors thesis on the welfare reforms of the Clinton
administration and served as student body president. After
graduation, Micah spent a year teaching and coaching at a
boarding school in the countryside near London, England.
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Philip Colvin
Field Placement: San Antonio Food Bank
(San Antonio, Texas)
Phil worked to implement the Child and Adult Care Food Program
(CACFP) at various sites throughout greater San Antonio. He
researched CACFP policies, reviewed food bank programs and
feeding sites that may have been eligible to participate in
CACFP, designed and conducted a Child Nutrition Survey, and
laid the groundwork to implement CACFP at the 8 Kids Cafés
operated by the San Antonio Food Bank. Phil also updated fact
sheets pertaining to each program of the food bank and created
fact sheets for new programs.
Hunger
Free Community Report: The San Antonio Food
Bank Program Guide & Child Nutrition Survey Results Report
was designed for 325 member agencies of the food bank to be
used as a resource guide on the programs at the San Antonio
Food Bank. It includes an in-depth analysis of the Child Nutrition
Survey.
Policy
Placement: American Public Human Services Association
(Washington, D.C.)
Phil is identifying innovative state Food Stamp Outreach administrative
procedures that simplify administration and enhance access,
with concentration on those featuring alternative access points
and partnerships with anti-hunger organizations. He is organizing
the data into a Catalog of State Food Stamp Innovations and
disseminating the Catalog to interested stakeholders. He is
also preparing and co-presenting a workshop at the annual
American Association of Food Stamp Directors (AAFSD) conference
highlighting the most outstanding innovations. Finally, Phil
writes periodically for This Week in Washington, a
nationally distributed weekly publication of APHSA.
Education
and Experience: Phil is a 2004 graduate of The College
of the Holy Cross with a Bachelor of Arts in political science.
He volunteered for Student Programs for Urban Development,
served as a Judicial Advisor, and interned with the Worcester
County Food Bank. He also created the Educated Shopper Program,
an educational course held in grocery stores that teaches
participants about the importance of good nutrition and saving
money when buying groceries. Phil served as a full time food
service director for a Kids Café program in Main South Worcester
for one summer.
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Estera Barbarasa
Vermont Food Bank
(South Barre, Vermont) Estera created a
Hunger 101 Education Toolkit and an accompanying marketing
manual. She conducted a focus group of teachers to assess
the need for hunger and poverty awareness curriculum, and
solicited information from food bank and community educators.
She gleaned and developed lesson plans, discussion guides,
interactive activities, and volunteer projects to include
in the education package. In order to expand Hunger 101 program
participation, she compiled a marketing manual that included
tools for conducting media strategies, school outreach efforts,
and dissemination of promotional material. Estera also co-managed
the food bank's work with America's Second Harvest's Hunger
in America 2005 national study.
Hunger
Free Community Report: Hunger 101 Education Toolkit
is a curriculum package for elementary, middle, and high school
students to educate them about hunger and poverty issues and
empower them to be agents of change. The themes of the curriculum
focus on identifying the nature of domestic hunger, understanding
the root causes of hunger and poverty, learning about community
food security, and analyzing solutions from different angles.
Policy
Placement: Call to Renewal
(Washington, D.C.) Estera is working to build Call to Renewal's
organizing and educational capacity. She is compiling and
developing anti-poverty resources to better equip local direct-service
providers, church leaders, and student activists in their
educational campaigns. She is also identifying strategic partnerships
with local anti-poverty groups.
Education
and Experience: Estera is a 2004 graduate of the University
of Chicago, with a major in political science and a minor
in psychology. She tutored children through the Woodlawn After-School
Kids Program, researched country condition information for
political asylum seekers, and studied abroad in Italy. An
internship at America's Second Harvest exposed her to the
severe state of hunger and poverty within our borders and
motivated her to work as an anti-hunger advocate.
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Judith Stermer
Field Placement: Vermont Food Bank
(South Barre, Vermont)
Judy worked to expand the Kids Café network in Vermont and
improve the effectiveness of the Vermont Foodbank's outreach
to current Kids Café coordinators. Her work involved visiting
existing Kids Café sites, conducting a needs assessment of
each, and evaluating the supportive role of food banks. She
created a resource guide, a web site, and an operations manual
for current and potential coordinators and worked with two
communities in the initial planning stages of opening Kids
Cafés.
Hunger
Free Community Report: The Resource Guide to Starting
and Sustaining a Kids Café aids Kids Café coordinators
with starting an out-of-school-time program and includes funding
ideas, operational suggestions, and budget planning. It also
provides nutritious meals, nutrition education, and enrichment
activities for school aged children in their communities.
Policy
Placement: NETWORK (Washington, D.C.)
Judy is planning and facilitating NETWORK’s collaborative
relationship with a women’s empowerment and leadership program
near Alamo, Texas, and similar organizations in the Southwest
United States. Judy is also working on economic justice issues
to develop a broad understanding of public policy work at
the federal level, while assisting NETWORK members with educational
materials on particular issues.
Education
and Experience: Judy earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology
and religious studies from the University of Dayton. She was
involved in the Center for Social Concern where she developed
programs for the Dayton Campfire Boys and Girls and for the
Summer Appalachia Program. Judy also spent time in Guatemala
studying Spanish and working with women and children in transitional
housing.
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