Above: Max De Faria, 27th Class Emerson Fellow. Growing up, I watched my parents struggle to make ends meet every month. There was barely enough, but prior to the Great Recession, we got by. When the 2008 financial crisis brought … Read more
Oh How Stories Can Inspire: Using Narrative to Champion Healthy Food Access
Above: Niisoja Torto, 27th Class Emerson Fellow. In college, I organized a trip with some of my classmates to New Orleans. No, sadly, it wasn’t for Mardi Gras. We were there to learn firsthand about topics ranging from local environmental … Read more
Action and Healing: Looking at Agricultural Extension in Indian Country
Above: Lexie Holden, 27th Class Emerson Fellow. When indicating my field placement preferences last summer, serving Native American communities was at the top of my list for two reasons. First, I am a proud member of the Choctaw Nation of … Read more
Everybody In, Nobody Out: The Moral Movement to End Poverty and Hunger
Above: Tony Eskridge, 27th Class Emerson Fellow. In my Urban Studies and Public Policy classes at Rhodes College, we discussed topics that were important to me, such as systemic racism, food insecurity, and gentrification for the upper-class. However, my introduction … Read more
Vital Programs for Unprecedented Times: Investigating Pandemic-EBT in California
Above: Rocio Perez, 27th Class Emerson Fellow. As a first-generation Latina from the Westlake/McArthur Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, I grew up in a low-income area with a predominantly immigrant community where I had to learn how to navigate legal, … Read more
Cultivating Tribal Sovereignty: Agriculture Departments in Indian Country
Above: Joel Anderson, 27th Class Emerson Fellow. When I first learned that I’d been placed with the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative (IFAI) in Fayetteville, Arkansas, I was eager to learn more about the work being done to promote tribal … Read more
First-Day Feeling: Emergency Food Distribution in Oregon’s Migrant Communities
Above: Ally Hardebeck, 27th Class Emerson Fellow. On December 9, I found myself on apple duty: open bag, fill with 15 apples, tie it off. The methodical simplicity of this task was comforting. Months of remote work had left me … Read more
Persistence and Pandemic Response: Getting the Word Out in Montgomery, Alabama
Above: Curtis Hills, 27th Class Emerson Fellow. Years ago, a buddy of mine and I worked as youth organizers with the Nollie Jenkins Family Center (NJFC), a social advocacy organization, in Lexington, Mississippi. We were the new kids on the … Read more
Laying Pathways for Success: Grantmaking and Native Agriculture in Fayetteville, Arkansas
Above: Sara Maillacheruvu, 27th Class Emerson Fellow. In a typical Emerson field placement blog, fellows often begin with a reflection that compares where they’ve come from—their hometown, where they went to school, where they’ve worked—and where they are now, or … Read more
Collaboration, Trust, and Agency: Community-Based Food Systems in Chicago
Above: Riani Carr, 27th Class Emerson Fellow. When I received the long-awaited email that contained my field placement, my eyes quickly found the part that read, “…your field placement is with the Chicago Food Policy Action Council!” In my excitement, … Read more
Serve the Line and Shorten the Line: Emergency Food and Equity in Houston
Above: Leslie Rios, 27th Class Emerson National Hunger Fellow, at her placement with the Houston Food Bank. I had only been to Houston a handful of times before I learned my field placement assignment would be the Houston Food Bank (HFB). … Read more