Joseph Lee

Joseph hails from western North Carolina and graduated with a degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies from Duke University in 2004.  At Duke, he co-founded The Duke-Durham Hunger Alliance, which collects “left-over” meal points and converts them into food for the regional food bank.  He has worked and volunteered at regional food banks in North Carolina, studied abroad in La Paz, Bolivia, interned with Student Action with Farmworkers migrant health outreach, and taught English in the suburbs of Tokyo, Japan.  Joseph is currently part of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Field Epidemiology Certificate Program.

Field placement: Farm to Table

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Joseph worked on a rural food gap assessment project in northwestern New Mexico.  The project involved focus groups in rural counties, extensive mapping, and the development of an inter-organizational communications system to be used for food policy advocacy.  This project examined the scope and dynamics of the food gap in New Mexico, and, as a community-based participatory project, was not just for research, but also for community action.

Policy placement: Migrant Legal Action Program

Washington, D.C.

At the Migrant Legal Action Program, Joseph created materials to reduce barriers for migrant education programs to participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP).  He also researched accountability in migrant health centers.

Publications