Emerson Fellow
Robert Economou
28th Class, 2021-2022
Robbie grew up in New Rochelle, New York, and graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a degree in Sociology. While attending SUNY Geneseo Robbie served as co-chair of a student activist group called Food Security Advocates, where he educated fellow students about hunger on college campuses, created a food pantry delivery program for students during the covid-19 pandemic, and passed a college resolution to create an on-campus food pantry. In the summer of 2021, Robbie was a speaker for the New York State Food Summit to speak on a panel about college food insecurity. Robbie also served as an intern at the federal policy office for WE ACT for Environmental Justice, where he worked on policy briefs and conducted research to ensure that environmental policies considered the intersecting issues of racial justice, gender equity, and income inequality at all times.
Field placement: Kid Power Inc.
Washington, D.C.
Robbie worked under the Veggietime program at Kid Power Inc. in Washington, D.C. He worked to conduct a community needs assessment of the Veggietime team's after-school nutrition programming in order to consider how their programming can increasingly serve the needs of the community as well as utilize the available assets in the community, existing community organizations, and skillsets of local stakeholders. The research conducted particularly examined the inclusion of anti-hunger, anti-poverty, and anti-racism education.
Policy placement: National Conference of State Legislatures
Washington, D.C.
Robbie Economou is working with the National Conference of State Legislatures to update and add to their food security related resources, webpages, articles, and policy briefs. Robbie is also reporting on federal anti-hunger initiatives to help state legislators stay informed about their ability to influence these federal programs on the state level. Overall, Robbie is adding to the capacity of NCSL to address food security through their research requests, webinars, and other projects.