Community Engagement and Leadership

Carmen is a third-year doctoral student who has held positions with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Congressional Research Service, and the New York State Legislature. Carmen studied Sociology at Mount Holyoke College and Public Administration at the State University of New York at Albany, and hopes to use her sociological training and governmental experience to contribute to policies that improve the economic security and social inclusion of low-income people. Carmen’s current research examines how US work institutions can be reformed to reverse contemporary job polarization. During her fellowship, Carmen will partner with a workforce training program, Kitchen of Champions, which provides culinary training, professional development support, industry certification, case management, and job placement support to individuals facing high barriers to employment. As a fellow, Carmen will assist the program in building capacity in several areas, including professional development, case management to address barriers to employment, and job placement with the goal of improving access to living-wage employment in the food system. She is pleased to be putting ideas into action through the Community Engagement and Leadership Fellowship.

Erika originally hails from San Diego, CA. She completed a BA in American Studies and Community Health at Tufts University and an MPH in Epidemiology/Biostatistics at UC Berkeley. As an undergraduate, she nurtured an interest in improving access to social safety net services working as a client advocate at LIFT. Ever since, she has conducted public health research that takes a system-focused, data-driven approach to improving wellness through program and policy development. Since coming to graduate school, Erika has narrowed her focus to resources that support food security, in particular. As a community engagement and leadership fellow, Erika will return to Southern California to work with the San Diego Hunger Coalition on the Hunger Free San Diego Initiative. She aims to identify barriers that prevent marginalized populations from accessing different forms of food assistance and working with community partners to create multi-sectoral approaches that address them.

Julieth is from Barranquilla, Colombia and holds a degree from Baruch College (CUNY) in Public Affairs. Her research mostly looks at food accessibility and health disparities in low-income communities. As a fellow, Julieth will be collaborating with the Mayor’s Office at the City of Richmond in efforts to improve access to healthy foods and strengthen health equity for local residents. She is interested in understanding the decision-making process behind ‘eating choices’, and exploring how access to locally grown, healthy foods affects those choices. This can only be accomplished co-producing knowledge with the community. Julieth hopes to influence how disadvantaged communities are identified. She is particularly interested in connecting food equity to AB 2227, Transformative Climate Communities. Findings from her fellowship will link to the ongoing health, food and environmental equity work in Richmond, in particular the Food Census Project, and also inform her Master’s joint thesis.