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*sigh* long days at the office..
This is what happens at the DBCFSN office when we need to decompress
Featured in video:
Malik, Executive Director of DBCFSN aka my supervisor
Lesha, Office Manager/Accountant aka The Conqueror
Nameless, Lesha’s trusty guitar
Videographer: Me, myself, and I
$8 or $9? they’re being kind… i made $7.50 this summer slinging shoes. thank goodness i didn’t have kids and only two bills. and that was above minimum wage.
Could you live on $8 or $9 dollars an hour? A new computer game made by the Urban Ministries of Durham in North Carolina and an advertising firm called McKinney lets you play out life with a low-wage job as a single mom. The objective is to make it a month, juggling getting a job, rent, a place to live, food and coping with the costs of repairs, things for your child, insurance, etc.. Actually a very hard game to play and full of reminders of the difficulties of life on that kind of salary.
*Currently “playing”*
This game is no joke, mayne!
(via justcallmepb)
Food stamps are now worth double at farmer’s markets in Michigan. Lovely. Congrats to the Fair Food Network for spearheading a pilot in Detroit, successfully executing, and then expanding the program to the entire state. That’s hard work, especially politically hard work.
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Finally found my ticket to Cali!!
So, back when I was filling out my input survey for Emerson (basically a survey asking us what skills we wanted to learn, regional preference, if we would bring a car, etc) I listed West as my first regional preference because I desperately wanted to go to the Bay Area and work on food issues. plus Nikki Henderson works there, and although she’s only 4 years older than me, I want to be her when I grow up, but I digress. Needless to say, when I got the call that I’d be going to the Midwest, I completely changed my attitude and knew I’d be in Detroit (and thankfully I was) and now I’m more than happy to be here, but I still want to go to Cali and see the food activities there. Well, low and behold the Community Food Security Coalition, who puts on this bomb annual conference about basically ALL the issues I’m interested in and pick amazing places (they were in New Orleans, LA last year) is having their 15th Annual conference in Oakland, CA… and the theme is Food Justice. So yeah, who’s got two thumbs, can’t stop smiling, and is literally jumping for joy? this girl *pointing my thumbs at my gigantic smile*
plus my organization is presenting, sooo gotta go and rep/cheer them on. woot.
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Since I’ve had to field this question so many times, I figured it would be worthwhile to make a post about it.
Ever since I accepted this opportunity, I’ve had to explain at LEAST 3+ times to people who actually love and may care about what I’m doing, so I can only imagine what people I meet once and explain it to must think or feel. In fact, explaining this experience to people is a bit of a running joke at the Congressional Hunger Center. It also is really hard for me, because even though I’m laid back, when I get an opportunity or achieve something that I think is important, I want people to know it’s important (personal struggle, i mean, we all have our crosses to bear). Of course, to some, this might not be important, but in the end, what is important is that I am passionate about this fellowship and am excited for the opportunity. So… let’s try to get to explaining, shall we?
The full name of the fellowship is the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship and it is under the Congressional Hunger Center in Washington, D.C. I can be referred to as an Emerson Hunger Fellow or Emerson Fellow. I only say this because I told someone that it was with the Congressional Hunger Center, and they started calling me a Congressional Hunger Fellow… but I later found it explicitly states in our manual that we should not refer to ourselves in that manner (I totally have t find that person, and correct them… oops). But back to the topic, the slogan of the CHC is Fighting Hunger by Developing Leaders, which it does domestically and globally through this fellowship, and another called the Micky Leland International Hunger Fellowship. CHC mainly works through on leadership development through these two opportunities, but also keeps a few people on staff to directly work on policy back in DC.
So, more about what the Emerson Hunger Fellowship looks like. Much like the motto of CHC, it trains leaders to DOMESTICALLY fight against HUNGER and POVERTY through SERVICE and POLICY. If you don’t get ANYTHING from this, just remember that line.
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TOO LEGIT!
I’ve been ghost, cause training is REAL and rough, but an amazing experience. About to start the move to Detroit, so I’ll follow with a solid update once things slow down… but until then, check out more Free Emerson Hunger Fellow Swag.
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