Meet Emerson Fellow Elaine Zhang!
After applying for a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship earlier in the year, Seven Valleys Health Coalition received the exciting news that we were selected to be a field site for an Emerson Fellow. Field sties are locations that help provide an environment to train and inspire Emerson Fellows in the movement to end hunger and poverty in the United States through first-hand experience.
Fast forward to today, and we are thrilled to introduce you to Elaine Zhang, our very own Emerson Fellow, who will be assisting Seven Valleys Food Rescue and the Cortland Food Project by collecting stories about local food insecurity and help develop outreach strategies for the next six months.
Elaine’s background in language and food is key in helping us have meaningful conversations and to capture the stories that are often untold when it comes to food access in our community. Elaine recently graduated magna cum laude from UCLA while majoring in Linguistics and Asian Languages and Cultures and minoring in Food Studies and Environmental Systems and Society. Her interest in food security deepened as a result of working with the community gardens on campus, serving as a Teaching Assistant for an undergraduate course on urban agriculture, volunteering as a Master Gardener of Los Angeles County, and improving models of sustainable food systems as a Food Security Intern at the Center for Sustainable Development in The Bahamas. After returning to her hometown of Stockton, California, Elaine started a nonprofit organization called Beyond Good Intent that creates opportunities for folks to go beyond their good intentions and create meaningful change in their communities.
Beyond Good Intent was founded in America's Most Diverse City, Stockton, California, and is led by a team of young women of color and their mission is to empower community members to become agents of positive change.
If you see Elaine out in the community, we hope that you will give her a warm welcome and thank her for the work that she will accomplish during her time at Seven Valleys Health Coalition and in the Cortland area!