SHECP Talks

Expertise in the Field: Blue Ridge Area Food Bank

This week on SHECP Talks we interview Tyler Herman, Director of Partner Engagement, and Robin Swecker, relationship manager, from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank (BRAFB). They discuss some of the challenges that BRAFB and other organizations face and how they use “people first language” to fight these difficulties.
 
Herman says that, when picturing food insecurity, the public often picture people missing meals or starving. While that type of food insecurity is devastating it is rare in the United States. Instead, people are often able to access cheap, unhealthy food through chain retailers. Herman discusses why it’s important to shift language from food insecurity to nutritional insecurity to combat false perceptions.
 
Our guests also discuss some of the stigma associated with getting food from a pantry or other similar organization. By utilizing “people first” language, this stigma is broken down. Many people, especially from older generations, have been paying into the system their whole lives. People first language ensures that these people can maintain their sense of pride while taking advantage of the resources available for them.
 
Finally, Herman concludes the discussion by explaining why people first language is critical to BRAFB’s mission. “When we start labelling groups or labelling people, we don’t see them for who they are as individuals, what their unique strengths, assets are, what they bring to the table,” says Herman. “Yes, it’s easier for our brain to create blankets and blanket language, but in that we don’t see the individual. Our solutions have also become blanket approaches. We need to shift to an equity lens, meeting that individual where they are… to actually get at the solutions we were trying to get at.”
 
For further information:
The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank serves 25 counties throughout Virginia in urban and rural communities. Their website can be found here.
The healthy eating guidelines from the supporting wellness pantries can be found here.
Feeding America — https://www.feedingamerica.org/partner-resource-page
 
Last November, SHECP hosted a Springboard series event to discuss how the language surrounding poverty influences and complicates our daily work and is addressed in various fields of study. Click here to watch the recording and learn more about the panelists. This podcast extends this discussion from the classroom to discussion happening with community partners and individuals these partners are hoping to reach.

Intern Insights: Noah Cady, VMI

In this episode of SHECP Talks, Noah Cady, a first-class (or Senior to the rest of us) at the Virginia Military Institute, discusses his 2022 internship with the Food Bank of South Jersey.
 
The Food Bank of South Jersey is a massive operation with over 200 agency partners, programs of their own and a relatively large advocacy and education arm. Noah talks about his work with the agency’s health and nutrition programming, bringing in his “outsider” perspective, and his deepened understanding of the importance of strong, respectful relationships for impactful community programming.
 
Later in the episode, Noah talks about waking up to the email telling him that his summer internship was going to be with the Food Bank of South Jersey and being a little confused. Although he thought he would be in a medical clinic, he went into his placement with an open mind. Looking back, he reflected that it was the perfect internship to prepare him to be a creative physician and strong patient advocate down the road - “You aren’t here to totally learn about your career. You are here to learn about the people you are going to serve, and you are going to learn about people in general...It is a skill you’ve got to learn.”
 
His advice for students considering a SHECP Internship: “Just go for it! I don’t think you can get a better experience of where you get dropped into a community and [gain friends for life].”
 
 
For more information about topics Noah discusses:
Food Bank of South Jersey – The Food Bank of South Jersey (FBSJ) exists to provide an immediate solution to the urgent problem of hunger by providing food to people in need, teaching them to eat nutritiously, and helping them to find sustainable ways to improve their lives. FBSJ services Burlington County, Camden County, Gloucester County and Salem County. We remain the urgent solution these residents turn to when they are hungry and can’t afford to buy food. Through innovation and smart hunger-relief programming, the Food Bank has distributed over 150 million pounds of food, served more than one million fresh, nutritious meals to vulnerable children and provided tens of thousands of food boxes filled with healthy groceries to seniors. https://foodbanksj.org
Professional Insights event with Dr. Kelli Jarrell – Dr. Kelli Jarrell, a SHECP alum, talks about her work as a Social Emergency Medicine fellow, her development of the Social Emergency Medicine/Public Health Interest Group, and how her experience as a SHECP Intern impacted her professional life. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/8IKKQOQWAnQ

Expertise in the Field: Gerald ”Bo” King

This summer SHECP hosted several events with innovative and dynamic leaders doing anti-poverty work. On this episode of SHECP Talks we will listen in on a talk SHECP’s director had with Gerald “Bo” King, Federal Public Defender and Chief of the Fourth Circuit Capital Habeas Unit.
 
King begins by explaining what capital habeas law is. Next, he explains how he sees poverty and the criminal justice system intersect during capital trials. “The death penalty is a product of poverty,” King says. “Death sentences depend enormously on the lack of funding for defendants facing death sentence or even the imposition of death sentences. States that put resources into capital defense, have very few death sentences. They are really intertwined.”
 
King also discusses trends in capital trials that he has seen throughout his career, specifically, whether capital trials and executions are becoming more frequent. King’s work has somewhat transformed over the years from being primarily rhetorical to telling the story of his clients. By painting a complete picture of his client’s lives he helps the jury understand what led the client to a crime that, at first, might seem inexplicable.
 
Finally, King takes questions from students and concludes his talk by discussing how he maintains his hope, as a capital defender, despite the odds often seeming difficult to overcome. “There are inspirations and sources of hope everywhere, not hoping is just not an option,” King says.
 
For further information:
David Shipler book: The Working Poor
Gilbert King book: Devil in the Grove
Center for Death Penalty Litigation

Faculty Voices: Dr. Rachel Terman, Ohio University

On this episode of SHECP talks we are joined by Dr. Rachel Terman, Associate Professor of Sociology at Ohio University. Dr. Terman joins us to discuss her class, Sociology of Appalachia, which covers everything from the correct pronunciation of Appalachia (app-ah-lah-cha or app-ah-lay-cha) to the economic history, and cultural ideas revolving around the region.
 
Terman works with Little Cities of Black Diamond, a nonprofit that represents a collection of former coal mining communities. Little Cities of Black Diamond seeks to preserve the history and culture of Appalachia through different events and programming. Terman’s students get involved with this organization and learn about the difference an organization can make in the communities it serves.
 
Terman discusses the three questions she hopes her students can answer at the end of the course. “What is Appalachia? Who are Appalachians? and so what?” says Terman, “They sound a little simplistic at first but I orient content to answer each of those questions.”
 
Finally, Terman describes some of her research, which revolves around the identities of Appalachian people. Terman’s research, particularly focused on Intergenerational Identities in recent years, points to a trend of younger generations continuing the work that older generations started.

Faculty Voices: Dr. Ellen Prusinski, Centre College

On this episode of SHECP Talks, we speak with Dr. Ellen Prusinski, Associate Professor of Education at Centre College, about her experience both in the classroom and outside of it, as a researcher.
 
Dr. Prusinski discusses the class she teaches now, “Education Policy and Social Change”, which examines the question: does education policy drive social change? Prusinski says “I think the class raises some really foundational questions about how we expect schools and education to be spaces that create more equity in our society and whether or not we have the policies to support that big social goal.”
 
She also talks about her role as coordinator of Engaged and Experiential Learning, and how that role affects the classes she teaches. Finally, she discusses her current research and how it was sparked by a student project that wanted to look at “childcare deserts”, regions that have far more young children than they have space in childcare.