EAT Initiative

"Emporia At the Table: Ending Hunger in our Community, or the EAT Initiative, is a collaborative and interdisciplinary effort to combat food insecurity at Emporia State University and in the greater Emporia community. Food insecurity generally refers to a lack of consistent access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. Food insecurity is not just a technical problem, but rather is an adaptive challenge – a difficult issue with no one simple or easy solution. As such, it represents an opportunity to cultivate and enhance students’ adaptive leadership skills, a key component of ESU’s mission, while also making an impact for the common good."

During my time with the EAT Initiative, I was able to conduct original qualitative research with stakeholders in the food system as well as those who are experiencing food insecurity. The population that I primarily focused on was the Hispanic community due to it being one of the largest portions of the population in the Emporia community. I interviewed those who were food insecure as well as those who had the means to make changes related to food insecurity. Following the interviews, I co-facilitated a multi-stakeholder workshop with the Emporia community to identify actions to combat food insecurity. This was the first of many workshops that are to come. I co-facilitated the design of a window exhibit at the Lyon County History Center to showcase our research. I developed skills related to equity and inclusion, learned processes of how to work in teams, and became more competent in new digital workspace channels such as Slack and Trello.

To view our team's final report, please follow this link: Final Report