This summer, Just Harvests’s staff took on five new additions. We are also now happy to have on board these six dedicated individuals, who bring strong backgrounds in research and service and another burst of new energy.
David C. Blount, Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow
David joins Just Harvest from the Congressional Hunger Center in Washington, DC. He recently completed a year of service with City Year Chicago, an education non-profit dedicated to ending the high school dropout crisis. For the next five months David will work on raising awareness and assessing the role of Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) in providing school meals in Allegheny County school districts. This will entail research and analysis of county and state wide data, outreach efforts with community stakeholders, and assessment reports for future policy recommendations. David originally grew up in Saint Louis, MO and graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 2013 with degrees in sociology and international studies. He focused on urban affairs and policy and also studied political and social formations in El Salvador, China, and Tunisia. David loves food, family, and social justice and is happy to serve here in Pittsburgh.
The following individuals will be working with us in the coming months as interns:
Joshua Berman
Josh joins Just Harvest for the 2014-15 academic year from the University of Pittsburgh’s Masters in Social Work program. His work will focus on our Just Vote voter registration, education, and mobilization work; our Healthy Corner Store campaign development; and creating materials to inform clients about the Affordable Care Act. Josh recently finished his undergraduate degree at Syracuse University is excited to continue learning about macro-level practice and organizing.
Becky Boll
Becky joins Just Harvest for the 2014-15 academic year from the University of Pittsburgh’s Masters in Social Work program. Prior to entering graduate school she spent eight years working at a non-profit organization on the North Side of Pittsburgh serving low-income youth and their families. She loves the mission of Just Harvest and is excited to work towards reducing poverty by connecting folks to SNAP/food stamp benefits and helping to remove barriers. Becky will assist with SNAP applications, attend outreach efforts, provide the Fresh Access program with support at several farmers markets, and participate in our free tax assistance program. She also hopes to engage in policy advocacy to increase the impact of Just Harvest’s various policy campaigns.
Kristen Hochreiter
Kristen first joined the Just Harvest team as a greeter at our Bedford free tax assistance site in the spring of 2014. Now she will continue her work with Just Harvest in her new role as a community organizing intern for the 2014-15 academic year. Kristen is a senior Bachelor of Social Work student at the University of Pittsburgh with interests in macro-level community organizing, global studies, and public policy. During Kristen’s time in Pittsburgh, she has worked closely with the refugee population in the city, which helped to spark her interest in working to alleviate poverty. This year she will be working on tax and SNAP/food stamps outreach, the Witness to Hunger project, and organization and coordination of various volunteer and outreach events related to voter registration and dissemination of information on Just Harvest programs. She is very excited to begin her work with Just Harvest and to collaborate with her dedicated staff members!
Jillian Myers
Jillian is an intern supporting Just Harvest’s Fresh Access program for the remainder of the 2014 market season. She has always loved shopping at farmers markets and supporting the local community. Jillian is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in psychology with a focus on nutrition and is in her last semester at Penn State Greater Allegheny. Originally from Erie she now lives in Mt. Lebanon with her husband and son.
Dawn Marie Smith
Dawn Marie joins Just Harvest for the 2014-15 academic year. She is a senior Bachelor of social work student at the Carlow University College of Leadership and Social Change with interests in public policy, macro-level community organizing, and economic justice. She will be researching TANF reauthorization and Department of Public Welfare recertification policies, developing a tracking system to catalog client document fax problems at DPW and illustrate the need for improvement, contributing to our annual tax season work, and evaluating Just Harvest’s SNAP/food stamp application process and success rates compared to other agencies.
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