Recent Projects
Relationships with my clients are built on a shared commitment
to pursuing health equity and social justice in our work.
Supporting Food is Medicine with Illinois’ Section 1115 Demonstration Extension
I’ve been working closely with local and national Food is Medicine experts to guide the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and Medicaid managed care organizations as they prepare to cover new health related social needs, including food and nutrition, under Illinois’ 1115 waiver extension.
Modeled after groundbreaking work in states like California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, our team advocated for the inclusion of Food is Medicine interventions in the waiver to better support eligible Medicaid patients who are experiencing food insecurity and chronic illness.
As the state now prepares for implementation of the waiver, we are looking to the expertise of socially disadvantaged growers, producers, and values-aligned small businesses who can guide and partner with Medicaid managed care organizations and healthcare systems to deliver food is medicine programs to patients.
Designing Nutrition Programs for Chicago Food Pantry
Partnering with a Chicago-based food pantry, I designed and implemented a data collection and evaluation project.
This grassroots initiative gathered input from pantry guests to inform future nutrition education programming. Using community co-design principles, I partnered with staff, volunteers and guests to develop a qualitative data project over a six-month period. Surveys and focus groups were led by volunteers who had pre-existing relationships with guests and could meet them during pantry pick-up times.
Our data collection efforts resulted in over 100 survey responses in five different languages (English, Spanish, Polish, Mandarin, and Russian) and six focus groups in Spanish and English. We also collected targeted surveys from elderly guests and volunteers.
I carried out data analysis using phenomenological methodology. Themes that emerged pertained to affirming guests’ needs and desires, improving accessibility, honoring autonomy, preserving cultural food traditions, centering community care, educating on connections between nutrition and health, and improving knowledge of SNAP and WIC eligibility.
A report with findings was prepared for pantry leadership to use in pursuing future funding opportunities and designing nutrition education programming. Flyers with results were also prepared for guests to learn about the results of the study.
Pursuing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Nursing
I partnered with a local university to support implementation of their diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plan in their college of nursing.
Within the school’s first year of implementation, we focused on building a foundation for students, faculty, and staff that will serve as a bedrock for our work on culture and systems change in years to come.
Our short-term goal was to create an interdisciplinary team of leaders and to cultivate resources that build the capacity of these leaders to steward diversity, equity, and inclusion in their respective areas of work. We also began to identify different levers and power structures across the school of nursing that were critical to act upon as they strive to make meaningful and lasting changes. Throughout each of these phases of work, we thoroughly evaluated our progress and continued to evolve as implementation unfolded.