Chaleiah Henderson
Capstone Project
Chaleiah completed her capstone project by partnering with The Foundation For Essential Needs. All quotes used below are from Chaleiah's final Capstone presentation.
About FFEN
FFEN is a non-profit organization that provides technical support to over 300 food shelves across Minnesota
Read more about the Foundation for Essential Needs' work here.
What Chaleiah Did
"The first half of my work was data collection for the statewide Survey. Every 2-3 years the Minnesota Food Shelf Survey is conducted to hear from shoppers about their experiences, top foods, barriers and more."
"Once we had the survey results, I was responsible for creating support tools that food shelf leaders could use to influence how they created change after seeing their results. ”
Memorable Experience
"I think the highlight of my year was In May of 2023. I got to visit Washington D.C. for the first time and present at the Anti-Hunger Policy Conference alongside our Executive Director and partners at the University of Minnesota, Extension. We presented a few key results from the survey and highlighted our support tools and changes we've seen since the results went out in March."
Takeaways
"One of the things I learned is the importance of being able to choose your own food and the experiences that are attached with it. Not only that, but the biases attached to someone visiting a food shelf need to be addressed. There are many barriers to accessing food, therefore we shouldn't assume why a food shelf is a necessity for shoppers at food shelves.”
