First post! It’s been an interesting first week. I was a little surprised to find out that I am the only person at my physical office working for Food System Economic Partnership (my placement)– everyone else is involved in MSU Extension, which FSEP is involved in, but no one else in the office works directly with FSEP. My supervisor works at his office, located in Jackson, MI, and Ann Arbor. It’s been a little bit difficult doing my work without him here, but I met with him twice in person in the beginning and we have been emailing and talking on the phone since. Sometimes I’m worried that I ask too many questions, but I’ve been trying to assure myself that the nature of my research is a bit confusing and it’s normal to not totally understand what’s expected of me without asking.
So far, my research has been really interesting. The goal of the organization I work for, FSEP, is to figure out what is necessary to accelerate the pace of growth within the local food system, and assist other organizations in the area with their similar pursuits. Next week, I will be interviewing the leaders of a few of these different organizations, so this week I’m online and working on getting an idea of what they’re doing, what they might need, while also doing research about the food system and food-related policies in Detroit. I took a couple days off this week to visit some friends in New York, so I’ve been working extra hard on the research to make up for lost time. Tonight, I’m going to a general meeting for the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, one of the organizations I might be talking to; I’m a little nervous just because I really have no idea what to expect.
The environment in my office is a little weird; I think some people are kind of confused about what my role is, and aren’t really familiar with FSEP at all. The only other people working in the office (which is really nice and located right outside the Eastern Market; I’ve been walking around/eating during breaks) are 5 or 6 older ladies who I’ve become friends with, who all come at different times. They’re involved in a nutrition education program where they go to different Detroit Public Schools and talk to the students about health and nutrition, and they do cooking demonstrations; next week, I’m going with Dorothy to help her out with an outing. I actually think it might be an interesting thing to discuss with the organizations I’ll be working with, who are all interested in spreading nutritional knowledge in the city.
