This is what Brenda is doing – Detroit Community-Engaged Research Program

This is what Brenda is doing

My experience has been great so far and I really look forward to the rest of the summer. I honestly appreciate the leniency in things such as dress code or being able to work from home on certain days. I still need to get ready and leave as if I was going to the office and i’ll even work in the same building. I’m just more productive when I act like i’m heading to work, I would utilize working in my pajamas if I could still be as productive at home. It is nice to know I can walk to a coffee shop or somewhere else to change it up on certain days of the week. I have confirmed to myself that as much as I like structure to an extent I would much rather prefer more leniency.

I will be working with Detroit Food Academy (DFA) which is actually an organization that I was in all throughout high school. Detroit Food Academy is a nonprofit that teaches leadership through cooking and entrepreneurship throughout many middle and high schools across the city. You learn some of the necessary cooking skills such as using knives and they focus more on cooking healthier meals. You learn about issues with food injustice (e.g. food deserts). Students get to make their own product to sell and learn about food entrepreneurship. When teaching about food businesses DFA focuses on the triple bottom line: People, Planet, Profit. The triple bottom line is a way to run a business that focuses on the importance on how people and the environment are impacted, profit alone is not the main priority. I hope that made sense.

I will mostly be working on the newsletter, submitting surveys an attendance, and the living wall. The living wall is a daily poster board that is reflects each day so it will have pictures and other major things that happened, it’s very crafty but I will not work on that daily until July once the summer program starts. It is something that they did not do while I was in the program so it is completely new for me. For the past week I have been working on researching how other nonprofits write their newsletters (which I will eventually write DFA’s newsletter) and submitting end of year surveys. I like it for now but I am looking forward to when the summer leadership program starts because I will get the chance to move around more.

I don’t know what I am doing in this picture

2 thoughts on “This is what Brenda is doing”

  1. Don'aa Williams

    Hi Brenda,

    Detroit Food Academy sounds like a great organization for teenagers. The non-profit organization that I work for partners with different organizations to provide kids with cooking classes. I think these skills are very valuable. I also agree with you about working from home, because I think I am more productive at the office.

  2. Adam Philip Gilmour

    Your summer with Detroit Food Academy sounds so exciting! Working on the Daily Wall is something that will really give you the opportunity to infuse creativity into your work schedule. It’s also awesome to hear how much the flexible nature of working with DFA is a plus for you. I totally get the need to treat everyday like you’re going to the office though. I couldn’t work in pajamas either.

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