Torisa Johnson
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
UROP Fellowship: Detroit Community-Engaged Research Program
Research Mentor(s): Devita Davison (FoodLab), Quincy Jones (ONA)
FoodLab Detroit, Osborn Neighborhood Alliance
Presentation Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 | DCERP Showcase
Authors: Torisa Johnson
Abstract
Hi, my name is Torisa Johnson and I am a senior majoring in Sociology and African American studies.
I worked with both FoodLab Detroit and Osborn Neighborhood Alliance. FoodLab is an organization that assists black food entrepreneurs with opening their businesses, while Osborn Neighborhood Alliance focuses on neighborhood revitalization efforts in lower-income neighborhoods on Detroit’s northeast side. At FoodLab, I helped evaluate a fellowship program for black food entrepreneurs that focuses on helping them overcome the biggest barriers to their success: credit, trust, and wealth. Along with another DCERP fellow, Mackenzie Hewitt, I conducted interviews of all the fellows. At Osborn Neighborhood Alliance, my main tasks included creating a handbook for the newly founded organization and developing guidelines for a youth-re-entry program post Covid-19. Both projects were extremely rewarding to me because the work I completed is prevalent in the field of human resource management, a career interest of mine. Both the creation of the handbook and conduction of interviews was great preparation for this career path. Being in DCERP has been a much different experience than I imagined. I imagined of course being able to gain great experience and become a part of a community, but did not anticipate being able to gain so much knowledge in my career field of interest and in the ways that I did, and for that I am very grateful.
Research Disciplines
Social Sciences, Community-Engaged
