Eleanore Fuqua

Ellie Fuqua—2015 Fellow

Year: Class of 2017
Majors: International Studies and Economics
Urban Oasis

During high school, I experienced the food system in many different ways – as an employee at my hometown co-op grocery store, a volunteer at a healthy food pantry, an amateur cook in my own kitchen, and a patron of the Saturday morning farmers’ market. But since coming to Macalester, I have felt disconnected from the food I eat each day. Due to the hustle of the school year and the ease of the dining plan, I have given little thought to the food I choose. For the Chuck Green fellowship, I wanted to reclaim this interest. That is why I decided to work at Urban Oasis, a sustainable food center on the East Side of Saint Paul led by Executive Director Tracy Sides. The organization began in 2013, when Urban Oasis was the winning idea in The Saint Paul Foundation’s $1 Million Forever Saint Paul Challenge. Since then, Urban Oasis has begun programming in three main areas – education, community building, and food operations – with the mission to strengthen the local food system and increase access to and enjoyment of sustainably grown, affordable, healthy food.

In my work with Urban Oasis this summer, I focused most of my energy on developing, implementing, and analyzing a food access survey of residents in one neighborhood on the East Side – Dayton’s Bluff. A prior assessment was completed in 2010 and I wanted to determine if and how residents’ relationships with the food system have changed. The survey was administered through conversation – respondents answered questions about where they shopped for food and how satisfied they were with its availability in the Dayton’s Bluff area. I did quite a bit of door knocking myself and organized a volunteer event to collect responses. In the end, we amassed 190 surveys. This information will help guide Urban Oasis’ larger goal of shaping the local food system on the East Side and will be shared with other organizations in the area. We are still in the process of evaluating our findings and identifying next steps, but we hope to do another food access assessment in a year or so after Mississippi Market Natural Food Co-op, opens this fall and after Urban Oasis establishes itself more as a neighborhood presence.

In addition to the survey, I spent some time helping with the Urban Oasis Healthy Meal-Making Program. I conducted follow-up interviews with past participants and edited the children’s curriculum. This allowed me to see the Urban Oasis nutrition philosophy in action. I also worked with Marketing and Communication on a few small assignments. This wide spectrum of projects meant that I got to know most staff members and much of the organization’s work.

I’m so thankful to Urban Oasis and my supervisor, Paris Dunning, for welcoming me into their world. It’s been a wonderful summer at a thoughtful and supportive organization! I would also like to thank those who make the Chuck Green fellowship possible – I feel incredibly lucky to have had the ability to choose for whom and on what I worked this summer without financial constraints. The Chuck Green Fellowship is such a unique and rewarding experience and I’m very grateful to the donors for making it possible. Finally, I am so appreciative of Professor Lavery and the rest of the cohort for their encouragement, entertainment, and many snacks this summer!