Introduction

The Learning to End Hunger Initiative is an effort by the New Jersey Higher Education Service Learning Consortium, the NJ Anti-Hunger Coalition, and the Bonner Foundation, to alleviate childhood hunger in the state of New Jersey.  The NJHESL Consortium is composed of over 20 New Jersey public and private colleges and universities. The Initiative is housed in Rutgers’ Civic Engagement and Service Education Partnerships Program and is made possible through the Bonner Foundation in Princeton.

The Learning to End Hunger Initiative will pull together the student volunteer and service learning resources of New Jersey colleges and universities to support the efforts of the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition’s “Campaign to End Childhood Hunger by 2015” through increased participation in federally-funded nutrition programs and access to healthy foods.

Lead People and Organizations 

• Rutgers University

• Isabel Nazario, Rutgers University — email: inazario@rci.rutgers.edu   |  phone: 732.932.4391
• Isabel Nazario, appointed in September 2004, is the Associate Vice President for Academic and Public Partnerships in the Arts and Humanities at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Prior to this appointment she was the executive director of the Office for Intercultural Initiatives and the founding director of the Center for Latino Arts and Culture at Rutgers.  As Associate Vice President, Nazario is responsible for developing and supporting faculty led co-curricular arts and humanities projects, community-service learning programs, and public scholarship programs that lead to innovative partnerships between Rutgers and local, state, national, and international organizations. These initiatives include the Civic Engagement and Service Education Partnerships Program, the Institute for Women & Art, New Jersey Leaders of Tomorrow Legislative Internship Program, the Transcultural New Jersey Arts and Education Pilot Program, the Rutgers Undergraduate Community Service Research Fellows, and the Transcultural New Jersey Public Service Arts Program.
• Amy Michael, Rutgers University —  email: amymic@rci.rutgers.edu   |  phone: 732.932.8660
• Amy Michael, Senior Program Corrdinator, Office of the Associate Vice President for Academic and Public Partnerships in the Arts and Humanities. She oversees the administration of the Civic Engagement and Service

  Education Partnerships Program.  She also works with the Academic Director of the CESEP program to develop curricular materials related to civic engagement, assists faculty to integrate service learning into their teaching, and leads students through a civic pathway of development.  She is also the Co-Director of the Rutgers Bonner Leader Program and is currently serving as the Chair of the New Jersey Higher Education Service Learning Consortium.

• Learning to End Hunger AmeriCorps Fellows

          2010-2011

• Cynthia L. Douglas 
• Cynthia Douglas is a graduate of Rutgers University – New Brunswick with a baccalaureate degree in English/Creative Writing and Africana Studies. As a student at Rutgers, she was very active as a student leader serving in many multicultural settings. Her concern from low resource communities is what drove her to apply for the AmeriCorps public service program.  

          Founding Fellows 2009 - 2010

• Heesun Cho
• Heesun Cho began her service as a Bonner Leader Coordinator at Middlesex County College, and served as the Special Assistant to the President at the Princeton-based Bonner Foundation. During her undergraduate years at Rutgers University, Heesun volunteered for Rock the Vote and Common Cause, organizing college students to lobby for the "Pay to Play" bill in New Jersey. When the bill passed in 2005, she realized that everyday citizens had the power and the responsibility to make their communities safer, healthier, and more empowered. In 2010, Heesun developed the LTEH Food Stamp Enrollment Project, which currently includes the participation of 7 college campuses, in 5 Counties state wide.  With the leadership of key institutions, The Bonner Foundation, and the N.J. Anti-Hunger Coalition, Heesun was able to implement the project across the state, building partnerships with community organizations and The NJ Boards of Social Servies. Heesun would like to pursue her Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and embark on her lifelong passion for social justice and youth ministry.
• Dimitrios Dogas
• Dimitrios Dogas attended Rutgers University and holds his undergraduate degree in English with a minor in Sociology.  He is currently receiving his M.A. in TESOL at Columbia University.  He lived in Athens, Greece in 2008 and has a strong interest in world cultures and travel.  He has a genuine passion for meeting new people, and looks forward to helping others both directly and indirectly through his 1,700 AmeriCorps hours in the 2009 year.  Dimitrios is helping to pilot the Learning to End Hunger Campaign's Food Stamp Enrollment Project and is meeting with institutions of higher education in an attempt to ascertain what each school is doing regarding hunger issues on each campus around New Jersey. 
• Beth Feehan
• Beth Feehan is a graduate of Rutgers University School of Communications and Information Sciences with a degree in Journalism and Media Studies. She graduated from and The French Culinary Institute in New York where she obtained a Degree in Culinary Arts. She has worked as both a chef and caterer. She is a co-founder of the West Windsor Community Farmers Market, an outdoor seasonal farmers market open from May to October. Most recently, she helped to found the New Jersey Farm to School Network, an advocacy organization that seeks to improve school lunches by assisting school districts in New Jersey with this process through training, local sourcing and promoting school gardens. 

• Bonner Foundation 

• Christen Foell, Bonner Foundation —  email: cfoell@bonner.org    |  phone: 609.924.6663
• Christen Foell serves as the Program Director for the Bonner Foundation.  In this role, she oversees both the National and New Jersey Bonner Leader Programs.  Christen earned a BA in Communication Studies from Westmont College and a Master of Public Administration from Seton Hall University.  Prior to joining the staff of the Foundation, Christen worked in program and volunteer management for Special Olympics Southern California. 
• Rebecca Grinstead, Bonner Foundation - email: rgrinstead@bonner.org | phone:  609.924.6663  
• Rebecca Grinstead has completed one year of a two year fellowship with the Bonner Foundation in Princeton New Jersey, working as a Program Associate for the New Jersey AmeriCorps Bonner Leader Program.  After graduating from Gettysburg College with a degree in Political Science, Rebecca served with New Jersey Public Interest Research Group's New Jersey Community Water Watch Program as a 1700 hr AmeriCorps Member, organizing community service projects at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.  At the Bonner Foundation, Rebecca works on program and administrative support for the Bonner Foundation's AmeriCorps State grant in New Jersey, and is very excited about being on the management team for the New Jersey Learning to End Hunger Fellows.

Programs 

• Campus Programs

• Learning to End Hunger Campaign — Food Stamp Outreach Program
• Rutgers Service-learning students develop Social Action Projects-Food Stamp Program

• Other Programs

• New Jersey Farm to School Network -- Farm to School in New Jersey

• NJ Anti-Hunger Coalition — Every Child, Every Day: Campaign to End Childhood Hunger 

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