CONGRESSIONAL HUNGER CENTER - Key Persons
Aedan Raleigh, from Warwick, New York, is a recent graduate of Siena College where she studied economics and community development. In her work as a Bonner Service Leader, she collaborated with organizations including, the Boys and Girls Club of Albany, Habitat for Humanity of the Capital District, and the Hunger Action Network, on various community development projects, specifically focused on food security. Aedan also studied abroad twice in her undergraduate career, for one semester in Lyon, France, and for another semester in Jaipur, India. She is passionate about international development, sustainability, and issues of inequality. Aedan will be interning with the Congressional Hunger Center's Leland Fellowship Program, where she hopes to learn more about policy and advocacy in global development, and the best leadership practices in this field.
Alaine Johnson graduated with her Master's at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies focusing on Development, Climate, and Sustainability in South and Southeast Asia. As an agrarian scholar, her work focuses on organic agri-food systems, conservation, and regenerative agriculture. Alaine grew up in Seattle and then lived overseas for 12 years in Singapore, India, Indonesia, Eswatini, and Thailand, and worked in carbon accounting, coffee production and research, and before that in a tech startup and as a journalist. She's part of the second graduating class of Yale-NUS College in Singapore, where she majored in environmental science, and before that she was a Shelby Davis Scholar at the United World College of Southern Africa. Fun fact: her pandemic hobby was endurance cycling and she cycled 180km in a day!
Angela is a current Ph.D. student at USC studying Population, Health. and Place. Her research centers around making food environments in low-income, BIPOC neighborhoods more just, healthy, and sustainable. As a Research Assistant with the Southern California Center for Latino Health, Angela is interested in working on research that highlights and addresses disparities in food access, nutrition security, and chronic health outcomes for Latine populations. Angela is an alum of the 29th Class of Emerson Hunger Fellows. As a fellow, she was placed at Just Harvest in Pittsburgh and The Brookings Institution. In 2021, Angela graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Mathematics of Computation and a minor in Environmental Systems.
Job Titles:
- Program and Operations Coordinator
Asma joined the Congressional Hunger Center in February 2024 as the Programs and Operations Coordinator. In this role, she works closely with the executive leadership team to provide coordination for multiple workstreams. Her main responsibility is supporting the Mickey Leland International Fellowship Program with recruitment of candidates and facilitating the successful execution of the program's goals. Asma holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from George Mason University and has multiple years of experience in project management. Most recently she worked with nonprofits focused on refugee resettlement and is a very passionate advocate for providing resources to those facing adversity.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Co - Founder of Global School Leaders
Azad Oommen is the co-founder of Global School Leaders (GSL), a non-profit that develops effective school leadership to improve learning of students from marginalized communities around the world. GSL currently works with partners in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Kenya and Malaysia to implement school leader development programs. He was the founding Executive Director of the Central Square Foundation, an India-based venture philanthropy fund that invests in systemic reforms to improve the quality of student learning. He has worked extensively to promote young leaders, having run leadership development programs for the American India Foundation in India, City Year in South Africa, and the Congressional Hunger Center in the US. He serves on the board of the Impact Innovators and Entrepreneurs Foundation (Villgro US), the Alum Council of the Congressional Hunger Center, and is an Advisor to the Central Square Foundation and Saarthi in India. Azad has a Masters degree in Public Affairs from the Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs and a Bachelors degree in International Economics from Georgetown University.
Bapu Vaitla worked as a food security researcher in highland Ethiopia. His work focused on examining the causes of chronic hunger in various livelihood zones throughout the country, including the agriculturally important coffee exporting areas of the southwest, as well as the subsistence cropping systems of northern Ethiopia, which historically have been the epicenter of famines. The research also critically analyzed the effectiveness of the new Ethiopian government food security policy, including the Productive Safety Nets Program, a public works initiative employing over nine million poor households this year.
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- Advocacy Officer, Helen Keller International
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- Senior Policy Associate, Food and Nutrition Services, American Public Human Services Association ( APHSA )
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- Member of the Board
- President, AARP Foundation
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- Member of the Board
- Member of Congress ( Retired ), Distinguished Professor at National Defense University
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- Internships and Recruitment Coordinator
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- Member of the Board
- Senior Policy Advisor, OFW Law
Farah Ahmad graduated from The Friedman School at Tufts University and Tufts University School of Medicine in 2020 with an MS/ MPH in Public Health Nutrition. For her Master's of Science Internship, Farah joined the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) as a Tisch International Nutrition Fellow. While at the USDA Farah, collaborated with McGovern-Dole analysts and the FAS nutrition team to review Local and Regional Food Aid Procurement Program (LRP) proposals. Prior to attending graduate school, Farah worked at Rise Against Hunger New England as a Community Engagement Coordinator. At Rise Against Hunger Farah trained and coached volunteers to package over 250,000 meals for international and emergency hunger relief. Prior to becoming a Leland Fellow, Farah volunteered as an AmeriCorps VISTA and worked with domestic non-profits that prioritize nutrition quality over caloric intake and Food is Medicine initiatives. Farah holds a BS in Environmental Science from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Job Titles:
- Market Analyst for the Cooperative Development Program Philippines
Felipe Cook was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, at 30 below. He later graduated from the University of New Mexico with a BA in Political Science and included a year of international policy studies at the University of Leeds, U.K. Felipe worked in education in the Teach For America Phoenix Cohort teaching science and mathematics to students and as an agricultural extension agent in Senegal with the Peace Corps. Upon returning stateside, he worked as a forestry technician in Mammoth Lakes, California, with the US Forest Service. Most recently, he worked as a programmer and data analyst for avionic and unemployment services in New Mexico. Felipe's primary interests are at the intersection of poverty reduction, climate change, and food security.
Ivan Ruiz-Hernandez is from Atlanta, Georgia, and currently attends the University of Georgia in Athens, studying International Affairs and Horticulture. At UGA, Ivan is a Richard B. Russell Security Leadership Fellow, is involved in the Latin American Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, and is an Honors Policy Scholar who has written a white paper on agricultural market access in middle-income states for subsistence and smallholder farmers. Ivan is interested in agricultural data analysis and policy that facilitates global market access for smallholder farmers. This summer, he hopes to improve his technical skills so that he can better prepare for future agriculture and development research.
Jessi Russell is a recent graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut where they studied English and Political Science. They were raised by their grandmother in East Tennessee. As a person who grew up in severe poverty, Jessi values the expertise and leadership of people who have faced hunger and homelesness. It is Jessi's personal project to confront anti-blackness in poor white and rural communities. Currently, Jessi is acting as both Campaign Manager and Accountant for the First Generation, Low-Income (FGLI) Wesleyan Student GoFundMe that launched on March 16th with the goal of placing money directly into the hands of students at-risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This summer, Jessi hopes to study the intersections and disparities between the poverty felt by poor whites in rural Appalachia and black, brown and immigrant communities in the city.
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- Member of the Board
- Professor of Practice, Hamline University / Hunger Center Board Secretary
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- Master of Public Administration Candidate, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Washington
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- Student, Brown University
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- Member of the Board
- Principal at KCE Public Affairs Associates, Hunger Center Board Vice Chair
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- Member of the Board
- Chief of Staff, World Food Program USA / Hunger Center Board Chair
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- Member of the Board
- President and CEO at FMI: the Food Industry Association
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- Partnership & Outreach Manager
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- Food Programs Coordinator, Oberlin Community Services
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- Member of the Board
- Senior Fellow at the Food Research & Action Center
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- Public Health Analyst, Health Resources and Services Administration
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- Power of Nutrition Research Project Coordinator
Maria Wrabel holds an MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from the London School of Economics and an MS in Food and Nutrition Policies and Programs from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. While in graduate school, she focused on multi-sectoral programs addressing to food insecurity and undernutrition in humanitarian contexts. As part of her degree she completed an internship with Action Against Hunger in northeast Nigeria where she coordinated an effectiveness and sustainability study of a community-led WASH program throughout Yobe State. While at Tufts she worked as a research assistant with the Feinstein International Center, supporting case studies of the challenges and constraints of information and analysis in classifying food insecurity and declaring famine. She also managed the Research Engagement on Food Interventions for Nutritional Effectiveness (REFINE) project of the USAID/FFP Food Aid Quality Review (FAQR). Prior to beginning the Leland Fellowship, she worked as an assessment officer with the REACH Initiative in Iraq, leading research to inform the cash and livelihoods responses of humanitarian actors. Originally from Connecticut, Maria holds a BA in Global Development Studies from Stetson University.
Marisa Nowicki is from McKinney, Texas. She has a Bachelor of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of North Texas. In addition, Marisa has a Master's in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University. In graduate school, she completed a capstone client project for 412 Food Rescue, which resulted in a comprehensive, replicable model to reduce food waste and improve food security in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Outside of the classroom, Marisa has work experience with the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Department of State, and Bioversity International. Marisa aspires to have a career where she applies behavioral science to major global issues, such as global governance, food security, and poverty alleviation.
Matt graduated from Duke University in May of 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy.
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- Food Justice Researcher & Policy Advocate, Alum Council Co - Chair
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- Program Coordinator, Halcyon
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- Senior Officer, Global Green Growth Institute
In 1983, U.S. Representatives Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.), Mickey Leland (D-Texas) and Tony Hall (D-Ohio) formed the House Select Committee on Hunger to find sustainable solutions to national and international hunger and poverty. Rep. Leland chaired the committee until his death during a famine relief mission to the Horn of Africa in 1989.
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- Process Innovation Project Associate, American Public Human Services Association ( APHSA )
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- Student, University of Massachusetts Amherst
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- Member of the Board
- President & CEO, Book Trust
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- Member of the Board
- Principal at Athira Solutions, Hunger Center Board Treasurer
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- Senior Research Coordinator, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
Sarah King holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from the University of Washington and a Master of Public Health in Global Health from Boston University with an emphasis on managing disasters and complex emergencies. Her Master's thesis examined unconditional cash transfers as a substitute for standard emergency feeding programs. Sarah's experience includes developing regional emergency response plans for the City of Cambridge, MA, overseeing malnutrition programming in Ghana, surveying HIV knowledge in Uganda and supporting Save the Children's Emergency Health and Nutrition team. Sarah also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal. She supported the country's ongoing maternal and child health programming by aiding in various health assessments, nutrition programming, vaccination campaigns, malnutrition screenings and health education trainings. Prior to joining the Leland Fellowship, Sarah worked at BRAC USA providing program and grant management support to BRAC's health programs in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda. She collaborated with in-country teams to design health programs focusing on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, offering technical assistance in the field as needed. Sarah was motivated to join the Leland Fellowship by her desire to explore the intersections between nutrition, food security and culture in crisis settings; and to create programming and policies that support culturally appropriate and nutritionally dense solutions.
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- Program Associate, Emerson National Hunger Fellowship
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- Manager, Mickey Leland International Fellowship
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- Director, Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship
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- Member of the Board
- Senior Vice President, WE Communications
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- Policy Associate, GRACE / End Child Poverty in California
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- Senior Manager, Communications and Engagement