Creating Change with the Community Advocates Program
If we expect change to happen, people with lived experience must be part of the process of building and sustaining hunger-free communities.
The Food Bank of the Southern Tier’s Community Advocates Program builds leadership skills of people who have experienced financial hardship and food insecurity so they can raise their voices in the work to end hunger.
What is the Community Advocates Program?
Graduates of the Community Advocates Program are equipped to share their stories and change the narrative about people who experience financial hardships, and to illustrate the complexities of poverty and food insecurity in the United States.
The Community Advocates Program began as the Speakers Bureau in 2016. Since then, Community Advocates have:
- Aided in research with local colleges
- Participated in various community boards and committees
- Helped execute community food security programs
- Visited elected officials in both Albany and Washington DC
- Educated many public and private groups about their experiences with food insecurity and financial hardship
Do You Have Experience with Food Insecurity? Become a Community Advocate!
We are seeking the leadership and expertise of those with lived experience of hunger or poverty, especially those whose voices are underrepresented in the hunger relief movement. We’re looking for folks from all walks of life!
Community Advocates are problem-solvers who share their experience and information about poverty and food insecurity with their community and elected officials. As a Community Advocate in training, you’ll:
- Learn about the root causes of hunger in the Southern Tier
- Build strong relationships in their community
- Develop their personal narrative to move others to action
- Network and engage with anti-hunger leaders and elected officials through political advocacy
If you’re interested in our spring training program, fill out the application below.
Meet the Speakers
Meet the Speakers
Debra Boyce-Larrier
Dee offers perspective on life in prison and life after prison. She shares her insight on how poverty and incarceration are intertwined. Dee participated in college courses while serving her sentence. She was working on medical assistant certification but a series of retinal strokes left her disabled and led to her dependence on assistance programs. This mother of six grown children hopes to start a support group for formerly-incarcerated women.
Expertise:
- How poverty and incarceration are connected
- Misconceptions about incarcerated people
- The realities of life after prison
Anne Lee
Anne runs a custom butcher shop she opened with her husband after their family dairy farm was no longer viable a couple of years ago due to the plummeting price of milk. She is a mother of five and a fierce advocate for both her family and the farming community. She has witnessed the problems that occur when people with lived experience in an issue are not included at the decision-making table and she is passionate about connecting small farmers and meat producers with the emergency food network.
Jessica Northrup
Jessica is a small business owner, mother to three children, and grandmother to one. Her family had not experienced much food insecurity in the past, but when Covid-19 hit, they found themselves without adequate food. She ended up visiting a Mobile Food Pantry and invited others in her community to come, too. Soon, she and her sister were coordinating to make sure many families in her community got the food resources they needed. Jessica is passionate about providing a helping hand to individuals and families who “slip through the cracks” of our traditional social safety net.
Dawn Tallett
Dawn is a survivor of abuse and single mother to a child with special needs. With the help of her mother and her faith, Dawn works to overcome her struggles and work toward her personal and professional goals. With strength and humor, she shares her winding path to achieve her dreams while working to beat poverty.
Expertise:
- Why poverty persists despite following “the rules” for success
- How poverty forces people to stay in difficult situations
- Why it’s difficult for people receiving benefits to get off them
Charles Thomas
Charles Thomas is a US Army veteran and addiction survivor living in Bath, NY with his wife, Ruth. While in the service, he witnessed things that exacerbated his addiction. Charles found support in Narcotics Anonymous and has now been clean for 21 years. He has four children, 15 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He is an avid singer, and is a member of the Praise and Worship Team at Bath Baptist Church. He is an avid jokester and loves to make people laugh. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Office of the Aging for Steuben County.
Expertise:
- Bringing together community members to support one another
- Building a new life after overcoming a big challenge
Schedule a Community Advocate as a Speaker
Speakers can discuss the broader topics of hunger and food insecurity in the Southern Tier, as well as their own specific areas of expertise. Speakers can address a large or small group in settings such as a panel, interview, presentation, community cafe, event, or a less formal talk.
View speaker profiles below and contact the Food Bank to get more information about the speaker, including availability and stipend cost.
Want to host a Speaker? Interested in facilitating a Community Advocates Training class or starting your own program?
