Leading Food Dignity: Why Us?

Together, Christine Porter, Gayle Woodsum, and Monica Hargraves led the action and research project called Food Dignity to its close, seven years after it began in 2011. Though playing this role could not be a surprise for Christine, who was principal investigator, the three of us doing it together was not part of the original leadership plan. In this three-voiced essay, we aim to answer the question, “Why us?” Monica For me, the answer to that question is rooted in how the project opened my eyes, challenged my professional identity, and is still rewriting my sense of self. No other work project has ever made me as distressed, inspired, infuriated, and ultimately (reluctantly, sometimes) grateful as the Food Dignity project has. For all the moments that almost drove me away, the promise of the project and the integrity and determination of the people involved—most often the community leaders— FoodDignity