Feeding America proudly welcomes Dr. Yvette Blair-Lavallais as the Equity Research Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year. Dr. Blair-Lavallais is an adjunct professor and cohort mentor in the Land, Food and Faith Doctor of Ministry program at Memphis Theological Seminary. She is an Ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. As a food justice strategist and scholar whose research is at the intersection of faith, advocacy, and anti-racism in food access, Dr. Blair-Lavallais will work with our Research and Innovation Department (and other teams at Feeding America) to serve as a member of our Technical Advisory Group, consult on various projects throughout the organization, and conduct an original research project. To learn more about Dr. Blair-Lavallais, visit our Technical Advisory Group webpage.
Yvette R. Blair-Lavallais is an adjunct professor and cohort mentor in Memphis Theological Seminary’s Land, Food, and FaithDoctor of Ministry program. As a food justice strategist and scholar, her research intersects faith, advocacy, and anti-racism in food access. Her work is grounded in a theological framework she calls “acts-tivism,” focusing on how food injustice—such as land displacement and gentrification—affects Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities. Her publications include Scrimpin’ and Scrapin: The Hardships and Hustle of Women and Food Insecurity in Texas Through a Womanist Lens.
Yvette is a global thought leader in food justice, regularly presenting her research and engaging in high-profile advocacy. She was a featured speaker for World Food Day, met with congressional leaders during Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill, and was invited to speak at a White House event on regional food justice. She has also received funding from the Henry Luce Foundation and Lilly Endowment to address food insecurity in the South and is a TIDEL fellow with Union Theological Seminary. Yvette is an Ordained Elder in The Methodist tradition and has worked extensively with faith communities to mobilize, advocate, and partner with elected officials to address food insecurity.
The Feeding America Equity Research Fellow (formerly known as Equity Visiting Scholar) began in 2022. Dr. Angela Odoms-Young served in this position from 2022 to 2024, supporting the Feeding America network on projects and research related to health equity, community-based equity initiatives and evaluation, and creating an equity self-assessment for the charitable food system.
The Equity Research Fellow
At Feeding America, we believe all people at all times should have access to the fundamental resources they need to reach their full potential. We know there are structural and systemic barriers that prevent this from happening. If we are to support actions for equitable access to healthy food and opportunity for all, then equity requires keeping the people most impacted by hunger at the center of our work and decision-making. Feeding America’s Equity Research Fellow Program provides a unique opportunity for select scholars in the social, economic, health/nutrition, and behavioral sciences to pursue their equity-related research and scholarship while being integrated into the research and work of the largest hunger relief organization in the United States.
The overarching goals of the program include to:
- Further center equity in FANO’s research work and advance/support the overall organization in its progress to be more equitable and anti-racist.
- Expand FANO’s research capacity to examine social and structural contributors to inequities in food insecurity and understand the lived experience of network members, neighbors, and partners working within the charitable food system.
- Catalyze/engage a network of scholars, particularly scholars from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and historically oppressed communities, in food insecurity research
