Author: Vanessa García Polanco

Vanessa García Polanco is a scholar-activist, writer, and speaker on food justice and has served at the local, state, and regional levels to promote democratic civic empowerment, racial equity, and visibility of New Americans in the food system. Vanessa is currently a graduate student in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University. Vanessa is a New American; as a woman of color immigrant from the Cibao Valley in the Dominican Republic, she brings her identity and experiences to inform her research and advocacy activities. Read more from her at vanessagarciapolanco.com and @vgpvisions.

The author outside of Rep. James Langevin's office in Congress, holding up her advocacy day materials.

Bringing Your Interdisciplinary Background and Identity to Science Advocacy

In many of my roles as a food systems scholar and public servant, I noticed my uniqueness in these spaces.