Unpacking the Idea of the Unsung Hero:

Raising Awareness of the Hard Work of Frontline Workers

in Food and Housing Insecurity

Food insecurity, housing insecurity, poverty and social justice are intertwined, a knot of problems facing our community. 13 percent of Duluthians face food insecurity, and over 54% of renter-households are rent burdened. Often these difficult social problems are addressed by non-profit organizations who run food pantries or housing shelters. They build affordable housing and support people living on the street. While these workers are heroes, they are also human, and their stories are also intertwined with larger issues like poverty and social justice. These frontline workers are also often former college students who enter the job market with the consequential task of supporting those who others have left behind.

A group of University of Minnesota Duluth faculty, students, and community artists came together to explore strategies to communicate the stories of these workers. We wanted to try different ways to untangle the knot and work toward health, wellness, and equity in our community.

A house with five (5) rooms under the caption “A day in the life of a frontline worker.” Each room depicts a woman completing different tasks.

Jane, a social worker for the Star Hospitality House, stands at the front door.

Jane is standing with a clipboard as she hands a wrench to a person in green overalls working on a bike.

Jane is standing outside waving to a couple carrying a baby and luggage. There are trees and a house in the background.

Jane is in a pantry room full of shelves filled with food. A woman reaches for food on a high shelf while a man leaves the room with a squash in a grocery cart.

A table with chairs is filled with colorful food.

Jane is sitting on a stool working on a laptop at her desk. There is a cat sleeping on a green armchair and a bookshelf behind her.

Jane is cutting vegetables in the kitchen while two other people roll out dough and put vegetables into a pot on the stove.

Jane is in the front of the classroom writing on board, there are three students facing here. There is a desk with assorted objects on top and a person is leaving the classroom with a backpack in their hand.

The resulting project shines a light on the people who are working to address food and housing insecurity (really, poverty) in our community. It functions multimodally, through mural, poster, and social media campaign.

The project features a mural by internationally recognized artist, designer and Associate Professor of Art and Design Maryam Kalleghi Yazdi on the 4th floor of the Humanities building at UMD. Professor Kalleghi Yazdi creates a fictional synthesis of the many, many workers in food and housing insecurity in Duluth in comic-style art. (Look closely at the mural, and you will see traces of the ways that Loaves and Fishes (and its Bike Cave) helps people in need find their footing. You will see traces of the services offered at CHUM .) Maryam Kalleghi Yazdi has created, in the STAR Hospitality House, a timeless representation of all the ways we can work directly to serve. Much of the research for this mural was done by Environment, Sustainability, and Geography students in Dr. Pine's Senior Capstone course and by Writing Studies majors in Dr. Beard's Writing and Cultures course who interviewed frontline workers in Duluth and across the state about their lives, chronicling what brought them joy, what brought them pain, and how they addressed social problems in their daily lives.
A series of posters and social media posts spotlight a diverse array of people who work at the frontlines addressing hunger and food insecurity. For example, AC Kirk of the Family Freedom Center works as a Farm Coordinator, teaching the community new relationships to food, but their work goes further than that. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Anne Krisnik works through the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition to influence state policy, hoping for a hunger-free tomorrow. At UMD, Professor Aparna Katre leads collaboration with the First Ladies of the Hillside, hoping to transform generational poverty. These posters were designed by local artist Nelle Rhicard from interviews conducted by UMD students in Geography and in Writing.

All of these resources point here, to this website, where UMD students and community can learn more about ways, at UMD, to get involved.

A person in a blue shirt under the caption “Illustrating Hunger and Homelessness”, with a quotation reading “and you know, we get this idea in our head that change has to be gigantic to be impactful. But it doesn’t”

A person with a beard and a red polo shirt under the caption “Illustrating hunger and homelessness” with a quotation reading “we address food insecurity and homelessness in a very temporary way. We need to understand the root causes and how we can dismantle them, how we can create a new way of doing things.”

A person in a green shirt under the caption “illustrating hunger and homelessness” with a quotation reading “our work is about relationships. I hope we inspire people to do little things to benefit the community. Our goal is to get smaller and smaller.”

A person in a dark blue hooded sweatshirt under the title “illustrating hunger and homelessness” a the quotation reading “There was a lot of pain. So much pain among staff who are people of color. This was probably the hardest on the street outreach team”

A person in a magenta-colored traditional Indian dress under the caption “illustrating hunger and homelessness” with a quotation reading “there are two sides to the mission. One side is to make healthy foods accessible, affordable and easily for low-income families in Duluth's Central Hillside. On the other side of the mission is to really help us break the generational cycle of poverty and trauma.”

A person with orange glasses and shirt carrying a backpack under the caption “illustrating homelessness and hunger” with a quotation reading “so many organizations focus more on what we can provide that’s very tangible like…’how many of this can we make?’ And, ‘how many of that can you distribute?’ The most important thing for us is community, getting to know other people, and having conversations.”

A person wearing a blue shirt with a dark blue apron and an orange cap under the caption “illustrating hunger and homelessness” with a quotation reading “our mission is to make sure people eat. And not just some crap food, but a good meal. If I don’t want to eat it, I won’t serve it. So I train my cooks in the same way. If it’s something that you don’t eat then you don’t want to serve it to nobody.”

A person wearing a green shirt looks down at a counter with radishes, flowers, and lettuce under the caption “illustrating hunger and homelessness” with a quotation reading “Our mission is to just do whatever needs to be done. If a kid comes in here with a problem, we try to help them if we can. Our mission is to be whatever the community needs.”

A person in a light blue shirt with a necklace under the caption “illustrating hunger and homelessness” with a quotation “we can connect with community organizations to coordinate efforts to find what root causes of food and housing insecurity were at work.”

A woman wearing an orange coats stands next to a quotation saying "Our budget really is a moral document. It reflects what is important to us."

Artist Nelle Rhicard (she/her)is a Scribe, Graphic Recorder, and SketchQuote creator. She also works as a case manager with teenage youth - many of whom are navigating hunger and homelessness in Duluth. More of her work can be found at: Reframeideas.com

About the Project Leaders

Adam Pine

Adam Pine's project as a community-engaged scholar is to understand how contemporary social forces create processes of social change and resistance. The millions of Americans experiencing food insecurity use community economies as well as state programs to fend off hunger. "My analysis of the connections between food insecurity and housing insecurity grew out of my work on food deserts and my book Confronting Hunger in the USA, which explores how non-profit food access programs address food insecurity." Adam sometimes does this research with Rebecca T. de Souza, whose research is concerned with how political and economic systems impact access to food, health, and social wellbeing. Dr. de Souza’s book Feeding the Other: Whiteness, Privilege, and Neoliberal Stigma in Food Pantries (MIT Press, 2019), explores the role of stigma in the lives of food insecure individuals.

Maryam Kalleghi Yazdi

The art of Maryam Kalleghi Yazdi promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion. She explores contemporary social issues, such as environmental justice, the pandemic's impact, and the pursuit of human rights. "My approach begins by defining the problem and then diving into extensive research to gain a deep understanding of the context and the target audience. After gaining insights, I start brainstorming sessions to explore potential visual solutions. I often create mind maps to organize my thoughts and ideas, which serve as a blueprint for the project's direction. As a believer in the power of storytelling, I integrate narratives and emotions into my designs, aiming to communicate with the audience on a deeper level. My design process focuses on problem-solving, innovation, and user-centricity, resulting in visual experiences that leave a lasting impression on the audience." For more information, visit https://maryamkhaleghiyazdi.com/

David Beard

David Beard engages his teaching and research by listening -- listening to unusual communities (e.g., wrestling fans, comic book readers, steampunks), listening to the diverse communities of Minnesota (e.g., Indigenous artists, sustainable food workers, and frontline workers in healthcare) and most importantly, listening to his students. According to Beard, "Listening is my methodology; sometimes, listening is the object of my study; and it is through listening, from a position of cultural humility, that I enter into conversations with others." He taught his students to listen to frontline workers in this project, and he served as project manager.

Get Involved

To get involved in work on social justice and hunger on campus, consider getting involved in Student Life. Student Life operates Champ's Cupboard, a food pantry for our community, and more than 250 student groups, many of which take social justice as a part of their mission.

Outside of UMD reach out to any of the organizations listed above: these groups are non-profit projects that always benefit from the input of students. Giving money is only one way to address these problems. But when you spend your time with the people at these organizations, you learn how hunger and housing affect real people, and you learn what ways work best to address peoples needs.

CHUM

Loaves and Fishes

Agate Community Housing

Joint Religious Legislative Coalition

North American Traditional indigenous Food Systems

First Ladies of the Hillside

Damiano Community Center

Family Freedom Center

The National Right to Food Community of Practice is a group of scholars and activists looking to end hunger and make food a basic right in the US.