Emerson Fellow
Madelaine Britt
26th Class, 2019-2020
A native of Rochester, New York, Madelaine Britt is a graduate of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), a Western New York Prosperity Fellow and a Harry S. Truman Scholar. Growing up in the Rust Belt, she is passionate about centering community voice in urban planning practices to address socio-economic and racial disparities in her hometown, with a specific focus on increasing access to healthy food and affordable housing. Before becoming an Emerson National Hunger Fellow, Madelaine worked as a city planner for the City of New York, working in partnership with East Harlem and Washington Heights community organizations to organize small business owners, support community wealth building initiatives and placemaking programming. In addition, she is a former intern for the World Health Organization on the Special Program on Sustainable Development and Health Equity, where she reported on regional planning and policy tools that improve health and human security. Madelaine first came to understand the close relationship between food equity and planning through her experience as an undergraduate research associate at the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab in Buffalo.
Field placement: Feeding America
Chicago, Illinois
Madelaine completed her field placement as a member of the Equity and Programs team at Feeding America’s headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. She worked in partnership with the newly formed Advisory Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) of the National Council of Feeding America. Reporting to the Chief Equity and Programs officer, she worked to engage a network of over 200 national food banks on establishing and/or strengthening programming centered on racial justice, including the creation of client councils, community assessments, equity trainings, and policy advocacy. Within this, she also supported internal DEI trainings of staff and leadership to advance equitable practices and policies within the organization.
Policy placement: DC Food Policy Council
Washington, D.C.