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Fast-forward through time at the University of Denver for her Master of Social Work and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for her Ph.D., Fort\u00e9 is one of the newest faculty members at the UConn School of Social Work<\/a>.<\/p>\n And she hasn\u2019t left food behind.<\/p>\n While getting her MSW, she worked with youth who were living in subsidized housing and developed a curriculum around healthy eating. Then, she pivoted to work in a hospital, where she noted that many of her clients were impacted by food insecurity.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when I started to ask why more social workers weren\u2019t talking about this. Why isn\u2019t social work at the table when it comes to food insecurity? Often, public health leads this conversation or other disciplines, but I wanted to be at the table on behalf of social work,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Fort\u00e9, an assistant professor, says she\u2019s always thinking about how she can work food into her classroom discussions.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an example, I\u2019m teaching theory, and this week we\u2019re going to be learning about feminism and queer theory,\u201d she explains. \u201cFood preparation is often seen as women\u2019s work and with feminism, there was a desire for some women to leave the kitchen and pursue work outside of the home. In other sections, we\u2019ve discussed how disparities in access to food can be due to systemic inequities. Using food access and how different identities engage with food makes these heady theories feel more tangible.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to her research, Fort\u00e9 is focused on the impact food insecurity has on one\u2019s mental health, specifically for young people in middle and high school, and how that impact can be measured accurately.<\/p>\n Children as young as 9 understand what food insecurity is and know whether they\u2019re affected, she says, yet there hasn\u2019t been much research exploring their experience. Most often, the head of the household is the one surveyed, even though teenagers oftentimes bear the burden too.<\/p>\n \u201cChildren experience it differently,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re also trying to figure out how to bring food into the home, but from a different perspective, \u2018Can I bring this pizza home from a club meeting, so my family can eat tonight?\u2019 They may not be buying groceries, but they\u2019re trying to get food into the home.\u201d<\/p>\n Many teenagers are charged with the care of siblings, especially if adults are working multiple jobs, she notes, and even though they\u2019re not recognized as the head of the household, at times they serve in that capacity, having to figure out what to make for dinner, maybe even going hungry themselves when food is scarce.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to capture what they\u2019re going through because it is different from adults,\u201d Fort\u00e9 says. \u201cKnowing what adults experience is important, but this 9- to about 17-year-old age range, when they\u2019re in school, that\u2019s what I\u2019m interested in. If we can understand their experiences \u2013 what does it feel like to know you don\u2019t have food in the home \u2013 we can be better at supporting their health and well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n And that may mean having a discussion about policy, another area in which she\u2019s interested.<\/p>\n UConn\u2019s Husky Harvest<\/a> initiative, which established food pantries on all campuses, and its Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health<\/a> are two reasons Fort\u00e9 says she sought to come to Connecticut for work.<\/p>\n \u201cThose were a huge draw for me,\u201d she says. \u201cThey demonstrate that this university sees how important it is for people to get access to food and, in policy, that\u2019s where we\u2019re going to see a lot of change. I believe that access to food is a human right.\u201d<\/p>\n Fort\u00e9 says that when she was in practice, she spent a fair amount of time connecting people with resources, sourcing the locations of pantries, food banks, and community refrigerators. Sometimes she\u2019d go along with clients to teach them what they could do with a can of tomatoes, bag of beans, and box of rice.<\/p>\n She\u2019d teach them to salvage the seasoning packet from a package of ramen noodles to spice up the blandness of another dish.<\/p>\n \u201cThe experience of poverty is not fun, but if you can take even just a moment and create a little bit of joy in cooking, it can become time when you experience a little pleasure in life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n