{"id":17801,"date":"2023-04-18T13:33:28","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T17:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels-draft\/?p=17801"},"modified":"2023-04-21T11:17:47","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T15:17:47","slug":"vanessa-garcia-polancos-path-to-washington-d-c-and-back-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/profiles\/vanessa-garcia-polancos-path-to-washington-d-c-and-back-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanessa Garc\u00eda Polanco\u2019s Path to Washington, D.C. and Back Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sowing the Seeds of Identity: Vanessa Garc\u00eda Polanco\u2019s Path to Washington, D.C. and Back Again<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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While navigating the undergraduate environmental and natural resource economics major, alum Vanessa Garc\u00eda Polanco found a path deeply rooted in her identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cComing from one of the biggest agricultural hubs\u2014the Dominican Republic\u2014and with my dad being a farmer, my mom said, \u2018we took you out of the countryside, but we didn’t take the countryside out of you,\u2019\u201d Garc\u00eda Polanco shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now as the policy campaigns co-director at the National Young Farmers Coalition, Garc\u00eda Polanco acts as an advocate inside the federal government to make sure federal programs are accessible to young and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) farmers using a racial equity lens. Garc\u00eda Polanco says her upbringing in the Dominican Republic along with experiences both inside and outside the classroom at URI put her in a position to advocate for agriculture on a national level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy father and so many of the Dominican and global south farmers I saw growing up  are my inspiration of how hard it is to do his job, they  remind me of how lucky we are to have a government that is responsive to its farmers\u2019 needs,\u201d Garc\u00eda Polanco said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having an inside look at the agricultural practices and systems in the Dominican Republic from her father gave Garc\u00eda Polanco an understanding of the risks that come with farming, as well as the benefits of having individuals like herself in roles of advocacy and support for farmers. Through on-campus experiences at URI, Garc\u00eda Polanco found a passion for government policy and management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was in a student senate for four years, which is the best experience that I had because it really framed my interest in wanting to shape society and institutions, which is what I get to do now at a Federal level,\u201d she said. \u201cMy job involves talking to members of Congress and USDA in the White House about policy priorities between farmers and government officials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the first Latina Afro-Dominican in this position, Garc\u00eda Polanco is proud of her background and recognizes the ways she can embrace her identity in her role. \u201cOur food system is 80% women of color, from farmworkers to the food service industry and beyond, but how many women of color do you get to see shaping our food system policy in D.C.? It\u2019s not a lot,\u201d Polanco explained. \u201cSo I embrace the idea that this progressive food justice movement is building that pipeline so more people who are affected by the issues can shape the policies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garc\u00eda Polanco describes her time at URI as a \u201cgreen light\u201d that helped catalyze her career. \u201cI feel like when you are an immigrant and you move to the United States, you just have all this energy and are trying to find belonging and community,\u201d Garc\u00eda Polanco reflected. \u201cURI did that for me, allowing me to find a community of like-minded people that care about the environment, about organizing the student body, and about giving back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garc\u00eda Polanco recalls the support she received from URI and is thankful for the programs that helped her out of her comfort zone. In particular, she cites her internship with URI\u2019s Cooperative Extension<\/a> as a powerful growth experience. \u201cI was a freshman helping write federal grants and reporting on them, which is crazy,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I had a great mentor who supported me and saw the potential in me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garc\u00eda Polanco says she was able to build critical project management skills by leading the Annual East Farm Festival, which brought 5,000 people to URI\u2019s demonstration and research farm. Another event she organized was a BIPOC festival of plant knowledge at the Providence Greenhouse and Botanical Center. Both experiences, Garc\u00eda Polanco said, helped her grow as an advocate and organizer\u2014skills that helped to lay a foundation for her career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her story comes full circle as Garc\u00eda Polanco joins URI as an advisor for the Agriculture and Food Systems Fellowship Program<\/a>. The program, Garc\u00eda Polanco said, is part of a rededication to the University\u2019s land grant tradition\u2014something for which she and her fellow URI students advocated. \u201cMany people say I was a part of the cohort of students that pushed URI to do that,\u201d Garc\u00eda Polanco said, \u201cespecially for the food systems fellowship.\u201d While the fellowship didn\u2019t exist during her time at URI, Garc\u00eda Polanco\u2019s devotion to agriculture and food systems was part of a movement aimed at providing  more opportunities for students like herself. She is also a member of the Rhode Island Farm Service Agency State Committee and in receiving this nomination in Rhode Island, it felt like coming home and allowed her to reconnect with her roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond being an advisor for the Agricultural and Food Systems Fellowship, Garc\u00eda Polanco is always open to hearing from URI students and helping them figure out how to pursue their passions. There is a world of opportunities and Garc\u00eda Polanco understands the importance of committed mentorship, especially in fields that lack diversity. Appreciative of the opportunities she has had, and ready to help prepare the next generation of advocates, Garc\u00eda Polanco is excited to connect with others and offer guidance in finding roles rooted in identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the policy campaign co-director at the National Young Farmers Coalition, Garc\u00eda Polanco acts as an advocate inside the federal government to make sure programs are accessible to young and BIPOC farmers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1962,"featured_media":17802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-profiles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1962"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17801"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17820,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17801\/revisions\/17820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}