2019 CIIP Program Book CIIP Booklet 2019 | Page 39

Community Partner: No Boundaries Coalition
Intern: Adina Jahan
Site Supervisor: Sache Jones
What is No Boundaries Coalition?
No Boundaries Coalition is a resident-led advocacy
organization building a unified and empowered Central
West Baltimore across the boundaries of race, class,
and neighborhood.
• Created business plans for
Fresh at the Avenue, performing
tasks including researching and
implementing a membership
program plan, researching alter-
native food distributors, and up-
dating FATA operations manual
• Researched equipment for Fresh
for the purpose of stall renova-
tion and expansion
• Managed communications plat-
forms including Facebook, Ins-
tagram, the Health committee
weekly newsletter, and customer
mailing list to increase participa-
tion in No Boundaries Coalition
Health Initiative Activities
• Staffed Saturday markets, set-
ting up the space, working the
register, and helping with clean-
up and breakdown
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In many ways, my internship with the No Boundaries Coalition Health Committee
came at the perfect time – I had just moved off campus to a rowhouse on Guilford
Avenue, and setting aside money, time, and energy to make healthy and filling meals
was harder than anyone ever told me it would be. Working at Fresh at the Avenue
pushed me to think about food more deeply and more intentionally than ever before.
I suppose I thought about food as apolitical before I worked at the No Boundaries
Coalition, but I learned pretty quickly through my internship that the ways in which
political systems infiltrate and disturb people’s lives make even basic needs such as
fresh produce a priority in certain communities, and physically and economically inac-
cessible in others, such as Sandtown-Winchester.
Despite these challenges, it was clear from my work at the No Boundaries Coalition,
and the Fresh at the Avenue produce stall, that Baltimore is full of residents who will
not give up on their communities, and who have decided to take control of their
future through advocacy and organization. On a more personal level, after a particu-
larly rough semester at Johns Hopkins, in which there was a clear sense of frustration
amongst my peers regarding Hopkins’ relationship with Baltimore, it was critical for
me to step outside of the Hopkins bubble. CIIP has pushed me to think more critical-
ly about social activism, and to be aware of the spaces that I step into. It is important
for college students who arrive into cities as activists to recognize the important work
that local organizations have been doing and will continue to do long after we leave.
My work with No Boundaries has been inspiring and difficult, because nonprofit work
and social advocacy is both.