9.15.2015 CFPA Board member and long-time researcher/advocate, Dr. Gail Harrison passed away on September 5th at her home in Los Angeles. The CFPA Board and staff plan to honor her legacy. Three members of the CFPA team offer reflections on Gail and share our plans for honoring her.
Valerie Ruelas, Board Chair
Gail Harrison had a long and successful career in nutrition and academics. As she was so generous with her time and talents, she eagerly accepted a Board position with CFPA. I have had the pleasure of serving on the CFPA Board with her since 2007. During her Board service, she provided valuable insight and expertise that guided CFPA’s policy agenda to successful legislative outcomes. She was so dedicated to improving nutrition for low-income people that she shared her knowledge and experience far and wide with many groups beyond CFPA, including the California WIC Association, the Institute of Medicine and many others. She will be missed. Given Gail’s role in inspiring and mentoring young advocates (see below), the Board is looking to establish a fellowship in her name. This fellowship will honor Gail’s legacy and allow us to train and new advocates in our Los Angeles office to carry on her work.
George Manalo-LeClair, Executive Director
I had the pleasure of co-authoring the first-ever statewide, county-by-county analysis of food insecurity in California with Gail back in 2002. Gail was so very proud of this work. The Los Angeles Times ran a front-page story about her findings, highlighting the fact that while millions were struggling to put on the table, a valuable resource, food stamps (now CalFresh), was going underutilized. This story caught the attention of then-Assembly Member Darrel Steinberg who committed himself to doing something about the problem. He authored AB 231 which swiftly knocked down several challenging barriers to food stamp participation. Hundreds of thousands of low-income Californians then got help with food. Thanks to these efforts, an estimated $1 billion in new nutrition resources came to California from the policy changes. Gail was such a valuable asset to the movement that she asked to join our board in 2007. Over the years she helped shape not just our food security analyses, but our early childhood and school meal advocacy as well. I think it is very fitting that the Gail Harrison Nutrition Advocacy Fellowship will extend this amazing legacy.
Elyse Homel Vitale, Nutrition Policy Advocate
As a graduate student at UCLA’s School of Public Health, I enjoyed all of my coursework. However, it wasn’t until I began taking nutrition courses with Dr. Harrison that I truly discovered my professional calling. Dr. Harrison’s classes, including Maternal and Child Nutrition and Nutrition Policy, were highly desirable courses among students. And for great reason – Dr. Harrison, a respected expert in her field, produced engaging and thought-provoking classes. With Dr. Harrison as my mentor, my passion for early childhood nutrition grew. In fact, it was Dr. Harrison that introduced me to CFPA and encouraged my graduate student internship at our Los Angeles office. I am forever indebted to Dr. Harrison, as are many students at UCLA’s School of Public Health, for sparking my passion for nutrition policy and fostering my inner nutrition policy advocate.
