Jonah

Jonah Udall Picture
he, him

Academic Background:

  • PhD in Nutrition
  • Second Year
  • Focus Areas: Public Health, Food Justice

Relevant Tools & Skills:

Facilitation, cross-cultural collaboration, participatory research, coalition building, public speaking, community-based project management, Spanish proficiency

Interest Areas:

  • Community Health & Wellbeing
  • Racial and Social Justice Movements
  • Housing Justice & Anti-Displacement
  • Environmental Justice & Sustainability

Where I Call Home:

I grew up in Berkeley, California, and I have lived on all sides of this country--in Miami, Florida, and New York City for a combined 12 years--but I am quickly making Saint Paul my home with my wife since we moved here last Spring.

Areas I’m Hoping to Grow:

Data visualization, policy analysis, a broader array of research methods, qualitative data analysis, knowledge and familiarity with many new areas of work

Values That Shape My Work:

Over the past year and a half, I’ve worked with marginalized Twin Cities communities to advance health and well-being through nutrition-focused policy and systems change as part of the now-defunded SNAP-Ed program at UMN Extension. As a white, cishetero man raised far from Minnesota, I strive to practice accompliceship by building trust through listening, transparency, and resource-sharing. I aim to bridge community strategies with public investment, lived experience with policy, and traditional knowledge with academic institutions—disrupting entrenched interests to strengthen community advocacy and resource community-driven solutions. For me, collaboration is creative, iterative, and rooted in earned trust, where all voices contribute to building what none could create alone.

A Meaningful Meal or Tradition:

I love cooking for friends. I am recalling many a wonderful evening in my wife's and my tiny Brooklyn apartment, making crepes, and serving 4-5 of our close friends around a coffee table we used as a floor-seated dining table.