by Chris Hilburn-Trenkle
Jaylen Cates had always considered teaching as a future path in their career.
Having guest lectured for years and with a clear passion for education, it was on their list as a potential next step in their professional journey. But it wasn’t until a former classmate of theirs reached out that the idea came to fruition.
Growing up in Chapel Hill, N.C., Cates attended Appalachian State University before returning to the Triangle area and working with various nonprofits. While working with Volunteers for Youth, Cates’ boss encouraged them to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work, recognizing their passion for community development.
While at UNC, Cates ’12 (MSW) was in the same cohort as future Clinical Assistant Professor Jessica Lambert Ward. Members of the cohort remained close over the years following graduation. Not only did Cates stay in touch with classmates, but they attended networking nights at the School and regularly kept up with the program.
So, when Lambert Ward told them about several teaching opportunities, Cates decided to make the leap into higher education as a clinical assistant professor at the School.
“I’ve always kept that commitment to wanting to support that learning pathway. So, when Jessica reached out, it was perfect timing and I was like, ‘Alright, let’s try this,’” Cates said.
Cates has more than a decade of community organizing and development experience, especially relating to food systems, having worked for various organizations including AmeriCorps, Volunteers for Youth and Habitat for Humanity in Chatham County. But, it was perhaps their time spent in a practicum placement at Carolina Farm Stewardship Association that provided the greatest lesson for recognizing structural challenges, especially relating to small agriculture.
“Being able to intern at CFSA (helped me) take this understanding of community-based food challenges and be able to go really deep and understand the structural challenges that are preventing small agriculture from expanding, what’s happened with black farmers and land loss,” Cates said. “Being at CFSA brought me into understanding more of all the technicalities behind agriculture in the United States.”
When CFSA, a nonprofit based in Pittsboro, N.C., was later hiring a part-time organizer, Cates took advantage of the opportunity and returned to the organization, where they stayed for the next 13 years. Cates spent 10 years as a grassroots organizer before receiving a promotion that allowed them to manage the company’s policy portfolio at the state and federal levels for North and South Carolina, experiences that related directly to social work.
“I’ve had this career in helping small food councils get off the ground and organize in different community settings around North Carolina, so I’ve had this opportunity to know organizational development frameworks that I’m bringing back to the School around best practices for nonprofits and best practices for organizations. I’ve really been engaged in direct community organizing support and advocacy support and direct lobbying that whole time as well,” Cates said. “The experiences that I’ve gained in that community organizing and advocacy space across food systems are really helpful because food systems are so broad, and they come to so many aspects of social justice. Organizational development and advocacy, community organizing are really my fortes.”
Not only is Cates teaching three classes in their first semester at the School — social work practice with organizations and communities in both Chapel Hill and Winston-Salem and special topics in macro practice, with a specific focus on community organizing — but they’re also consulting and working with Community Food Strategies, an interagency collaboration Cates helped found while working at CFSA.
Through teaching and their work with the agency, Cates hopes to create connections between individuals on the ground and those who are passionate in food system development and food system social justice, something that Cates believes is possible in part due to the growth of the community, management, and policy practice concentration at the School.
“I’m excited to work with students and work with young people and help people see this pathway to food systems work as a path to social justice and I’m excited to continue that work in a light manner to stay connected in those networks and stay connected on the ground to be able to help facilitate that,” Cates said.
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