Kim Eshleman Presents at NCFR Conference

Kim Eshleman recently presented at the 2022 National Council of Family Relations (NCFR) annual conference, which was held in Minneapolis, MN. NCFR is the oldest nonprofit, nonpartisan, multidisciplinary professional association focused solely on family research, practice, and education. Over 1,100 participants attended the conference which featured presentations, workshops, and poster sessions. Eshleman, who is a Family, Life and Community Services graduate student and an Agricultural and Human Services department staff member, presented a paper titled “Finding Care and Community: Centering the Narratives of Low-Income Mothers During the COVID-19 Pandemic”.

The paper focuses on the ways that low-income mothers from two counties in North Carolina utilized informal support networks to meet tangible and intangible needs during the pandemic, the ways that care shows up (or does not show up) within those networks, and the meanings mothers made of their experiences with care. By centering the narratives of low-income mothers and highlighting their coping strategies and networks of support, the paper aims to elevate their strengths and the factors that contributed to their resilience to inform asset-based approaches for supporting families experiencing poverty as we continue to navigate the challenges of COVID-19 and its long-term impacts. This paper was co-authored by Dr. Annie Hardison-Moody, Dr. Kim Stansbury, and Dr. Sarah Bowen and developed from their work on the NSF-funded study, Food Insecurity: Responses, Solutions, and Transformations During COVID-19 (FIRST).

Eshleman stated, “It was a privilege to be able to hold these stories and tell them with care, and I look forward to continuing to work on the paper as a basis for what will eventually (hopefully) be my thesis.” Congratulations on a great presentation Eshleman and good luck with your thesis!