Allison Holland is a second-year MPP student at the Jackson School of Global Affairs focusing on global food security, policy, and gender. She recently spent her summer in Eastern Cape, South Africa, where she interned for ACDI/VOCA and their partner organization, Tanager, on a farmer development and gender inclusion project. Before coming to Yale, Holland worked in the federal marketplace at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and helped operationalize health care provisions of major legislation. She served as her team’s lead specialist in the federal-private “Direct Enrollment” program, which has expanded coverage to millions of historically underrepresented and hard to reach populations. Previously, Holland served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, West Africa, where she initiated a food security program in her village and worked closely with women-run co-ops to provide trainings on financial literacy, community gardening, and nutrition. Allison graduated magna cum laude with university honors from High Point University in 2018, majoring in international relations and philosophy with minors in economics and environmental studies. She speaks French and is learning Spanish.