Food Systems Network NYC is a membership based organization designed to foster communication and cultivate community amongst various stake holders and professionals working across the food system. Members gather monthly for Open Networking meetings to encourage collaboration; share information; discuss public policy; and promote opportunities for individuals to partner on specific projects. We are pleased to launch our website to better fulfill our mission and to provide tools for our members to share resources and grow stronger. Please enjoy looking through what our site has to offer, and if you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to get in touch!

NYC SchoolFood -- Meet Chef Jorge & his SchoolFood Colleagues!
Since 2003 when SchoolFood Executive Director and FSNYC governing board member David Berkowitz took the reigns, SchoolFood thinking and operations has undergone a transformation. “Feed Your Mind” is the new tagline and agency vision! What’s changed? From removing trans fats, to breakfast ‘grab ‘n go’ pilots, to an entire new inventory of menu items added through product development, and a culinary-focused staff training program, Executive Chef Jorge Collazo and his colleagues have made significant inroads within an immense system.

FSNYC has begun a strategic planning process that will help guide our organization for the next 3-5 years. FSNYC member Alison Cohen, Northern Program Manager of Heifer International, has generously volunteered to lead us through this undertaking. Alison, a highly regarded facilitator, has already conducted a preliminary planning session with the FSNYC Board and has mapped out an abbreviated process that we can complete by the end of the year…if we all participate in a timely way!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Urgent notice to Farm Aid’s Family Farm Allies

Farm Aid’s Family Farm Disaster Fund has been activated today to provide
immediate relief to family farmers in the Midwest who have experienced
disastrous floods and severe weather.

We have 23 years of experience in collecting funds and delivering immediate
relief to family farmers via the grassroots farm organizations and rural
service groups in our Farmer Resource Network. In addition, we will
continue to work with farmers after the immediate disaster to offer on-going
assistance.

1. We have posted a prominent link on www.farmaid.org to receive donations
into the disaster fund.
2. We are engaging in a broad based media campaign to solicit donations into
the Family Farm Disaster Fund.

Posted by Loren Talbot, Local Labels

United Food and Commercial Workers Local Union 1500 is responding to the loss of supermarkets and increasing health disparities by calling for a broad coalition of advocates to guarantee that all communities have the basic building blocks of good food, good jobs and good health.

Unions, long missing from the food security community, recognize the importance as well as the unique perspective they can add to the food policy discussion. Mo Kinberg, Food Policy Coordinator for UFCW Local 1500, states that their union “Saw a need for labor to be involved in this process and also the need for a collaborative effort as to address the complexity of the issue.”

Posted by Ed Yowell, Slow Food NYC

FSNYC member Jessamym Waldman is a woman who puts her bread where her politics are. Jessamyn is the Founding Director of the not-for-profit Hot Bread Kitchen. I chatted recently with Jessamyn about Hot Bread Kitchen and why and how it got started.

Ed: For those of our readers who have not met Hot Bread Kitchen by discovering and enjoying the breads, what exactly is it?

Jessamyn: Hot Bread Kitchen produces artisanal breads “kneaded with a social vision”, I like to say. We help immigrant women, who have come from places as diverse as Mexico, Afghanistan, and Togo, to turn their traditional baking skills into commercially valuable careers. That, in turn, can lead to jobs in the City’s baking industry and launching their own micro-enterprises.


E: How did you come up with the idea for Hot Bread Kitchen?