Interview with Nancy Romer of the Brooklyn Food Coalition

Lynn Fredericks of Family Cook Productions interviewed Nancy Romer, the General Coordinator of the Brooklyn Food Coalition, on behalf of FSNYC.

LF: How do you see the BFC working in collaboration as part of the greater overall and healthy and sustainable food systems movement in NYC?

NR: Well, I want to start off by saying that the BFC stands on the shoulders of all the really important work that FSNYC partners and others have done over the years. We wouldn't be here without the research, education, organization and advocacy that came before we started organizing.

The BFC's structure lends itself particularly well to connecting grassroots activists with the existing food justice movement, and enlarging it. Our structure is like a hub with spokes -- each spoke heads into a different Brooklyn neighborhood (currently, there are twelve "spokes" for the 12 neighborhoods we are working in). Because each neighborhood spoke has a lot of autonomy, each neighborhood organization decides whom and how to partner with folks working on our issues. So those could be community organizations, businesses, community gardens, schools, houses of worship as well as, of course, food justice organizations. The hub part of the structure allows people to know what their fellow activists in other neighborhoods are doing, share ideas and best practices, and work borough-wide. We see ourselves as bringing people, most already active in improving their communities, together to see that we're all in the same movement. We also are a space for new activists looking for an organization that they have an effect in, that they can influence its direction.

LF: How do you think BFC might leverage resources within FSNYC?

NR: We are an outreach organization, connecting the people of Brooklyn to share knowledge, opportunities and deepen the education efforts that FSNYC has already started. By increasing the number of people knowledgeable and interested in these issues, we can build the political pressure for just food policy objectives, and, also, more people will have more ideas about ways to accomplish those objectives in their own neighborhoods.

LF: Are there any formal plans for BFC to help spawn other coops? If not, why not?

NR: We're part of the Food Coop Alliance/NYC, which is promoting new food coops. There are start up coops in five Brooklyn neighborhoods. We're also working with New York State Senator Eric Adams and other state legislators for state funds for coops and also talking with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's office as well.  We'd like to see a city-supported project parallel with FRESH to expand food coops in low income neighborhoods too. When people work together they create community and can have affordable very high quality food.

LF: What do you think BFC can accomplish vis-a-vis school food and CNR?

NR: BFC is part of the NYC Alliance for CNR. We've generated hundreds of letters to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Congress member Clarke, which is a good start. We've got a very large school food committee, too -- it's a huge issue for parents and other activists across Brooklyn. We have a road map for activist members to improve school food on a school-by-school basis, and people are already at work at that in a number of neighborhoods, which is great for winning improvements like salad bars, guest chefs, more vegetarian options into cafeterias and curricular changes like school gardens and cooking experiences. But that's not enough -- we know we need a comprehensive plan for federal, state, and city legislative change. School food needs more money and it needs to have preferences for local sourcing of food, for healthier food, and to build the regional food economy. We are working with upstate farmers who are doing their part with their elected officials to make that happen.  Connecticut has a good program that we can use as a partial model. BFC works to build grassroots pressure, while other groups -- that we're in alliance with -- bring other kinds of pressure.

LF: The BFC has been quite successful in building a very diverse membership on many levels. How was that achieved? What lessons are there for other groups?

NR: The first thing to say is that we are always working on diversity. We haven't "arrived" yet. But it's so exciting that so many people care about food -- it really is a universal issue, but universal solutions don't usually work. Brooklyn is very diverse. Our organizational structure, with its neighborhood focus and emphasis on identifying and developing local leaders, does help maximize diversity. BFC is in neighborhoods of color, and those neighborhood groups are free to reach out to their neighbors in the ways they know will work best, to build reach and participation. So, for example, in Sunset Park our group there has done outreach with flyers in Spanish, Chinese and English. In Bed-Stuy all electronic communication is backed up with phone calls or texts to reach people who don't use computers and there are lots of them. They need to be included, too. BFC seeks leadership and participation on every level. Soon, we're going to hold elections and we hope to ensure a very diverse steering committee and set of officers. Addressing the disproportionate impact of food injustice on communities of color, and within them, has been central to our work. As a grassroots organization, we know those impacts won't be alleviated without the participation and leadership from those communities. While the major voices in the food movement are white folks, when you get to the grassroots and see who is actually doing the work, creating the community gardens and urban farms, staffing the food pantries, going into the schools to talk with kids, we find lots of participation from people of color. We need to listen to their voices in a conscious manner and raise the importance of grassroots activism.