food access

by Sara Grady, Glynwood

A new tool for food system research was launched by the USDA last month, called the Food Environment Atlas.

The interactive map offers state and county level information on a wide variety of food and environmental indicators related to health and well-being.

Users can create maps that show how a single indicator varies across the country, and can view the results for all indicators in a selected county. With the advanced query tool, users can identify counties with combinations of indicators (for example, counties with both high poverty and high obesity rates).

The goal is to allow researchers, policy makers, and the public to find information on a range of factors that affect our food environment. Indicators include statistics relating to food choices, health and well-being, and community characteristics.

According to Elise Golan at the USDA, one of the primary authors of the project, this initiative was a top-down request from the USDA Under Secretary in response to the First Lady’s working group (and her Let’s Move! campaign). Golan commented that the tool represents “an effort to illustrate relationships between the built environment and health, signifying recognition within the administration about the importance of the built environment in influencing food choices.”

by Kristin Pederson, FSNYC VISTA Member

Sunday’s New York Times carried a story stating that food stamp enrollment is at an all time high and increasing, helping to feed 1 in 8 Americans and 1 in 4 children.  It is wonderful that food stamps, now actually called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), are having such an important impact in the aggregate.  But I have learned through my own experience that each individual’s journey to receiving assistance is idiosyncratic in spite of the bureaucracy surrounding the process.

Parts of that bureaucracy can be dehumanizing.  Arriving mid-morning at the Williamsburg, Brooklyn Food Stamp Center, I joined an outdoor line reaching down the block.  As the line inside was processed, we moved through the doors in groups of five or so, strictly managed by security guards who stood watch every few feet against line jumping and disorder.  Once indoors, it was possible to hear the shouted announcement, made every few minutes, that the building was literally at its capacity, so anyone without business there had to leave.  This meant no friends to look after babies as mothers filled in forms, and elderly wives unaccompanied by their husbands.

by Lynn Fredericks, Family Cook Productions

Youngsters at Harlem’s Central Park East School Il brought home a very different type of homework assignment last month thanks to a strategic partnership among the school’s Wellness Initiative, the Manhattan Borough President’s office and the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene.  

Students in grades K-2 were asked to develop a shopping list to make a vegetable soup in their classroom. The students’ individual lists were developed into a master shopping list, and off the class went to their local farmers’ market. There, each child was handed a “Youth Buck” coupon worth $2 for redemption of fresh produce at the market. According to the school principal, Naomi Smith, each student made a purchase that would contribute to their soup.  “They all participated in the planning, shopping and cooking  - it was a very meaningful experience that got them excited about eating vegetables,” she confirmed.

by Kristin Pederson 

The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH ) on September 23, 2009. By doing so, the way was cleared for the City Council to vote on the program, which it must do by November 24th.

Before the City Planning Commission could make its decision, the proposal was reviewed in several venues. Since May 18th community boards, borough boards, and the borough presidents have had the opportunity to comment. Additionally, there was a public hearing on August 5th.

Community boards in particular, within such workings of local government, are the topic of the October FSNYC Open Networking meeting. Each borough is divided into community boards, each consisting of 50 members and staffed by a district manager. Throughout the City there are 59 boards, who are given an advisory role in land use and zoning changes, the City budget, municipal service delivery, and other matters of community importance. In fact, any issue that can arise within the community is supposed to be covered by one of the sub-committees of the board.

Board members are appointed by borough presidents, with the advice of City Council members from the board area. They are limited to roles of advocacy and coordination, but are held to represent the best interest of their communities.

Posted by Kerry Trueman, Eating Liberally

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Healthy Bodegas program seeks to make healthier food choices available in communities where fresh produce, whole grains, and low fat dairy products can be hard (or impossible) to find. Donya Williams, Program Coordinator for the Healthy Bodegas initiative, chatted with Kerry Trueman about the twin challenges of encouraging shopkeepers to stock more wholesome foods, and enticing customers to buy them. KT: What was the genesis of the Healthy Bodegas initiative? DW: There was some research done at the district public health offices, looking at food retail establishments in Harlem and Brooklyn. And through this research, they found that bodegas were the most common food stores in these neighborhoods. So, based on that, they did a pilot program trying to get bodegas to increase their stock of low-fat milk and fresh produce, which would provide a lot more people with access to healthy food.

Posted by Lexi Van de Walle

New York State is leading the way in improving access to fresh, locally grown and nutritionally dense fruits and vegetables for low-income mothers and their children. Beginning July 1st, New York is the first of hopefully many states to allow pregnant women and mothers who are enrolled in the Women’s Infants and Children’s Supplemental Nutrition (WIC) program to use their monthly checks at farmers’ markets to buy eligible fruits and vegetables.

Until last month, when Governor David Patterson announced the addition of farmers’ markets as an approved outlet for WIC mothers to add to their shopping routine, a WIC participant living in New York could only buy locally grown produce if either their supermarket sold locally grown fruits and vegetables or she received one of the $24 Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program coupons good from Juy-November from their local New York WIC agency.

Now, with the new program, not only does a mother have greater choice where she buys produce, but she also has a lot more money to spend at the vibrant and bustling markets featuring local farmers.

A mother with two children under five years old, for example, is eligible to receive $20 a month that can be spent at farmers’ markets which adds up to $240 a year versus only $24 per year with the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) coupon – an eleven-fold increase of spending power at the estimated 1,300 farmers’ markets in the state authorized to accept WIC checks as she is still eligible to receive the $24 FMNP coupon for a total of $264 per year to spend on local, farm food.  

posted by Ed Yowell, Slow Food NYC

The last time I saw Lillian Butler was about two years ago when she was trying to start an organic, vegetarian food co-op upstairs from her small, vegan restaurant, Raw Soul, in Harlem.  It was a calling.  She said there was just not very much good, fresh food available in the neighborhood..a poor circumstance for health and taste.  

I visited Lillian, and her partner Eddie Robinson, again this June.  She is still trying to start a food co-op.  “But,” she reports cheerfully, “food in the neighborhood is getting better.”  And Raw Soul, the restaurant and the associated businesses, including catering, meal plans, cooking classes, mail order, and wholesaling, are aiding the change for the better.

 WHO:      YOU!  We are sounding the call for volunteers!

WHAT:      Brooklyn Food Summer ’09:  Empower Brooklyn residents by supporting them in overcoming challenges to food access and affordability!

WHEN:      Ongoing, beginning June 1

WHERE:     Brooklyn neighborhoods where residents lack access to healthy food.

WHY:    Brooklyn faces a health crisis of rising obesity and diabetes among children and adults.  These diet-related diseases disproportionately affect certain neighborhoods where residents lack access to healthy food. Though there is sufficient healthy, culturally appropriate food available to serve all Brooklyn residents, this food in not getting onto the tables and into the bellies of many Brooklynites.

HOW:     Sign up to volunteer at: http://www.brooklynhealthyfoodcampaign.org/fs_volunteerrls.html
    or read on for more details…

A BIT ABOUT WHO WE ARE

Brooklyn Food Summer ‘09 is an all-volunteer initiative of the Brooklyn Healthy Food Campaign (BHFC).  The BHFC is a partnership of City and State governments, citywide service providers, grassroots organizations, and concerned citizens. We are committed to improving community health and food security, and to supporting neighborhood economies through locally spent food dollars, in the Borough of Brooklyn. This summer, these groups are joining forces to apply technical expertise, agency resources, and grassroots community organizing to make strides towards this vision.

Goals and Activities

By Loren Talbot with Lynn Fredericks

A unified city and state response to the city’s food deserts has emerged with the introduction of the state run Healthy Food/Healthy Communities Initiative and FRESH (Food Retail Expansion to Support Health), a new citywide program.  On May 16th Governor Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn announced both funding and legislation to help the establishment of supermarkets in underserved neighborhoods within the five boroughs.  The legislation coincided with the release of recommendations by The Food Trust and The New York Supermarket Commission, a coalition convened by The Food Trust, the Food Policy Coordinator for the City of New York, the Food Bank for New York City, the Food Industry Alliance of New York State, and the United Way of New York City with representatives from labor groups, public health advocates, supermarkets and financial institutions as well as city and state agencies. 

Posted by Jonna McKone, City Harvest

Staten Island is New York’s often forgotten borough when it comes to progressive food programs aimed to cut across class and neighborhood lines. Borough representatives and residents are rarely integrated in city-wide conferences, events, and policy development. This exclusion is due in part to Staten Island’s unique geography, low overall population density, limited public transit system, and unfamiliar neighborhood characteristics. Thus programming and initiatives that might apply to other New York City neighborhoods are rarely extended to the borough.

Despite the obstacles, City Harvest is currently supporting the development of community-based food projects in Staten Island’s North Shore, specifically the under-served communities of Stapleton and Park Hill, which may seem surprising in contrast to the stereotypical image of Staten Island as a homogenous, suburban borough. These neighborhoods, however, are served by only a small number of food retailers and supermarkets that are particularly difficult to access on a regular basis1, which negatively influences residents’ food purchasing habits. Citizens rely primarily on public buses with limited routes and schedules that exacerbate what community members term “isolationism” – the reluctance to travel even a short distance. Thirty-three percent of individuals living in zip code 10304, one of the lowest income areas in the borough, do not have a car, and in some census tracts the figure approaches 60 percent. Additionally, there is only one Greenmarket serving these neighborhoods and the entire borough of half a million people. The North Shore also supports only a handful of public community gardens.

Posted by Carla Kaiser, City Harvest

The South Bronx Food Co-op has been functioning as a cooperative for several years now, providing alternative, healthy, organic food options to the South Bronx area, which has not been as well stocked in food options as other areas of New York City.  At the end of January 2009, the Co-op finally opened its doors as a retail space for members and non-members alike. Located at 3rd Avenue and 158th Street in the Bronx, the Co-op is centrally located on bus lines, a few blocks from the subway, and is in the middle of a mixed and developing neighborhood.  As City Harvest has supported the development of healthy food options in this neighborhood, I had the chance to listen first hand as Zena Nelson, the Co-op’s main organizer, reflects on the past month of operation, and wonders what advice FSNYC members might offer moving forward.

Tell us about your journey to getting a storefront. How did you pick the location?  
The South Bronx Food Co-op is committed to providing affordable and nutritious foods to all residents of the South Bronx. We wanted to be in a high-traffic central place that could be accessed by people of any income. This corner of 3rd Avenue and 158th Street is blocks from both new condo developments as well as public housing. The neighborhood continues to develop, and we hope to be a central place where everyone knows they can find healthy food options they can’t find anywhere else nearby.

How has the reception been from the residents of the neighborhood?

Posted by Mark Foggin
Foggin: When I was asked to visit the West Side Campaign Against Hunger’s emergency food program at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  Certainly not aisles of stocked shelves nor  checkout counters.  I didn’t expect to see people with shopping carts picking their way past one another in the aisles.  But that’s exactly what I found.  It felt like a small supermarket.  And the people in it seemed just like shoppers I might find in my local grocery store.  There wasn’t much around that screamed out “food pantry.”  And that’s just the way Doreen Wohl likes it.  Doreen Wohl arrived at West Side 16 years ago.  And while the program was well intentioned, she saw a lot of things that struck her as not quite right about West Side’s approach to emergency food.

Wohl: When this program was founded in 1979, it was a traditional pantry where church members packed bags and they were handed out to people.   For the most part, the bags were the same size, regardless of household size. And it was a very uniform bag with a set of list of food: tuna fish, macaroni & cheese, peanut butter & jelly, canned beans, canned vegetables, canned fruit, rice, pasta.  Customers were handed a bag.  I saw them looking through them and exchanging items.  And they were told, “No please don’t do that. Please take your bag and leave.”  But what they were doing made sense because they basically know what their family needs.  They know what they have at home, they know their health conditions, and they can make the best selections.