For the Love of Neighbor

Catholics held a Day of Action for Migrant Children on Wednesday.  We wrote prayers for the children on strips of fabric and tied them to a metal fence representing the cages that kids are being kept in at the immigrant detention centers. Jean Stokan from the Sisters of Mercy spoke about the hypocrisy of the U.S. government, funding and fueling so much of the violence outbreaking in Central America, meanwhile we won’t even let migrants escaping the violence to find refuge in the U.S. without putting them in cages, without proper hygiene, food or water, and keeping them separated from their parents.  “Child detention is illegal under international law and causes serious mental, physical, and emotional health complications.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics and many other public health organizations have declared the policies towards immigrants a public health crisis. Immigrant policing has been found to negatively impact trust of government health information including vaccination of children.  The children are experiencing psychological trauma and may experience long-term mental health effects due to the detention and separation.  “The experiences may also exacerbate prior exposure to traumas in the home country (eg, violence) and during migration (eg, extortion).”  The children are not getting appropriate medical care; are forced to be in situations of poor sanitation and living conditions, and sit through long detention periods without the stimulation necessary to promote healthy child development. AAP past-president, Dr. Colleen Kraft, said “Separating parents from their kids at the border contradicts everything we know about children's welfare.”   

Indeed, any human rights crisis is a public health crisis, when people are not provided with the means by which they need to live dignified lives with nourishing food, clean water, clean air, shelter, clothing, bodily autonomy, and anything else they need to maintain hygiene and safety. 

Meanwhile, the public health community is also fighting for Child Nutrition Reauthorization, and ensuring the future of school wellness in New York State.  Almost 90% of school districts in New York State are missing at least one element of a comprehensive school wellness policy, as measured by the WELLSAT tool from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.  New York City school wellness advocates are trying to tackle support for school wellness, better school food and nutrition education at the city, state, and federal levels right now.   At the state level through the WELL Campaign, we want to see a model state school wellness policy that incorporates mental health and social and emotional learning alongside standards for school food, nutrition education, physical activity and physical education.   

And yet, the battle against inhumane immigration policies towards children seems totally disconnected from the battle for child health and well-being in schools.  Why can’t we see these efforts for the dignity & well-being of children as all connected, and work on them together?  Surely the faith community knows that public health advocates working on child nutrition also don’t want to see kids in cages, right?

Perhaps you think that nutrition education is not as important as immigration policies and ending child detention. (I for one have not seen many Catholic organizations promoting nutrition education, with exceptions including Altagracia Faith & Justice works in Northern Manhattan and the Mercy Center in the South Bronx - organizations serving immigrant communities while also protesting the root causes that cause people to have to flee their countries in the first place.) 

We cannot forget that everything is connected.  The Amazon and other rainforest areas are being destroyed to clear land for cattle that is used to produce fast food, palm trees to create an unhealthy oil which is used as a stabilizer for processed foods, and other consumer products such as paper, furniture and clothing which our consumeristic society is so dependent on.  If we do not each take a serious look at our lifestyles and examine how they are contributing to the destruction of human livelihoods and lives, and teach children to do the same, we will continue to perpetuate the crises in front of us. We live in an interconnected world and all our actions have consequences. We are called to co-create with our Creator, not destroy.  Youth are striking for the climate, some every Friday through the Fridays for Future movement, and some are just gearing up specifically for September 20.  

There are ways these youth can take action in their own schools though; we need to be proactive in our actions, not just resistant.  The Tisch Center for Food, Education and Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University has created a handout about what youth can do to demand more sustainability solutions in their schools. This could take the form of starting a school garden, participating in Meatless Mondays, campaigning for a Green Team, advocating for food and nutrition education, or decreasing food waste from school lunch. 

At the end of a “Climate Emergency and the Green New Deal” event at Riverside Church, a Fridays for Future climate strike march video was played with a backdrop of music from the song Bella Ciao which was used to protest the Nazis (re-written with lyrics to protest climate change), followed by the audience singing along. This was a chilling reminder of the connection between genocide and environmental destruction, which is all too close to home in the United States, with the founding of this country being at the expense of so many Native American lives, and too timely, with the killing of indigenous peoples in the Amazon and in other rainforests where the native peoples rely on the rainforests for their livelihoods.  

I have been encouraged to see youth leadership in promoting peace and living in harmony with creation, such as the Interfaith Youth Forum for Environment & Peace organized by JPIC Franciscans Africa.  However, the work of JPIC Franciscans Africa and the work of many other religious groups across the world are doing to promote this harmony is deeply underfunded.  For now, I have created a Go Fund Me page for JPIC Franciscans Africa, with hope and prayers that sufficient funds can be raised by the time of their 2019 youth forum which will be held during the Global Climate Strike on 20 September and World Peace Day on 21 September. The report about my trip to Kenya for the Laudato Si Generation conference, which I wrote about recently, has been translated into Spanish, French and Italian by the International Council of the Secular Franciscan Order.   

Recognizing the divide and silos between the public health community and faith-rooted social justice advocates, who seem to rarely work together for the same causes, several colleagues and I have decided to start the Interfaith Public Health Network, which seeks to engage and mobilize faith communities to improve population health, by addressing the underlying determinants of health (social, commercial, environmental, and political) through connecting, convening, cultivating, and catalyzing.  We want to bring the voices of healthcare advocates and the faith community together to advocate for things such as reduced emissions which lead to child asthma, promote agroecology projects and appreciation of plant-based meals which support the health of environment and people, support mental health services for people in need, and improve gun violence prevention measures.  

During a visit to New York by Olivier van Beeman from the Netherlands, author of the book “Heineken in Africa” the Interfaith Public Health Network organized an event with Olivier van Beeman along with Minister Onleilove Alston and Dr. Nicholas Freudenberg at the CUNY School of Public Health. We brought together the faith and public health communities to learn about the insidious practices of a multinational corporation that takes advantage of government tax loopholes in order to make its profits at the expense of the African community.  Some governments are even intertwined with the company, such as in Burundi.  This is the type of issue the Interfaith Public Health Network wants to raise awareness about: as Minister Onleilove Alston pointed out, in her religious tradition, it’s not a sin to drink, but it’s a sin to commit injustice.  And these injustices, involving government collusion with multinational companies, is what’s contributing to poverty, violence, despair and migration of our neighbors in many countries throughout the world, our common home. 

Faith-Rooted Organizing with Sojourners

I first came to know about Sojourners because of NY Faith & Justice. NY Faith & Justice (which worked with Bronx Health REACH back in 2010-2011) was born out of an inspiring conversation that Lisa Sharon Harper, Rev. Dr. Peter Heltzel, and others had during a Sojourners conference, after a deep faith-rooted visit in Congressman Rangel’s office in Washington, D.C. back in 2006.  NY Faith & Justice was formed to unite the church & speak out for social justice in NYC.  Other Faith & Justice networks were formed in other cities, such as Boston, Ohio, and Portland.  The faith leaders who formed these justice networks all remained connected to Sojourners.  They have also formed partnerships with many other organizations such as college campus groups like InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and national associations of various Christian groups. One notable partnership has been with CLUE (Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice) in Los Angeles, CA.  CLUE, and Alexia Salvatierra in particular, has developed a model of organizing and working with elected officials that is rooted in the core of our faith called Faith-Rooted Organizing.  CLUE staff travels around the country and the world conducting these trainings that leave participants feeling empowered and hopeful. 

In spring 2011, NY Faith & Justice organized one of these faith-rooted organizing trainings in NYC at Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan.  This was a one-day training where faith leaders from all over NYC were able to attend and learn the nuts and bolts of faith-rooted organizing.  Then, in fall 2011, NYFJ organized another faith-rooted organizing training, this time at Walker Memorial Baptist Church in the Bronx, which was an entire weekend-long training, including Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday afternoon, culminating in an “action” on Monday morning.  Since then, Lisa Sharon Harper has left NY Faith & Justice to work full-time for Sojourners in Washington, D.C., as the Director of Mobilizing.  Now, in summer 2012, I recently had the opportunity to attend a faith-rooted organizing training at the Sojourners national office – the “Organize2Mobilize” training. 

For those of us who have no formal community organizing training, the faith-rooted model is quite refreshing.  As a group, we define faith-rooted organizing and how it differs from secular organizing.  We answer questions such as, What are the ways that faith can contribute to the larger movement for justice in our world? and, What are the gifts of faith that we can bring to the table?  Through scripture study, analysis and reflection of stories of others in the Bible who organized and spoke prophetically about justice, we learn how to apply those same approaches to the social realities we experience today.  We learn to identify our own faith-rooted motivation, to tap into the power of faith and story-telling that is abundant in marginalized communities; to minister to people with power and to see recruitment through God’s eyes. But first we learn to identify the core “lie” that society is blindly feeding us about a particular issue, the Biblical antidote to the lie, and the clearest manifestation of the lie. 

While these ideas have been codified by Alexia Salvatierra, Lisa Sharon Harper and their colleagues at CLUE and Sojourners, they are not new. They’ve been around for years… and have been the method by which some of history’s most renowned justice seekers have approached their work.  Gandhi saw an injustice in his country as the British colonialists outlawed cloth spinning so they could take the techniques they learned in India back to Britain, and sell it back to India at an inflated price.  Taking this skill and trade away from the natives was the clearest manifestation of the “lie” (that colonization was “good”).  Gandhi took the nonviolent resistance approach (a Biblical antidote, as we see in Jesus’ teaching to “turn the other cheek” or “walk the extra mile” (Matthew 5:38-41)) and told people to spin their own cloth, despite what the English said to do.

In a similar way we see Rosa Parks’ effort as a faith-rooted approach.  The lie, that it was okay to segregate people of color, was most clearly manifested in segregation on the bus, because blacks were only allowed to sit in the back of the bus.  The spiritual antidote is that all people are created equal.  Hers was also one of nonviolent resistance.  

The Occupy movement clearly identified the lie that accumulation of wealth does no harm, pointing out that corporations are (and should not be) treated as people, and that the public sphere is owned by private corporations.

Antonio Torres from Bronx Health REACH and Christ the King Catholic Church pointed out the core lie that the church is believing today, that it’s not the place of the pastor to cross the line into discussing social issues. Another similarly connected lie is that money is the only force that can create substantive policy change, while the spiritual truth is that people power can be an effective counterweight to money’s loud voice. 

During this particular training I found the outlining of the Thresholds of Recruitment to be one of the most thought-provoking and useful exercises to go through.  Lisa started off this session by telling her own narration of some of the key turning points in her life which brought her to Christ.  But politicians are people too, and we can be part of their journey of transformation by using the moral authority that our faith provides us, to help expand their ideas of what it means to have courage to give a preferential option for the poor. In the best cases this will not just influence the way the politicians vote on bills, but also the way they talk to other legislators. People of faith have the power to move legislators to speak prophetically about the importance of treating all people with equality. By returning to the Commandment to treat your neighbor as yourself, to be your brother’s keeper – we can remind legislators what it means to make sure that we take care of kids even if they are not our own.  To take care of people living in areas that might be disproportionately affected by a potential new industrial site that emits excessive pollution; that are disproportionately affected by climate disruption (the US has 4% of the world’s people but emits 25% of the world’s greenhouse gases); or that cannot properly benefit from programs that were set up to supposedly help lift people out of poverty, because of unaddressed barriers and red tape keeping people from utilizing these resources most effectively.  To make sure that our agricultural policies are not set up in such a way that undermines the economies of other countries, destroys the naturally renewable resources God has provided for us, and promotes diet-related diseases disproportionately among the poor because subsidies make unhealthy products much more affordable than healthy foods.  If we can get Congressmen/women and other legislators to see the human and on-the-ground realities of what their policies look like in communities, this will bring them closer to understanding specifically what they need to advocate for when they are developing and voting on policies.

During the training we heard from several cutting edge social justice thinkers of this country, one of which was Tom Perriello, former US Congressman from Virginia, who advocates use of moral authority and believes in people-powered politics (he didn’t take lobby money as a Congressman).  He’s worked on and taught justice-based security strategies, and has helped lead a resurgence of moderate and progressive faith leaders advocating on issues of poverty, economic fairness, tolerance, and environmental stewardship. He helped launch Faith in Public Life, FaithfulAmerica.org, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, and Catholics United.  Perriello currently serves as the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund and Counselor for Policy at CAP.  CAP is a nonpartisan political think tank and advocacy organization that works to raise the level of policy debates through commonsense communication, such as its coverage of the Nuns on the Bus Tour and criticism of the Ryan budget.

Perriello’s words of wisdom for working with legislators include helping them realize what will be good for people while also making the legislators look good; using facts and moral authority; and asking legislators why they came into public office.

We also heard from Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, President of the Skinner Leadership Institute who has served as the Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus as well as many other boards, including the Christian Community Development Association.  Dr. Williams-Skinner is an advocate of going in to visit elected officials with prayer, as the spirit of compassion helps to humanize the legislators one is addressing.  She suggests adopting Jesus’ indignation about how poor/low-income people are being treated, and speaking with a posture of “I don’t agree with your position, but help me to understand it.”  Many times legislators want the best for their constituents but often times their facts are missing or wrong.  We can work to correct this misinformation by telling our own stories and providing factual information.

Sharing a panel discussion with Dr. Williams-Skinner was Larisa Friesen Hall, Director of Major Gifts at Sojourners.  Larisa stressed the importance of identifying what posture we address people with – we should try to understand where the rich politicians are coming from (75% of people in Congress are millionaires) such as by watching Fox.  We must emphasize that budgets are moral documents and that it’s righteous to be concerned about people.  While there is a lot of dirty money in Congress, the act of redemption is possible, if politicians decide to take money from something bad and turn it into something good.  Resources she suggested to look into further include Bolder Giving and The Spirituality of Fundraising by Henri Nouwen. 

Tim King, Chief Communications Officer for Sojourners, and Eric Sapp from the Eleison Group led a session on “Messaging to Move Legislators.”  The Eleison Group leads educational campaigns to align what’s right with what works politically and economically, and empowers progressive activists to connect authentically with the faith and values of vet voters.  They’re proponents of approaching faith in the public square from a place of humility. The Eleison Group specializes in media messaging – targeting messaging for specific audiences (not the “general public”), getting to the root of what people’s values are. For example, in Texas, anti-corruption is the message, not anti-corporation.  At the end of the day there are ways to reach the same policy goals, but just using different messaging tactics.  

Sapp advocates for making sure values are integrated into our messaging, and that people can answer the question, Why do you believe what you believe?  People make decisions with their hearts, not with their heads.  He noted Obama’s moving campaign speech in 2007 (which spoke to people’s hearts) when he was a Senator vs. his transactional, verbiage-heavy approach used when he became President (which spoke to people’s heads).  While the “what” of policy can be complicated, the “why” (message) should be simple.  Messages should be communicated in terms of right and wrong, keeping the end goal (telos) in mind. When communicating with legislators, we need to stay humble and honest, and keep our messaging memorable and simple.  It was suggested that environmental advocates reframe the message being used in advocacy, because the current messaging isn’t working.  Some politicians will shut us out if we mention the words “climate change” (which raises disputes about scientific validity) whereas “creation care” hits at the same issue but touches on the moral imperative to be stewards of the Earth.  Our messaging should also include a way to make the leader look good.  It’s important to point out that the poor pay the greatest price for our actions relating to the environment; however, what will appeal to many electeds is to let them know that America is losing out on an economic future (as China takes over the solar panel industry, for example).*

Tim King added that public figures that make public statements should be held publicly accountable.  We should critique people we often agree with to keep pushing them forward.  (“People are too nice to Obama.”)  As Tim says, it would be nice if Obama gave a heartfelt faith-based account for the poor. 

We also had the honor of hearing Jim Wallis (founder of Sojourners) speak.  He spoke about the power that the faith community can hold in Washington, D.C., and gave the example of Sojourners’ role in organizing evangelicals which ultimately led to a change in immigration policy.  At the end of his captivating speech, he said that the difference between events and movements is sacrifice and asks, “Where is your moral courage?” 

Beau Underwood, Campaigns Manager at Sojourners, provided some tips on planning our Capitol Hill visits which would occur the next day.  A few pointers which are useful for any visit with an elected official:  time is limited, so be sure to control the agenda; make a clear ask; and determine follow-up.  In the actual meeting, be sure to introduce yourself & explain why you’re there, have a storyteller speak who can offer a reflection (ideally from personal experience), and lay out the issues and share your faith-informed perspective.  In accordance with the National Mobilizing Circle, we were to ask Congress not to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.  Supporting data is valuable and should be presented, but people of faith are not expected to be policy wonks – the strength of people of faith lies in our ability to make moral arguments.  But as for the supporting data: according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, extending tax cuts for those who make between $250,000 and $1 million would cost the US $366 billion over ten years, making programs (i.e. relating to health, environment, social services, foreign aid & other programs for the poor etc) very vulnerable to cuts.  

Wendy Tarr from Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice in L.A. provided some additional tips for faith-rooted advocacy.  It’s important when speaking to our political representatives that we foster relationships with them. Relationships can open doors, change minds, and ensure our voice is heard.  After the visit, note what the member/staff said and any commitments made. Develop a plan for following up and providing any additional information requested by the office.

One tenant of faith-rooted advocacy is using religious symbols in delegations.  The one we used with Senator Gillibrand’s and Schumer’s offices was that of milk and honey (making a just decision) vs. bitter herbs (making a decision which perpetuates injustice).  (While the food analogy from the Old Testament is nice, I took it a step further by saying that policies which promote cheap, unhealthy food in the American diet is more like feeding poor people a bag of Doritos instead of a piece of fruit.) 

Now what?

Organize2Mobilize was a very informative and spiritually nourishing training, and this post only begins to reveal the valuable components of faith-rooted organizing.  Here are a couple of ways to get more involved:

Sojourners will be coming out with a new film in October: October 2^nd will be the livestream premiere of the film “Poverty in America,” which highlights stories of people in poverty across the country.  They suggest using this film as an organizing tool, because nothing is more powerful than stories, and there is no easier way to tell stories than through film.  (Janee Woods Weber from Everyday Democracy added that EvDem has study guides on poverty that could complement the film screening nicely).

Sojourners also seeks for faith leaders and organizations to join their National Mobilizing Circle which calls out the budget as a moral document and implores legislators to treat it as such.  

Another way of recruiting legislators into a relationship and guiding them into becoming champions for justice is to start with inviting them to “Come and See” what’s happening in your own community.  Tell them, “before you vote to cut funds, come and see what exactly you would be cutting.” 

Soon, there will be a faith-rooted organizing training in NYC at the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies for organizing around local policy issues.  More details to come! 

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Additional suggested resources include:

(from Eric Sapp): http://mediamattersaction.org/message/, as well as A Guide to Scripture and the Budget and Ayn Rand & the GOP vs. Jesus from the American Values Network

 (from Alycia Ashburn): The World Without Us and Oxfam- Ending Poverty Need Not be at the Expense of the Environment  

*In delving a bit further into messaging for Creation Care with Alycia Ashburn, we concluded that it’s important to talk about creation care in the context of its interconnectedness with other issues: i.e. climate justice is hunger justice.  When people do not have basic necessities such as clean water, wars and spread of infection ensue.  Therefore, environmental issues are linked to national security and are a threat multiplier. In addition, war is costly, and Republicans care about saving money: former Navy Brigadier General Steve Anderson saved the Navy $1 billion by insulating tents.  Another costly budget item is healthcare: we can argue for reducing healthcare costs by investing in clean air, clean water, and healthy food as preventive measures. But whatever we do we must not pit social justice issues against each other!  Many Democrats are guilty of this.  The Department of Defense has plenty of money that can be reallocated to programs which will help protect the poor and the environment.

Do your part to Leave It Better...support the reGeneration!

Over the past year or so, I've become familiar with the organization Leave It Better and gotten to know a few of its incredible team members.  Leave It Better is an organization which empowers youth to heal the environment, primarily by teaching them gardening and composting skills, as well as filmmaking skills so they can document their experiences as they learn to grow food.  The LIB team then edits the film clips created by the children and shares them online, with the ultimate goal of creating a global youth gardening documentary which will be called "the reGeneration." 

Leave It Better is currently in the tail end of a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for their reGeneration documentary. They recently put together a campaign video where Dominique tells her story of how she developed her passion for gardening and health. Witnessing the suffering that her father went through as a consequence of his poor eating habits, she discovered gardening to be a healthy alternative, a way to take control of one's food choices and therefore one's health. She embodies what it means to take the challenges that life throws at us and create positive solutions which grow healthy, empowered citizens and heal us, our communities, and our environment.  But don't take my word for it - watch the video yourself :)   And consider supporting their efforts to make the reGeneration film a reality by becoming a backer of their Kickstarter campaign. 

A few years ago when working with students at MS 331 in the Bronx, the Leave It Better team members were approached by a teacher in the school with the suggestion that they should clean up the abandoned park across the street from the school and make it into a garden. They agreed, going through all of the steps necessary to register the garden with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation/ GreenThumb, get the community involved, and clean up the garden.  Dominique, who wears the hat of Garden Manager amongst many others, also took a class at the NY Botanical Garden to become a Master Composter.  Their work with this garden in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx - which they call the Leave It Better Kids' Garden - has inspired hope in the community and its youth.  The youth are assigned roles and each have their own garden tasks and responsibilities, creating a sense of purpose for them in the community while also providing residents with a tangible solution to the health problems plaguing many neighborhoods in the Bronx:  freshly grown food.  There are garden plots for the youth, the seniors, and even for King of Glory Tabernacle Church down the road.  The entire community, which previously was just like many others in the Bronx - a "food desert" filled with very few healthy food options - now has a direct source of fresh, local produce, as well as a method of empowering kids to create positive change in their neighborhood.  And they've partnered with BronxWorks, a social service organization, to bring a farmers market to the neighborhood too, bringing in yet more fresh produce and employment opportunities for residents who help run the market, which is on Thursdays this summer by University Ave & West 181st Street in the Bronx.  

Leave It Better team members Graham, Dominique and Roz are doing their part to "leave it better" by empowering youth in this Bronx community and in schools citywide to care for the environment, contribute to a sustainable food system, develop healthy eating habits, and be positive change agents in the world around them.  Now it's our turn to do our part.  The reGeneration Kickstarter campaign has raised over $10,000 so far but still needs to raise nearly $25,000 by July 14th in order for the campaign to be funded and any of the pledges to be counted.  But now it's up to us - we must be the change we wish to see in the world. Diet-related diseases cost billions of dollars a year in medical costs, ruining millions of people's quality of life and our national budget. But we have the answers, and they lie in empowering the younger generation to contribute to a sustainable food system and develop healthy eating habits.  We must become the answer to our prayers.  Now is our opportunity to support a worthwhile cause and have the story of youth gardening be captured in a documentary which can be shared worldwide for years to come.  Consider pledging a donation to the Kickstarter campaign and passing the word on to your friends, family and colleagues.  Together we can make a difference. 

Food Movements Unite!

It was about the same time that I started reading “Diet for a Small Planet” by Frances Moore Lappé that I received some information about Food First in the mail.  With so many different organizations asking for support, it’s hard to decide which ones to pay attention to.  But as I read through the letter explaining the mission of Food First (which happened to be co-founded by Frances Moore Lappé), I knew that there was something special about this organization that stood it apart from a lot of the other foodie organizations.  Food First recognizes the centrality of democracy to the food justice movement.  As I read the letter I noticed one of the ways to lend support involved receiving a complimentary copy of the book “Food Movements Unite” – which sounded like an important book. How could I say no to this deal? 

Not too long after I received the book in the mail I heard about a launch event for the book with the author/editor, & current Executive Director of Food First, Eric Holt-Giménez.   And with 2 of the panelists being leaders from the Bronx on the front lines of food justice, I knew it would be a good event J

On the panel were Karen Washington from La Finca del Sur / NYC Community Gardening Coalition / Just Food / etc; Ray Figueroa from Friends of Brook Park; Daisy Cheung from Restaurant Opportunities Center – New York, Diana Robinson from the Food Chain Workers Alliance, Lupe from the Community Farmworker Alliance, Eric Holt-Giménez from Food First, and last but not least was moderated by our fearless food sovereignty champion, Christina Schiavoni from WhyHunger. 

Eric opened it up with the background behind the book.  He saw that everyone was too busy doing their own food justice work to look at the movement as a whole.  He wanted to create unity in the food movements by getting the stories from food justice movers and shakers across the globe, to hear not just about what they’re doing, but how they believe what they’re doing intersects with the larger picture of the food movement.  To find the areas of convergence and figure out what the barriers are that still need to be addressed.  I’m excited to read the book.

The panelists brought up some interesting points.  Yes, there have been food riots because despite there being enough food grown in this world to feed the population one and a half times over, there is still an extraordinarily high number of people suffering from food insecurity (about 50 million in the US) and hunger (1 billion worldwide).  But this is just a result of the capitalist global food system doing exactly what it is supposed to do – consolidating the food supply into the hands of a few, creating a monopoly over our food supply.  That’s what capitalism was built for – making money.  Which lends itself to disregarding the social externalities which would slow down the profit-making machine that is the world of corporations.  But our job has to be to connect the dots of people doing incredible work in our own backyards, and take back our food system. 

Ray Figueroa from Friends of Brook Park said that one thing we can do is connect with the other human rights movements.  Go off of the model of the Black Panther Party, which saw food justice as one part of a much larger story of liberation. Food is a human right, and the people who work on Housing as a Human Right will also be in solidarity with the food movement.  And not only that, but there will be areas in which to work together.  One thing the housing movement works on is land issues, and it just so happens that community gardening space is also a land issue. So one thing Ray & the NYC Community Gardening Coalition is working on is spreading the word and advocating for the NYC Garden Law, which would protect GreenThumb community gardens so that the Dept of Housing Preservation & Development cannot reclaim and raze the gardens. (If HPD can just take back GreenThumb land whenever it wants, what’s the point in registering the garden in the first place?  That was the question of the day for the Morning Glory community gardeners in the Bronx, whose garden was razed last fall.  But there are a number of other gardens legitimately registered with GreenThumb that still get reclaimed by the City on a regular basis.)  

Karen Washington mentioned that what’s missing is the grassroots element of food justice organizing and advocacy.  We can get funding for certain initiatives, but how do we make sure the money will fund the true grassroots work that needs to get done, and not necessarily just fulfill the “goals” of the grant?  And, how do we get young people engaged in community gardening?   Ray added to the point with the wisdom heard time and time again in social justice circles – top-down education won’t work, communities aren’t going to be educated out of oppression.  He offers the alternative from Gandhi, who was a “fierce humanist” – we must weave our own cloth.  Move to the communities experiencing oppression.  But don’t come if you’re just coming to “help.”  Come if you believe your destiny is tied up with my destiny.  Because then we can all live with dignity, and actually work together to get somewhere. [It’s quite inspiring, really, to have been part of the struggle against FreshDirect moving to the South Bronx from the very beginning of South Bronx Unite in February 2012, and to see the fierce dedication and in-house capacity and skills of the people who are part of this campaign for food, environmental, and economic justice.  Enough injustice in one community is enough.]

Karen Washington echoed something I heard Steve Ritz say at a Bronx Health REACH meeting recently – it’s important to talk to the grandparents.  This generation has a lot of wisdom, and many of them come from agricultural backgrounds and are a lot more respected than other authorities within a community.  We also need to see who is at the table at meetings we have – is there fair representation of communities of color?  Are the meetings held at night so that working class people can attend?  Is childcare and transportation made available?  Until these needs are met, it’s going to be very hard to get people to care about an issue, if their main concern is providing for their families and just having enough money to get by. 

The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United) advocates for restaurant workers nationwide, who survive on poverty wages, little to no benefits, and discrimination.  These restaurant workers federally are salaried the tip minimum wage ($2.13), and are often treated more like machines than human beings.  70% of restaurant servers in the US are women.  And out of 20 million people working in the food industry in the US, most of them are immigrants and people of color.  So ROC works with racial justice organizations and women’s rights organizations to advocate for better conditions for restaurant workers, such as paid sick days, living wages, and dignity.  They’ve organized a national campaign against full service dining, against Darden, which owns 1900 restaurants in the US and made a $500 million profit last year, despite its workers suffering from wage theft and discrimination. [I’m a fan of ROC-NY’s incubator restaurant worker-owned cooperative, COLORS.  Juan Carlos even worked with me to host a screening of the movie FRESH in the restaurant as part of their “Building Bridges Not Walls” series, where Karen Washington/ BUGs, Eric Weltman / Food & Water Watch, and others came together to share their experiences with the food system.] 

Lupe from the NYC Community Farmworker Alliance discussed the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which came together to support the tomato farmers in Immokalee, Florida that grow 90% of America’s tomatoes.  These farmers get $0.45-$0.50 for every 32 pounds of tomatoes they harvest, which makes it hard to earn the minimum wage.  They’ve been successful in getting some new sign-ons to the Fair Food Agreement to prevent exploitation of tomato harvesters, and currently in NYC are campaigning to get Chipotle to sign on to this agreement, since they’ve now been successful with getting Trader Joe’s to sign the agreement.

Lupe talked about how the farm workers’ method of dealing with problems that arise is one of community organizing which everyone in the food movement could utilize – see the problem, analyze it, and take action.  Her other suggestions were to make sure youth have access to food justice information; start youth-run collectives; and bring in faith communities. 

According to Eric Holt-Giménez, there’s the dominant white narrative on food justice (described quite eloquently by Michael Pollan), and then there’s “this” narrative.  [Might I add, it’s not that Michael Pollan’s story is “bad,” it just isn’t the complete story.  Not everyone has adequate access to farmers markets and CSAs and organic food.]  As Eric said, “Voting with your fork doesn’t work when the only option is capitialist food.”  The answers need to come via grassroots, innovative solutions to the issues of food injustice, like entrepreneurial youth farming projects [the Green Bronx Machine being one of my favorite]. 

The event organizers put together a really good handout of next “action steps.”  I will share most of them with you here:

Events:

May 1 – All out for a general strike on May Day!  Stand with food and farm workers and all workers – particularly immigrant workers – everywhere!  See http://www.may1.info/ and http://maydaynyc.org/. 

May 12 – Come to the Brooklyn Food Conference!  Over 5,000 people are expected to attend this free, all day event filled with keynotes from notable food activists, workshops, panel discussions, food demos, family programming, art and much more. http://bkfoodconference.org/

June 1-3 – Occupy the Land ‘Unconference’ – the NYC Community Gardening Coalition is collaborating with the Occupy Wall Street movement, environmental and social justice groups, and a variety of artist collectives to hold an ‘unconference’ in community gardens across the city. The unconference will be a platform for dialogue between different groups and struggles, from the local to the global.  www.nyccgc.org

June 6 – Food Workers & Food Justice Conference – the Food Chain Workers Alliance is co-hosting this conference with UFCW Local 1500 and the Alliance for a Greater New York (ALIGN).  http://foodchainworkers.org/

June 20 – Global day of action in solidarity with La Via Campesina and the Peoples’ Alternative Summit to Rio +20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  There’s a call for people to do actions in their own communities to expose how corporations are driving climate chaos and environmental destruction and to put forward real grassroots solutions. There’s also a call for actions leading up to Rio+20 the week of June 4^th.  More at www.viacampesina.org and http://tinyurl.com/772yf4m.

More ways to plug in:

http://www.picturethehomeless.org/

www.usfoodsovereigntyalliance.org

www.whyhunger.org/fslc

New York City’s FreshDirect Deal – Just Doesn’t Go Far Enough

A Bad Deal from the Start

On February 7^th, Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Cuomo, and Bronx Borough President Diaz announced a deal that provides FreshDirect with $127.8 million in taxpayer money to subsidize a relocation of FreshDirect’s headquarters from Long Island City to the Harlem Rail Yard on the South Bronx waterfront.  Two days later, the NYC Industrial Development Agency (IDA) held a hearing on the FreshDirect deal to give provide community members with an opportunity to voice their opinions before the deal was sealed.   South Bronx residents have real concerns about the impact of the FreshDirect deal on the environment, promised job creation, living wages, acceptance of EBT (food stamps), and the inaccessibility of FreshDirect services to South Bronx residents.  Residents came together under the title of “South Bronx Unite: Stop FreshDirect” to speak out against the deal.  South Bronx Unite members have created quite a buzz within the city, raising awareness about the city’s failure to provide community members with a real opportunity to voice their opinions before the deal was decided upon.  South Bronx Unite members have created social media outlets (blog, facebook and twitter) to get the word out about their disapproval of the FreshDirect deal.  There has even been a Change.org petition created to stop FreshDirect from building its new headquarters in the South Bronx. 

The opposition to the FreshDirect deal has been covered in media outlets all over the city, from El Diario to the New York Times.  New York City Council member Melissa Mark-Viverito and NYC Comptroller John Liu have both publicly expressed their disapproval of the FreshDirect.  Despite the opposition to the deal, the IDA held its board meeting on February 14^th – which was attended by members of South Bronx Unite – and the FreshDirect subsidy deal was voted on in the affirmative by all parties present except Comptroller Liu.  South Bronx Unite members are demanding to see the Environmental Impact Assessment conducted on the Harlem Rail Yards; for the City Council to demand oversight hearings of the NYC Economic Development Corporation; and for NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to audit the Harlem River Rail Yards deal.  South Bronx Unite members would also like to see Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz hold a public meeting where all South Bronx residents would be invited to express their concerns. 

These concerns are real ones, too. While the Bronx Borough President put together a Memorandum of Understanding to try and address the concerns of South Bronx residents, the MOU is non-binding and does not adequately address the concerns:

·    Lack of democracy: Since the very beginning, there was a lack of a true democratic process that would provide community members with enough time to express their opinions before the decision was made. 

·    Environmental Impact:  There has not been an adequate environmental impact assessment conducted on the site, nor has any environmental impact analysis been provided to members of South Bronx Unite.  The promise of using a small number of alternative fuel vehicles doesn’t adequately address the concerns of having an additional 130 trucks per day on the road in the South Bronx – already home to highest asthma rates in the country – nor the increased truck emissions that would come from the removal of more than 380 tons of solid waste per month.

·    Job creation:  FreshDirect is promising that almost 1000 jobs will be created over the next 10 years, which may sound like good news to Bronx county with some of the highest poverty rates in the nation.  But there are no written guarantees to ensure that a certain number of these jobs will be provided to South Bronx residents.  Further, past recipients of IDA subsidies have not have a good track record of holding true to promised job creation:  ALIGN – the Alliance for a Greater New York – has reviewed the State Comptroller’s data and found that for the NYC IDA: “Only eight of the 23 IDA subsidized projects that ended in 2009 met or exceeded their job creation promises.”  In addition, the amount of money being provided through the subsidy deal is out of proportion compared to the amount of money given for job creation in previous deals. According to Comptroller John C. Liu’s office, “A few months ago, the EDC attracted a world-class university by promising $100 million in capital for a project that by their own estimate will generate 30,000 jobs. Now the EDC is giving close to $100 million to create 962 jobs.  The cost to the City is $93,000 for each new job.” 

·    Living Wages: While nearly 40% of current FreshDirect employees make less than $25,000/year, FreshDirect would be exempted from any local living wage mandates adopted by the city.   According to the New York Times – City Room, “As it stands, the city will pour about $130 million into a modestly profitable company over a decade without requiring that it pay more than $9 an hour to workers who labor in frigid warehouses hauling 50-pound boxes. The workers get less than two weeks off a year, and that includes sick, personal and vacation days.”

·    Labor Practices:  As described in South Bronx Unite’s message to the NYS Attorney General, NYC Comptroller, Bronx Borough President, NYC Economic Development Corporation, Empire State Development, and NYS Energy Research and Development Authority: “Numerous complaints have been filed with city, state and federal agencies regarding FreshDirect’s labor practices, including 27 discrimination and nine unfair labor claims against FreshDirect in the last four years alone.  The description of wages and employment in FreshDirect’s NYCIDA application fails to provide taxpayers with enough information to gauge the quality of jobs, including with respect to salary or how many jobs are part-time or full-time.”  

·    Acceptance of EBT: As pointed out by Joel Berg of the NYC Coalition Against Hunger, the MOU does not identify FreshDirect as officially agreeing to accept food stamps: “Fresh Direct previously sought to accept food stamps, had been prevented by doing do by "the State", and that Fresh Direct and the Bronx BP would work together to ‘continue these efforts’ to try to get accept food stamps through EBT.  Unfortunately, Fresh Direct's story that they were prevented from accepting food stamps by "the State" is likely untrue. Under federal law, only USDA, not any state, has the power to decide which retailers can or cannot accept food stamps.”

·    Servicing the South Bronx:   FreshDirect has never and currently does not serve the South Bronx – only the wealthier areas of the Bronx such as Riverdale.  FreshDirect has only discussed expanding to “new Bronx neighborhoods.”  The Bronx Borough President’s office created a facebook page to “illustrate to the company just how many Bronx residents are willing to not only use their service, but have the technical capabilities to do so.” (FreshDirect is an entirely online grocery ordering and delivery system. As the Bronx includes one of the poorest Congressional districts in the nation, many residents do not have readily available Internet access.)  So far, the Borough President’s facebook page has accumulated more opposition than support for the FreshDirect deal.  So has a Crain’s poll.

·    Misuse of public land: As described by South Bronx Unite, “The proposed site at the Harlem River Yards in The Bronx is owned by New York State Department of Transportation and has been leased for 99 years to Harlem River Yard Ventures II (HRYV), which is 95% owned by the Galesi Group.  The purpose of the Harlem River Yards project (together with its partner project, the Oak Point Link) was to reduce air pollution by decreasing truck traffic and to help avoid $500 million in public road improvements through development of a Full Freight Access Program, which has not been developed in the more than 20 years that HRYV has held the lease.  Instead, the Bronx community has had 1.9 miles of waterfront made inaccessible to the public.”

·    Greenway and Waterfront Access:  As described in South Bronx Unite’s message to the Borough President, “Harlem River Yards is essential to a Harlem River Greenway as a necessary Bronx West - East connection from High Bridge and the Harlem River Greenway to the South Bronx Greenway and Randall’s Island.  The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has been negotiating for some time with HRYV to create access to a pedestrian bridge, currently under construction, that will link the South Bronx Greenway to Randall’s Island and then to Queens and Manhattan (the “Connector”).  The Connector will provide a safe and legal means to cross an important waterway that unites the Bronx with the open space and green playing fields of Randall’s Island.  EDC is now granting more than $100 million in public subsidies to FreshDirect, some of which will be allocated to Harlem River Yards, when HRVY has so far refused to grant an easement to complete the vital Connector project through the Harlem River Yards.  Equitable land use, in accordance with the public trust doctrine, includes meaningful waterfront access and recreational opportunities in addition to the swift completion of the Connector.” 

With all of these concerns, members of “South Bronx Unite” would prefer “a community-led development plan that makes efficient use of nearly 100 acres of public waterfront land and incorporates sustainable development, living wage jobs, clean air and waterfront access for South Bronx residents.”  

A Better Solution

As for improving access to healthy food, landlord and developer Steve Smith has crafted a vision for a regional food campus at Oak Point in the South Bronx, that would provide access to “locally grown, locally raised, locally made” food for South Bronx residents and the larger NYC area.  While the plans are still under development, Paul Lipson, consultant to the project, presented at Bronx Health REACH’s February 2012 Nutrition and Fitness Workgroup meeting. Here's the story: 
A 2003 study gauged the unmet demand for local and regional agricultural products at upwards of $1 billion in the New York metropolitan areas.  The proposed 130,000 sq ft regional food hub would house GrowNYC’s Wholesale Farmers Market and would serve as a non-profit aggregator of growers so upstate and regional growers can have a space to access markets.  There would be an opportunity for store owners and community members to access produce directly. Co-located next to the largest wholesale grocery and restaurant supplier in the New York metro area, it would be convenient for middlemen and store and restaurant owners to do all their shopping in one location. The operation could include a “market within a market” allowing products to be sold directly to Jetro and Restaurant Depo, as well as bodegas, small to medium-sized grocery stores, and small (10-20 table) restaurants.

Plans include a kitchen on the second floor, which would create many jobs for artisanal food manufacturing.  They would also like to create a wash and chop facility – something sorely needed in the city – which would allow everyone – from bodegas to institutions such as the NYC Department of Education Office of SchoolFood – to make more direct use of local produce.

Smith hopes to add a rooftop hydroponic greenhouse operation serving grocery and grocery delivery chains in the New York metro area; an agricultural cooperative aggregating over 60 regional growers and producers; a borough-based brewer of beers and ales (the Bronx Brewery currently brews in Connecticut); a Bronx-based caterer and institutional food service providing meals for charter schools and senior centers; and a produce distributor serving NY metro area.

Moreover, this project would save a lot on carbon emissions, fuel and transportation costs due to streamlining of operations and logistics. Individual farmers would not have to send their trucks to the city, but rather the Oak Point facility could send its trucks to them to pick up their produce and then deliver “tropicals” and other items available only in the city to them on the return trip. 

Located on 9.6 waterfront acres, a ½ mile east of the Triborough Bridge and ½ west of the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, there would be rail and deep water access, thus creating a means for a true regional food hub. 

This whole project is dependent on subsidies – albeit, a tenth of the price of the subsidies the City is planning on giving to FreshDirect.  While it may not “promise” as many jobs as the FreshDirect deal, the jobs would provide workers with living wages, and the regional food campus would have many benefits and implication for public health, including air quality benefits, improvements to institutional food, etc.

Steve Smith and Paul Lipson are currently looking to connect with small food businesses and growers cooperatives that would like to share a food kitchen.  They are seeking support from the City Council and other elected officials to provide public subsidies for the project.  Paul can be reached at paul (at) barrettobay (dot) com

Oxfam's Sow the Seed Campaign

Now more than ever is the time to get keyed in to the good work Oxfam is doing. For the past few years (up until Congress dropped climate change legislation from the radar), Oxfam America's main focus was getting Congress to finance international adaptation to climate change. The next mini-campaign, up until the UN Millennium Development Goals summit, was around calling on President Obama to develop a US Global Development Strategy (victory!). Now Oxfam is expanding the conversation to include food, and as far as I know will continue to do so up until the 2012 Farm Bill is voted on.

Oxfam's current campaign, "Sow the Seed," is asking world leaders to support the world’s poorest food producers as they fight climate change. This campaign officially begins on World Food Day, which leads up to the climate summit in Cancun November 29.

Our two "asks" in the US are for our members of Congress to:

1. Pass the Global Food Security Act. Strengthen it to support communities in their efforts to build resistance to climate change - and combat the adverse effects of climate change on their crops.

2. Urge President Barack Obama to establish a fair, accessible and accountable global climate fund at the climate summit in Cancun later this year that will sow the seed for a binding global climate agreement by 2012.

People can get involved in advocating for these causes with Oxfam by

a) joining an Oxfam Action Corps if you live in one of the following cities:
Albuquerque, NM
Austin, TX
Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
Columbus, OH
Indianapolis, IN
Minneapolis, MN
New York, NY
Philadelphia, PA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA

Several of my fellow Oxfam Action Corps NYC volunteers have been in Iowa this week for the Norman Borlaug Dialogue / World Food Prize event, learning more about ending world hunger. You can find out more about OAC NYC at http://www.oxfamactioncorpsnyc.org/ (the other OAC pages are linked from here as well). Or alternatively, visit http://www.oxfamactioncorps.org

b) Tomorrow (World Food Day), Oxfam Action Corps in these various cities will be holding events to get petition signatures and have people plant seeds through creative activities. If you do not live in one of these cities, you can still support the Sow the Seed campaign by growing a "virtual plant" by taking the actions listed on the website, sowtheseed.net - growing plants, uploading photos of plants grown at home for the "photo petition," and sharing and promoting the actions through your own social networks. The number of actions taken around the world will be shown as a rolling number on this virtual plant.

c) Get advocacy updates from Oxfam America by signing up at http://oxfamamerica.org/

Jumpstart Life-long Healthy Eating Habits with your Child in the Bronx: Get Involved!

I recently wrote a newsletter on combating childhood obesity during a pediatric rotation of my dietetic internship at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. Here's the content...

Improving the school food environment through your child’s school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and your Community

Outline:

Healthy Fundraisers

School Breakfast Program

Child Nutrition Reauthorization & the School Lunch Program

Farmers Markets

Kids and Gardening

Supermarkets & Bodegas

Bronx Health REACH

Strategic Alliance for Health

What’s On Your Plate? Film

Let’s Move

People’s Garden NYC

More Resources

Online Videos

Farmers Markets in the Bronx

Healthy Fundraisers

Many school PTAs sell unhealthy foods such as candy or potato chips as fundraisers for their school, to fund after-school activities. Parents and teachers want the best for their children, but these unhealthy foods actually make children believe that these foods are acceptable snacks and can be consumed on a regular basis. As an alternative, the District Public Health Office has developed a Fundraiser Guide to help PTAs choose healthy food (or non-food!) options for school fundraisers. The toolkit can be found at this link: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/dpho/dpho-fundraiser-guide.pdf

School Breakfast Program

Many children either do not eat breakfast in the morning or pick up an unhealthy option, such as a bacon, egg & cheese sandwich, for breakfast on their way to school. When children don’t start the day off right with a healthy breakfast, they’re more likely to have difficulty paying attention and focusing on classwork while at school. The Department of Education has approved all schools in New York City to have a school breakfast program, but many schools have not signed up yet or only offer the program to a few classes at the school. The school breakfast program means that every child in the classrooms to which it is provided will get the same, healthy breakfast – a great way to start off the day. If your child does not currently participate in the School Breakfast Program, speak with the principal at your school or your school’s PTA about the possibility of signing up or expanding the program to cover more students.

http://www.breakfasteveryday.org/

Child Nutrition Reauthorization and the School Lunch Program

The Department of Education’s Office of SchoolFood (OSF) works hard within its budget to make sure all children get a school lunch that meets certain nutritional standards while also tasting good to the children. However, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) only gives a certain amount of money to improve school food, and this amount of money is not enough for the OSF to make all the changes it would like to. There is currently a bill in Congress called Child Nutrition Reauthorization, which if passed will increase the amount of money spent on childhood nutrition programs – including school food – by $4.5 billion over 10 years. This would bring healthier foods into all schools, including vending machine items. However, the amount of money that is truly needed to improve school food is $4 billion per year. To find information on how to call your Congressman to ask for more money for child nutrition, see this link: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/basics/

Another thing you can do to improve the quality of school food is: together with your child’s principal and PTA, speak to Billy Doherty at the Office of School Food about connecting your child’s school to a local farmer to get fresh, local fruits and vegetables delivered to the school. Many farmers from local areas, such as Upstate New York and other nearby states, already sell their fruits and vegetables to people in NYC at farmers markets.

More on Farmers Markets…

There are many farmers markets located throughout the city, including some in the Bronx. These are hosted by Greenmarket and by Harvest Homes. Most farmers markets accept cash, WIC checks, EBT (food stamps), and Health Bucks ($2 coupons distributed by the NYC Department of Health). At farmers markets that accept food stamps, one Health Buck coupon is given to each customer for every $5 spent using food stamps. To find a farmers market in your neighborhood, see bottom of post.

Kids and Gardening

There are many success stories of children trying new fruits and vegetables if they are involved in growing the food themselves. As a matter of fact, First Lady Michelle Obama has planted a garden at the White House and has local schoolchildren harvest the vegetables to teach them the importance of gardening and eating healthy. Some children in NYC and the Bronx are involved in community gardens, oftentimes through the school curriculum. Every child should have this opportunity! Talk to others in your community and your child’s school to find out if there are any community gardens near you. Perhaps you could work with the school’s PTA, or your child’s principal and science teacher to see about involving students in vegetable gardening during the school day.

Supermarkets & Bodegas

In December 2009, the City Council approved bringing more supermarkets into low- and moderate-income areas of NYC, including sections of the Bronx, through the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) Initiative. The new FRESH supermarkets will offer a full line of grocery products, including fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh meats, dairy and other food and nonfood products, and will also be a source of new local jobs.

Until these new supermarkets are built, you can still change the food choices available in your neighborhood. Your local grocery or bodega owner generally sells what he thinks his customers want to buy. If you do not like the foods in your local store, ask to speak to the owner and let him know what options you would like to buy. If he is able to stock the healthier food items to sell to you, he will most likely do so because he knows people want it. Some ideas of things to ask for are low-fat milk and yogurt, apple chips, pita chips, pretzels, whole wheat bread, regular peanut butter, jelly, plain nuts such as almonds and walnuts, and fruits and vegetables that are either fresh, frozen, or canned in light syrup (note: many stores do not have the capacity to sell foods that need to be frozen or refrigerated).

There’s no need to ask for water, because you can get this for FREE from the sink or water fountain! NYC water is generally of very good quality and you can save a lot of money by buying a reusable BPA-free bottle and filling it with water on your own.

Bronx Health REACH

Bronx Health REACH, a part of the Institute for Family Health, is an organization that works on trying to improve the quality of food served in the Bronx. REACH also works to educate the community about how to live a healthy lifestyle through the food and exercise choices we make. One of the focuses of REACH is working with churches in the community to empower its members to lead a healthy lifestyle. REACH has developed a “God’s Health Squad” toolkit for church leaders to use with youth groups. More information can be found on the website, http://institute2000.org/bhr, the blog, http://bronxhealthreach.blogspot.com, or by contacting Kelly Moltzen (see bottom of post).

NYC Strategic Alliance for Health (SAfH)

The NYC Strategic Alliance for Health (SAfH) was founded in 2008 to combine the efforts of local organizations, Elected Officials, and other community based organizations in an effort to improve the environments, systems, and policies that affect physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco-use within schools and the broader community of the South Bronx and East & Central Harlem. The efforts that are found to work best will be shared with other NYC neighborhoods who are also working to decrease health inequities.

A brief overview SAfH’s Goals:

Physical Activity

· Require organizations that work in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) community centers to lead daily physical activity programs

· Improve the play street program in target areas by changing policy

Nutrition

· Include a new option in the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Adopt a Bodega initiative that will offer Bodega owners resources for renovations that will allow fruits and vegetables to be sold and maintained on site

School Wellness

· Establish a policy at the NYC Department of Education that will provide elementary schools with a Physical Activity and Nutrition Award

· Establish a policy requiring elementary after-school programs to include daily time for physical activity

For more information, contact: Geysil Arroyo, Community Coordinator

646-672-2385 or nycsafh@gmail.com

What’s On Your Plate? Film

Want to watch a movie about healthy and not-so-healthy food in NYC, narrated from a kids’ perspective? The film “What’s On Your Plate?” is just that. It follows two curious girls who are on a mission to understand where their food comes from, and what’s in it. The girls interview many influential people in NYC, including Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Chef Jorge Collazo from the NYC Department of Education’s Office of School Food, and Anna Lappé, author of the newly released book Diet for a Hot Planet, about the impact of our food system on climate change. You can find out more information about where and when “What’s On Your Plate?” is being screened in NYC at the website whatsonyourplateproject.org.

“Let’s Move!”

First Lady Michelle Obama is very involved in supporting a healthy lifestyle for children. She has started the “Let’s Move” initiative to fight childhood obesity, which aims to give “parents the support they need, provide healthier food in schools, help our kids to be more physically active, and make healthy, affordable food available in every part of our country.” You can find out more here: http://letsmove.gov/

People’s Garden NYC Petition

There is currently a petition asking Mayor Bloomberg to plant a vegetable garden outside of City Hall as a symbol of the City’s dedication to healthy food. If this garden becomes reality, it would be managed by children and seniors from the nearby area, and the food grown would be donated to a local food pantry or soup kitchen. You can learn more about it and sign the petition here: http://peoplesgardennyc.org/

More Resources

NY Coalition for Healthy School Food

The New York Coalition for Healthy School Food is organization that works on improving food for all children in New York. Learn more here: http://www.healthyschoolfood.org/

Super Kids Nutrition

Find information on healthy eating for your kids from the experts! There are articles, activities, book suggestions and more at http://superkidsnutrition.com/

Dr. Dolgoff’s Weigh

Dr. Johanna Dolgoff is a pediatrician who focuses on weight management. She has many resources online that you can get for free at her website, http://drweigh.com/

SNAP-Ed Recipe Finder Database Search for low-cost recipes by ingredient, recipe name, cost, and more: http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/

Online Videos

Want to learn more about the food system by watching videos? Here are a few you can watch online:

· Urban Farming NYC http://tinyurl.com/urbanfarmingnyc

· The Meatrix http://www.themeatrix.com/

· The True Cost of Food http://www.sierraclub.org/truecostoffood/movie.asp

· The Story of Stuff http://www.storyofstuff.com/

This newsletter was written by Kelly Moltzen, a dietetic intern at the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center, graduate student studying public health at New York University, and previous Nutrition Intern at Bronx Health REACH. She can be reached by email at kellym41122@yahoo.com. You can also follow her on twitter at twitter.com/kellymoltzen or visit her blog: food4thoughtandaction.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for reading!

Farmers Markets in the Bronx

Greenmarket Farmers Markets: EBT/Food Stamps and WIC & Senior FMNP Coupons Accepted. For every 5 EBT dollars spent, customers receive a $2 Health Buck coupon to purchase additional produce.

Bronx Borough Hall Greenmarket

Grand Concourse at 161 St, Bronx, 10451

Tuesdays, June 29 through November 23, 8am - 3pm

Lincoln Hospital Greenmarket
149th Street at Park Ave, Bronx, 10451
Tuesdays and Fridays, June 29 through November 23, 8am - 3pm

New York Botanical Garden Greenmarket
Dr Theodore Kazimiroff Blvd at Bronx Park Rd, New York, 10458
Wednesdays, June 16 through November 29, 9am - 6pm.

Poe Park Greenmarket
Grand Concourse at E 192 St, Bronx, 10468
Open Tuesdays, July 6 through November 23, 8am -3pm

Harvest Home Farmers Markets:

Jacobi Market
Jacobi Hospital
1400 Pelham Parkway
Tuesday, 8 am – 4 pm
June 16 - November 24

Forrest Ave. Market
Forrest Avenue Betw. 156th & Westchester
Wednesday, 8 am – 4 pm
July 8 - November 18

North Central Bronx
Mosholu Pkwy North & Jerome Ave
Wednesday, 8 am - 6 pm
July 8 - November 18

Mt. Eden Ave. Market
(Lebanon Hospital)
Thursday, 8 am - 4 pm
May 21 - November 19

Castle Hill Avenue
At Castle Hill & Hart St
Saturday, 8 am – 4 pm
July 11 - November 21

Coop City Market
Coop City Blvd.,Greenway #3
Saturday, 8 am - 6pm
July 11 - November 21

Morris Park Market
1734 Williamsbridge Road
Our Saviour Lutheran Church Parking Lot
Saturdays, 8 am - 4 pm
July 11 - Nov 21

Echo Park Market
On Tremont Avenue
Betw. Anthony &
Webster Ave.
Wednesday, 8 am – 6 pm
July - Nov 2

Sunday Market
165th Grand Concourse
Bronx Museum
Sunday, 8am - 4pm
July 12 - Nov 22

For more information:

Greenmarket http://cenyc.org/ourmarkets or call (212) 788-7476

Harvest Home Farmers Market http://www.harvesthomefm.org/Locations.html or (212) 828-3361