We’re thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2025 Food Policy Changemaker Awards, honoring four people who have redefined what’s possible in the fight for food justice. Through organizing, reporting, policy work, and frontline service, each of these leaders has helped push New York—and the country—toward a more nourishing and equitable food system. Scroll down to meet this year’s awardees and learn more about the work that’s making real change happen.
Media Changemaker 2025: Helena Bottemiller Evich
Helena Bottemiller Evich is the founder and editor-in-chief of Food Fix.
Most recently, she led coverage of food and agriculture issues at POLITICO for nearly a decade, winning numerous awards for her work, including a George Polk Award for a series on climate change and two James Beard Awards for features on nutrition and science. In 2022, she was a James Beard Award finalist for a deep dive on diet-related diseases and COVID-19.
Before launching POLITICO’s food policy coverage in 2013, Helena was the Washington correspondent for Food Safety News, where she covered deadly foodborne illness outbreaks and the run-up to Congress passing the most significant update to food safety law in a century.
Helena is a sought-after speaker and commentator on food issues, appearing on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, BBC and NPR, among others. Her work is widely cited in the media and has also been published in the Columbia Journalism Review and on NBC News.
Born and raised in Washington state, Helena attended Claremont McKenna College, where she studied government. She now lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, two kids and tabby cat.
Changemaker 2025: Nancy Easton
Nancy Easton is the Executive Director and Founder of Wellness in the Schools (WITS), a national nonprofit with the vision to ensure access to nourishing food and active play in public schools. Nancy has led the growth of WITS into an organization that has cooked more than 50 million school meals and led more than 85,000 hours of active play. She is a regular commentator and speaker on school food and child wellness. Nancy was honored by First Lady Michelle Obama at the launch of Chefs Move! to Schools, named a Food Revolution Hero by acclaimed chef-food activist Jamie Oliver, and recognized by Ann Cooper, the “Renegade Lunch Lady,” for her dedication to school lunch reform. She was named one of the 2020 Top Women in Metro New York Foodservice & Hospitality. Nancy and her family live in New York City.
Changemaker 2025: Greg Silverman
Over the past 20 years, Chef Greg Silverman has led impactful work in the food security sector. Chef Greg serves as the CEO and Executive Director at West Side Campaign Against Hunger (WSCAH) – a frontline emergency feeding organization in New York City serving 120,000 community members in need. WSCAH has expanded its direct efforts from one site to over two dozen, from an organization that was giving out 10% fresh produce to one that gives out more than 50% fresh produce.
Previously, Greg served as the Director of National Program Partnerships for Share Our Strength and its No Kid Hungry Campaign where he led the growth of the Cooking Matters nutrition education platform across all 50 states. Greg worked in London, England as a nutrition education specialist for the city government, as a food consultant for public sector organizations, and as a successful chef and owner of multiple restaurants in Ithaca, New York. He also spent time as a US Peace Corps volunteer in Mali.
Greg was appointed co-chair of Mayor Eric Adams’ Food Policy transition committee. He is a founder and Director of The Roundtable: Allies for Food Access, a dedicated network of nine emergency food providers collaborating to bring more resources to communities through collective food purchasing, advocacy, and mutual support. He serves on the Board of Directors of Farm Africa and is one of the founders and the founding Board Chair of the Alliance for a Hunger Free New York.
Greg has an MSc in Food and Nutrition Policy from the City University of London. He loves spending time cycling the streets of NYC, making food with family and friends, and cooking up change with communities across the globe. Greg lives in Washington Heights with his wife, Lauren, and their two daughters.
Changemaker 2025: Liz Accles
Executive Director, Liz Accles, is a veteran leader and committed social justice advocate with more than thirty years of experience in fighting poverty and hunger and expanding access to federal food and income support programs to maximize their impact. Under her leadership, Community Food Advocates (CFA) has grown into a high-impact policy powerhouse.
Liz has built a small but mighty team and strategically guided the organization to become a force for lasting change – leveraging highly effective, strategic coalitions to reduce food insecurity, improve childhood nutrition across New York City and New York State, and build a more equitable, sustainable food system.
Liz’s vision brought to life the transformative Lunch 4 Learning (L4L) Campaign; building a uniquely diverse and strategic coalition – mobilizing broad community support – that became the force that secured New York City’s implementation of universal free school meals for more than 1 million students every year starting in fall 2017. Building on that success, Liz played a central role in the leadership and strategizing behind the Healthy School Meals For All (HSMFA) NY Kids campaign, using her deep expertise in policy and coalition-building to drive statewide change. Her leadership was instrumental in securing New York State’s adoption of universal free school meals for all 2.7 million public school students, set to begin in fall 2025.
In 2018, CFA expanded its work to the supply side with a focus on advancing values-based food procurement in New York City. CFA successfully pushed the City to adopt the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) model – ensuring public food dollars support health, equity, sustainability, and local economy. CFA leads the statewide coalition to reform New York State’s outdated “lowest bid” contracting policy, advocating for a procurement approach that prioritizes people and the planet, not just cost.
Through her bold vision, expert strategy, and inclusive collaboration, Liz has reshaped school food policy, first in New York City and now across the entire state. Her leadership is also transforming public food purchasing into a powerful tool for social, environmental, and economic change.
Prior to joining CFA Liz had extensive experience designing and building strategic advocacy campaigns on the City, State and Federal levels. Her successes include the Access to Assistance Campaign (a multi-faceted coalition that advocated to eliminate structural barriers to public assistance for low-income New Yorkers living in deep poverty) and the Welfare Made A Difference National Campaign (a story-telling/ social marketing and legislative action campaign to reframe the debate over social programs for poor families by engaging diverse voices of former and current welfare recipients).
Liz was educated in NYC public schools and is a graduate of Brooklyn College.
