Center News: July 2014
With summer in full swing, Center staff continue our collaborative work with local and citywide community partners, ongoing research and evaluation projects and the redesign of our website.
The Center recently participated in All in East Harlem, a vision conference that brought together Hunter College faculty and students and the many individuals and organizations concerned about the future of East Harlem and the well-being of its residents. The New York City Food Policy Center co-facilitated the Food Access, Promotion and Affordability Work Group where several East Harlem health and human service professionals discussed the health issues confronting our community. The group also identified several actions that Hunter can take to promote collaboration and resource sharing among groups working to promote healthier food environments in East Harlem.
We looked for suggested actions that:
- Build on previous accomplishments of East Harlem organizations and residents
- Enhance rather than duplicate the food-related work of existing organizations, individuals and coalitions
- Benefit from the contributions that Hunter and CUNY faculty and students have to offer
- Promise to bring about meaningful improvement in the food status and diet of the people of East Harlem and reductions in the inequalities in health experienced by East Harlem residents.
We look forward to working with our community partners to continue this dialog and build on the momentum generated by this landmark collaboration.
In staff news, center co-director Nicholas Freudenberg gave a keynote address at the 2014 UVM Food Systems Summit , and also appeared on the radio shows “What Doesn’t Kill You” on Heritage Radio Network and iEAT Green. Center co-director, Jan Poppendieck, was quoted in Tracie McMillan’s recent National Geographic feature, The New Face of Hunger.
We are embarking on several exciting new student projects focused on the East Harlem food environment, building upon the work done by students and staff in the spring 2014 East Harlem Research Action Workshop. We will update soon with progress on these projects. As always, we welcome contact with any groups interested in collaborating, exchanging ideas and sharing thoughts and possible opportunities in East Harlem. For more information, please contact Diana Johnson, Director of Community Projects at dj@nycfoodpolicy.org.