This spring, food advocates across the city have moved into high-gear. The NYC Food Policy Center and our coalition partners are working to advance shared food priorities across several sectors- here we highlight the work being done around hunger, school meals, federal food legislation and healthy food retail.
We need your help! Spread the word about Child Nutrition Reauthorization – the set of laws that govern the School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, WIC, and other federal food programs that provide food to children. Sign on to the NYC Alliance for CNR’s priorities document and invite your partners to do the same.
The Lunch4Learning Campaign continues to heat up- At its recent press conference at Tweed Hall supporters from the City Council, students, nonprofit partners, the Public Advocate, and other coalition members urged Mayor de Blasio to reconsider his decision to remove universal free school meals from the executive budget (when it had been included by the City Council). Read the interview with Community Food Advocates Executive Director Liz Accles in this issue to learn more about the campaign (and take a selfie!) You can read about recent press conferences and other news updates here, and we invite you all to join us for a youth led press conference on the steps of City Hall on June 23rd at 4pm.
We are also members of the Healthy Food Retail Networking Group Advocacy Committee which is working to develop policy priorities for the larger group, drawing from suggestions and topics of interest shared by members at the February quarterly meeting. The group has identified a potential policy opportunity to bring healthy food retail to the discourse around the current citywide re-zoning process. If you are interested in collaborating on developing initiative, please write to info@nycfoodpolicy.org.
The Healthy Food Retail Networking Group (HFRNG) is a citywide collaboration of more than 40 organizations working to coordinate efforts of healthy food retail practitioners. Members advocate for an increased access to healthy foods at brick and mortar food retail venues across NYC. Throughout the year, the HFRNG provides practitioners and advocates opportunities to meet, share, and learn at events such as Fresh Food Retail Summits, Quarterly Meetings and through communications to those working in the field.
