NYC Food Policy Center (Hunter College)

Interview with Food Policy Expert Dr. Marion Nestle
2022-10-13 09:30 - 10:30 (America/New_York)
On October 13th, author and food policy expert Dr. Marion Nestle joined Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center Executive Director Dr. Charles Platkin to discuss Dr. Nestle’s latest book, “Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics.”
Watch the interview HERE.

Transforming the Nation’s Food System: Lessons from the New Deal and Strategies for Today
2023-03-02 19:00 - 20:30
The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, Roosevelt House and Living New Deal’s NYC Chapter aco-hosted an expert roundtable to explore how federal policy initiatives can spur revitalization of regional agriculture, better conditions for farm and food-processing workers, more equitable food distribution, and improved nutrition for all Americans — measures that recall successful New Deal programs.
The trauma of the pandemic alone has not changed the underlying forces that have shaped the nation’s food supply chain over many decades, narrowly concentrating sources of food production, processing, and distribution. The emergency infusion of funding for SNAP benefits, food pantries, and charitable hunger-relief programs is abating, though food insecurity persists widely.
This year’s anticipated re-authorization of the federal farm bill is an opportunity to transform the nation’s food system. First enacted during the Great Depression, this omnibus statute encompasses a host of agricultural programs as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — the largest source of federal food assistance for low-income Americans. Recent federal actions address food supply-chain insecurity, support for small farmers, and SNAP program management.
Many of these measures resonate with successful initiatives of the New Deal era. These included hunger relief programs in rural and urban areas, including schools; construction of farm-to-market roads; rural electrification, facilities for farmer education and agricultural research; and housing for farmer resettlement. New Deal programs funded construction of urban farm market structures, some of which survive today in New York State and elsewhere.
The experts gathered for this roundtable explore current challenges and opportunities and reflect on the legacies of the New Deal for today’s policymakers. Welcoming remarks by Roosevelt House Director Harold Holzer.
Moderator: Jeff Gold is a New York City-based urbanist and editor, chair of the Metro NY Health Care for All Campaign, and director of the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility. Gold serves on the NYC Working Group of the Living New Deal. He has coordinated community needs planning sessions with local residents of distressed smaller cities to find solutions to ‘food deserts’ and other serious food supply problems.
Panelists:

Kate MacKenzie is Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy (MOFP) and advises the Mayor on all issues related to food policy and the City’s food system. She leads the City’s Good Food Purchasing commitments, focused on increasing access to healthy, sustainable foods for the over 238 million meals and snacks served daily by City agencies, from public schools to senior centers.
Annette Nielsen is the Acting Director of the Hunter College New York City Food Policy Center. Until recently, she led the New York City office for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Representing the Department, she provided a touchpoint for the agricultural and food industries in the greater metropolitan area, while supporting statewide efforts to build resilient food systems. She is a member of the Policy Committee for the Food Ed Coalition at the Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance.
Jan Poppendieck is a Professor Emerita of Sociology at Hunter College, a co-founder of the New York City Food Policy Center at Hunter, and a senior fellow at the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute at the CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy. She is the author of Breadlines Knee-Deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression, Sweet Charity? Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement, and Free For All: Fixing School Food in America. She serves on the Board of Directors of Community Food Advocates, and the Advisory Committees of Wellness in the Schools and the Hunter College Welfare Rights Initiative, and she is a member of the Global Alliance for Food, Health, and Social Justice.
Myron Thurston is the Food Supply Chain Marketing Specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oneida County and is a Senior Resource Educator in the Cornell System. His most recent position was in Agriculture Economic Development at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County, and he worked with farmers there to help them prepare for expansion, diversification, and financial protection for their agribusinesses. He also served as the head of marketing for two nonprofits in Central New York. Myron grew up on a 100-year-old family dairy farm that milked some 350 cows and farmed on 2,000 acres in Oneida County, NY.

Watch the panel discussion HERE.

Food as Medicine Summit
2023-11-15 | Online
This virtual event will be hosted by the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center and the Center for Food as Medicine on Wednesday November 15th, 2023.

Please click on THIS link to attend the event OR cut and paste this into your browser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ0GSC9gqsw Thank you, and enjoy the summit!

This is a free event, but registration is required to attend. To register, follow this link.
Questions? Reach out to Annette Nielsen at annettenielsen@mac.com

Food Policy For Breakfast Series: Urban Agriculture: Federal, State and Local Policy Initiatives
2024-01-10 09:00 - 11:00 | Silberman School of Social Work Campus, 2180 Third Avenue at 119th Street, New York, New York, United States
Urban Agriculture: Federal, State and Local Policy Initiatives
REGISTER HERE
9:00 am Coffee and Light Breakfast Buffet
9:30 am Panel Discussion
Panelist Information:
Blake Glover: Blake Glover is the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) New York State Conservationist, based in the NRCS state office in Syracuse. Glover has worked with the agency for 22 years. He began his NRCS career in his home state of Missouri as a cooperative education student and started full-time with the agency in 2002 as a Soil Conservationist in Northeastern Missouri. He spent eight years with the agency in Missouri before being selected as the Area Program Manager in Flagstaff, Arizona, with the service area including underserved tribal communities of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, and Havasupai Tribe. In 2011, Glover became the Area Conservationist for the southern half of New Mexico stationed in Las Cruces. Glover started as New York State Conservationist in 2019. Glover has completed temporary leadership assignments in Arizona, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Montana. A native of Holts Summit, Missouri, Glover earned a Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness from Lincoln University, Missouri, an Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Glover and his wife Olga have three children: Kristian, Julia, and Kole.
Leslie Glover II: Leslie Glover II is the Program Manager and Senior Technical Advisor to the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production at USDA, serving as a subject matter expert providing information and advice on vision, strategy, budget, program analysis, and policy. Since his youth, Leslie Glover II, has believed in the principles of careful stewardship of our earth and its resources, and pursing the instruction given by its Creator to be productive, put back more than you take, keep things right and order, and taking a small seed and creating a harvest. He currently resides in Maryland and is married to Dr. Melanie Glover. They have two beautiful daughters, Victoria, and Nadia.
Qiana Mickie : Qiana Mickie is New York City’s inaugural Executive Director of the Office of Urban Agriculture. Under Qiana’s leadership, the office aims to advance urban agriculture and equity to actively address climate, health, and food disparities in the city’s natural and built environment. By collaborating with interagency leaders as well as the breadth of urban agriculture stakeholders, Qiana has developed innovative initiatives to foster healthy, culturally relevant food production, educational trainings, and economic development opportunities for farmers and producers in the city. In the first year of her tenure, Qiana has developed initiatives such as reimagining Farm to School in NYC, building a MWBE pipeline for small and socially disadvantaged businesses, and bolstering land security of community gardeners. She recently released NYC’s first urban agriculture report and action plan. Qiana is also the Founding Principal of QJM Multiprise and the former Executive Director of Just Food. For over 12 years, Qiana has also worked on local, state, federal, and international policy on issues such as food sovereignty, land stewardship, and health. Qiana has a B.S. in Marketing from Hampton University and received her Food Hub Management certification from the University of Vermont. She serves on the USDA Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Federal Advisory Committee, International Council of Urgenci, and the Coordination Committee of the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) for the United Nations.
Brian Steinmuller: Brian Steinmuller has been serving as the Assistant Director of the Division of Land and Water Resources, and the Soil and Water Conservation Committee (SWCC) of the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets (AGM) since 2009. As the Assistant Director, Brian, is responsible for the daily operations of the Division of Land and Water Resources, including working with the SWCC, County Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Agricultural Protection Programming. Brian also works closely with the policy team at AGM to advance climate and agricultural conservation programs. Brian Steinmuller started his career in Conservation Programs and Policy with the Department and State Committee in December of 2001. Brian has a deep passion for agriculture and conservation.
The panel will be moderated by Annette Nielsen, Executive Director of the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center.
Hosted by the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center
Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work
East Harlem Campus, 2nd Floor Auditorium
2180 Third Avenue (at 119th Street) New York, NY 10035
We look forward to seeing you there!

Food Policy For Breakfast Series: Strategies for Sustained Nutrition and Culinary Education Programs
2024-05-16 09:00 - 11:00
Strategies for Sustained Nutrition and Culinary Education
REGISTER HERE
Come join us on May 16, 2024, at 9:00AM to delve into strategies for sustained nutrition and culinary education programs!
Panel 1: Practice and Practitioners
Moderator: Pam Koch, Ed.D., Professor and Faculty Director of the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy at
Teachers College, Columbia University;
Lynn Fredericks, Founder, Family Cook Productions;
Yadira Garcia, Director of Programs and Innovations, Corbin Hill Food Project; and
Marion Williams, National Program Director, Wellness in the Schools
Panel 2: Policy
Moderator: Annette Nielsen, Executive Director, Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center;
Pam Koch, Ed.D., Professor and Faculty Director of the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University; and
Jeremy Walter, Deputy Executive Director, NYC Public Schools

SNAP-Shot Panel Discussion
2025-11-10 11:30 - 13:30 | The Silberman Building, 2180 Third Avenue at 119th Street, New York
The NYC Food Policy Center, Hunter School of Health Professions, Hunter Department of Nutrition and Public Health, the Silberman School of Social Work, and community partner East Side Soul present “SNAP-shot,” a conversation on how SNAP, food insecurity, and the government shutdown are affecting East Harlem and the Hunter College community. Enjoy lunch from Amor Cubano, a fresh produce distro, and an engaging discussion on November 10th, 2025, from 11:30 AM to 1:15 PM. Join us in person or on Zoom!

Upcycled Plant Pots Workshop
2026-01-09 16:00 - 18:00 | The Silberman Building, 2180 Third Avenue at 119th Street, New York
Join the NYC Food Policy Center at the Silberman School of Social Work on Jan 9th, from 4-6 p.m. for a workshop honoring agricultural science pioneer George Washington Carver. Led by homesteader Crystal-Renna of Chicas Urban Farm, participants will learn to transform everyday items like yogurt containers into windowsill pots, plant seeds to take home, and discuss Black foodways, farmers, and agriculture over snacks.

Upcycling Workshop: Self-Watering Plant Pots
2026-02-24 16:00 - 17:30 | Silberman School of Social Work Campus, 2180 Third Avenue at 119th Street, New York, New York, United States
Join us for another discussion about the importance of upcycling in agriculture, and how it can up your urban gardening game!

We will be talking with farmer Crystal-Renna from Chica’s Urban Farm in Newburgh, NY who will also be leading us through a workshop on how to create our very own self-watering plant pots out of recycled plastic bottles. Whether you’re a house plant lover or interested in growing food producing plants, this workshop will provide you with all the materials you need to bring a little more green into your space!

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