Local Initiatives to Combat Food Insecurity for Children in New York City

November 15, 2011

Event Details

CCC’s Policy Briefing, Local Initiatives to Combat Food Insecurity for Children in NYC, brought together a panel of experts to discuss the local initiatives underway to improve access to healthy and affordable food in the city.

While food insecurity and obesity remain challenges for New York City, the Mayor, the City Council Speaker, the City Council and non-profit providers are all developing new initiatives to address this. Speakers included staff from the Mayor’s Office, the Speaker’s Office and the Director of the New York City Hunger Free Communities Consortium, which is comprised of nine non-profits that work with or advocate for access to healthy affordable food for low-income New Yorkers. They addressed:

• The Mayor’s Office work to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages
• City Council Speaker Quinn’s FoodWorks Plan, including the expanded use of food stamps/EBT cards at farmers’ markets
• The Consortium’s efforts to increase community awareness about food programs

The speakers were:

• Kim Kessler, Food Policy Coordinator, Office of the Mayor
• Alissa Weiss, Senior Policy Analyst for Food, Health and the Environment, Office of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn
• Joann Shanley, New York City Hunger Free Communities Consortium Director