Help Create A More Healthy & Just NYC!!

Food Justice Working Groups LAUNCH This Week!

Dear Friends and Members of NY Faith & Justice, On Saturday, October 30, 2010, More than 150 New Yorkers from all five Boroughs convened at the Food Faith and Health Disparities Summit, cosponsored by NY Faith & Justice, Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice, and The Riverside Church in NYC. Participants engaged in a full day of dialogue to develop a prioritized list of actions to help create a more healthy and just NYC. Six working groups were formed in response to Summit Deliberations. Below is a description of each group along with sign up information and info on their first meeting. Two are meeting over the next two weeks! So, please scroll down, check it out, and join us for a new year to bring real justice in New York City! How to Register for a Working Group: Please contact me atstickner@nyfaithjustice.org or reach me by cell at917.628.5131. In Faith & Justice, Stephen Tickner NY Faith & Justice Director, Food Faith & Health Disparities Initiatives

Business Outreach This group will focus on getting the business community involved in helping to create a more healthy and just NYC. It will work at getting businesses to support various programs around New York City that promote health and healthy living. This could mean the launch of another Food Summit focused on building bridges between faith, advocates, government, and business communities. Organizer: Sharon Wong, NYC Food & Fitness Next Meeting: THIS Tuesday, February 1st from 5 to 7:30pm Location: City Harvest 575 8th Avenue (btw 38th & 39th St) 4th floor NY, NY 10018 **Please contact Sharon Wong at swong@cityharvest.org to RSVP for this meeting.

The Farm Bill Every wonder why vegetables and fruit are so expensive and soda and potato chips are so cheap? American tax payers subsidize the production of corn, soy, and sugar, but not vegetables and fruit. In other words, we help big agribusiness produce a whole lot of unhealthy stuff. So, the prices of unhealthy food are cheaper. What if American tax payers switched their priorities? What if we demanded that our tax dollars be used to help farmers produce healthy foods? This group will focus on the source of the subsidies--the U.S. Farm Bill. They will focus on shifting subsidies from soy, corn and sugar to fruits and vegetables. Organizer: Flavia DeSouza, Bread for the World Next Meeting: Wednesday, February 10th from 6 to 8pm NY Theological Seminary Conference Room @ The Interchurch Center 475 Riverside Dr., 5th floor (entrance on 120th & Claremont, 1 block west of Broadway) NY, NY 10027

Community Engagement This group will develop creative ways to engage faith communities, schools, and community groups in hands-on activities to make NYC neighborhoods more healthy. This could take the form of helping communities start co-ops, community gardens, or band together to develop centralized CSA's (Community Sponsored Agriculture projects). Organizer: Michael Castillejos, Trinity Grace Church Next Meeting: February 17th (details to come)

Food and Voter Education This group will educate faith communities and community groups on political leaders' positions and records on issues of food and health and on upcoming laws, ordinances or government actions that will have an impact on the food system of NYC. In addition, this group will inform faith communities, schools and community groups about how they can take personal and organizational responsibility to make healthy food choices. Organizer: Kelly Moltzen, Bronx Health Reach and Regina Howard-Norman, Walker Memorial Baptist Church First Meeting: TBA

Incentives to Purchase Healthy Foods Recently, there's been a lot of hoopla about banning folks on food stamps from purchasing soda. There are arguments for and against this policy, but did you know the average food stamp benefit is only $99 per month? How much healthy food would you be able to purchase with less than $100 per month? Rather than banning the purchase of soda, why don't we make it more possible for poor people to make healthier choices? This group will call on NYC policy-makers to incentivize the purchase of healthy food for people receiving government assistance. Organizer: Jaime Gutierrez, NY Academy of Medicine First Meeting: Wednesday, February 2nd 6 to 8pm NY Theological Seminary Conference Room @The Interchurch Center 5th Floor 475 Riverside Dr. (entrance on SW corner of 120th & Claremont) NY, NY 10115 **Please contact Stephen at stickner@nyfaithjustice.org to RSVP

Living Wage for Food Workers Did you know the people who grow, pick, sell, and serve our food are often the hungriest people in our country? This group will join a larger city-wide effort to pass a Living Wage Bill in New York City. We will focus on making sure food workers are a part of this bill. Organizer: Jennifer Wilder, New York Theological Seminary - Micah Institute First Meeting: TBA