News

  • October 11, 2023

    Image Credit NAANA DEI (ND): In your experience, what are some of the tools that corporations use to gain public support against health bills such as the soda tax? How can we leverage those tools and use them for public health advocacy? THOMAS MERRILL (TM): They are really good at messaging. They have ad companies and ad departments that are pros at this. Public Health [...]

  • October 11, 2023

    In 2022, NYC’s Mayor Eric Adams signed Executive Order 8, reaffirming the city’s commitment to combat the climate crisis by reducing emissions created by the foods we eat. It holds city agencies accountable for procuring, preparing, and serving healthy and nutritious food to promote food justice, reduce health inequities, and achieve sustainability goals. The NYC Food Standards and Good Food Purchasing (GFP) Program both regulate [...]

  • August 30, 2023

    IN THIS ISSUE: Mutual Aid 101: History, Politics, and Organizational Structures of Community Care / Featured Interviews: Interview with Washington Square Park Mutual Aid; Interview with Kelvin Taitt, Co-founder and Executive Director of East Brooklyn Mutual Aid / Suggested Readings / Video Recordings / Misc. / Opportunities EDITORIAL Greetings CUNY Urban Food Policy Monitor readers and members of our food policy learning community! Mutual aid [...]

  • August 22, 2023

    Valerie Peter Chong, Program Coordinator with CUFPI, interviews organizers with Washington Square Park Mutual Aid (WSPMA) who have chosen to remain anonymous due to the group’s commitment to anarchist values and concerns about State intelligence. They will be referred to by the names Toph and Lucy for the purposes of this article. The interviewees discuss the origins of WSPMA, the services they provide, and how [...]

  • August 22, 2023

    Mutual aid has become a buzzword among activists, community organizers, and academics in recent years. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, communities around the globe mobilized to meet the needs of their neighbors, and the term “mutual aid” took hold in the mainstream. Yet today in the post-lockdown world, there appear to be gaps in awareness of what the term means, where it came [...]

  • August 22, 2023

    Valerie Peter Chong, Program Coordinator with CUFPI, interviews Kelvin Taitt, Co-founder and Executive Director of East Brooklyn Mutual Aid (EBMA). They discuss the history and growth of EBMA, the organizational structures that keep the group afloat, and upcoming efforts to create a community food hub in East Brooklyn. Special thanks to Yukari Izumiyama for her assistance with transcribing, editing, and researching articles to include in [...]

  • July 26, 2023

    Job Description: Groceries to Go Evaluation The Project  Groceries to Go is a NYC DOHMH initiative that provides eligible New Yorkers with monthly credits to purchase groceries for delivery or pickup, with the goal of alleviating food insecurity. Credits can be used to purchase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-eligible foods and beverages through an online platform that links to hundreds of grocery stores across NYC. [...]

  • July 11, 2023

    IN THIS ISSUE: Featured Interviews: Junk Food Politics: An Interview with Eduardo Gómez; The Campaign Against CUNY’s Pouring Rights Contract with PepsiCo: An Interview with Eman Faris, What is the Health Impact of Precarious Employment on Food Workers in New York City?; An Interview with Emma Vignola on her Award-winning PhD Dissertation/ Policy Highlights / Research Highlights / Video Recordings / Opportunities EDITORIAL Greetings CUNY [...]

  • June 26, 2023

    In his new book Junk Food Politics, Eduardo J. Gómez argues in several countries in Latin America, leaders of the global big food companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé have created coalitions with governments to promote food initiatives that focus on public awareness and exercise while garnering political support through contributions to government anti-hunger and anti-poverty campaigns. These companies also manipulate scientific research by working [...]