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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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

UPDATED: JULY 2, 2023 1060 words 5.4 min read In 2013, CUNY signed a 10-year pouring rights contract with PepsiCo, giving that company exclusive rights to sell its beverages in all vending machines and cafeterias at CUNY.  Now a group of students, faculty, and staff are urging CUNY not to renew this contract. Distinguished Professor of Public Health, Co-Founder and Senior Faculty Fellow at the [...]

Last month, Emma Vignola graduated with a Ph.D. from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy. For five years, Vignola served as a doctoral fellow with the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute. Her dissertation, Investigating and Mitigating the Harmful Impact of Precarious Employment on the Health and Well-Being of New York City Food Workers, received the Dissertation Award for Outstanding Contribution to [...]

IN THIS ISSUE: Feature Interview: Racial Equity and Institutional Food Procurement with Rebekah A. Williams and Jessica Gilbert-Overland / Policy Highlights / Research Highlights / Recording from our Urban Food Policy Forum on Racial Equity and Food Procurement / Opportunities  EDITORIAL Greetings CUNY Urban Food Policy Monitor readers and members of our food policy learning community! In our interconnected world, the impact of our purchases [...]