Community Food Security In New Brunswick Voorhees Public Service - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Community Food Security In New Brunswick Voorhees Public Service Fellows Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy Rutgers University December 8, 2014

Agenda ● Methods ● Findings ● Improving food security ● All the money in world!

About the Project ● Defining “Community Food Security” ● Access Need for a comprehensive report Education ● Direct contact with the community Advocacy ● Over 60 organizations Community Economic Development ● 34 interviews with community leaders Research ● Barriers and need for improvement

New Brunswick Community Food Alliance NBCFA Workgroups Healthy Food Access Food Economic Development Advocacy and Policy Community Engagement Agriculture and the Community Garden Coalition

Access Healthy Corner Store Initiative ● Many people in New New Brunswick Community Brunswick lack Farmers Market transportation, money or time and may have less access to fresh foods and the DevCo & City of New foods they can access may be Brunswick more expensive. ● New Brunswick residents access food from churches, Breakfast After the Bell schools, hospitals, Rutgers Body & Soul Program programs, food pantries, and the emergency food system

Emergency Food System ● The emergency food Elijah’s Promise Community system includes food Soup Kitchen pantries, soup kitchens, and community X-Cite Nite organizations ● These organizations Food for Thought provide meals and support for those who are food MCFOODS insecure ● RAH & SO RAH Others provide food and support for the system Anshe Emeth Community itself Development Corporation

Feeding New Brunswick Network ● A coalition of food pantries under the NBCFA working on feeding those in need ● Meet monthly to discuss how to better utilize limited available resources ● Working on a central client registration system

Community Gardens Community Garden Coalition (CGC) ● Extension of NBCFA ● 11 Community Gardens, 150 residents, 180 beds ● Has been collaborating with the New Brunswick City Council since March to gain recognition as a conservancy

Advocacy Past Advocacy Efforts ● Parks and Garden Commission Studies and growing understanding of the food insecurity problem lead to Food Systems Element in the next Advocacy and Policy Workgroup New Brunswick Master Plan (NBCFA) Beekeeping 101 Event ● Partnership of organizations promote policies and initiatives Composting 101 Event through local potlucks and panels. Impacts of the Farm Bill Panel ● Emphasis: Build knowledge and City Pollinators Ordinance awareness in the community to lead to engagement and action.

Community Economic Development ● Encompasses job training and creation, advocacy for fair wages, and growing small businesses ● Elijah’s Promise, Better World Market and Promise Culinary School ● Corazón Kitchen’s community kitchen incubator Unity Square fights wage theft with New Labor and CATA- ● New Brunswick

Education (1 of 2) The Cooperative Extension ● First type of education Get Moving, Get Healthy programs teaches people at risk about food, healthy FoodCorps living, and access. ● Nutrition and food New Brunswick Community education foster a broader Farmers Market understanding of community food security Robert Wood Johnson Fitness and how to achieve it. Center

Education (2 of 2) Johnson and Johnson NBCFA, New Brunswick Second type of education Tomorrow, Johnson and programs: provides Johnson, and the City of community members New Brunswick with food security tools Rutgers University Faculty Farmers Against Hunger

Food Waste Elijah’s Promise: A Better World Cafe ● Food waste is an Elijah’s Promise’s Community Soup important part of Kitchen and Promise Culinary School the food system; Farmers Against Hunger many local Johnson & Johnson organizations work on minimizing food Farmers Markets waste Rutgers University faculty

Research Department of Nutritional Science Faculty and staff at Rutgers and other institutions work on community food Department of Human Ecology security research, including faculty from Ralph W. Voorhees Center for ● Bloustein School of Planning and Civic Engagement Public Policy ● School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) NJ Institute for Food, Nutrition, ● Department of Landscape and Health Architecture ● New Jersey Institute for Food, Landscape Architecture Nutrition and Health

All the Money in the World: Dreams for Improvement “If you had all of the money in the world, what would you do to improve community food security in New Brunswick?”

Million Dollar Question: Dreams for Improvement Organizational Capacity Access to City Food Stores, the Emergency Food System, and Farming and Gardening Community Gardens and Linking Farmers to Urban Consumers Structural Issues Community Economic Development Educational Programs

Acknowledgements Jennifer Apostol, Middlesex County Food Organization and Laura Lawson, Rutgers Department of Landscape Architecture Outreach Distribution Services (MCFOODS) Mariam Merced, New Brunswick Community Food Alliance Heidi Atkinson, Women Aware Amy Michael, The Collaborative Executive Board, SO RAH Marlana Moore, New Brunswick Community Food Alliance Anthony Capece, New Brunswick Community Food Alliance Debra Palmer, New Jersey Food Stamp Nutrition Education Sarah Dixon, New Brunswick Community Farmers Market Program Laura Eppinger, New Brunswick 4-H Youth Development Program Maria Pellerano, New Brunswick Community Food Alliance Pat Evans, Middlesex County Master Gardeners Program Bonnie Petrauskas, Johnson & Johnson Heather Fenyk, New Brunswick Community Food Alliance Thalya Reyes, FoodCorps (Former) Jacqueline Rivera, Puerto Rican Action Board Shareka Fitz, Meals on Wheels in Greater New Brunswick Mark Robson, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Nurgul Fitzgerald, Rutgers University Sciences Amanda Gallear, Unity Square Jaymie Santiago, New Brunswick Tomorrow Peter Guarnaccia, Rutgers University Jennifer Shukaitis, New Brunswick Community Food Alliance Kristina Guttadora, Farmers Against Hunger Barry Smith, Youth Empowerment Services Shireen Hamza and Bhupali Kulkarni, Food for Thought Sarah Stern, Rutgers Against Hunger Jean Holtz, New Brunswick Community Food Alliance Norka Torres, Anshe Emeth Community Development Corporation Keith Jones, New Brunswick Community Food Alliance Allison Warner, New Brunswick Public Schools Larry Katz, Rutgers Cooperative Extension Harriet Worobey, Rutgers Nutritional Science Preschool Krista Kohlmann, RU Community Service John Worobey, Rutgers Department of Nutritional Science