Advocacy

Food and nutrition are key elements of resiliency that New York City can’t afford to neglect. The City Council should reinstate the funding for the Food Ed Hub to ensure our communities are stronger, safer, and healthier moving forward from this pandemic.

The current public health crisis has highlighted the important role that schools play in students’ diets and made increasingly clear how dangerous diet-related diseases can be. Restoring Food Ed Hub funding and supporting the Food Ed Coalition’s priorities are two ways the Council can ensure our communities are stronger, safer, and healthier moving forward.

The NY Food 20/20 Project, a collaboration of the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy; Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center; and CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, is pleased to announce the release of a new report, Towards a NYC COVID-19 Food Response in 2021.

Many of the policy changes that Food Ed Coalition members have been advocating for, including expansion of scratch-cooking and increased access to school meals, were included in NYC's 10-Year Food Policy Plan. Read to learn more about how the City plans to shape school food in the coming decade.

The Tisch Food Center, in partnership with the Food Ed Coalition, outlined overarching school food goals to include in the New York City Ten-Year Food Plan.

The discretionary budget of the NYC Council, also known as Schedule C, funds non-profit services, including many initiatives operated by members of the Food Ed Coalition. This funding is a key safety net for food education organizations, which are needed now more than ever as COVID-19 worsens food inequities.

Distance learning can protect students from the immediate threat of COVID-19. But students’ increased use of digital learning tools could exacerbate another, long-term public health problem: diet-related disease.

Today, House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) introduced legislation to make all students eligible for free school meals during the 2020-2021 school year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act would allow all children to access breakfast, lunch, and afterschool snack programs either in school or through “grab and go” and delivery options. The Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act is endorsed by the Tisch Food Center.

The Tisch Food Center Asks USDA to Help Protect Students from Digital Food Marketing in a letter to the USDA.

New York City’s FY 2021 Budget should prioritize prevention services and address health disparities in our City’s communities of color. To ensure New Yorkers are stronger, safer, and healthier moving forward, we urge the Mayor and City Council to fully fund the Food Ed Hub, SYEP, and GrowNYC School Gardens in the FY 2021 budget.