GET INVOLVED IN NEW YORK

LOCAL CONTEXT

The Food Chain Workers Alliance, Community Food Advocates, the City University of New York (CUNY) Urban Food Policy Institute, and the Center for Good Food Purchasing established the NYC Good Food Purchasing Campaign in 2016. These organizations have been collaborating to build a coalition of local and national food system experts who represent the five value categories of the Program: local economies, valued workforce, nutrition, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare.

The campaign includes three phases: research, adoption, and implementation. During the research phase, our team has been producing evidence to inform an advocacy campaign for adopting a robust and substantive Good Food Purchasing Policy in New York City that would impact all 11 City agencies that procure and serve food. In 2018, the Center for Good Food Purchasing initiated baseline assessments for two City agencies—the Department of Education (New York City’s largest institutional food purchaser) and NYC Health & Hospitals (the nation’s largest municipal hospital system)—with plans for more to be completed currently underway. Concurrently, the Coalition has been working closely with the NYC Council to ensure that legislation is codified to ensure the longevity of the Good Food Purchasing Program in NYC, regardless of a change in leadership. These efforts have resulted in legislation that was introduced to the Council in August 2019. The coalition will continue to garner support for Program adoption and implementation by directly engaging allies, elected officials, and government agencies.

LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED

Co-lead organizations:

  • Community Food Advocates

  • CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute

  • Food Chain Workers Alliance

Local supporting organizations:

  • American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

  • Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation

  • Brandworkers

  • Brighter Green

  • Bronx Health REACH

  • Brooklyn Movement Center

  • City Harvest

  • District Council 37 (DC37)

  • Earthjustice

  • FoodCorps

  • Fortune Society

  • Just Food

  • Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

  • Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

  • Rural Migrant Ministry

  • Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)

  • Teamsters

  • Teens for Food Justice

  • The Common Market

  • The Land and Sea Institute

  • United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)

  • Westside Campaign Against Hunger

  • World Animal Protection

MEDIA