Making Food Deserts Bloom in NY, A Community Food Security Agenda for NYS

On Friday June 6, from 10 to 1:15 PM, Hunger Action will also host Making Food Deserts Bloom in NY, A Community Food Security Agenda for NYS. It will take place in the Senate Minority Conference Room #315 in the State Capitol in Albany.

The conference ties into the work of the Governor’s Food Policy Council, which was established last year to better coordinate work among state agencies to increase access to affordable, nutritional food for all New Yorkers while supporting a sustainable agriculture system for our state (e.g., issues such as food processing, transportation, support for family farms).

The Commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture, Patrick Hooker, is Chair of the Food Policy Council. He will participate in a roundtable discussion at the conference along with Julie Suarez, Director of Public Policy, NY Farm Bureau; Fern Gale Estrow, a nutritionist who is chair of the Food Systems Network NYC; and, Prof.

Tom Forster, a policy advisor to the national Community Food Security Coalition.

The conference will also feature workshops on innovative approaches to bringing fruits and vegetables into low-income communities and strategies to improve the nutritional impact of federal nutrition programs.

Many state agencies and advocacy organizations are interested in how we can bring more supermarkets and other sources of fruits and vegetables into low-income communities. Too often such neighborhoods only have fast food outlets, forcing residents to travel long distances to obtain more nutritious food.

The conference is free but there is limited space, so pre-registration is encouraged. You can contact Mark Dunlea at Hunger Action Network of NYS for more information. 275 State St., Albany NY 12210. 518 434-7371 xt 1#, www.hungeractionnys.org, info@hungeractionnys.org.

The conference is co-sponsored by Just Food, NYS Assembly Task Force on Food Farm and Nutrition Policy, Food Systems Network NYC, Honest Weight Food Co-op, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 1500, NYS Small Scale Food Processing Association