Join Us 9/14 for The Bronx Responds: One Year After the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health from Local to National Policies and Back

You are invited to join us on Thursday, September 14th (9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) for a virtual conference with thought provoking and action oriented discussions about food and nutrition-related work happening in the Bronx and the policy implications of this work.  In 2022, the White House held the first Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in over 50 years and as an outcome, earlier this year, a National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health was released.  The priorities of our national government and policymakers have implications for food access, affordability, and nutrition education in the Bronx and similar communities impacted by diet-related health disparities.

Topics include:

• Nutrition and Health Equity in the Bronx 

• Overview of the Farm Bill and Its Effects on Local Communities  

• Improving Food Access in Community Settings 

• Integrating Nutrition and Healthcare: Food as Medicine and Food insecurity screenings 

• Knowing What’s in Your Food: Bringing Nutrition Education to the Community

• Eating Soulfully 

• Reimagining your Local Bodega with Better Food 

• Envisioning the Food System of the Future 

Click Here to Register.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting via Zoom.

Speakers include:

Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson

Christina Badaracco,  Healthcare Consultant, Registered Dietitian, and Co-Author of The Farm Bill: A Citizens’ Guide

Dr. Jen Cadenhead, Executive Director, Teachers College Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education and Policy  

Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter, Author of The Spirit of Soul Food: Race, Faith, & Food Justice 

Ribka Getachew, Director of the NY Good Food Purchasing Program Campaign, Community Food Advocates 

Norma Gonzalez, Farm Share Manager, Corbin Hill Food Project 

Theresa Landau, Program Director, Morrisania WIC

Francisco Marte, President, Bodega and Small Business Group 

LaToya Meaders, Co-Founder and CEO, Collective Fare 

Dr. DeAnna Nara, Senior Policy Associate, Center for Science in the Public Interest 

Aleyna Rodriguez, Executive Director, Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center

Gladys Roman, Executive Director, Manna of Life Ministries

Ismail Samad, Interim Executive Director, Corbin Hill Food Project 

Chet Van Wert, Associate Research Scientist, NYU Stern School of Business

 

Four Churches Successfully Complete Healthy Children, Healthy Families Program

Some Agape Church participants of the Healthy Children, Healthy Families program show their certificates after the final session of the program.

Agape Love Christian Center, Iglesia de Dios, Mt. Zion CME Church, and New Covenant Christian Church have successfully completed their Healthy Children, Healthy Families program. Over 100 youth and parents/caregivers participated in the eight sessions, 90 minute-long nutrition and fitness workshops. Each session was led at each church by two Peer Health Coordinators who covered such topics as: building a healthy plate and healthy meal preparation, eating God's real foods, choosing healthy beverages, determining healthy portion sizes and how to read food labels. Each session included a 1/2 hour of exercise. 

Feedback from participants is very positive. Natalia, a youth participating in the Agape Healthy Children, Healthy Families program says “I didn’t like whole grains before and I learned that you can learn to like whole grains.” Another youth participant Novea added, “It’s a good program because it encourages you to be healthy and exercise regularly.” Nyla, age 8 asserted that the best part of the program was the fitness.

Members of Mt. Zion CME Church participating in a physical fitness activity, part of the Healthy Children, Healthy Families program.

Mt. Zion CME Church was the first church to complete the program in June. "The Healthy Children, Healthy Families program has given us so much more than we anticipated," says Rev. Theresa Oliver, Senior Pastor. "For the adults and youth that participated, I believe the program did more than just teach them about healthy eating and exercise. It really boosted family values and was such a blessing and reward to see families come together and grow during the program. The children really took to the activities especially the physical activity sessions. They would run and jump around and all the children became friends with each other at the end. This program has great potential for all churches since it connects the older and younger participants with a common goal of eating healthier and getting more physical activity."

“It’s a beautiful program because it provides information that can be shared throughout the community, said Emily Oppenheimer, Program Manager. "We’ve been impressed with the way health information has reached beyond those participating in the program. Church members and church leaders have shared the message of healthy food and fitness throughout their community. We’re building a new generation of health leaders with the children and families who participated in the program."

Five churches are set to begin their programs in the fall, and we anticipate having 8 faith based organizations start their Healthy Children, Healthy Families programs in the spring.

Rev. Dr. Theresa Oliver, Always Willing to Help Someone Along the Way

Bronx Health REACH continues its series on individuals who have made a significant contribution to the Institute for Family Health's Bronx Health REACH, and have also been strong activists for needed change in the Black and Latino communities in the Bronx. A notable member of this group of change agents is Rev Dr. Theresa Oliver, Pastor at Mt. Zion CME Church in the Bronx, New York, and a partner in the Bronx Health REACH faith based outreach initiative.

Growing up in Fairfield, Alabama outside of Birmingham, Rev. Dr. Theresa Oliver didn't realize how unjust the separate but equal policies were until a visit to the dentist’s office when she was in college. "I went with my mother to the dentist’s office and the Blacks had to sit in a waiting room in back that was separate from the main room in the front. I was trying to read one of my textbooks but found it difficult to concentrate as there was a lot of talking by others in the waiting room. I noticed that the other waiting room was empty so I sat down in that room, and was able to read in silence. After a few minutes the receptionist came out and informed me that I was not allowed to sit there. I asked her why, and I can't recall if she gave me an answer, but I was so annoyed and ended up going outside to sit in the car. That experience did something to me as I kept thinking, no one else was sitting in that room and I didn’t see why my sitting there and reading quietly to be a problem, but that receptionist was so insistent telling me that I had to leave. That encounter deeply affected me."

After graduating from Miles College Rev. Oliver married and moved to New York starting a career as a registered medical technology staff member at Bellevue Hospital working the overnight shift. "I preferred the overnight shift because it was good for my mental health. During my breaks I would open up my bible and this particular scripture would always pop up:


The Year of the Lord’s Favor
    The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
      and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.
Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV

After seeing this scripture always pop up at various times the turning point came when one of the church members told me that I was going to be a pastor at another church. As he was speaking to my heart, I put my faith in the Lord and enrolled at New York Theological Seminary. I received a Masters in parish ministry and eventually got a doctorate. The pastor at my church decided to move to South Carolina and requested I replace him as pastor, so I have been a pastor at Mount Zion CME Church since 2000."

In 2010 Rev. Oliver was introduced to Bronx Health REACH through Dr. Sandra White, a sister of a Mt. Zion pastor. "Dr. White told members of our congregation about a program that would introduce healthy eating to our congregation. "I became interested because my doctorate was on holistic ministry and improving the health among African- Americans. There has always been a stigma around discussing health within our congregation - that's from the secrecy that we always had in the South with people; you just didn’t go to the doctor on a regular basis for a check-up. If you did, by that point it was too late and there was nothing that the doctor could do to make you better.”

Bronx Health REACH started a nutrition program with Mt. Zion, and at the first meeting, staff from Bronx Health REACH passed out survey sheets for the congregation to complete. It consisted of questions around the health and eating habits of those participating. “Other than a few members, I was surprised to find that everyone completed the sheets. Our church would go on to host a couple of health fairs, and eventually we began serving healthier food at our church dinners. We also eliminated soda. To this day we use the fruit infused water pitchers to serve water flavored with pineapple and orange. The parishioners love it and I like to see them drinking that rather than soda."

When funding for that program ended, Rev. Oliver was asked if she would continue to work with Bronx Health REACH, even though there was no stipend to do the work. "My answer was yes, I wanted to continue working with Bronx Health REACH because the work that has been done is so important in improving the health and well-being of those in our church. We have gotten people to open up about their health, talk about improving their diets with fresh fruits and vegetables, do blood pressure checks and hold exercise classes.”


Rev. Oliver’s past encounters with racism motivates her to fight for health equity on behalf of African-Americans and Latinos residing in the Bronx as a member of the Health Disparities workgroup. Looking back, the path Rev. Oliver chose turned out fine, "If you can help somebody along the way, then your life won’t be in vain. I am happy where I am.”

Bronx Forever

Image: comicbook.com website

Are there lessons from Wakanda, the fictional country in the movie, Black Panther that we can apply to the Bronx, our own special place? Maybe not specific lessons, but for the only NYC borough with a majority population of color used to being discredited and disparaged we feel a kinship when Carvell Wallace from the NY Times in an essay on the movie “Black Panther” writes,  “Wakanda is a fictional nation. But…[it] must also function as a place for multiple generations of black Americans to store some of our most deeply held aspirations. We have for centuries sought to either find or create a promised land where we would be untroubled by the criminal horrors of our American existence.” Like director Ryan Coogler with Wakanda, Bronx Health REACH's vision for the future Bronx is a place where its residents are no longer troubled by its history of poverty and want but a place where triumph is the watchword for the new order. Where it is not 62nd out of 62 counties in health outcomes.  Where it is not the poorest urban congressional district.  Where housing is good and affordable. Where safety is the new watch word.  Where people live long and healthy because they get to eat right and exercise more. Where graduation rates are the best.  Changes not brought about through gentrification but through a changed socio-economic circumstances for the Bronx black and brown people. In his love letter to the filmgoers who went to see Black Panther, Coogler’s post script, was ‘Wakanda forever’, our postscript is “Bronx forever” #Not 62 #wedreamaworld #Bronxforever. 

CDC Visits Bronx Health REACH and Partner Sites to Assess the Impact of the Three Year REACH Funding

Janelle K. Gardner, Project Officer and Public Health Advisor for 

the CDC, (fourth from the left), with staff from Bronx Health REACH and 

the Institute for Family Health Mt. Hope Family Practice Health Center.

Janelle K. Gardner, Project Officer and Public Health Advisor for the CDC made a site visit to Bronx Health REACH in September. Bronx Health REACH staff and partners provided an update on the work done to date for the CDC REACH grant awarded in 2014 to increase access to healthy food and physical activity. During the first half of the site visit, the Bronx Health REACH staff and partners from Transportation Alternatives, Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education, Mainland Media, Mount Zion CME Church, Cosmopolitan Church of the Lord Jesus, and Holy Spirit Church presented on the various healthy eating and active living initiatives.

The afternoon half of the site visit included visiting several Bronx locations where initiatives have been implemented. These included a visit to the Institute for Family Health Mt. Hope Family Practice Health Center where Bronx Health REACH has worked with the staff to implement a Vegetable and Fruit Prescription program for obese patients. Ms. Gardner met and spoke with Mt. Hope staff about the implementation of the program. There were visits to two restaurants (Delmy Food Deli and Mexicocina), and to Fine Fair Supermarket, all of which are selling The Bronx Salad. The final visit of the afternoon was at the Bodega Association where Ms. Gardner met with the leaders of the Association and Julia Mair from the Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, Inc. (HITN), to discuss the work being done on the Healthy Bodega Initiative.

Bronx Health REACH thanks all our partners who participated in that successful CDC site visit. Ms. Gardner spoke glowingly of the impact of the work and especially of the partners involvement.

REACH Grantees Tell Senator Gillibrand’s Staff about Obamacare’s Other Benefits

On Friday, March 17th the Bronx Health REACH Coalition members from Walker Memorial Baptist Church, Church of God of Prophecy, and Christ the King Catholic Church, and representatives from the two other New York REACH grantees, Bronx Community Health Network and New York University School of Medicine REACH FAR project met and spoke with staff members from Senator Kristen Gillibrand's office to showcase the work REACH grantees are doing in several NYC communities. We felt it important to let the Senator know about the community transformation effect of REACH and that support for it comes out of the Prevention Fund in the ACA.

While the staff of the three REACH grantees spoke well of our respective work, it was the testimonials of the community residents present that illustrated the changes happening in the community. Sandra Jenkins, representing Church of God of Prophecy, shared the experience that at past church events soda would always be one of the first things consumed. But over the past year she has noticed that it’s now water that’s consumed first, leaving the soda virtually untouched. Flora Goldston, representing Walker Memorial Baptist Church, shared that there are now many parishioners at her church who are exercising more, visiting farmers markets, having their blood pressure checked. Bronx Health REACH is grateful to Senator Gillibrand’s staff for spending almost 2 hours with the group, learning of the work being done and its impact on the lives of community residents. We hope that with this information the senator will become a huge champion of REACH in the US Senate.

Food Day – October 24, 2011

It’s time for America to eat real, healthy, sustainably grown food again. October 24, 2011 will be the first annual Food Day.  Food Day will be a celebration of real food: food that’s grown from the Earth with minimal, if any, processing.  It will bring together all Americans—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and everyone else who cares about food—to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. People are encouraged to attend events at their schools, churches, farmers markets, city halls, and state capitals, or host an event at their home. The initiative is being launched by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit advocacy group started in 1971 that supports policies which make our food healthier and safer.

The Food Day website has many resources, such as a school curriculum, a newspaper, recipes, videos, petitions, and a map of Food Day events happening all over the country. These events aim to educate Americans about the food system and what we can do to change it. Actions we can take range from making healthier choices when buying food for ourselves and our families to asking Congress to support the Food Day goals.

Food Day’s stated goals are:

1)      To reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods.

2)      To support sustainable farms and limit subsidies to big agribusiness.

3)      To expand access to food and alleviate hunger.

4)      To protect the environment and animals by reforming factory farms.

5)      To promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids.

6)      To support fair conditions for food and farm workers.

New York City will be home to dozens of Food Day events. On Sunday, October 23, there will be a Faith, Food Justice, and the Farm Bill event to highlight the crucial role of the faith community in the food justice movement and the potential to reform local and national food policy. The event is being organized by the Farm Bill Working Group of NY Faith & Justice, one of Bronx Health REACH’s Legacy grantees.  There will be particular emphasis on the Farm Bill and how it affects the choices we make about the food we consume. The event will be held at The Riverside Church (490 Riverside Drive) in the Assembly Hall from 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm.

New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera is launching the Bronx CAN Family Health Challenge on Food Day. Senator Rivera has been partnering with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and other community partners as part of the Bronx CAN (Change Attitudes Now) Health Initiative. The Bronx CAN Family Health Challenge was designed by the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center and Committee of Interns and Residents. One of the first challenges is to limit consumption of sugary drinks, which coincides with the launch of the NYC Department of Health’s new sugary drink campaign. The Family Health Challenge guidebooks will be distributed to students and their families throughout the neighborhoods of Kingsbridge Heights, East Tremont, Crotona Park, Fordham, and Bedford Park in the Bronx.  The guidebooks will be distributed through Montefiore Medical Center's school-based health clinics, as well as other participating schools.

Find an event to attend or learn more about Food Day at www.foodday.org.

OTHER NUTRITION WEBSITES

NYC District Public Health Offices

New York State Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance

CDC resources on using Social Marketing for Nutrition and Physical Activity

Dr. Dolgoff's Weigh Child and Adolescent Weight Management Program (can sign up for free newsletter)

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity

Hispanic Foodways

Salud Comunitaria - blog en espanol

NYC resources on Kelly’s blog

NYC for Social Change Facebook Group