e-blast: December 9, 2010

Let’s Move Faith and Communities

Last week, First Lady Michelle Obama released the “Let’s Move Faith and Communities” toolkit for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Organizations.  Michelle Obama started off the call by thanking the faith-based community for their leadership in empowering people “to take charge of their lives and make positive changes for themselves and their families.”  She challenges us to join her initiative to increase physical activity, start more community gardens and farmers markets at congregations or neighborhood organizations, and host new summer feeding sites for youth.  More information and the toolkit can be found on the Let’s Move blog.  

FoodWorks New York

On November 22, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced her plan for improving every step of NYC’s food system: from agricultural production, to processing, distribution, consumption and post-consumption.  Her speech, videos, and the entire FoodWorks plan with all 59 proposals can be found at: http://www.council.nyc.gov/html/action_center/food.shtml

PlaNYC (Community Conversations December 9^th and 16^th!)

We need to let the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability know what we want included in PlaNYC in regards to the food system.  PlaNYC is the Mayor’s plan for improving sustainability in NYC, and the current version covers land, water, transportation, energy, air quality, and climate change issues, but not the food system. The Food Systems Network of NYC has developed a proposed Food Chapter which you can read here. Please submit your ideas for PlaNYC and/or vote on other ideas you like at www.allourideas.org/PlaNYC, and consider emailing your ideas to CounMeIn@cityhall.nyc.gov with the subject line "food."  You can also attend one of the two remaining Community Conversations happening over the next week:

Eastern Queens:

Thursday, December 9th, 2010 (today!)

7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Bayside High School

32-24 Corporal Kennedy Street

South Brooklyn:

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

St. Michael’s RC Church,

352 42nd Street

Enter through auditorium on

43rd Street

Child Nutrition Reauthorization Passes Congress

On December 2, 2010, the House passed the Senate’s “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010” which will provide an additional $4.5 billion to child nutrition programs over the next 10 years, and the first increase to school meal funding since 1973 that exceeds the inflation rate.  This bill now only awaits President Obama’s signature.  More information about the provisions of the bill can be found at the Food Research and Action Center website.  

School Wellness Updates & Next Nutrition & Fitness Workgroup meeting: January 13^th, 2011

Our next Bronx Health REACH Nutrition and Fitness Workgroup / Advisory Committee meeting will be held on January 13^th from 1:00-3:00pm.  During the first hour we will discuss updates on our Obesity Prevention Program, including the goals and objectives for our classroom-based nutrition education and involvement of main caregivers, in addition to wellness committee activities of our HEA+LTHY Schools NY schools (PS 218, PS 18, PS 43, PS 64, Sheridan Academy for Young Leaders (PS 457), JHS 145, and Bronx Writing Academy).  During the second hour, we will discuss other agenda items such as our social marketing campaign.

2011 Play Streets application due December 15

Play Streets are a great way to engage the public in fun physical activity and nutrition education activities. The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) recently released the Play Streets application for summer 2011.  If you would like to see a PlayStreets event in your area, please complete the application (both the Expression of Interest Application and the Evaluation Worksheet) by December 15.  If you have any questions about the application or the similar School Play Streets application, please contact Helen Ho (hho@health.nyc.gov; 212-361-2197) or Emma Miller (emiller4@health.nyc.gov; 212-361-2196) at DOHMH, or Julia De Martini (julia@transalt.org; 646-873-6026) at Transportation Alternatives about community Play Streets.

Legislation Updates

Bronx Health REACH Coalition and its legal partner, New York Lawyers for Public Interest (NYLPI) recently met with New York City Council member Annabel Palma and Carmen Arroyo to get support for a City Council resolution to eliminated segregated specialty care from academic medical institutions in New York.  We have also been updating Community Boards about our current efforts to educate elected officials.  Most recently, we have met with and updated Community Boards 1 and 8.  To aid us in our efforts to educate fellow community residents and elected officials, we recently created a Frequently Asked Questions sheet to address some of the points of our campaign.  If you are interested in attending the meetings with elected officials and Community Boards we will be holding trainings to familiarize you with the issues. Please note that you do not need to have previous experience, just an interest in representing your community. Please contact Ying Guo at 212-633-0800 ext. 1341 or at yguo@institute2000.org if you are interested.

Health Disparity Workgroup

Every 2^nd Wednesday of the month, the health disparity workgroup meets to discuss future community based action to end health disparities and segregated care in our campaign. We meet at Cosmopolitan Church of Lord Jesus at

39 W 190^th St., Bronx, NY 10468

at 1:30pm – 3:30 pm.  Our next meeting will be January 12^th, 2011. Please join us as we discuss next steps for our community outreach and education efforts on behalf of our eliminating segregated specialty care campaign.

News on Healthcare Reform:

California First State to Sign Legislation Establishing the Health Insurance Exchanges
September marked the start of healthcare reform. The American Public Health Association recently noted that California became the first state to implement one of the key provisions of federal health reform, a web-based insurance exchange which will allow consumers to comparison shop for health insurance coverage.  The California Health Benefit Exchange will provide a place for small businesses and people without employer-based insurance to come together to buy health insurance at lower rates, aided by federal subsidies to low- and middle-income consumers.  Created as an independent government agency, the California Health Benefit Exchange will be led by a five-member board that will be appointed by the governor and legislature in 2011.
  
Pennsylvania’s “High-Risk” Insurance Plan Sees Success
The American Public Health Association is reporting that Pennsylvania's new "high-risk" insurance plan, which was created to provide health insurance coverage for the uninsured with pre-existing health conditions, is showing early signs of success, with enrollment significantly higher than comparable plans in other states. So far, more than 1,650 people have enrolled in the PA Fair Care program at a cost $283 a month. To be eligible for the program, individuals must have at least a six month gap in health insurance coverage and must be unable to obtain coverage because of medical conditions. According to the state Insurance Department, the program can cover up to 3,500 total enrollees. Similar programs in other states average about 10 percent capacity or less, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Nationwide, only 8,011 individuals have enrolled in high-risk pools as of Nov. 1.

MARC Academy on News 12 in the Bronx

On Wednesday, November 24, 2010, the children from MARC Academy, a REACH Coalition Partner, were featured on News 12 as they proudly walked to Engine Company 75, Ladder33 located at

2175 Walton Avenue

to present a trove of canned goods collected by them during this special time of the year. 

Rosa Rosen recognized by the American Diabetes Association

Bronx Health REACH Coalition member Rosa Rosen has been recognized in an American Diabetes Association article “Doing Well and Doing Good” for her work launching the “Diabetes y Nutrición” bilingual newspaper.  The newspaper is published 10 times a year and reaches 70,000 people in New York City, offering culturally appropriate diabetes-specific nutrition information and recipe ideas for its readers.  Congratulations Rosa!

NYAM Symposium: Obesity Prevention in NYC

The New York Academy of Medicine is hosting a unique symposium on January 20, 2011, that will offer area policymakers specific strategies for stopping the epidemic of obesity in New York’s low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. A number of national organizations, including the Institute of Medicine, the CDC, the Prevention Institute, and the Office of the First Lady’s Let’s Move Campaign have recently issued recommendations for interventions to help solve the epidemic of obesity. This event will allow local advocates, public health practitioners, and researchers to present their best suggestions and focus policymakers’ attention on the specific strategies most needed to improve the health of New Yorkers. The event will focus on transformative policies and sustainable programs that can improve our city across the following four domains: Neighborhoods, Places for Children to Learn and Play; Food Systems; and Workplaces. For submission forms and more information, contact Jeanelle Roman, NYAM Policy Assistant at jroman@nyam.org.

e-blast: Nov. 17

New Study on Fast Food Marketing to Youth

A new study from the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity found the extent to which unhealthy food dominates restaurants: “Out of 3,039 possible kids’ meal combinations, only 12 meet the researchers’ nutrition criteria for preschoolers. Only 15 meet nutrition criteria for older children.” In addition, the study found that fast food marketers specifically target children; that this directed advertising is effective, and that youth exposure to fast food advertisements is increasing. Researchers found that companies are disproportionately targeting African American and Hispanic youth, so that African American children see advertisements for foods with nearly twice as many calories as their white peers. A video about these findings can be found here.

Child Nutrition & WIC Reauthorization Update

This week, Congress is expected to vote on the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act,” so it is important to tell your Representative to support this bill! This bill (S 3307) will provide $4.5 billion to boost youth nutrition programs over the next ten years. You can find your Representative’s contact information here. For more information about the NYC Alliance for Child Nutrition Reauthorization, visit http://nycforcnr.org/

FoodWorks

On November 22, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will be announcing her plan to improve NYC’s food system: improve the city’s food infrastructure, create new jobs in the food industry, keep food dollars in the local economy, reduce diet-related diseases, and reduce the environmental impact of the food system. If you would like to attend, please RSVP by November 20^th at this link, by emailing events@council.nyc.gov or calling (212) 788-6871.

Date: Monday, November 22, 2010

Time: 10:00 am (Doors open @ 9:30 AM)

Location: Food and Finance High School

525 West 50th Street, Room 173

New York, NY 10019

Upcoming Nutrition and Fitness Workgroup Meeting Nov. 22 (note – time change!)

At our next meeting we will hear from Melissa Pflugh about the unique social marketing approach to school wellness and nutrition education program used by Healthy Schools Healthy Families. At the meeting, we will discuss the role of the Workgroup regarding the Advisory Committee for Bronx Health REACH’s school wellness initiatives, next steps for our social marketing campaign, and an update from the October 29-30 Food, Faith and Health Disparities Summit.

Date: Monday, November 22

Time: 1:00-3:00pm (time changed due to conflict with FoodWorks event earlier in the day!)

Place: Morrisania Neighborhood Family Health Center, 1225 Gerard Avenue, Room 214

Garden-Based Learning

From the success of Edible Schoolyard to the new “Nourish” curriculum, there is more and more reason to teach children about where their food comes from! As a matter of fact, garden-based learning has been proven to lead to increases in academic achievement and increases in fruit and vegetable consumption. If you work with schools in NYC and would like to learn more about how to integrate garden-based learning into the school curriculum, you may want to join the “NYC School Gardens” Google Group. Bronx Health REACH’s Nutrition and Fitness Workgroup will be discussing these issues further as part of the Curriculum Advisory Committee; please contact Kelly Moltzen at kmoltzen@institute2000.org or (212) 633-0800 x 1328 for more information.

PlaNYC

PlaNYC is the Mayor’s plan for improving sustainability in NYC through the year 2030. It currently covers land, water, transportation, energy, air quality, and climate change issues, but does not include food in the equation! We need a plan to get local, fresh food into the city to feed all New Yorkers. Please submit your ideas and/or vote on other ideas you like at www.allourideas.org/PlaNYC and try to attend one of the Community Conversations happening over the next few weeks. Here are the remaining three:

Upper Manhattan:
Monday, December 6th, 2010
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
State Office Building, 2nd Floor Gallery
163 West 125th Street, (enter on 126th Street)

Eastern Queens:
Thursday, December 9th, 2010
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Bayside High School
32-24 Corporal Kennedy Street

South Brooklyn:
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
St. Michael’s RC Church, 352 42nd Street
Enter through auditorium on 43rd Street

Discovery High School's Farmers Market (Nov. 18)

Under the guidance of Steve Ritz, a trailblazing teacher who teaches Bronx urban youth about green jobs, Discovery High School will host its first classroom Farmers Market, which will be featured via a live broadcast on CNN! Get great deals on fresh holiday produce while supporting the productive activities of these students.

Date: November 18

Time: 8:00am-12:00pm

Location: Discovery High School, room 279

2780 Reservoir Avenue, Bronx, NY 10468

Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference— Growing Health, Wealth, & Justice in Our Communities (Nov. 19-21)

The 2010 Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference will be held this weekend at Brooklyn College. With workshops on urban agriculture, farm share programs, food policy, and youth creating change, the conference will empower attendees to work towards making healthy, affordable food accessible to all. The keynote speaker will be Will Allen, Founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., and 2008 MacArthur Fellow.

For more information, please visit http://www.blackfarmersconf.org/

Health Disparities Workshops

In the Bronx and other parts of New York City, racial and ethnic minorities continue to have drastically different health outcomes than their white counterparts. Through our Health Disparity workshops, Bronx Health REACH answers questions about what health disparities and segregated healthcare looks like in NYC today. Workshops help participants learn about patient rights, how to best advocate for themselves, friends or family in a healthcare setting, and who to contact with legal complaints. If your organization, group, or church is interested in holding a health disparities workshop, please contact Bernice McFarline at bmcfarline@institute2000.org or (212) 633-0800 ext. 1344. Group sizes of 30 or less are better as they allow for more discussion. However, workshops can be adjusted for larger groups. Learn about how health disparity affects you and your community and join Bronx Health REACH in our campaign against segregated care!

Health Reform Information in Spanish

Bronx Health REACH is now distributing Health Reform education pamphlets and video in Spanish. (Video in English is originally provided by Kaiser Family Foundation). Please contact Ying Guo at yguo@institute2000.org or (212) 633-0800 ext. 1341 if you’d like Spanish health reform education materials sent to you.

NYFJ Summit Outcome: Working Groups

As an outcome of the Oct. 29-30 Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit at Riverside Church, NY Faith and Justice will be organizing working groups around the issues of: Community Engagement, Food & Voter Education, Incentives to Purchase Healthy Food, Business Outreach, the Farm Bill, and Living Wages. If you would like to join one of these working groups, please contact Stephen Tickner at stickner@nyfaithjustice.org

e-blast: Nov. 5

Los Caminos
Live a healthy and spiritually fulfilling life with diabetes! Los Caminos is a new faith based diabetes management program sponsored by Bronx Health REACH in collaboration with the Institute for Family Health and Albert Einstein School of Medicine. Seven nurses from several churches are being trained to lead diabetes support groups in their churches. The program will begin January 2011 at Agape Love Christian Center located 1023 Allerton Ave. Bronx, NY 10469. For more information please call Eleonor Leger at 212-633-0800 x 1361 or Carlos Devia at ext. 1338.

Fine, Fit and Fabulous
Do you want to be Fine, Fit and Fabulous? Bronx Health REACH is sponsoring an exciting twelve-week program in Spanish and English which combines nutrition and fitness in a faith-based context. Fine, Fit and Fabulous uses scripture, nutrition education, exercise, and spiritual group support to help congregants adopt healthier eating and exercise habits. This fall, the program will be offered at three churches:
1. Central Baptist Church (English)
166 West 92nd Street, New York, NY 10023
2. Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal M.I. ( Amor, Poder y Gracia) (Spanish)
563 West 187th street, New York, NY 10033
3. Fordham Manor Reformed Church (Spanish)
2705 Reservoir Ave, Bronx, NY 10468
For more information please call Joseph Ellis at 212-633-0800 x 1351.

School Wellness Initiatives
HEA⁺LTHY Schools NY is a five-year program funded by the NYS Department of Health, Bureau of Chronic Disease Services to effect policy, systems and environmental change in District 7 and 9 schools. So far the schools that have officially signed up include PS 218, PS 43, JHS 145, and Bronx Writing Academy. We also expect to work with PS 18, PS 132, PS 64, and the Sheridan Academy for Young Leaders. In addition, many of these schools will be part of our Johnson & Johnson obesity prevention initiative, which is focused on working with teachers and school administrators to integrate nutrition education and physical activity into the classroom curriculum.
We are currently recruiting for the Advisory Committee which will help to shape these two programs. We hope to engage teachers, parents, school administrators, staff at the school district level, and others interested in school-based wellness and nutrition education. If you are interested in participating on this Advisory Committee, please contact Sigrid Aarons at saarons@institute2000.org (212-633-0800 x 1364) or Kelly Moltzen at kmoltzen@institute2000.org (x 1328).

Social Marketing Campaign
Bronx Health REACH is developing a social marketing campaign to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among school-age children in the South Bronx. As a preliminary step, the coalition conducted formative research with 4th and 5th graders, their parents and school staff at MARC Academy and Family Center. Using photovoice, focus groups and interviews, data were collected on dietary preferences and perceived obstacles toward healthy eating. Findings included misconceptions around the nutritional content of packaged foods, portion sizes, and healthy beverages, as well as concerns about food quality and sanitation. A paper is being written on the findings.

NYC Nutrition Education Network (NYCNEN) meeting November 19
NYCNEN’s first meeting of the year will focus on “From the White House to the Big Apple: National & Local Movements to Fight Childhood Obesity.” The keynote speaker, Erica Pijai, MS, RD, is based in Washington, D.C. and will speak about the Chefs Move to Schools initiative. Other speakers are Nancy Easton, MS, Director of Wellness in the Schools; Lillian Dunn, MPH, from the NYC Department of Health will highlight Move to Improve; and Pamela Koch, EdD, RD, from Teachers College, Columbia University will highlight the steps PS 75 took to become NYC’s first Healthier US Challenge School, a national program that awards schools for improving school lunches and increasing physical activity during the day. Over 800 schools across the country have met the challenge so far.
Date: November 19, 2010
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm
Place: The New School, 66 West 12^th St, room 407
Free for NYCNEN members; $5 for non-members. Please RSVP to nycnenadmin@gmail.com if you plan on attending.

Water Jets
Water jets can bring drinking water to schools that lack adequate water fountains. They cost $750 for a double bowl unit and $900 for a triple bowl unit. The Office of SchoolFood is willing to install water jets in more schools if the funds are raised. If your school has the money or the ability to fundraise this money and you would like to get water jets installed in your school, please let us know. Currently, PS 277 in District 7 and PS 166 in District 9 have water jets.

NYC School Food Report
City Harvest and the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health at Hunter College released the report “Recipes for Health: Improving School Food in New York City.” This report is meant for parents, teachers, students, policymakers, and advocates, and describes how the school food system works in New York City, recent improvements made by the Department of Education in addressing food quality and nutrition concerns, as well as continuing challenges NYC faces in improving the nutrition environment in NYC schools. Learn what you can do today, and pass along the information to others who may be interested! You can download the report at http://www.cityharvest.org/media/pdf/SCHOOL_FOOD.pdf

Child Nutrition Reauthorization
Congress must pass a new version of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization bill soon, which was last passed in 2007. A new version of the bill was passed by the Senate (“Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act,” S 3307), but this bill supports cuts to the SNAP/ Food Stamp program and is inferior to the House bill (“Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act,” HR 5504). On September 30, the House refused to pass the Senate version of the bill, and instead passed a “continuing resolution,” which extends the current bill until December 31, 2010. This means we have the next few months to reinforce to our representatives the importance of finding alternative offsets so that HR 5504 can be fully funded! We need your voice to make this happen – find your Congressman’s contact information at www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt
For more information, visit www.nycforcnr.org

Free screening of the documentary “Food Stamped”
On November 9, 2010, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine will host the East Coast debut of "Food Stamped." "Food Stamped" is an informative and humorous documentary film following a couple as they attempt to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet on a food stamp budget. The event will begin with a light reception at 5:00pm followed by the 60-minute documentary. A discussion amongst Co-star Shira Potash and Montefiore physician participants of the Food Stamp Challenge will close the evening. The documentary trailer can be viewed at: http://www.foodstamped.com
Date: Tuesday, November, 9, 2010
Time: 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Location: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Forchheimer Building, Robbins Auditorium
1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10467

San Francisco Passes “Healthy Meal” Legislation
San Francisco passed an ordinance this week that sets nutritional standards for restaurant meals that come with a toy. The ordinance sets a limit on the amount of calories, sugar, fat, and salt permitted in these meals. San Francisco is now the second jurisdiction in America to adapt this legislation, which was designed by the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to be adapted by localities across the country. More information about the ordinance and Public Health Law & Policy can be found here.

Upcoming Nutrition and Fitness Workgroup Meeting Nov. 22
At our next meeting we will hear from Melissa Pflugh about the unique social marketing approach to school wellness and nutrition education program used by Healthy Schools Healthy Families. At the meeting, we will discuss the role of the Workgroup regarding the Advisory Committee for Bronx Health REACH’s school wellness initiatives, next steps for our social marketing campaign, and an update from the October 29-30 Food, Faith and Health Disparities Summit.
Date: Monday, November 22
Time: 10:00am-12:00pm
Place: Morrisania Neighborhood Family Health Center, 1225 Gerard Avenue, Room 214

Campaign to End Segregated Care
Bronx Health REACH Coalition members, alongside staff from New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, have been meeting with New York City elected officials regarding their concerns about segregated specialty care in academic medical institutions. The current system provides a different level of care to patients based on insurance status. Several Assemblymembers and other elected officials have expressed their interest in supporting health equality legislation. In the 2009-2010 Albany legislative session, bills were introduced in both the Senate and the Assembly which would hold hospitals accountable for providing all patients with the same high quality health care regardless of insurance or income. More information will come in our Fall 2010 Bronx Health REACH newsletter. If you would like to get involved in our Segregated Care Campaign, please contact Bernice McFarline at bmcfarline@institute2000.org" or (212) 633-0800 x 1344.

Healthcare Reform
The first round of major changes to the new health care reform bill went into effect in New York on September 23. Below are some of the improvements in coverage that apply to all health plans and which will go into effect when your first new insurance policy year starts after September 23, 2010.

• No annual or lifetime limit on how much your insurer will pay for your medical care
• Insurers cannot refuse to cover pre-existing conditions for children age 18 or younger (adults will receive the same protections in 2014)
• Children can stay on their parents’ insurance until age 29 in New York
• Insurers can only cancel policies if fraud is involved, not for small, unintentional errors on insurance applications

For more information about these changes, email Ying Guo at yguo@institute2000.org for a brochure (available in English and Spanish), or visit http://www.healthcarereform.ny.gov. You can also view the YouToons video at http://healthreform.kff.org/the-animation.aspx if you haven’t seen it yet. A Spanish language version will soon be available.