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.

First Bronx Health REACH eblast

Here is the informaton from the first Bronx Health REACH eblast newsletter. If you would like to be added to the eblast listserve, please email Kelly at kmoltzen@institute2000.org

Faith, Food, & Health Disparities Summit: Oct. 29-30
NY Faith and Justice (a Bronx Health REACH Legacy grantee) will be hosting the “Faith, Food and Health Disparities Summit” on October 29 and 30. This will bring together all stakeholders – community members, churches, food advocates, faith and political leaders, and public health professionals – to identify solutions to increasing the quality of food offered in underserved areas. Rally the troops, it’s time to fight for better food for our community! Please pass the information along to your contacts, and register today! Register online at: http://tiny.cc/FoodFaithHealth or via phone or email by contacting Saralyn Jones at: sjones@nyfaithjustice.org, (212) 870-1254. Find out more information at http://www.nyfaithjustice.org/
October 29th from 7:00pm – 8:30pm (Kickoff)
October 30th from 8:30 am – 6:30pm (Dialogue Circles/Action Forum)
The Riverside Church in NYC
490 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10027

Bronx Health REACH School Program Grants
Bronx Health REACH is the recipient of two new grants! One grant, from the New York State Department of Health, will allow us to provide technical assistance in setting up and moving forward school wellness councils through a new program called “HEA+LTHY Schools NY.” We have also recently been awarded a grant from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program, which will allow us to provide nutrition education support to elementary schools serving children ages 6-12 years old. Please contact us if you would like to be more involved in either of these programs.

Salad Bars
The Office of SchoolFood recently received some stimulus money and has ordered salad bars for a number of schools in the Bronx. In addition United Fresh has offered to fund several salad bars as well. Among the recipients will be:
District 7: PS1, PS 5, PS 29, PS 18, PS 277, PS 43, PS 49, Young Leaders
District 8: PS 72, PS 75, PS 93, PS 100, PS 138, PS 182
District 9: CES 58, CES 73, CES 114, CES 126,
District 10: PS 7, PS 9, PS 32, PS 37, PS 51
District 11: PS 21, PS 68, PS 87, PS 83 Ax, PS 89, PS 96, PS 107, PS 153, PS 106, PS 108, PS 111, PS 121, PS 178
District 12: CS 6, CS 44, CS 47, CS 61, CS 66, CS 92, CS 134
There is an additional funding opportunity for any other schools wishing to receive salad bars – the deadline is November 1: http://www.saladbarproject.org/

If your school has a salad bar and/or a school garden and you are interested in getting more garden-based school lunches, please let us know and we will help you work with the Dept. of Education’s Office of SchoolFood to discuss the possibility of implementing Garden to Café at your school.

MARC Academy Featured in the NYC DOH Newsletter
Congratulations to Anna York and the MARC Academy staff for being featured in the Eat Well Play Hard Child Care Center Newsletter (see attached). Anna has helped make significant changes in creating a healthy eating environment at MARC. If you know of an afterschool program that would like to work towards similar changes, please contact Kelly at kmoltzen@institute2000.org to find out more information about a new grant opportunity.

Upcoming Nutrition and Fitness Workgroup Meetings
Monday, October 25, 10:00am-12:00pm
Monday, November 22, 10:00am-12:00pm
Meetings will be held at the Morrisania Neighborhood Family Health Center, 1225 Gerard Avenue, Room 214.

Legacy Grantees
Bronx Health REACH is pleased to announce four new Legacy Awards were granted for 2010-2011:
Factors of the Seven, Inc. (FOTS) of Charlotte, NC will implement Motivating and Nurturing through Unified Purpose (MAN-UP) to address diabetes prevention and management among African American and Latino men. The program will build on a faith based diabetes screening initiative developed in partnership with the local department of health in 2009. Legacy Project activities include screening 200 men for diabetes, training 100 male health ambassadors in diabetes prevention, and coordinating diabetes activities in each church. FOTS will also assemble two teams to assess and promote opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity in Mecklenburg County.

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH) will start new community supported agriculture (CSA) program through its project The South Bronx Farm Fresh Initiative. NYCCAH will organize a core group including community members from its Food Action Board to guide the development and implementation of the CSA. The CSA will collaborate with a local farmer to bring 25,000 pounds of fresh produce community members in the South Bronx throughout the 2011 growing season. The CSA will reach 150 shareholders including at least 50 low-income members who will receive subsidized shares. NYCCAH will also incorporate nutrition education into their monthly Food Action Board meetings and at the CSA distribution site.

United Federation of Teachers (UFT) will implement its project Healthy Schools, Health Communities to promote physical activity and healthy eating to public school students, teachers and parents. UFT will work with 16 schools to train teachers to implement nutrition education and physical activity in elementary school classrooms. In addition to classroom-based education, they have proposed nutrition education for parents, promoting and providing space for the Shape Up New York family fitness program, and using platforms available through the UFT (newsletters, conferences, website, etc) to promote the project to other schools and teachers.

Highbridge Community Life Center will use a supplemental Legacy grant to develop a community action plan to address stress as a fundamental cause of health disparities in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx.

YouToons Explain Health Reform
Health Reform Hits Main Street, a new animated short video from the Kaiser Family Foundation, features the YouToons explaining the health reform law to an American public still confused by how it works. The short movie has three major sections: explaining problems in the current health care system, short-term changes that will take place between now and 2014, and major provisions that will take effect in 2014. View it online and share it with colleagues, friends and family: http://healthreform.kff.org/the-animation.aspx

Bronx Health REACH Coalition meeting
Our next Bronx Health REACH Coalition meeting will be November 12 at Walker Memorial Baptist Church from 9:30am-12:00pm. Please contact Yvette Holland at yholland@institute2000.org or (212) 633-0800 x 1232 to RSVP.

Social Media!
Bronx Health REACH is expanding into the world of social media. Find updates on our blog at http://bronxhealthreach.blogspot.com/, “Like” us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/BronxHealthREACH, and follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/BxHealthREACH!

Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit

Dates/times: October 29, evening only 7:00pm-8:30pm (kickoff)
October 30, all day 8:00am-6:30pm (dialogue circles & action forum)
Location: Riverside Church
490 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10027
(120th St & Claremont, one block from Broadway, off the 1 train in Upper Manhattan)

On October 29-30, 2010, one of Bronx Health REACH's Legacy grantees, NY Faith & Justice, will hold a “Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit” in collaboration with Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice and the Riverside Church. The goal of the event is to bring together community members, food advocacy groups, and faith communities to collectively address key food and health disparities our communities are facing. This two day summit has been designed to not only voice our concerns but to establish working groups that will enforce the best of our recommendations in the coming year.

On Friday night October 29 from 7-8:30pm there will be a keynote speech, and everyone will be assigned to a small group to participate in the next day. All day Saturday October 30 (from 9am-6:30pm), attendees will work in groups of about 10 people to discuss the vision that summit participants share, barriers that the communities are facing, and strategies to overcome these barriers. The day will culminate with a large group Action Forum, where every small group will report back what they learned through the dialogue process to the larger gathering of participants. In the end, each group will identify 3-5 strategic priorities for action over the course of the next 1-2 years.

The goal is to have 200-300 people attend, and each group will be moderated by 1-2 facilitators, which means a total of 40-60 facilitators is needed. Anyone who would like to be a facilitator must attend one of two trainings beforehand:

A) Primary Facilitator Training Date: Saturday, October 23 @ 10am - 4pm (lunch will be provided).
Location: Judson Memorial Church (4th Street and Thompson @ Washington Square South - entrance on Thompson)
Trainer: Carolyne Abdullah (Curriculum Development Director, Everyday Democracy)

B) Alternate Facilitator Training Dates: Wed, Oct 20 and Thurs, Oct 21 @ 6-9pm (must attend both dates)
Alternate Location: TBD
Trainer: Lisa Sharon Harper (Executive Director, New York Faith & Justice / Director, Conversations for Change)

Benefits of being a facilitator include receiving a Professional Facilitator Certification, a nice addition to your resume, and an enhanced leadership capacity in any setting. Faith-based leaders, this is an opportunity to receive free high-level small group facilitation training for your entire team of small group leaders. Facilitator training guide preview can be viewed here.

Regardless of whether you choose to be a facilitator, we strongly encourage you to get people from your community to participate. For this Summit to achieve its goal of engaging the communities in coming up with solutions which will work for everyone, we need representation from congregations, community residents, store owners, parents, and teachers, to work together with food advocacy groups, political leaders, and businessmen to determine the best strategies for decreasing health disparities by making quality, healthy food more accessible to your neighborhood, at affordable prices. And the work will not end there! Over the next 1-2 years, the groups in the Summit will continue to act upon the strategic priorities that were identified. This is a great opportunity to start influencing policies to improve healthy food access in participating neighborhoods and to push forward in eliminating health disparities!

Registration to participate and to be a facilitator can be done at the following link, http://tiny.cc/FoodFaithHealth.

Saturday Schedule
8:00-Check-In/Continental Breakfast
9:00-Orientation to Small Group Discussion Process
9:15-Session 1: What is our Vision for a Healthy Food System for NYC?
10:30am-Session 2: What is at the Root of the Problem?
12:00-Lunch: Panel Discussion on Approaches to Change
1:15-Session 3: Approaches to Building a Healthy Food
System for All New Yorkers
3:00-Session 4: Moving to Action. What Can We Do?
4:30-Light Meal
5:00-Large Group: Action Forum

Jumpstart Life-long Healthy Eating Habits with your Child in the Bronx: Get Involved!

Improving the school food environment through your child’s school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and your Community

Outline:

Healthy Fundraisers

School Breakfast Program

Child Nutrition Reauthorization & the School Lunch Program

Farmers Markets

Kids and Gardening

Supermarkets & Bodegas

Bronx Health REACH

Strategic Alliance for Health

What’s On Your Plate? Film

Let’s Move

People’s Garden NYC

More Resources

Online Videos

Farmers Markets in the Bronx

Healthy Fundraisers

Many school PTAs sell unhealthy foods such as candy or potato chips as fundraisers for their school, to fund after-school activities. Parents and teachers want the best for their children, but these unhealthy foods actually make children believe that these foods are acceptable snacks and can be consumed on a regular basis. As an alternative, the District Public Health Office has developed a Fundraiser Guide to help PTAs choose healthy food (or non-food!) options for school fundraisers. The toolkit can be found at this link: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/dpho/dpho-fundraiser-guide.pdf

School Breakfast Program

Many children either do not eat breakfast in the morning or pick up an unhealthy option, such as a bacon, egg & cheese sandwich, for breakfast on their way to school. When children don’t start the day off right with a healthy breakfast, they’re more likely to have difficulty paying attention and focusing on classwork while at school. The Department of Education has approved all schools in New York City to have a school breakfast program, but many schools have not signed up yet or only offer the program to a few classes at the school. The school breakfast program means that every child in the classrooms to which it is provided will get the same, healthy breakfast – a great way to start off the day. If your child does not currently participate in the School Breakfast Program, speak with the principal at your school or your school’s PTA about the possibility of signing up or expanding the program to cover more students. http://www.breakfasteveryday.org/

Child Nutrition Reauthorization and the School Lunch Program

The Department of Education’s Office of SchoolFood (OSF) works hard within its budget to make sure all children get a school lunch that meets certain nutritional standards while also tasting good to the children.However, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) only gives a certain amount of money to improve school food, and this amount of money is not enough for the OSF to make all the changes it would like to. There is currently a bill in Congress called Child Nutrition Reauthorization, which if passed will increase the amount of money spent on childhood nutrition programs – including school food – by $4.5 billion over 10 years. This would bring healthier foods into all schools, including vending machine items.However, the amount of money that is truly needed to improve school food is $4 billion per year. To find information on how to call your Congressman to ask for more money for child nutrition, see this link:

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/basics/

Another thing you can do to improve the quality of school food is: together with your child’s principal and PTA, speak to Billy Doherty at the Office of School Food about connecting your child’s school to a local farmer to get fresh, local fruits and vegetables delivered to the school. Many farmers from local areas, such as Upstate New York and other nearby states, already sell their fruits and vegetables to people in NYC at farmers markets.

More on Farmers Markets…

There are many farmers markets located throughout the city, including some in the Bronx. These are hosted by Greenmarket and by Harvest Homes.Most farmers markets accept cash, WIC checks, EBT (food stamps), and Health Bucks ($2 coupons distributed by the NYC Department of Health).At farmers markets that accept food stamps, one Health Buck coupon is given to each customer for every $5 spent using food stamps. To find a farmers market in your neighborhood, see bottom of post.

Kids and Gardening

There are many success stories of children trying new fruits and vegetables if they are involved in growing the food themselves. As a matter of fact, First Lady Michelle Obama has planted a garden at the White House and has local schoolchildren harvest the vegetables to teach them the importance of gardening and eating healthy. Some children in NYC and the Bronx are involved in community gardens, oftentimes through the school curriculum. Every child should have this opportunity! Talk to others in your community and your child’s school to find out if there are any community gardens near you. Perhaps you could work with the school’s PTA, or your child’s principal and science teacher to see about involving students in vegetable gardening during the school day.

Supermarkets & Bodegas

In December 2009, the City Council approved bringing more supermarkets into low- and moderate-income areas of NYC, including sections of the Bronx, through the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) Initiative. The new FRESH supermarkets will offer a full line of grocery products, including fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh meats, dairy and other food and nonfood products, and will also be a source of new local jobs.

Until these new supermarkets are built, you can still change the food choices available in your neighborhood. Your local grocery or bodega owner generally sells what he thinks his customers want to buy. If you do not like the foods in your local store, ask to speak to the owner and let him know what options you would like to buy. If he is able to stock the healthier food items to sell to you, he will most likely do so because he knows people want it. Some ideas of things to ask for are low-fat milk and yogurt, apple chips, pita chips, pretzels, whole wheat bread, regular peanut butter, jelly, plain nuts such as almonds and walnuts, and fruits and vegetables that are either fresh, frozen, or canned in light syrup (note: many stores do not have the capacity to sell foods that need to be frozen or refrigerated).

There’s no need to ask for water, because you can get this for FREE from the sink or water fountain! NYC water is generally of very good quality and you can save a lot of money by buying a reusable BPA-free bottle and filling it with water on your own.

Bronx Health REACH

Bronx Health REACH, a part of the Institute for Family Health, is an organization that works on trying to improve the quality of food served in the Bronx. REACH also works to educate the community about how to live a healthy lifestyle through the food and exercise choices we make. One of the focuses of REACH is working with churches in the community to empower its members to lead a healthy lifestyle. REACH has developed a “God’s Health Squad” toolkit for church leaders to use with youth groups. More information can be found on the website, http://institute2000.org/bhr, the blog, http://bronxhealthreach.blogspot.com, or by contacting Kelly Moltzen (see bottom of post).

NYC Strategic Alliance for Health (SAfH)

The NYC Strategic Alliance for Health (SAfH) was founded in 2008 to combine the efforts of local organizations, Elected Officials, and other community based organizations in an effort to improve the environments, systems, and policies that affect physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco-use within schools and the broader community of the South Bronx and East & Central Harlem. The efforts that are found to work best will be shared with other NYC neighborhoods who are also working to decrease health inequities.

A brief overview SAfH’s Goals:

Physical Activity

· Require organizations that work in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) community centers to lead daily physical activity programs

· Improve the play street program in target areas by changing policy

Nutrition

· Include a new option in the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Adopt a Bodega initiative that will offer Bodega owners resources for renovations that will allow fruits and vegetables to be sold and maintained on site

School Wellness

· Establish a policy at the NYC Department of Education that will provide elementary schools with a Physical Activity and Nutrition Award

· Establish a policy requiring elementary after-school programs to include daily time for physical activity

For more information, contact: Geysil Arroyo, Community Coordinator

646-672-2385 or nycsafh@gmail.com

What’s On Your Plate? Film

Want to watch a movie about healthy and not-so-healthy food in NYC, narrated from a kids’ perspective? The film “What’s On Your Plate?” is just that. It follows two curious girls who are on a mission to understand where their food comes from, and what’s in it. The girls interview many influential people in NYC, including Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Chef Jorge Collazo from the NYC Department of Education’s Office of School Food, and Anna Lappé, author of the newly released book Diet for a Hot Planet, about the impact of our food system on climate change. You can find out more information about where and when “What’s On Your Plate?” is being screened in NYC at the website whatsonyourplateproject.org.

“Let’s Move!”

First Lady Michelle Obama is very involved in supporting a healthy lifestyle for children. She has started the “Let’s Move” initiative to fight childhood obesity, which aims to give “parents the support they need, provide healthier food in schools, help our kids to be more physically active, and make healthy, affordable food available in every part of our country.” You can find out more here: http://letsmove.gov/

People’s Garden NYC Petition

There is currently a petition asking Mayor Bloomberg to plant a vegetable garden outside of City Hall as a symbol of the City’s dedication to healthy food. If this garden becomes reality, it would be managed by children and seniors from the nearby area, and the food grown would be donated to a local food pantry or soup kitchen. You can learn more about it and sign the petition here: http://peoplesgardennyc.org/

More Resources

NY Coalition for Healthy School Food

The New York Coalition for Healthy School Food is organization that works on improving food for all children in New York. Learn more here:http://www.healthyschoolfood.org/

Super Kids Nutrition

Find information on healthy eating for your kids from the experts! There are articles, activities, book suggestions and more athttp://superkidsnutrition.com/

Dr. Dolgoff’s Weigh

Dr. Johanna Dolgoff is a pediatrician who focuses on weight management.She has many resources online that you can get for free at her website,http://drweigh.com/

SNAP-Ed Recipe Finder Database Search for low-cost recipes by ingredient, recipe name, cost, and more:http://recipefinder.nal.usda.gov/

Online Videos

Want to learn more about the food system by watching videos? Here are a few you can watch online:

· Urban Farming NYC http://tinyurl.com/urbanfarmingnyc

· The Meatrix http://www.themeatrix.com/

· The True Cost of Foodhttp://www.sierraclub.org/truecostoffood/movie.asp

· The Story of Stuff http://www.storyofstuff.com/

For more information, contact Kelly Moltzen, Nutrition/Diabetes Education Coordinator at Bronx Health REACH. She can be reached by email at kmoltzen@institute20000.org or by phone at (212) 633-0800 x 1328. You can also follow her on twitter at twitter.com/kellymoltzen or visit her blog: food4thoughtandaction.blogspot.com/.

Thanks for reading!

Farmers Markets in the Bronx

Greenmarket Farmers Markets: EBT/Food Stamps and WIC & Senior FMNP Coupons Accepted. For every 5 EBT dollars spent, customers receive a $2 Health Buck coupon to purchase additional produce.

Bronx Borough Hall Greenmarket

Grand Concourse at 161 St, Bronx, 10451

Tuesdays, June 29 through November 23, 8am - 3pm

Lincoln Hospital Greenmarket
149th Street at Park Ave, Bronx, 10451
Tuesdays and Fridays, June 29 through November 23, 8am - 3pm

New York Botanical Garden Greenmarket
Dr Theodore Kazimiroff Blvd at Bronx Park Rd, New York, 10458
Wednesdays, June 16 through November 29, 9am - 6pm.

Poe Park Greenmarket
Grand Concourse at E 192 St, Bronx, 10468
Open Tuesdays, July 6 through November 23, 8am -3pm

Harvest Home Farmers Markets:

Jacobi Market
Jacobi Hospital
1400 Pelham Parkway
Tuesday, 8 am – 4 pm
June 16 - November 24

Forrest Ave. Market
Forrest Avenue Betw. 156th & Westchester
Wednesday, 8 am – 4 pm
July 8 - November 18

North Central Bronx
Mosholu Pkwy North & Jerome Ave
Wednesday, 8 am - 6 pm
July 8 - November 18

Mt. Eden Ave. Market
(Lebanon Hospital)
Thursday, 8 am - 4 pm
May 21 - November 19

Castle Hill Avenue
At Castle Hill & Hart St
Saturday, 8 am – 4 pm
July 11 - November 21

Coop City Market
Coop City Blvd.,Greenway #3
Saturday, 8 am - 6pm
July 11 - November 21

Morris Park Market
1734 Williamsbridge Road
Our Saviour Lutheran Church Parking Lot
Saturdays, 8 am - 4 pm
July 11 - Nov 21

Echo Park Market
On Tremont Avenue
Betw. Anthony &
Webster Ave.
Wednesday, 8 am – 6 pm
July - Nov 2

Sunday Market
165th Grand Concourse
Bronx Museum
Sunday, 8am - 4pm
July 12 - Nov 22

For more information:

Greenmarket http://cenyc.org/ourmarkets or call (212) 788-7476

Harvest Home Farmers Market http://www.harvesthomefm.org/Locations.html or (212) 828-3361