Bronx Health REACH and Our Elected Officials

In December 2018 and January 2019, Bronx Health REACH staff held meetings with Senator Jose M. Serrano and his Chief of Staff George Damalas, Assemblymember Victor M. Pichardo and his Communications Coordinator Nicholas Peters, and Assemblymember Michael Benedetto and his Chief of Staff John Collazzi in their district offices. The meetings provided the elected officials with updates on Creating Healthy Schools & Communities Program implementation in the Bronx and information on the WELL Campaign (Wellness, Equity, and Learning Legislation), launched by the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education, and Policy at Teachers, College, Columbia University and supports school districts to create, implement, and assess strong, comprehensive local wellness policies.

Assemblyman Benedetto, the new Chair of the Education Committee in the New York State Assembly, has agreed to host a legislative Lunch and Learn for New York State legislators so they may learn about the status of school wellness policy in New York State, and the WELL Campaign. This event will be held on March 26 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

The meetings, including that with Assemblyman Pichardo, highlighted a concern that the New York State Education Department School Health Associate position has been vacant for the past 9 years. And, as a result New York State missed an opportunity to apply for a 5-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Improving Student Health and Academic Achievement through Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Management of Chronic Conditions in Schools” in 2018. The CDC made this grant only available to local education agencies such as state education departments. In prior years, CDC funding to provide schools with technical assistance for school wellness policy implementation had been available to state health departments. Without federal CDC funding, the status of support for school wellness policy implementation in New York State remains in question.

On Tuesday, January 29th, at the ‘City Hall in Your Borough Resource Fair in the Bronx,’ Bronx Health REACH Coalition member Sandra Jenkins, from Church of God of Prophecy, met with Mayor de Blasio and reminded him of his promise to meet with Bronx Health REACH to discuss the #Not62: The Campaign for a Healthy Bronx and the ask of making the Bronx a priority in all the city’s agencies. The Mayor promised to look into it. Charmaine Ruddock, Project Director, also spoke briefly to City Council member Vanessa L. Gibson about the promised meeting with the Mayor because it was at her sponsored town hall meeting last April where the Mayor had made that public commitment to meet with the Coalition.

Remembering Bodega Association President Ramon Murphy

We were saddened to hear of the passing in December of one of our partners, Ramon Murphy, the President of the Bodega Association who had played a large role in Bronx Health REACH’s Healthy Bodega Initiative over the past four years. Mr. Murphy was a long time bodega owner and a tireless advocate on behalf of the more than 5,000 Bodega Association members. He provided input and helped lead the training sessions for bodega owners on how they can profitably transform their stores to serve healthy food to their customers.

As a huge champion of the Healthy Bodega Initiative, Mr. Murphy worked with Spring Bank, a local community bank, to offer bodega owners participating in the bodega trainings very attractive loans for store improvements. He encouraged Goya Foods to supply their 'Better For You' low sodium products to participating Bronx bodegas; and provided valuable insight in the development of the Healthy Bodega marketing campaign. He made it clear that bodegas and their owners, as key community fixtures, viewed improving the health and well-being of the community a priority because without healthy customers neighborhood bodegas would not survive. He will be sorely missed.

Mr. Murphy can be seen in a video about the Healthy Bodega Initiative.

Bronx Health REACH Testifies at City Council Hearings

Bronx Health REACH Director Charmaine Ruddock testified in support of the New York Health Act.


On December 6th, Bronx Health REACH Project Director Charmaine Ruddock provided testimony to the New York City Council in support of the New York Health Act. The New York City Council was voting to call on the New York State Legislature and Governor to pass the New York Health Act, that would guarantee publicly-funded healthcare for all New York State residents without deductibles, co-pays or out-of-network charges. Charmaine spoke on how the passing of the New York Health Act would benefit Bronx residents since the borough is currently not only the unhealthiest county in New York State, but has the largest percentage of uninsured adults (22%) and the largest percentage of adults going without needed medical care (12%). The New York Health Act would enable more Bronx residents to live healthier, longer lives.

The New York Health Act would also provide Bronx residents access to the same quality of healthcare others receive in other parts of NYC and would improve health outcomes for all residents. NY Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried and former NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Mary T. Bassett also testified before the Council, as did Dr. Bassett's mother, who is seated next to Charmaine in the photo above.

Moria Byrne-Zaaloff spoke in support of nutrition education.

On January 16th, the New York City Council held a hearing on the Food and Nutrition Education Reporting Bill. This Bill would require the New York City Department of Education to submit an annual report of food and nutrition education classes to the New York City Council.

Moria Byrne-Zaaloff, Bronx Health REACH’s Program Coordinator for Creating Healthy Schools and Communities testified on the lack of nutrition education in NYC public schools, its importance, and the anticipated impact the bill would have in improving the healthy eating of public school students.

Currently, there isn't any publicly available information on how many schools are actively implementing nutrition education to meet NYC health education requirements. With a reporting system in place, schools and school-based partners focused on nutrition education will have a better sense of gaps and barriers to providing nutrition education in NYC public schools.

Healthy Children & Families Program Event: A Multi-Faith Effort to Improve Health Outcome

We had a great turnout for our Healthy Children & Families program event on January 12th. We recognized Mt.Zion C.M.E, Agape Love Christian Center, New Covenant Christian Ministries, Iglesia de Dios, St. Jerome H.A.N.D.S Community Center, Evangelical Christian Church, St. Angela Merici Catholic Church, and Word of Life International Church for participating in the Healthy Children, Healthy Families program in 2018.

On Saturday, January 12th, 28 multi-faith leaders gathered at the Church of God of Prophecy to recognize the impact of the Healthy Children, Healthy Families program, on the children, families and faith based organizations that participated. It also highlighted key aspects of the program for those interested to learn more. This health program has broad appeal across all faiths. Four masjid leaders interested in the program attended, making this Bronx Health REACH’s first multi-faith event.

Bronx Health REACH recognized the eight faith-based organizations who implemented the program in 2018. The organizations honored include: Mt.Zion C.M.E, Agape Love Christian Center, New Covenant Christian Ministries, Iglesia de Dios, St. Jerome H.A.N.D.S Community Center, Evangelical Christian Church, St. Angela Merici Catholic Church, and Word of Life International Church.

Since December 2018, eight faith based partners have run the eight week program for children (ages 8-12) and their parents/caregivers, to increase healthy eating and active living and reduce high rates of obesity in the Bronx. Loyce Godfrey, Bronx Health REACH faith and nutrition consultant, and Cheikhou Ann, Muslim Community Health Leader, spoke about the connection between faith, food and health from both Christian and Muslim perspectives. They emphasized the connection of  religious values to health.

Taleek Norman from Kids in the Game led attendees in fun, interactive fitness activities.

Evy Torres, Peer Health Coordinator who led the program at Evangelical Christian Church spoke passionately about her experience teaching healthy behaviors to children and families. She explained, “The beauty of this program is being able to empower our children and unify the family.” Two children from her church who participated in the program shared their personal experience with the audience. One child shared his deep admiration for the fitness coach; and another told the group about her nutrition lessons and the confidence she has gained by participating in the program.

To illustrate aspects of the physical activity component of the actual workshops, Maurelhena Walles and Taleek Norman from Kids in the Game led attendees in fun, interactive fitness activities. In each workshop, Kids in the Game provides fitness activities that families can integrate into their daily lives.

We congratulate all those who participated in 2018, and are excited in 2019 to welcome new faith based partners looking to improve the health of their members!


If you are part of a faith-based organization that would like to participate in Healthy Children, Healthy Families in spring 2019, contact Yolanda Benitez at (212) 633-0800 ext. 1344.

Winter Farm Share Returns to Stevenson Family Health Center

After a successful run in 2018, the Winter Farm Share returns to the Stevenson Family Health Center in 2019. Bronx Health REACH has once again partnered with Corbin Hill Food Project to host a Winter Farm Share where employees, patients and community residents can purchase 6-8  seasonal vegetables and one fruit on the first and third Tuesday of every month (from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.) for only $10. Customers can pay in person with cash, credit card, debit card, EBT, SNAP and Health Bucks and can also purchase online by visiting the Corbin Hill website.

Nutrition Education Advocates Educate City Council Members on the Importance of Nutrition Education in Public Schools

This post is written by Moria Byrne-Zaaloff, MPH, Program Coordinator for Creating Healthy Schools and Communities at Bronx Health REACH. 


The energy in the room was palpable as I entered the New York City Council hearing room surrounded by advocates, councilmember staff and a flock of media corralled in the corner. I was there to testify on behalf of Bronx Health REACH, alongside other advocates, teachers, parents and students from across the five boroughs on the importance of nutrition education in schools. The hearing was in response to the Nutrition and Education Reporting bill sponsored by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Council Member Mark Treyger, Chair of the Education Committee and supported by many in the nutrition education community.

Currently, information on nutrition education programming in schools isn’t publically available. Bronx Health REACH and other organizations viewed this hearing as an opportunity to highlight the importance of nutrition education and the barriers to it in New York City public schools. The Bill would require the New York City Department of Education to submit an annual report of food and nutrition education classes, conducted by school teachers/staff or external partners in each New York City public school to the New York City Council. The report would account for the frequency and total minutes of instruction, number of students taught, total instruction time by teachers and outside organizations, and number of school teachers/staff who received training in each NYC public school.

Minutes before the hearing began advocates and the co-sponsors of the proposed legislation, Councilman Mark Treyger and Manhattan Borough President Gayle Brewer, gathered for a rally on the steps of City Hall declaring food and nutrition education essential to student health. Councilman Treyger spoke of the gaps in our current education system including a lack of professional development training. He cited the commissioner’s report from 2015 which showed that “over 90 percent of our educators teaching health and wellness are not even licensed to teach health.”

While this data may be remarkably different after the rollout of HealthEd Works, a promising pilot program of the DOE to bring nutrition education programming, professional development training, and resources to 500 public schools in the next few years, parents deserve to know whether their children are currently receiving the same educational programming as resource-rich public schools.

At the hearing, Councilmembers Mark Levine, Brad Lander, Andy King, and Debi Rose asked questions and spoke in support of the proposed legislation, but it was the voices of the students, teachers and advocates that were the most powerful. Maria Mohammed, a Bronx high school graduate, spoke about how students are not being fully educated about the harms of processed food. “What are we going to tell them 5 years from now? We are sorry that we failed you and need to do better for the next generation.” Pam Cook of Teacher’s College spoke on behalf of Meredith Hill, Assistant Principal of Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science and Engineering who wrote, “When we educate students about what they put in their bodies, they gain power--the power to be educated consumers making healthy choices.”

As a public health professional working in NYC for the past couple of years, I spoke about the constant frustration and burn-out I have seen in the teachers working at our Bronx partner schools who face the challenges of not having enough time to fit nutrition education in the schedule for all students, vague guidelines from the NYC DOE regarding how many hours or lessons per semester should be dedicated to nutrition education in elementary and middle school, and insufficient professional development training in nutrition education. Working in neighborhoods with limited funding, capacity, training and resources leaves many of the energetic and self-motivated teachers ill-equipped to meet students’ needs for nutrition education.

Seeing the level of enthusiasm and commitment in the hearing room to ensure that all NYC public school children receive adequate nutrition education to equip them to make healthy food choices, reawakened the hope of a better future for NYC schoolchildren. On a separate note, seeing the civic process at work  made me feel grateful to live in a country where your voice can be heard.