A Conversation with an Emerging Innovator: Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

On January 31, 2018, NYHealth hosted a conversation with Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, a winner of NYHealth’s 10th Anniversary Emerging Innovator Awards.

The stereotype that low-income people do not want to eat fresh, healthy food is finally fading. A growing number of organizations across the State have recognized this truth and are working to encourage low-income New Yorkers to eat healthier, including New Yorkers who frequent senior centers, Head Start programs, soup kitchens, and shelters.

The Teaching Kitchen at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House is one of these organizations. Under the leadership of chef Lynn Loflin, The Teaching Kitchen has created a leading-edge training, technical assistance, and consulting program to help local nonprofit organizations with institutional food programs serving low-income clients to convert their programs to (or accelerate their progress toward) a farm-to-institution model.

To date, The Teaching Kitchen has assisted 30 organizations serving more than 3 million meals annually. The ultimate goal of the program is to localize publicly funded institutional food systems and improve the health of low-income New Yorkers.

Panelists were The Teaching Kitchen chef Lynn Loflin; Mia Kandel, Esq., Deputy Chief Program Officer, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House; Frank Walrond, Food Service Coordinator, BronxWorks; and Jeffrey Stewart, Food Service Manager, Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Senior Center. The panelists discussed the impact The Teaching Kitchen has had on the organizations and the people it serves, as well as plans to scale up in the coming year.

View slides from the presentation.