Our Grantees Healthy Food, Healthy Lives
The link between food and health is clear. Nutritious food is medicine, helping to prevent and manage disease. But too much food, too little food, food that is not nutritious, or food that is not culturally appropriate can have serious health consequences. Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
Our overarching goal is to connect New Yorkers with the food they need to thrive. To achieve this goal, we focus on four strategies: (1) support healthy, more equitable food systems planning and capacity-building; (2) maximize nutrition benefit programs; (3) support healthier, culturally responsive food purchasing in public institutions; and (4) promote Food Is Medicine interventions.
Connecting New Yorkers with the Food They Need to Thrive
Healthy food systems planning and capacity-building: Projects will empower communities to design, coordinate, and implement food plans. Regional food planning efforts will make healthy, local food more affordable and accessible. Projects in this area include:
- Development of formal, locally tailored healthy food plans, as well as advocacy for policy changes that make healthy, local, and affordable food more available in the North Country, Central Brooklyn, the Southern Tier, the Finger Lakes, Western New York, the Hudson Valley, and New York City.
- Support for opening a Black-led retail food cooperative offering healthy, affordable food for central Brooklyn residents.
- Research on localized food system efforts in New York municipalities and opportunities for vibrant food systems.
Nutrition benefit programs: Projects make it easier for people to enroll in and use nutrition benefit programs. Projects in this area include the expansion of:
- A national nutrition incentive program for SNAP recipients across upstate New York.
- A Fair Food Pricing Program in the North Country that provides discounted farm food packages—including produce, milk, eggs, and meat—that can be purchased using SNAP dollars.
- A mobile curbside market program in Rochester to increase healthy food options for families that use WIC.
- A locally sourced cooperative that allows customers in the City of Geneva to use their SNAP benefits to purchase boxes of farm-fresh produce, dairy, and meats.
Healthier, culturally responsive food purchasing in public institutions: Schools, Head Start programs, senior centers, homeless shelters, and other public institutions will use their purchasing power to provide healthier meals to millions of New Yorkers, while also creating additional opportunities for smaller farmers and suppliers, particularly people of color, to compete for institutional contracts. Projects in this area include:
- A campaign to ensure universal free school meals across New York State.
- Advocacy for implementation of the Good Food Purchasing Program in New York City and statewide to transform the way public agencies purchase food for healthier meals.
- A New York State farm-to-school program that increases local food spending in schools.
Food Is Medicine: Health care providers and payers will connect patients in need with healthy food, through medically tailored meals and healthy food prescription programs. Projects in this area include:
- A home-delivered fruit and vegetable prescription program for families with young children.
- A medically tailored meals program for veterans with behavioral health issues who are facing food insecurity.
For more information about this priority area, please contact Senior Program Officer
Senior Program Officer
Julia McCarthy
As Senior Program Officer, Julia McCarthy helps lead NYHealth’s Healthy Food, Healthy Lives priority area, the goal of which is to create a more equitable food system that connects all New Yorkers with the food they need to thrive.
Prior to joining NYHealth, Ms. McCarthy served as the deputy director of the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy at Teachers College of Columbia University, where she oversaw operations, strategy, and project execution. Ms. McCarthy also held policy roles at the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Ms. McCarthy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern scholar. She has served on the advisory committee on public policy for the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior and on the food retail advisory board for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
or Senior Program Officer
Senior Program Officer
Bronwyn Starr
As Senior Program Officer, Bronwyn Starr helps lead NYHealth’s Healthy Food, Healthy Lives priority area, with a goal to create a more equitable food system that connects all New Yorkers with the food they need to thrive.
Prior to Healthy Food, Healthy Lives, Ms. Starr managed the Foundation’s Building Healthy Communities priority area, supporting residents, community-based organizations, and government agencies to improve neighborhood health. She has also supported county health departments in reducing health disparities and preventing chronic disease; expanding primary care access and capacity in the most rural parts of New York State; and increasing recruitment and retention of New York State’s primary care workforce.
Prior to joining NYHealth, Ms. Starr led a program at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that helped primary care providers improve medication adherence for their patients. She previously worked in the international health sector with Catholic Relief Services and Planned Parenthood, and was a New York City emergency medical technician for 10 years.
Ms. Starr holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Oregon and a Master of Public Health degree from New York University. She serves on the steering committee for Community Food Funders and The New York State Council on Hunger and Food Policy.
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