By Triada Stampas,

Right now, Congress is considering legislation that would cut off a critical source of support provided by the Child Tax Credit to our most vulnerable working families.

At a time when one in five children relies on soup kitchens and food pantries in NYC, this legislation would deny cash refunds that the Child Tax Credit provides to working immigrants who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) instead of Social Security Numbers. Cutting the credit means increasing taxes on millions of struggling, working families across the country.

Cash refunds received by tax-paying immigrants through the Child Tax Credit help some of our most vulnerable families keep food no the table. Act now >

More than half of low-income households with children in New York City struggle to afford food. Last year, ITIN filers who accessed the Food Bank’s Free Income Tax Services had an average household income of $10,800 and received, on average, $1,160 in Child Tax Credits — a significant boost for low-income working people struggling to raise children in New York City.

Simply put, the Child Tax Credit helps keep food on the table for working families. The decision is now in the hands of a Congressional “conference committee” of House and Senate members — and their decision is expected soon! 

Tell Congress: Protect the Child Tax Credit. Protect our most vulnerable children.

By Kyle Smith,

Although this is only Daisy Carusillo’s second year implementing the Food Bank’s CookShop Classroom curriculum at PS 24 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, she handles the job like an old pro.

I recently had the pleasure of seeing Daisy in action as she instructed a roomful of new CookShop teachers at a training session one evening this fall.  After a full day in their own classrooms, the teachers had arrived looking a little weary. But as Daisy led a mock Chef Lesson (a cooking activity in which students help prepare nutritious, kid-friendly recipes) it was clear that these lessons are her favorite part of the curriculum – and it was impossible for the tired teachers to resist Daisy’s infectious energy and humorous anecdotes! Plus, it didn’t hurt that the tangy batch of Peachy Orange Salsa they were preparing smelled so great.  

“This is where nutrition education takes on a whole new life,” Daisy said. “The actual handling of the produce, the chopping, the dicing, mixing, the smells…does so much for the building of community.” 

CookShop Chef Lessons give elementary-school children an opportunity to try healthy food, such as fruits and vegetables, in a learning environment, Daisy said, while the Explorer and Discovery Lessons reinforce other academic areas such as reading, math and science skills.

"One of my favorite [Chef Lesson] memories is when a student was so proud of her dish – it looked so colorful, and it was so flavorful – she wanted to take some to the principal so she could taste it,” Daisy said.

But like all learning experiences, some can be a little jarring at first. When Daisy’s students were told carrots comprised the root of a plant, “they were so shocked, they weren’t sure if they wanted to continue eating [the Carrot Raisin Salad].”

Daisy said the students were more willing to taste the Three-Bean Salad and Apple Dipper recipes, but, she said, all CookShop lessons help serve a child’s personal development.

“Children who develop adequate cooking skills and nutritional knowledge are more likely to make healthier food choices later in life,” Daisy said.

And it’s that kind of insight – rather than the number of years’ experience -- that makes Daisy Carusillo an expert CookShop teacher.
 

The Food Bank released its annual research report this week, NYC Hunger Experience 2011: Support and Sacrifice, which revealed a startling increase in the number of middle-income and college-educated New Yorkers struggling to afford food. “The fact that education is no longer a buffer against poverty and hunger is antithetical to conventional wisdom and a blow to everything we’ve ever been told,” Food Bank President and CEO Margarette Purvis said. In other news, the mayor and the governor disagreed on finger-imaging of food stamp applicants and the NYC Health Department launched a new campaign to warn New Yorkers against super-sized portions.

More College-Educated NYers Struggle To Afford Food, Report Finds, NY1, 1/11
The Food Bank's NYC Hunger Experience 2011 report finds that between 2010 and 2011 the number of college-educated New Yorkers concerned about affording food or needing assistance getting food increased by 25 percent. The Food Bank says the study shows that higher levels of education don't always provide a safety net against hunger.

NY Gov. Cuomo sets aggressive agenda for 2nd year, Associated Press, 1/5
While outlining an aggressive agenda to boost New York's economy during his second year in office, Gov. Andrew Cuomo advocated several measures to help the poor and dispossessed, such as better access to food stamps. He said 30 percent of New Yorkers eligible for food stamps, about 1.4 million people, don't get them — leaving more than $1 billion in federal funds unclaimed annually. The state should help remove barriers and stigma and end fingerprinting as a requirement, he said.

Bloomberg Says He Will Fight for Fingerprinting Rule, New York Times, City Room, 1/5
A day after Gov. Andrew Cuomo vowed to end New York City’s policy of requiring food stamp applicants to be electronically fingerprinted, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg defended the policy and said he would try to convince the governor to keep it in place.

In New Ads, Health Department Offers Super-Sized Warnings, New York Times, City Room, 1/10
In a new set of posters in English and Spanish, the health department depicts the steady increase in sizes of soda cups and French fry sleeves against backdrops of unhealthy people, including a diabetic man who is missing most of one leg. The ads, which began appearing in the subway system on Monday, warn that obesity and diabetes have become more common as the average size of food servings has risen.

Break‘fat’ club, New York Post, 1/8
A study led by Department of Health official Gretchen Van Wye compared kids who ate breakfast in class with kids in control schools where breakfast is served only in the cafeteria. It found that about one in five kids who ate in class were eating breakfast twice. “Special care should be taken to ensure that children are not inadvertently taking in excess calories by eating in multiple locations,” she writes in the research paper. Some of her colleagues fear that the controversial study could lay the groundwork for scrapping part or all of city’s free breakfast program.

By Triada Stampas,

This past Wednesday, Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his second State of the State address. After a year when critical anti-hunger programs have been under threat at the national level, I was overjoyed to hear the governor highlight child hunger and speak out forcefully for expanding access to the food stamp program (SNAP) by removing barriers to participation and eliminating stigma — including ending the practice of finger-imaging.

In New York City, 76 percent of all households with children struggle to afford food.

Since I couldn’t say it better myself, here is what the governor said:

“For all of our progress, there are still basic wrongs to right. There is never an excuse for letting any child in New York go to bed hungry. Statewide, 1 in 6 children live in homes without enough food on the table. Yet 30 percent of New Yorkers eligible for food stamps — over 1.4 million people — do not receive them, leaving over $1 billion in federal funds unclaimed every year.

“We must increase participation in the food stamp program, remove barriers to participation and eliminate the stigma associated with this program. And we must stop fingerprinting for food. No child should go hungry in the great State of New York and we will do all that we can to prevent it.”

In addition, Governor Cuomo called for a number of other initiatives that will help those we serve, including:

• improving food access in food deserts;
• foreclosure relief and tenant protection;
• setting up a health insurance exchange to provide more New Yorkers with insurance and lessen healthcare costs; and
• reducing (or, for some, eliminating) the state income tax burden on low-income New Yorkers.

It will take a lot of work to make all of this happen. But the fact that these issues all made it into this year’s address means that these are the items Governor Cuomo has pledged to prioritize and devote resources to seeing done.

We don’t see this happen every day, and we will be doing everything we can in the coming months and year to help make sure that true progress is made.

By Matthew Gustafson, 

One of my greatest pleasures in visiting the schools that run our CookShop Classroom program is observing how creative teachers can be when connecting our program's nutrition education messages to the other subjects they’re teaching.

Of course, CookShop’s curriculum is built to facilitate these kinds of connections.

From top: Photo by Miriam Araya; Photo by Ritamarie Pepe

I’ve seen teachers relate CookShop to math — measuring ingredients is a handy lesson in fractions, addition and multiplication. Other teachers highlight geography through discussions of farming and geographical landscapes. And I’ve seen CookShop help develop reading and writing skills, as teachers ask their students to use descriptive words to articulate and write about the way foods look, feel, smell, sound and taste.

I’m always impressed by teachers’ imagination in bringing their lessons to life, so I was especially excited to see CookShop take on a whole new educational aspect at P.S. 112 in Brooklyn!

Fourth grade photography students, inspired by the foods a younger class had used in a CookShop lesson, grabbed their cameras and set up a fresh veggie photo shoot. I’ve seen a lot of CookShop creativity, but I never expected this transformation of food into art!

“We used our imagination to create a new world with vegetables,” wrote student Susan He in a letter explaining her photos.

Whoever said you shouldn’t play with your food?!
 

This week, Food Bank CEO Margarette Purvis talked about our city's childhood obesity problem in the Huffington Post, census data showed a record high percentage of Americans are now living in poverty, and President Obama continues to strategize passing his jobs proposals — all while the deficit “supercommittee” in Washington attempts to resolve our nation’s budget deficit. Under the threat of federal funding cuts, local organizations like Food Bank network member Project Hospitality in Staten Island are already struggling to keep pantry shelves full for neighbors in need. One bright spot, however: nutrition education programs like the Food Bank’s CookShop are empowering low-income children and families in New York City to make healthy food choices.

Beyond the Grocery Store...Teaching Children Where Their Food Comes From, The Huffington Post, 11/1
It's no secret that New York City has a major problem with childhood obesity. On the national stage, Michelle Obama's Let's Move initiative, Rachael Ray's Yum-o! and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation are all shining a light on the nation's alarmingly high rates of childhood obesity while advocating for nutrition education as a way to empowering kids to make healthier choices. And right here in New York City, nutrition education programs like the Food Bank's CookShop and Hunger Solutions New York are taking the fight locally.

Poorest poor in US hits new record: 1 in 15 people, Associated Press, 11/3
The ranks of America's poorest poor have climbed to a record high — 1 in 15 people — spread widely across metropolitan areas as the housing bust pushed many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and shriveled jobs and income. New census data paint a stark portrait of the nation's haves and have-nots at a time when unemployment remains persistently high.

Deficit Committee Could Seek More Time, a Top Democrat Says, The New York Times, 11/2
A top House Democrat said Wednesday that a bipartisan committee seeking ways to slash the budget deficit could seek an extension if it was unable to meet its deadline, just three weeks away.
With no visible signs of progress, 6 of the 12 committee members have begun meeting privately in hopes of overcoming what appears to be the biggest obstacle to agreement: a deadlock over whether tax increases should be part of a deficit-reduction deal.

Obama, Top Democrats Meet to Plot Jobs Strategy, Reuters, 11/1
President Barack Obama will meet top Democrats from the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday to plot strategy on how to advance his jobs proposals that are stalled in Congress amid Republican resistance. The White House talks follow a series of unilateral steps by Obama over the past week aimed at seizing the initiative from his Republican foes and showing voters he is serious about tackling high unemployment and a sluggish economy.

The cupboard is bare at Staten Island's food pantries, Staten Island Live, 11/4
Indeed, there is a crisis at the Project Hospitality Food Pantry, at its main location on Bay Street and the 21 mobile food pantries in churches and other sites the not-for-profit serves in every part of the borough: Donations from food drives and private individuals that usually pour in at this time of year have virtually dried up. Add in cuts in the federal, state and city food assistance programs serving the hungry and the result is chilling insecurity for the borough's thousands of hungry families.

By Triada Stampas

Last week, the Food Bank kicked off the 18th year of our signature nutrition education program with a day-long conference, training teachers and educators to bring our CookShop program to students and parents in public schools throughout New York City.

USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon

A testament to the Food Bank’s continued commitment to nutrition education, CookShop will now be bringing the knowledge and tools to adopt a healthy diet on a limited budget to more than 135,000 low-income children, teens and adults through interactive workshops and peer-led social marketing.

This year, the Food Bank was proud to introduce important updates to CookShop. The CookShop Classroom for Elementary School curriculum, for example, now links nutrition education lessons directly to core subjects like math, language arts and science, and, importantly, to the school meals children have access to every day. CookShop for Families not only engages parents and guardians in workshops that complement the Classroom curriculum, it now also incorporates important skills like budgeting and meal planning.

United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Mike Mulgrew

This year’s keynote speakers – USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon and United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Mike Mulgrew – joined Food Bank President and CEO Margarette Purvis at the conference, showing their support and appreciation for the teachers, parent coordinators and school staff who make CookShop a reality.

“We live in challenging times, and teachers can play such a vital role, not only in ensuring that children won’t go hungry, but that they also eat healthy foods,” said Under Secretary Concannon.

Michael Mulgrew told us that he still makes the recipe he learned to prepare during his visit to a CookShop for Families workshop in the Bronx. The UFT President further praised the hands-on CookShop curriculum for making learning accessible to all students, including those in special education.

Teachers participated in hands-on workshops.

Perhaps best of all, the conference gives us a great opportunity to hear from the CookShop teachers and educators directly about what they most value in the program.

”This is an excellent idea - to link [the lessons] to math, science and language arts,” said six-year CookShop veteran Millie Peguero, referring to recent updates to the curricula she will be implementing in her Manhattan kindergarten class. “We’ve already noticed that the apple lesson, for example, coincided with a science lesson on fruits of the season, so we use that as the science lesson that day.”

By Zac Hall, 

For this school year, the Food Bank’s CookShop Classroom for Elementary School curriculum is getting a fresh new makeover!

We always strive to improve our CookShop nutrition education program so that the more than 30,000 participating New York City children, teens and adults get the best possible education about how to cook and eat healthfully.

Our new CookShop Classroom for Elementary School curriculum focuses on integrating nutrition and food exploration into everyday, routine activities for children – if kids talk and think about new foods and food choices on a daily basis, it gets easier to keep thinking about and making healthy choices.

First things first: Where does food come from? Our new curriculum starts at the farm, so that children know exactly where their food comes from before it lands in a supermarket aisle or their refrigerator. Students also discuss common food sources in New York City (like farmers markets, grocery stores and bodegas) so they can make healthful food choices anywhere they find food.

This year’s curriculum will also focus on school meals, using the foods that kids are already familiar with in the school setting as an extra learning tool. Students will identify the healthy foods on their breakfast and lunch plates, discuss their farm roots and learn about their nutritional benefits, so that their everyday food experiences become learning experiences.

Speaking of plates: Our new curriculum stars the USDA’s new nutrition icon, MyPlate. MyPlate encourages people to think about building a healthy plate at meal times. Each educational unit of CookShop features one MyPlate food group: fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes (and other plant proteins) and low-fat dairy products. The best part: after learning about these foods’ benefits, the kids prepare and taste delicious and nutritious recipes with them. Yum!

We are excited to start reaching a new wave of New Yorkers with our message of healthy cooking and eating! Check back throughout the year for first-hand stories from our students, teachers and Food Bank staff.

Zac Hall is the Food Bank's CookShop for Families Manager

by Melissa Garba Baker,

As a site monitor for CookShop, the Food Bank’s core nutrition education program, and as a graduate student studying nutrition, I study how food impacts our health and where it comes from. Happily, that’s exactly what the second graders at P.S. 64 in the Bronx were discussing when I visited their classroom recently.

The CookShop curriculum highlights plant-based foods, including fruit, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, as nutritious food choices. Students also learn about how all food originates from plants, even animal products like milk, cheese and meat. On the day that I visited, the class was learning to tell the “food story” for different foods they liked to eat. To the delight of his classmates, one student suggested they tell the story of meatballs — clearly a class favorite.

“So, where do meatballs come from?” the teacher asked.

Students offered many possibilities, including “the store,” “a restaurant,” “my grandma’s house” and “meat.” Delving deeper, they learned that meat comes from cows, and that — like humans — cows get important vitamins and nutrients by eating greens. Then, the teacher led a brief discussion about processing — all of the steps that transform the meat into a meatball. Together, the class devised this “food story” for meatballs:

The students were amazed at the number of steps it takes to get to the final meatball. Full of questions, by the end of their first CookShop lesson they couldn’t wait for the next one — when they would participate in some food processing of their own by taking whole fruits and vegetables and working together to prepare a simple, delicious, healthy recipe.

As a public health professional, I was delighted to see the students’ interest in food and their hunger to learn more. Knowledge about food and nutrition is vital to making healthy choices, and that’s what CookShop is all about — educating students so they can begin making informed choices from an early age.

By Patrycja Dziedzic,

“I wish my house was full of apples,” exclaimed Mohammad, a six year old participant at Herbert Von King’s after-school program in Brooklyn. My first thought was, “Yes! He loves apples!”

Children enjoying apples at a Food Bank event.

This summer, as part of my CookShop for Teens (EATWISE) internship with the Food Bank, I mentored young kids participating in CookShop Classroom for After-School’s hands-on nutrition workshops, which allow kids to not only learn about new foods, but try them, too!

Mohammad was eager to tell me that apples are part of the fruit group, and he showed me where they belong on the USDA’s MyPlate icon. Mohammed continued to bring up his favorite fruit every chance he got, throughout the whole lesson.

Thankfully, our recipe that day was the MyPlate Pizza — a healthy take on everyday pizza, which includes apples! When we started preparing the food, Mohammed’s eyes lit up and my heart melted.

Mohammed learned why apples are good for him, and later told me that he ate some at home that evening. The kids were eager to indulge in all of the new knowledge they were introduced to through CookShop, so I know they will have a better view of what a healthy lifestyle is from a young age.

Being part of the kids’ CookShop experience made me feel great — I had the chance to engage and teach them about nutrition, something I myself learned so much about through my EATWISE internship. It was definitely a great experience that I'd love to repeat!

Patrycja is a senior at New Dorp High School, participating in our EATWISE internship for teens. EATWISE gives young people the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about what they eat and drink, and trains them to become peer nutrition educators.&