New York City Food Policy Council

Since early 2022, the Equity Advocates-led NY Food Policy Alliance has engaged in a collaborative effort to establish the first ever Food Policy Council (FPC) in New York City. FPCs are a proven model for identifying local food policy challenges and opportunities, coordinating city-wide food policy initiatives, and providing those most impacted by food inequality with an organized way to influence public policy within a designated region.

Working with a group of community partners – we have been researching, brainstorming, and building the foundation for a successful FPC. Now is the time for stakeholders from across NYC's food system to work together in ways they have never done before. We saw what increased cross-sector collaboration and communication could achieve during the COVID-19 pandemic. With new and invested City leadership, this is a critical time to advance collective city-level policy goals and scale the impact of the NYC Food Policy Alliance through the creation of a private-public Food Policy Council for New York City.

Mayor Eric Adams' Administration has prioritized investments in access to healthy food and strengthening the food system while Food Forward NYC, the City’s inaugural 10-Year Food Policy Plan, has also emphasized equity and healthy living. Food Forward NYC’s Goal #5, “Support the systems and knowledge to implement the 10-year food policy plan”, includes strategies to "strengthen community engagement and cross-sector coordination around the development and implementation of food policy” and “create and share knowledge about the food system." Now is the opportune time to build community and political will by creating a NYC Food Policy Council, which will help achieve this critical goal. 

This work has been generously supported by a New York Health Foundation’s Healthy Food, Healthy Lives grant, which provided seed funding for strategic planning, research, community participation, administrative time necessary to begin and sustain the planning for an effective FPC.

what is a Food Policy Council?

what has our group been working on?

where does it go from here?

If you would like to stay up to date on our process, join the steering committee or strategic visioning sessions, please email leah@nyequityadvocates.org.