Celebrating the New Faces of NYC Food Policy
You are here: Home \ Press \ Celebrating the New Faces of NYC Food Policy
30 May 2017

Every year, the NYC Food Policy Center at Hunter College releases its annual class of New York City’s 40 under 40, an impressive roster of people working to transform the food system. We were excited to see many names familiar to KK&P here, and are proud to highlight a few of them.

Our specific congratulations go out to our clients, collaborators, and colleagues named on this list, all striving towards advancing NYC food policy through their various initiatives.

Many on this roster are working to promote regional agriculture and ensure that New Yorkers have access to farm fresh food. Olivia Blanchflower (Dir. of Wholesale and Distribution, GrowNYC) now runs the distribution system that came out of KK&P’s NYC Wholesale Farmer’s Market work. Alice Chiang (Comm. Mgr, SchoolFood Focus) finds ways to engage the ‘good school food movement’, and together, we were part of the initial team that developed and launched SchoolFood Focus.  And Amy Richards (Health Projects Coord., Make the Road NY) develops programs to improve healthy food access for NY’s immigrant community. From 2008-2013, KK&P partnered with Make the Road to support the NYC Green Cart vendors project.

Other initiatives aim to bring more regional farm produce to larger institutions, as well as encourage collaboration between farms, distribution hubs and consumers to increase food access for all populations. Tanya Fields (Exec. Dir., The BLK Projek) works tirelessly to address food justice and economic development. KK&P became fans of Tanya when we interviewed her for the NYS-NYC Food Hubs Task Force & Strategy project, which has evolved into an exciting NY Food Hub project.  Rosanna Robbins (Dir. Retail Partnerships, City Harvest) initiates relationships to benefit City Harvest, which is focused on food rescue, distribution and education for the underprivileged of NYC. We knew Rosanna when she was at FoodChange (now part of the Food Bank for NYC), and City Harvest has long been KK&P’s great client and good friend.

The food movement would be nowhere without education, and people to develop relevant and responsible programs for today’s culinary advocates. Kristin Reynolds (Lecturer, Environmental & Food Studies programs, The New School; Lecturer, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies) is one of those people. KK&P has had the chance to work with Kristin on two separate projects. We co-developed the Hostos Food Studies AA & AS Degree programs, and also worked together on an urban agricultural research project for the David & Lucile Packard Foundation.

And as in most arenas, media outlets remain a powerful force. Constantly educating the public, and rattling the cages of food policy will make waves in the food movement and help ‘good food’ stay relevant. Kris Moon (VP, James Beard Foundation) is an ongoing collaborator with KK&P, and the James Beard Foundation is a tremendous group and tireless advocate of good food. Jenna Liut (Food Consultant & Host of “Eating Matters”, Heritage Radio Network) shines a light on today’s food policy experts through her on-air interviews. We met Jenna through our own work with HRN and love the direction she takes with her show.  And Ariel Lauren Wilson (Editor, Edible Manhattan & Edible Brooklyn) profiles farms and food making a difference via the Edible brands. KK&P has provided business strategy and HR services to the Edible East End & Edible Long Island brands.

We are thrilled to see such energy and talent in the NYC Food Policy industry, as food policy impacts millions of New Yorkers every day, at home and at work and in our community.