Recipient Organization
CORBIN HILL FOOD PROJECT, INC., THE
475 RIVERSIDE DR
NEW YORK,NY 101150002
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
SummaryThe Food as Medicine project (FAM), led by Harlem-based Corbin Hill Food Project, will measure the impact of a produce prescription program to reduce food insecurity and improve health. In partnership with Mount Sinai Health System and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the Institute for Family Health's Bronx Health REACH Project, FAM will collect data on dietary health and behavior and reduction of household food insecurity with the long- term goal to reduce healthcare use and associated costs. Our initial proposal for the Food as Medicine project provided data on the health and economic disparities for the South Bronx and Harlem communities. The depth of these disparities is best captured by the Bronx being ranked 62nd, last among the 62 counties in New York State over the last ten years County Health Rankings 2021. Ultimately, health outcomes, including length and quality of life, begin with basic access to fresh, healthy food that is culturally relevant.As a BIPOC founded and led organization with a history of working with low income, immigrant, and communities of color, we view the community assets as its people. As assets they become advisors, leaders, and decision-makers with the capability of change and ownership within their community. Given a voice, people know what they want, and they want to be part of the decision-making process.Our proposed innovations will focus on seniors over the age of 55 that will include formerly incarcerated seniors living in supportive housing. To achieve our goal to remove structural barriers that allows for choice and to build community around existing assets and infrastructure, we will address hidden financial barriers to access, establish a Community-based FAM Council along with a gifting program among participants to build community cohesiveness around FAM. We will extend communication to include our public access television in two boroughs of the City. Our proposed research enhancements will include a series of case studies that will provide future direction to help describe prescription programs that will have lasting impact directed and owned by the community.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
PROJECT NARRATIVE:1. Community Needs to be Addressed: The significance of the food and nutrition security anddiet-related health condition(s) that will be addressed by the proposed project, and an informativedescription of the community, its characteristics, assets, and needs.The Food as Medicine project (FAM), led by Harlem-based Corbin Hill Food Project, will measure theimpact of a produce prescription program to reduce food insecurity and improve health. Inpartnership with Mount Sinai Health System and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and theInstitute for Family Health's Bronx Health REACH Project, FAM will collect data on dietary healthand behavior and reduction of household food insecurity with the long- term goal to reducehealthcare use and associated costs. Our initial proposal for the Food as Medicine project provideddata on the health and economic disparities for the South Bronx and Harlem communities. The depthof these disparities is best captured by the Bronx being ranked 62nd, last among the 62 counties inNew York State over the last ten years County Health Rankings 2021. Ultimately, health outcomes,including length and quality of life, begin with basic access to fresh, healthy food that isculturally relevant.Three new sites have been added as part of this innovation grant., Two are in Community Board #9 in West Harlem (CD 9). The third site is Morrisiana in the Bronx, (Mandela Housing) the poorest of all the poor neighborhoods in the Bronx. According to a city health report from 2018, CD 9 in Harlem has one of the highest poverty rates in all of Manhattan, with 20 percent of residents falling below the poverty line. Additional data shows that nearly a third of CD9 is composed of individuals aged 50 and over with 11 percent of adults lacking health insurance.A community health report released in 2018 highlighted that on average there is a greater prevalence of immunocompromised individuals in CD9 when compared to other districts in Manhattan. CD9 has higher smoking, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and HIV diagnosis rates. The district also has the third highest number of reported rates of child emergency room visits due to asthma (Community Health Profiles, 2018).As a measure of economic instability that reflect food insecurity, the percentage of people receiving SNAP benefits in Harlem continues to be significantly higher than the rest of the city, exceeding 40% (ACS 2019). According to the Citizens' Committee for Children, Harlem ranked as moderately high risk, in the health domain. (CCC 2020). Nutrition-related chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension are prevalent in Harlem communities with rates surpassing city and national averages, both 10.5% (Action Report, 2018).Along with other low-income and high-risk neighborhoods in New York City, Harlem has faced the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, suffered high rates of hospitalizations and deaths when compared to the city average (Coronavirus Disease, 2019). The project comes at a propitious time when addressing nutritional gaps through Food as Medicine (FAM) in this low-income communities is especially important as the community has faced a pandemic that disproportionately impacted on those with pre-existing conditions.Two of the new sites operated by the Fortune Society. Mandela Community (Bronx) has 57 permanent supportive, transitional, and permanent housing apartments and the Castle in Harlem has 50 units of affordable community housing & 63 units of supportive housing, for previously justice involved seniors.All these units, at both Fortune sites are targeted toward low-income people, with the maximum income of 60% of area median income with many having income substantially lower. Food Insecurity according to the National Institute of Health, 91% of people transitioning from incarceration report experiencing food insecurity. Mass incarceration has had a devastating impact on low-income communities, contributing significantly to poor nutrition, health, and wellness outcomes. In NYC, the communities with the highest levels of food insecurity are the same communities with a collective poverty rate of 27.8% (compared to 17.9% for the rest of NYC) and the primary neighborhoods where New Yorkers involved in the criminal legal system reside. Like many of the residents from these neighborhoods, there exists high unemployment rates and an ongoing struggle with food insecurity.2. Project Goals, Objectives, and Intended Outcomes:The appropriateness of the goals, objectives, and outcomes of the project and how these goals willbe achieved throughout the project period.Overall Project GoalsThe goals of the innovations are to: address structural barriers to accessing food; build communitycohesiveness around food as medicine that extends beyond the grant; create lasting educationalresources that address food as medicine that include the wider community and are available tocommunity in the future; enhance research that contributes new understanding and knowledge to thefield through a series of case studies linking applied research from this project with existingNIFA data.Overall OutcomesThe outcomes from these combined innovations are intended to achieve greater community inclusionalong with extending the duration and reach of this program in the community after funding hasended through the documentation of the innovative models that potentially will be applicable to the field of Food as Medicine and adoptionby the community.
Project Methods
Goal I - Removing Structural Barriers to Access• Provide transportation vouchers and tokens to address transportation costs that are hidden costs and barriers to food access.• Accommodate work schedules by the use of refrigerated lockers to accommodate pick-up times.• Utilize Buy-in value and payment method along with a range of payment options and value coupled with a gifting model to facilitate participation• Increase the flexibility for who can pick up the food for a program participant including designated family members, friends, and neighbors, which would further strengthen community cohesiveness and participation (both current and future).Goal II - Building Community Cohesiveness Around Food as Medicine• Creation of a community led food as medicine council to provide continuous feedback on program design to continue the project with community buy-in resources and support based on community needs and desires (e.g., community garden, health fair, panel events, etc.)• Provide cooking sessions to shift local diets from highly processed foods to less processed and fresh foods beginning with cultural seasonings used daily that are highly processed. (e.g., Adobo, sofrito) coupled with a gifting program to neighbors that demonstrate healthy alternatives within the community• Implement a gifting program to incentivizing neighbors learning and participating in the Food as Medicine program. This gifting program will reach some 600 neighbors.• Create monthly community newsletter to increase community voices and community dialogue around healthy food and access• Implement a community recipes gathering using fresh food, for ultimate production of a digital community recipe book• Implement swap boxes at the pick-up sites so participants can trade fresh food, and to provide community choice and agency• Create community owned, controlled, and distributed education materials to extend the reach and duration of this food as medicine program• Create community voice through productions that can utilize Neighborhood Access TV (Manhattan and Bronx) as ongoing channels and forums that incorporated all its food as medicine events ranging from cooking to community gatherings, FAM Council meetings, including community webinar series covering all community events related to Food as MedicineGoal III - Enhanced Research and Knowledge Dissemination• Impact on health behaviors:• Missed medical appointments• Feedback on the produce prescription:• Produce and Fruits eaten and not eaten• Number in household that the food serves• Adequacy of share size• Pricing and perceived value• Community Cohesiveness• Communications with neighbors about program• Participation in gifting program with neighbors• Additional barriers not addressed:• Other hidden costs and other barriers to accessing food shares at specific pick up times and dates.• Additional feedback on the program from the participants and their suggestions for resolving food access issues and barriers.