PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Rae Gomes, Leader of National Black Food and Justice Alliance
2:14:36
·
144 sec
Rae Gomes, a food justice organizer and leader from National Black Food and Justice Alliance, spoke in opposition to the proposed bill due to concerns about the process and lack of community engagement. She highlighted her extensive experience in food justice initiatives in Central Brooklyn and emphasized the disconnect between existing programs and the mayor's office of food policy.
- Gomes shared her involvement in various food justice programs, including the Central Brooklyn Food Co-op and a food-is-medicine program called Root to Wellness.
- She expressed disappointment in the lack of community engagement in the bill's development process and suggested using a food equity assessment tool to better involve communities.
- Gomes offered to provide on-the-ground insights about existing programs like Healthbox and Fresh, based on her direct interactions with communities.
Rae Gomes
2:14:36
Good afternoon.
2:14:37
Alright.
2:14:39
My name is Rae Gomes.
2:14:40
I'm a mother, I'm a writer, I'm an activist, food justice organizer, mostly based in Central Brooklyn, but I do organize internationally.
2:14:48
I am on the leadership team of National Black Food and Justice Alliance.
2:14:52
I'm also a co founder of Central Brooklyn Food Co op, and I also contributed to the creation of Central Brooklyn Food Hub.
2:14:59
I am speaking in opposition to this bill, not because I disagree with the main infrastructure and the platform that it is, more so the process of how this has gone about.
2:15:11
I am from the marginalized communities that folks are mentioning here.
2:15:16
I also work very extensively in, Brownsville and East New York as well.
2:15:22
I helped create a, food is medicine program called Root to Wellness at OBH, One Brooklyn Health, where we, between June October, sold over £7,000 of food to over 400 participants.
2:15:37
We were able to get subsidized funding for folks, so that it could be affordable to them and also affordable and sustainable to our partners, Brooklyn Packers.
2:15:46
And we also work with Grow NYC, where the food is purchased specifically from BIPOC farmers.
2:15:52
I say that because there are very there are a lot of programming and a lot of, initiatives that are happening in this city that seem very disconnected, specifically from the mayor's office of food policy.
2:16:03
And these, initiatives are really addressing access to fresh produce and are really centering the communities that folks keep mentioning here that I don't see here.
2:16:15
So I'm really just disappointed in the lack of community engagement for this process, and I know personally because I've worked with these various offices at various times in my career.
2:16:26
I've worked at the health department, so I'm very familiar with Healthbox and Fresh.
2:16:29
I can give you some real on the ground, issues with those programs and those statistics that I keep hearing because I'm talking directly with communities as well as other people.
2:16:40
And, I'll just finish up really quickly.
2:16:43
There is a, food equity assessment tool that we help create with the Mayor's Office of Food Policy that talks about how we can sense a community in these types of efforts.
2:16:54
And I really would invite folks to look at that and use that in, continuing creating these things.
2:16:59
Thank you.
