Farm Share Program wraps up successful season
BY MILAGROS NEYRA
COMMUNITY HEALTH PROJECT
MANAGER AT THE INSTITUTE
FOR FAMILY HEALTH’S BRONX
HEALTH REACH
The Bronx Health
REACH/Corbin Hill Farm
Share Program wrapped up
a successful season with over
500 bags of fresh and affordable
fruits and vegetables distributed
to Mt. Hope, Morris
Heights, and Soundview residents.
While the Farm Share
site at the Institute for Family
Health’s (IFH) Stevenson
Family Health Center continued
for a second year, IFH’s
Walton Family Health Center
debuted as a new, second location
for the Farm Share program.
The summer Farm Share
season ran from July to November
2019. Participants
picked up their bags, consisting
of fi ve to seven vegetables
and one fruit, at the Walton
Family Health Center on the
2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the
month, and Stevenson participants
picked up their bags
on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays
of the month. From its inception,
the Farm Share program
was designed to give
the neighborhood residents
The Farm Share site at the Institute for Family Health’s Stevenson Family Health Center
Photo courtesy of the Institute for Family Health’s Bronx Health Reach
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,62 FEBRUARY 7-13, 2020 BTR
Action
Association
access to affordable, locally
grown fresh produce. Recipes
were provided so customers
would have creative ways
to prepare their vegetables at
home. Cooking demonstrations,
led by community chefs
and supported by the Corbin
Hill Food Project, were held at
the locations allowing customers
to taste test recipes using
the vegetables.
“Having the Farm Share
program at the Walton Family
Health Center brought our patients,
community members,
and staff together for a common
goal: to be able to purchase
affordable, fresh produce, that
is otherwise diffi cult to access
in this community,” said
Marlin Morel, Farm Share
site coordinator for the Walton
Family Health Center. “As
a Health Coach, my goal is to
teach our patients that food is
the best medicine, and eating
a balanced diet of fresh, whole
foods is instrumental in their
journey to better health.”
To participate in the program,
patients, staff, and community
members can sign up
onsite or online at any time.
By placing an order at least
one week in advance of the
pick-up date, participants can
enjoy high quality and locally
grown produce delivered to
their health centers. “I’m so
grateful that this program
was in our neighborhood.
Health statistics for the Bronx
are very devastating and we
desperately need this type of
program, as well as the cooking
and education about the
right things to eat,” said Veronica
Millender, a resident of
Castle Hill for 43 years and a
Farm Share program participant
since 2018. “Having the
Farm Share year round would
mean more healthy residents
and less chronic conditions.
The big picture is the Bronx
having healthier residents
who are eating well and can
afford to buy fresh produce for
their families.”
Participants purchased the
produce using cash, credit,
debit, EBT/SNAP and Health
Bucks. The affordable prices
and fl exibility of payment options,
makes the Farm Share
program accessible for all to
purchase foods that may have
been previously unattainable.
The Winter Farm Share
Season runs through May at
the Stevenson and Walton locations.
If you would like to
sign up and pick up at the Walton
Family Health Center,
contact: (718) 583-3060. If you
would like to sign up and pick
up at the Stevenson Family
Health Center, contact: (718)
589-8775 ext. 2832.
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
One of the few areas of bipartisan
agreement is the
need to update America’s infrastructure.
The American Society of
Civil Engineers notes that the
condition of the nation’s dams,
drinking water equipment,
waste systems, levees, transportation,
bridges, waterways,
ports, rail, roads, mass transit,
parks, schools, and energy is a
lowly D+. ASCE estimates that
failure to properly maintain
the nation’s infrastructure is
holding back the creation of
hundreds of thousands of jobs
and reducing annual incomes
by $3,400 per household.
In 2017, The U.S. Congress
Joint Economic Committee
found that “America’s infrastructure
has fallen in rank
from 6th in the world to 25th
in just the past 5 years…aging
transportation infrastructure
is expected to increase the cost
of business in America by an
estimated $430 billion in the
next decade.” 32% of American
roads are in poor or mediocre
condition, and 25% of
bridges are rated as structurally
defi cient. The American
Automobile Association notes
that many of the 30,000 deaths
that occur on U.S. highways
are “attributable to the direct
result of inadequate lighting,
poor signage or outdated road
design that might have been
prevented by fi xing unsafe
roads.”
Despite general agreement
on the need for action, progress
has been slow for decades.
The White House believes an
onerous review mandate, an
outgrowth of the National Environmental
Policy Act passed
a half-century ago is a signifi -
cant part of the problem. According
to the Trump Administration,
“complying with the
regulatory requirements has
become unnecessarily complex
and time consuming and
has delayed important infrastructure
projects. NEPA requires
that Federal agencies
evaluate the potential environmental
impacts of major
projects such as roads and
bridges, rail and water infrastructure,
or conventional
and renewable energy projects.
Given the importance of
infrastructure investment to
economic growth, President
Trump directed the Council
on Environmental Quality to
modernize the Federal government’s
NEPA regulations.
The CEQ has issued a notice of
proposed rulemaking detailing
its modernization plans.”
The White House proposal
would be the fi rst comprehensive
update to the regulations
in over 40 years. According to
CEQ data, completing the average
environmental impact
statement process takes 4.5
years. The delay is worse for
highway projects in particular,
with many statements taking
over 6 years and some reviews
taking decades.
Some have expressed concern,
believing that without
the rigorous and time-consuming
process, there exists
the possibility of adverse environmental
impacts. The Administration
states that it is
not abolishing environmental
reviews, merely streamlining
the process.
The basic thrust for NEPA
modernization is that it will
reduce the average time to
complete an environmental
impact statement. Project
sponsors must often acquire
approval from various agencies
on permitting decisions
in order to advance their project.
NEPA serves as the umbrella
statute for coordinating
environmental reviews.
In the past, reviews for projects
involving multiple permits
were conducted sequentially
instead of concurrently
and in some cases there was
insuffi cient coordination
among agencies. CEQ’s proposed
NEPA updates includes
codifying aspects of President
Trump’s One Federal Decision
policy, which streamlines
coordination and communication
between Federal agencies
and sets a two-year average
goal for completion of environmental
reviews for major
infrastructure projects. The
Federal government will still
perform all environmental reviews
as the law requires, just
now with greater effi ciency.
According to the federal
website Performance.gov
“Improving the Federal environmental
review and authorization
process will enable infrastructure
project sponsors
to start construction sooner,
create jobs earlier, and fi x our
Nation’s infrastructure faster
while also ensuring that a
project’s potential impacts on
environmental and community
resources are considered
and managed throughout the
planning process. Infrastructure
investment strengthens
our economic platform,
makes America more competitive,
creates millions of jobs,
increases wages for American
workers, and reduces the
costs of goods and services for
American families and consumers…
Many infrastructure
needs were supposed to
be addressed by all that ($787
billion) Stimulus money, but
most were not. In some cases,
dollars were spent foolishly,
on projects such as bike lanes,
instead of on major, urgently
needed transportation needs.
Other examples, cited in a
Fiscal Times report: $2 million
was spent on a ‘replica
railroad,’ a tourist attraction,
not a transportation need in
Nevada, and $1 million was
spent on beefi ng up security
on cruise ships.”
/Performance.gov