(C) Verite News New Orleans

(C) Verite News New Orleans
This story was originally published by Verite News New Orleans and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .

Pandemic aid goes to food access, violence interruptors [1]

['Minh Ha', 'More Minh Ha', 'Verite News']

Date: 2023-09-14

The New Orleans Health Department has selected six community organizations to receive a total of $1.5 million in federal coronavirus pandemic aid to improve health in the city by tackling violence and food insecurity.

The city’s health agency said last week that the six projects — four of which will address food access and insecurity, with the other two tackling community violence — will begin by early next year.

“Food security and violence interruption are goals that the health department has established in its community health improvement plan,” said Jeanie Donovan, the department’s deputy director. “Being able to award this funding is really exciting to us to be able to build capacity in our community organizations…where we have aligned goals.”

Four organizations will receive awards ranging from $100,000 to $400,000 to work on elevating food access and security.

The Center for Restorative Approaches and Ubuntu Village, two groups already working to address youth violence in the city, will also receive a total of $500,000 for conflict mediation work at local schools and for “street-level community based violence interruption,” respectively, according to a news release.

The $1.5 million is just a small fraction of the nearly $388 million in pandemic relief dollars allocated to New Orleans from the federal government. The city is putting that cash to use across a broad range of projects, from buying new public safety vehicles to providing utility payment assistance, though it has also come under criticism from some community groups over issues of transparency and accountability in how the city has allocated the money.

The food security projects, which are receiving a total of $1 million, could work to alleviate hunger in a city where the food insecurity rate as of 2021, according to Feeding America, was 15.3%, meaning roughly 58,000 Orleans Parish residents lacked consistent access to enough food to sustain a healthy life.

Second Harvest, a south Louisiana-based food bank, will use its $100,000 award to focus on food access in Central City. Some of the funds will go toward free food distribution, but the anti-hunger group will also expand its nutrition education and federal food assistance outreach programming in the area, according to a spokesperson.

“This grant from the New Orleans Health Department represents a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to improve the health and well-being of our neighbors,” said Brittany Taylor, a spokesperson for Second Harvest.

Another recipient, the Sankofa Community Development Corporation, will focus on using its $250,000 award to provide healthy food access in the Lower 9th Ward. Sankofa plans to source produce and other products from local farmers to sell at the new healthy food hub it is building at 5029 St. Claude Avenue. The award will also support free community classes focusing on nutrition and health diets that Sankofa has partnered with Xavier University to teach across the city.

Rashida Ferdinand, Sankofa’s founder and CEO, said she appreciated the investment the city is making to combat a lack of consistent access to fresh and healthy food in her community.

Ferdinand said she hopes the funding will also stimulate more growth and development in the Lower 9th Ward.

“There’s been a lot of meetings over the past 10, 15 years and plans [to revitalize the Lower 9th Ward] that sit on a shelf,” she said. “We have a lot, lot more work to do.”

Related Stories

Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Close window X Republish this article This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Unless otherwise noted, you can republish most of Verite’s stories for free under a Creative Commons license. For digital publications: Look for the “Republish This Story” button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).

You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.

You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.

Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.

If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @VeriteNewsNola @VeriteNewsNola For print publications: You have to credit Verite. We prefer “Author Name, Verite News” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Verite News” and include our website, veritenews.org

You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.

You cannot republish our photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Tim Morris

Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.

You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.

You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.

Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.

If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @VeriteNewsNola on Facebook @VeriteNewsNola on Twitter. If you have any other questions, contact managing editor Tim Morris. City puts $1.5M in pandemic aid toward food access, violence interrupters <h1>City puts $1.5M in pandemic aid toward food access, violence interrupters</h1> by Minh Ha, Verite News September 14, 2023 The New Orleans Health Department has selected six community organizations to receive a total of $1.5 million in federal coronavirus pandemic aid to improve health in the city by tackling violence and food insecurity. The city’s health agency said last week that the six projects — four of which will address food access and insecurity, with the other two tackling community violence — will begin by early next year. “Food security and violence interruption are goals that the health department has established in its <a href="https://nola.gov/health-department/community-health-improvement/reports/">community health improvement plan</a>,” said Jeanie Donovan, the department’s deputy director. “Being able to award this funding is really exciting to us to be able to build capacity in our community organizations…where we have aligned goals.” Four organizations will receive awards ranging from $100,000 to $400,000 to work on elevating food access and security. The Center for Restorative Approaches and Ubuntu Village, two groups <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/education/mayor-launches-conflict-resolution-program-in-new-orleans-schools/article_87cf9617-ced5-5e37-8533-17aedda2a2a4.html">already working</a> to <a href="https://www.nola.com/louisiana_inspired/meeting-people-where-they-are-how-a-new-orleans-group-is-addressing-youth-crime/article_13c74dca-a70d-11ed-9d8f-9b9d4dc1239f.html">address youth violence</a> in the city, will also receive a total of $500,000 for conflict mediation work at local schools and for “street-level community based violence interruption,” respectively, according to a news release. The $1.5 million is just a small fraction of the <a href="https://nola.gov/arpa/">nearly $388 million</a> in pandemic relief dollars allocated to New Orleans from the federal government. The city is putting that cash to use across a broad range of projects, from <a href="https://veritenews.org/2023/05/31/theyre-guzzlers-new-orleans-ignores-clean-fleet-law/">buying new public safety vehicles</a> to providing utility payment assistance, though it has also <a href="https://veritenews.org/2023/05/25/as-city-allocates-last-of-citys-federal-pandemic-funds-community-groups-say-their-priorities-were-ignored/">come under criticism from some community groups</a> over issues of transparency and accountability in how the city has allocated the money. The food security projects, which are receiving a total of $1 million, could work to alleviate hunger in a city where the food insecurity rate as of 2021, according to <a href="https://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2021/overall/louisiana/county/orleans">Feeding America</a>, was 15.3%, <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/food-insecurity?s_src=W239REFER&s_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fmap.feedingamerica.org%2F&s_channel=https%3A%2F%2Fmap.feedingamerica.org%2F&s_subsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.feedingamerica.org%2F%3F_ga%3D2.247442116.1984364278.1694704990-1070744037.1694704990">meaning</a> roughly 58,000 Orleans Parish residents lacked consistent access to enough food to sustain a healthy life. Second Harvest, a south Louisiana-based food bank, will use its $100,000 award to focus on <a href="https://uptownmessenger.com/dryades-public-market-closure-leaves-a-food-desert-in-central-city/">food access in Central City</a>. Some of the funds will go toward free food distribution, but the anti-hunger group will also expand its nutrition education and federal food assistance outreach programming in the area, according to a spokesperson. “This grant from the New Orleans Health Department represents a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to improve the health and well-being of our neighbors,” said Brittany Taylor, a spokesperson for Second Harvest. Another recipient, the Sankofa Community Development Corporation, will focus on using its $250,000 award to provide healthy food access in the Lower 9th Ward. Sankofa plans to source produce and other products from local farmers to sell at the new healthy food hub it is building at 5029 St. Claude Avenue. The award will also support free community classes focusing on nutrition and health diets that Sankofa has partnered with Xavier University to teach across the city. Rashida Ferdinand, Sankofa’s founder and CEO, said she appreciated the investment the city is making to combat a lack of consistent access to fresh and healthy food in her community. Ferdinand said she hopes the funding will also stimulate more growth and development in the Lower 9th Ward. “There's been a lot of meetings over the past 10, 15 years and plans [to revitalize the Lower 9th Ward] that sit on a shelf,” she said. “We have a lot, lot more work to do.” This <a target="_blank" href="https://veritenews.org/2023/09/14/pandemic-aid-food-access-violence-interruptors/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://veritenews.org">Verite News</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/veritenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/cropped-Verite-icon.png?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://veritenews.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=9277&ga3=319934958" style="width:1px;height:1px;"> Copy to Clipboard

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://veritenews.org/2023/09/14/pandemic-aid-food-access-violence-interruptors/

Published and (C) by Verite News New Orleans
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 US.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/veritenews/