Mission

“Developing pathways to food justice in Washington Heights and Inwood.”

Our mission with the Washington Heights/Inwood (WHIN) Food Council is to develop pathways to achieve food justice in our community. We aim to create a space for residents to identify and determine solutions to the food justice issues they see in our uptown neighborhood. Our primary goal is to empower community members to make positive changes in WHIN around food. We work to accomplish this by: 

  • Increasing the amount of local land designated for food gardening through education and advocacy.

  • Increasing the amount of affordable and healthy food available in WHIN.

  • Increasing residents’ awareness, knowledge, and self-efficacy related to urban gardening, nutrition/healthy eating, and food justice issues affecting their community.

We seek to provide a space for sharing and using knowledge with the goal of improving healthy and sustainable food access in our community. We use the term “food justice” broadly. In our work, this can include community awareness, advocacy, educational initiatives, and improving access to healthy, fresh, and affordable food while mindful of the environment and labor.

Our community is currently defined through the jurisdiction of Manhattan Community Board 12, spanning from the northern tip of Manhattan down to 155th Street, and stretching from the Hudson River on the west to the Harlem River on the east. However, we welcome collaboration from community organizations across the region and country.

HISTORY OF US

2022 & 2023

Our Grow From Home and Farm Share Distribution programs saw growth in the number of families we were able to support and engage with. For example, in 2023 we were able to support 30 families in the Farm Share Distribution program, up from our original 10 families in 2021.

We also started our second-ever fundraiser on IOBY with a lofty goal of $21,563 to help support and expand our programs even more in 2024 and beyond. We hosted our largest event to date, Mocktails in the Garden, with the support of community partners like Hempress Cocktails, Equity Advocates, Plant Candy and Plant-Powered Metro NY, Choc NYC, Kuro Kirin, and Salud. We are raising funds through Dec 2023; if you feel inclined to donate you can do so on our IOBY page.

2021

With the pandemic still ongoing in early 2021, we brainstormed and designed three programs to address the new urgent community food needs caused by the devastating economic impact of COVID. We launched our Grow from Home, Farm Share Distribution, and Scholarship programs to achieve our goal of addressing food insecurity and building community through safe, socially distanced programs.

These programs have been well received by our members, which is indicated by an increase in our engagement with our content on social media and participation or attendance at our events. This is also reflected in the expansion of our Steering Committee from just six team members in early 2020 to 17 volunteer staff who facilitate and bring our programs and activities to life!

2020

2020 was going to be the year of expansion, but COVID swept in early March and paused our normal in-person activities. This forced us to reconsider our activities and we began strategizing virtual activities to continue fostering safe, community engagement. During this time, we organized virtual yoga and nutrition workshops to stay connected. We also struggled financially, because many of our expected funding opportunities were cut, which led to us hosting our first online fundraiser. Through IOBY, we were able to raise over $5,000, and secured a strong business sponsorship with Salud by Dr. Rigo, which is a local family-owned wellness business.

2019

In early 2019, the Steering Committee focused their efforts to ensure the WHIN Food Council was sustainable in the long-term. This meant researching and securing a fiscal sponsorship with the Social Good Fund, Inc. which granted us the opportunity to benefit from “non-profit” status and receive organizational support such as HR and accounting. With this finalized, we were able to hire our first (part-time) staff member! We were awarded our 3rd grant renewal with CCNYC and adopted our 3rd garden bed with NYRP. We also finally launched our website and was featured in both the Manhattan Times and in a Tastemade/REI video.

2018

In early 2018, we received renewed funding from CCNYC with a grant amount that more than doubled our previous grant. In February 2018, we hosted our first workshop on food preservation where participants learned to preserve radishes.

For our second growing season, we were given an additional bed and we formed a strong committee of garden leaders to plan for these two beds.

During this growing season, we have hosted weekly open garden work hours, more Family Garden Days, and a 4-week free nutrition workshop series with City Harvest. In June 2018, our general body members voted to approve the following goals for 2018-2019

  • Expanding the amount of land we garden, our own WHIN Food Council Garden for the community and residents to grow their own food.

  • Network of gardeners (individual and institutional) in the neighborhoods that meet regularly to share resources.

  • Leadership development around food justice open to all age groups in WHIN.

2017

In early 2017, the WHIN Food Council received its first grant from Citizens Committee for NYC (CCNYC).

In May 2017, we applied for and received a garden plot at Riley-Levin Children’s Garden with New York Restoration Project.

In June 2017, we hosted our first healthy potluck and continued to offer additional potlucks in February 2018 and March 2018.

During our first gardening season, we hosted youth in the garden for a food justice program and we organized a series of successful Family Garden Days.

In September 2017, our Founders Committee transitioned to a Steering Committee and new leaders joined our team while others moved on.

2016

The WHIN Food Council, in its current form, was founded in March 2016 by Catarina Rivera with support from City Harvest. Informal monthly community meetings were held to gather residents to discuss food issues and their vision for the community.

By September 2016, a Founders Committee was formed of individuals who supported the burgeoning group and wanted to be a part of its beginning efforts.

During our first year, we developed our mission, vision, and operating procedures while continuing to hold monthly community meetings which we now called general body meetings.

During this year, we also engaged in advocacy work regarding the Street Vendor Modernization Act and released a policy statement on this piece of legislation.