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New York, NY – On Wednesday, December 10, the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) will host a virtual public forum examining proposals for city-run grocery stores and exploring how public ownership could advance food affordability, equity, and competition with the private sector.
What: Municipal Grocery Stores: Public Ownership in Practice and Policy
When: Wednesday, December 10 | 10:30 am to 12:00 pm
Who: Panelists:
- Ruby J. Ferguson, food equity policy lead, Greater Chicago Food Depository
- Errol Schweizer, member of the IPES-Food panel and former Whole Foods Market executive global grocery coordinator, Project NOSH Grocery Industry Top 50, presenter and co-founder of The Checkout podcast
- William F. (Bill) Moore, president and CEO of Moore Insight LLC, retired director and CEO of the S. Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA)
- Laurie Prickett, senior vice president of economic development, Invest Atlanta
Respondents:
- Lauren Drumgold, policy advisor, NYC Mayor’s Office of Food Policy
- Bianca Bockman, director, Our Food, RiseBoro Community Partnership
- Corinna Lee, Director, GrowNYC Wholesale
Moderator:
- Nevin Cohen, director, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute and associate professor, CUNY SPH
Where: Zoom | RSVP
Background
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s platform to make New York City affordable included a proposal to create five city-run grocery stores, one in each borough, operating as non-profit public retailers to provide affordable, healthy food options. This proposal has sparked important discussions about the role of municipal governments in food retail, sustainable models for publicly owned food retail operations, effects on equity, public health, and private sector competition, and lessons from existing public sector food access initiatives.
This forum will bring together business leaders, policy experts, and community advocates to examine the opportunities and challenges in implementing city-owned food retail, drawing insights from past and current public-sector food access efforts across the country.
Media contact:
About the organizers
The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) is committed to promoting and sustaining healthier populations in New York City and around the world through excellence in education, research, and service in public health and by advocating for sound policy and practice to advance social justice and improve health outcomes for all.
The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute works across disciplines and sectors to make the food system just, healthy, and resilient. With our partners we develop strategies to address the root causes of urban food problems. We work with communities, governments, businesses, and social movements to tackle poverty, racism, and inequality, the drivers of food inequities. We engage those most affected by injustices in research and action.
