New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate

Who else is attending the Food is Medicine Policy Update in D.C. today? If you're there, make sure to say hello to Mark Dinglasan, MBA and Jenny Schrum, PhD, who are both serving as panelists and highlighting New Jersey's food security efforts as inspiration for advancing affordability, accessibility, and scalability of food and nutrition programs for all. We haven't heard about any livestream or simulcast options for the event; we'll post here if we do. https://lnkd.in/e6JqYD5E #FoodisMedicine The Healthcare Innovation Company (thINc)

There are a number of smart, inquisitive and innovative New Jerseyans who continually seek out opportunities to do their food-focused community work more efficiently and effectively without diminishing their neighbors’ shopping experience. The Replenish team is among them. Get details on that connection and others in the link shared below! Jennifer Apostol

Next week marks the second anniversary of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, and New Jersey will take center stage in a day of national conversations. Mark Dinglasan, MBA and Jenny Schrum, PhD will join esteemed leaders representing federal agencies along with healthcare executives for the Food is Medicine Policy Update presented by The Healthcare Innovation Company (thINc) in Washington, D.C. on Monday. Serving as panelists for multiple sessions covering the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities, policy, and leveraging the collective purchasing power of community organizations doing "food and" work, Mark and Dr. Jenny will help participants assess progress over the last two years, address challenges, and determine actionable solutions and strategies to advance the affordability, accessibility, and scalability of food and nutrition programs for all while driving value and outcomes. https://lnkd.in/e6JqYD5E

We’re thrilled to unveil the Tri-County Food Insecurity Index  🍽️💡 After Trenton Health Team launched their FIRST version of this tool back in November of 2022, it was recently expanded on this year with data from two new counties: Middlesex and Somerset! https://lnkd.in/geZSHNRg Months of collaboration led up to this and we are proud to share the product, which lays the groundwork for strategies to build food security across our state. Learn more at trentonhealthteam.org/food. #HealthEquity #FoodAccess #NewJersey #FoodForAll #CommunityHealth

Yesterday, the Department of Human Services hosted Union County's first Food Security Summit, a vision brought forth by Union County Board of County Commissioners and our community partners. Together with Union County Chairwoman Kimberly Palmieri-Mouded, Vice-Chairwoman Lourdes Leon, Commissioner Sergio Granados, and Deputy County Manager Amy Crisp Wagner, we proudly launched the Union County Food Coalition. This coalition aims to connect people in need with the right resources at the right time. During the summit, we reflected on the County's successes in distributing food during the pandemic and establishing community garden programs. We had the privilege of hearing from Mark Dinglasan, Director of the NJ Office of the Food Security Advocate, as well as representatives from Community FoodBank and Village Super Market. The discussions ranged from food logistics to deep relationship-building, bringing together nonprofit and community organizations from around Union County in this critical mission. Our commitment remains unwavering as we strive to make hunger a thing of the past. Together, we are dedicated to ensuring that everyone in our community has access to the food they need. #FoodSecurity #CommunityPartnerships #UnionCountyStrong

“Food insecurity is the thing that happens when there’s housing insecurity; when there’s economic and financial insecurity, when there’s trauma,” she said. “When you’re only looking to food insecurity in itself, and you are not connecting to all those other systems, and looking at the person holistically, you’re never going to be able to solve that food insecurity.” - Terry Connolly, CEO, nourish.NJ Thank you, Jon Hurdle, NJ Spotlight News, for joining in the conversations of the day and continuing to lift up this issue. As this office develops a strategic plan for our state, we know this work is about families and farmers alike; about county boards of services working with trauma-informed and networked community organizations; about schools, healthcare, community fridge operators, residents and policy makers all speaking one language and sharing a broader view of food security. There are inspired and unprecedented levels of collaboration happening to help New Jerseyans prevent needing emergency assistance, and if they do need it in a time of crisis, to experience available aid in holistic ways that are free of stigma, and honor their dignity and agency to still know what is best for themselves and their families. Thanks too, to these leaders who willingly shared what their teams and communities are experiencing for this story: Terry Connolly, Carolyn Lake, Derek Smith, Angela M. Brown and Joyce Campbell. https://lnkd.in/eSsrQUHj Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) The Franklin Food Bank Interfaith Food Pantry Network Loving Our Cities nourish.NJ Katie S. Martin, Ph.D. Mark Dinglasan, MBA #Collaboration #Community #RightToFood

Kudos to the Garden State for implementing Medicaid Direct Certification this school year! This collaborative effort will increase children’s access to nutritious school meals, while improving schools’ ability to operate Community Eligibility. Shout out to Hunger Free New Jersey and New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate as #SchoolLunchChampions for their collaborative work on school meals outreach. Teamwork makes the dream work!  #NSLW24

Great sharing ideas at the 1st Union County Food Security Summit. Thanks to Debbie Ann Anderson for hosting. Special shout out to Mark Dinglasan, MBA for making an appearance. As he always says, "Onward and Upward" Union County! New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate #UnionCountyNJ #FoodSecurity #Dignity #Collaboration

"On #WorldFoodDay2024, I want to salute the Garden State partners who grow— and ensure everyone has access to— healthy food. The work of NJ Farmers Against Hunger, New Jersey Department of Agriculture, and Giamarese Farm & Orchards is a perfect example of what makes Jersey special and a national leader in food security." - Speaker Craig J. Coughlin

Great sharing ideas at the 1st Union County Food Security Summit. Thanks to Debbie Ann Anderson for hosting. Special shout out to Mark Dinglasan, MBA for making an appearance. As he always says, "Onward and Upward" Union County! New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate #UnionCountyNJ #FoodSecurity #Dignity #Collaboration