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COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Food insecurity means many things to a community. It can mean there is a scarcity of physical products. It can mean that the available food is inadequate or contributes to the development of chronic illness. It can mean prioritizing paying the rent bill over the purchase of healthy foods.
In the South Bronx, 39% of adults face food insecurity—the highest rate in New York State. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) addresses a vital gap in food security by providing assistance to low-income households.
However, recent federal budget cuts threaten the security of SNAP funding. Proposals for city-run grocery stores highlight the urgency of food access in New York City.
Four Decades of Improving Outcomes
Fordham Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) community research partner, BronxWorks, is a social service organization serving the Bronx since 1972. BronxWorks offers a range of health and social services throughout the Bronx. Its mission is to feed, shelter, teach, and support its neighbors to build a stronger community. BronxWorks maintains 60 different sites throughout the borough, offering a range of services including nutrition, legal services, youth development, housing, and others.
“If you can think of a social service, we provide it, and if we don’t provide it, we will,” said Gianna Dell’Olio, BronxWorks’ Director of Advancement and Communications. “We’re very in tune with what the community may need.”
Assistant Executive Director John Weed said it’s a diverse offering for a diverse community—and after 30 years at BronxWorks, he sees that diversity as the borough’s main strength.
“In my time at BronxWorks, I’ve seen the Bronx change for the better, because there’s been a lot of growth and diversity that I’ve seen come into [it],” he said. “It really has invigorated neighborhoods.”
This growth includes BronxWorks’ expansion of its food pantry operation, which increased from four to 12 locations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the city.
“When COVID hit, the need for food was beyond what any of us ever thought,” Dell’Olio said. “Unfortunately, it continues to be there, but fortunately, we’re able to continue to provide that [service].”
Incentivizing Healthier Food Choices
BronxWorks’ wraparound approach to programming stems from its dedication to caring for the whole person, said Rachel Gill, Associate Vice President of Community Health.
Fordham and BronxWorks have joined forces on a collaborative initiative, titled “Food Insecurity and Fresh
Produce Consumption in the South Bronx,” which focuses on enhancing access to fresh produce and promoting healthier eating habits in the Bronx community.
In 2023, BronxWorks received a $100,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through its Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP). The funded intervention works like this: BronxWorks provides individuals/families receiving SNAP the option to use $1 of their food benefits to receive a “BronxBucks coupon” that gives them access to $10 worth of fresh produce from two BronxWorks-operated farm stands.
The goal is to incentivize healthy food choices for SNAP recipients and, potentially, address food insecurity. BronxWorks also educates participants about its wraparound services while they attend the farm stand, also providing additional nutrition education sessions and education on food preparation and storage.
“Your groceries are not only fresh, but you’re also stretching your EBT [Electronic Benefit Transfer],” said Ailsha Sepulveda, program coordinator for BronxWorks’ Community Health Department. “That program has provided so much accessibility to our community members.”
The food pantries and farm stands operate on both weekdays and Saturdays, serving about 180 families per day. The flexible schedule allows working families to have easier access to needed food resources. Weed highlighted the autonomy community members have to choose their own food items. People are not simply handed a bag full of pre-selected food. It is intended to mimic a typical trip to the grocery store in empowering people to make their own decisions about what they want to eat.
“We give them choices,” Weed said. “People can come and have a shopping experience. Our pantries are meant to feed people for a week.”
Community-based Participatory Research Approaches to Social Work
Funded by the Bronx Research Institute for Community Solutions (BRICS)—an initiative created by Fordham’s Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL)—this project aims to study the impact of BronxWorks’ fresh produce intervention on improving healthy eating and reducing food insecurity in the South Bronx.
Before initiating this research project, the Fordham team worked closely with BronxWorks staff to ensure that the community would lead the research study questions and community-based participatory research (CBPR) study design. This methodology was specifically chosen to align with social work values, which emphasize the importance of a strengths-based approach in letting communities lead social change projects themselves.
Fordham has had a longstanding relationship with BronxWorks. The Fordham Office of External Affairs recently awarded BronxWorks the inaugural External Partners Award. Fordham has collaborated closely with BronxWorks to ensure the project is fueled by multifaceted research methodologies, policy analysis, and community-driven solutions, crafted and refined within the borough’s rich cultural and historical context.
BronxWorks and Fordham collaborated to evaluate this fresh produce incentive program. The program is led by Fordham GSS faculty members Sameena Azhar, PhD, and Gregory Acevedo, PhD, and Penn faculty member Abigail M. Ross, PhD. Several graduate students have also worked on the project over the past five years, including current GSS graduate students Zaria Ragguette and Kristen Loewe. Study findings indicate that while food banks address a critical need for residents of the South Bronx, they are ultimately insufficient in eliminating food insecurity.
“BronxWorks is faithful to the settlement house tradition of being embedded in the community,” Acevedo said. “We wanted to do research that didn’t exploit or extract. We asked what they needed most, and we followed their lead.”
“We wanted to support a community-based organization that is such a pillar of the Bronx community,” Ross said. “I’ve worked with a lot of agencies, and I haven’t seen an organization that is quite as attuned to the needs of the population served, and able to really prioritize that, as I’ve seen with BronxWorks. It’s impressive.”
BronxWorks’ daily practice revolves around community feedback. The organization listens to Bronx constituents and encourages them to share their insights on which programs are most effective and which ones need improvement.
“We don’t always know what [Bronx community members] need,” Gill said. “Getting the opportunity to have a say in what those services are is so important, because it empowers them and makes that relationship a lot more meaningful and trusting.”
The Fordham community is providing more than just research assistance. During data collection, Fordham graduate students also volunteer at the BronxWorks food pantry, immersing themselves in the local community and gaining valuable experience serving New Yorkers.
“This research experience allows social work graduate students to engage with Bronxites directly and to develop an intimate understanding of how food insecurity impacts New Yorkers. As a social work researcher, I find it important to not only ensure that students have meaningful learning experiences, but that the needs of residents of the South Bronx are actually being served,” Azhar commented.
BronxWorks Vice President of Positive Living Bibi Karim, who has been with the organization for 33 years, said that BronxWorks’ commitment to the community has allowed the organization to flourish. BronxWorks’ dedication to staff development has been a bedrock of its success.
“There’s a lot of support for the staff from day one,” she said. “Encouragement for the staff to grow is a foundation that has continued to make [BronxWorks] what it is.”
To BronxWorks, a mentality of holistic development for everyone in the borough—whether they work for the organization or simply reside in the Bronx—is key to keeping New York strong. Collaborations with institutions like Fordham expand and optimize its impact, resulting in better outcomes for our neighbors in the South Bronx.
“It’s really important to BronxWorks to be a good neighbor across the board,” Dell’Olio said. “These partnerships allow us to continue to do and offer more resources to uplift the Bronx community as a whole. They’re so important.”
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