New York State Regional Food Hub Tour
Tuesday November 28, 2023
Lunch: 12-1pm @ The Point CDC
Tour: 1:15 – 3pm @ NYS Regional Food Hub site
Hunts Point, South Bronx
Register Here by 11/25 (*required)
This is a funder-only event
CFF and GrowNYC invite you on an insider’s tour of a new state of the art facility, the New York State Regional Food Hub, a 60,000 sq. ft. food distribution hub set to open in 2024 and located in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx.
This tour serves as an exciting sequel to a briefing CFF held in 2015 about the need for this facility and infrastructure like it.
Funders will go on a “hard hat tour” of the facility to learn more about GrowNYC’s vision for the space and how it will impact our regional food system. We will also hear from community partners and local elected officials about the need for and benefit of this new hub.
Attendees are encouraged to meet for lunch at The Point CDC, a community center in Hunts Point not far from public transit, where we will get an orientation to the neighborhood hosting us, and then travel together to the site of the Regional Food Hub. Lunch will be provided by Bascom Catering.
Alternatively, participants can find their own transportation to the facility at 298 Halleck Street by 1:15pm. More details will be provided upon registration.
Join us for a first look at the New York State Regional Food Hub, where GrowNYC will quadruple their aggregation and distribution square footage, allowing them to increase their food distribution capacity from 5 million pounds per year to 20 million pounds–benefiting small and midsize regional farmers and building a more resilient and sustainable regional food system.
Speakers (list in formation):
- Marcel Van Ooyen, President and CEO, GrowNYC
- Corinna Lee, Director of Wholesale and Distribution, GrowNYC
- Assemblymember Amanda Septimo, Bronx District 84
More about GrowNYC Wholesale
Founded in 1970, GrowNYC‘s mission is to empower all New Yorkers with equitable access to fresh, locally grown food, neighborhood green spaces, opportunities to reduce waste, and care for the environment. Their programs serve over 3 million people each year, providing services, resources & supports throughout the five boroughs. They prioritize equity by focusing on neighborhoods that are historically marginalized to ensure all residents have access to fresh food, education, green space & clean air, things we believe are human rights.
GrowNYC has been a critical part of the New York food distribution infrastructure for over four decades, building strong, strategic partnerships locally and regionally to benefit our local farm and food economy, all while increasing the availability of fresh, healthy foods in New York City.
GrowNYC’s Wholesale program was established to create a relationship of mutual support between marginalized communities and local farmers: they provide the marketing, aggregation, and distribution infrastructure necessary for farmers to efficiently sell their goods in the New York City wholesale marketplace, partnering with organizations and institutions on the ground that know the landscapes and histories of the neighborhoods in which they are located, in order to support community-led food system transformation.
This innovative, mission-driven, regional approach to food distribution improves access to healthy, local foods all while increasing regional farm income and parity. GrowNYC’s food hub is the engine that powers the programming for all their food access initiatives, and currently operates out of a 10,000 sq ft warehouse near Co-Op City in the Bronx.
