scholarly journals COVID-19, food insecurity, and diet-related diseases: Can syndemic theory inform effective responses? A case study

2021 ◽  
pp. 55-71
Author(s):  
J. Robin Moon ◽  
Craig Willingham ◽  
Shqipe Gjevukaj ◽  
Nicholas Freudenberg
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Food System ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
The Common ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
Syndemic Theory

New York City was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the immediate health burden was devastating, we posit that its long-term impact will be even greater, because the rapid spread of COVID-19 both depended on and exacerbated other deep-seated inequities related to food and broader living conditions. Using the Bronx as a case study, we explore the intersection of the pandemic with two other persistent problems: food insecurity and diet-related diseases, a constellation we label the COVID-Food Syndemic. Syndemic theory focuses on the common causes and biological and social interactions between two or more health problems. We hypothesize that with its focus on the common social causes of ill health, this approach can inform and strengthen the synergies between community-based, activist-driven solutions and municipal government responses, thus reducing the burden of ill health in the Bronx. We suggest that combining these two approaches can more fully mobilize the social changes that are needed in the food system and beyond to interrupt the fundamental drivers of this syndemic and capitalize on the respective strengths of government, civil society, and activists.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
David Komline
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New York ◽  
Historical Scholarship ◽  
Common Schools ◽  
Common School ◽  
The Common

This chapter uses as a case study an incident from 1824 in which the New York Tract Society convinced John Van Ness Yates, New York’s acting superintendent of common schools, to encourage the use of its literature in schools under his oversight. This incident highlights the significance of growing educational bureaucracy in this era and how it might be used for distinctly religious aims. This educational bureaucracy emerged as part of what this book calls the “Common School Awakening,” a transatlantic, transdenominational movement that introduced systematized, professionalized schools to America in the first half of the nineteenth century. Previous historical scholarship on education in this era, notably the very different work of Ellwood Cubberley and Michael Katz, has ignored the strongly religious roots of the movement for common schools that has found its representative figure in the person of Horace Mann.

Remediation and Equity: A Case Study of Gender Integration

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-81
Author(s):  
Robert F. Pecorella
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Blue Collar ◽  
Gender Integration ◽  
Standard Operating ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One ◽  
Equitable Treatment

This paper addresses the issue of gender integration in the uniformed services by examining the New York City Department of Sanitation's formulation of a program to introduce women into its blue-collar work force. The department efforts indicate that comprehensive gender integration programs must pursue two distinct and often conflicting values—remediation and equity. On the one hand, the department is attempting through remedial programs to address some of the common on-the-job problems faced by gender pioneers; on the other hand, the department is committed to standard operating procedures designed originally to insure equitable treatment for all personnel.

scholarly journals Bright Bounty

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (04) ◽  
pp. 38-42
Author(s):  
Tom Gibson
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Food System ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Waste Energy ◽  
Locally Grown ◽  
A Company

This article is a case study on BrightFarms, which is a company in Midtown Manhattan that brings fresh, locally grown produce to underserved urban areas by engineering green gardening on a commercial scale. Based in Midtown Manhattan, BrightFarms builds and operates hydroponics greenhouse farms across the United States, mostly at supermarkets. The company tries to use renewable energy sources and waste energy from a host building. BrightFarms now focuses on commercial clients that can handle the high volumes of produce that come out of the greenhouses. The BrightFarms team has expertise spanning horticultural sciences, engineering, ecology, energy analysis, environmental education, and produce marketing. While much of BrightFarms’ work has focused on New York City till date, it is trying to build facilities not only wherever it makes economic sense, but also where it makes sense in the food system.

scholarly journals Covid-19 and the Search for the Common Good: The Case of Parmon Spa (Italy)

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Centorrino
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Positive Culture ◽  
Good Choice ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Mortality Burden ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
The Common

The Covid-19 pandemic marks an extraordinary global crisis unseen in this last century, with its rapid spread worldwide and associated mortality burden, which is leading to profound economic consequences. In such an unprecedented scenario, most firms were not ready to deal with the resulting significant large-scale perturbations. Challenges for firms in the sector of the production of essential medical devices were among the most urgent. This study aims to investigate the behavior of a medium-size Italian enterprise that during this crisis, by converting part of its production line to the production of masks, undertook a path characterized by an ethics mindset, showing how its potentialities can also be used for the aim of common good. The case study is also presented to demonstrate that leadership ethical values and constant connection to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, maintaining a positive culture therein, have contributed toward a common good choice.

City of Farms

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay K. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Municipal Government ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Regional Food ◽  
Capital Funding ◽  
Regional Food System ◽  
Policy Agendas ◽  
Agriculture And Food

Chapter six reveals the ways in which civic and public actors working outside the boundaries of PlaNYC iteratively embedded urban agriculture and food policy into municipal planning efforts. A local/regional food system framework offered one way to bridge divisions within the movement and work towards comprehensive change to food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and post-consumption. Within the void created by city hall’s lack of engagement, other figures in the municipal government seized the opportunity to advance food policy agendas for New York City. At the same time, the complete absence of food, agriculture, and community gardens from PlaNYC was contested by civic groups and residents. As a result, the 2011 update to PlaNYC included a brief crosscutting section on food, although it lacked capital funding to fuel the achievement of its stated goals. Incorporation of food issues into PlaNYC was nonetheless seen by advocates as a symbolic and political achievement.

scholarly journals Scaling-Up Sustainable Development Initiatives: A Comparative Case Study of Agri-Food System Innovations in Brazil, New York, and Senegal

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4057 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rositsa Ilieva ◽  
Andreas Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Development Initiatives

To effectively address the sustainability crises our planet faces, decision-makers at different levels of government worldwide will have to get a handle on three key challenges: learning from Global North and South initiatives in tandem, taking stock of social innovations alongside technological fixes, and nurturing grassroots sustainable development initiatives next to, or in place of, top-down corporate and government interventions. Current scientific literature and grant-making institutions have often reinforced the compartmentalized fashion in which we learn and draw policy lessons from North/South, social/technical, and bottom-up/top-down sustainability initiatives, including local food system innovations. The strategic levers for global sustainable development lying in-between are thus left out. This paper uses exploratory, multiple case study analysis to address this omission. By concurrently drawing lessons from grassroots innovations in Brazil, New York, and Senegal—three profoundly different socioeconomic and geographic contexts—we identify common pressure points that have enabled local communities to drive system-wide transformations toward climate adaptation, resilience, and sustainability in the agri-food system. The findings of this paper would be of value to scholars, government officials, and community groups engaged in agri-food systems sustainability and interested in the processes of change that have allowed budding innovations to stabilize and scale up.

Disruptive innovation and operationalization in local and sustainable food systems: Examining the University of Toronto-Local Food Plus partnership

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-139
Author(s):  
Lori Stahlbrand
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Disruptive Innovation ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
The University

This paper traces the partnership between the University of Toronto and the non-profit Local Food Plus (LFP) to bring local sustainable food to its St. George campus. At its launch, the partnership represented the largest purchase of local sustainable food at a Canadian university, as well as LFP’s first foray into supporting institutional procurement of local sustainable food. LFP was founded in 2005 with a vision to foster sustainable local food economies. To this end, LFP developed a certification system and a marketing program that matched certified farmers and processors to buyers. LFP emphasized large-scale purchases by public institutions. Using information from in-depth semi-structured key informant interviews, this paper argues that the LFP project was a disruptive innovation that posed a challenge to many dimensions of the established food system. The LFP case study reveals structural obstacles to operationalizing a local and sustainable food system. These include a lack of mid-sized infrastructure serving local farmers, the domination of a rebate system of purchasing controlled by an oligopolistic foodservice sector, and embedded government support of export agriculture. This case study is an example of praxis, as the author was the founder of LFP, as well as an academic researcher and analyst.

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