Giving Compass' Take:

• Living Cities' Elizabeth J. Reynoso discusses her experience as a Food Policy Director in Newark and an advocate for racial equity, emphasizing the importance of investing in public servants.

• Do local organizations incorporate enough feedback from constituents? Reynoso cites examples from Newark on how she represented the people's voice.

• Here are five grassroots organizations committed to closing the racial gap.

When I joined the City of Newark as its first Food Policy Director, the city took a risk in creating a role to prioritize food security and address it at the systems level. It was an unusual position that had few models to follow and it was being added at a time when employment in city government had shrunk by 25%. The city pulled together discretionary funds and philanthropic dollars to add me to the Department of Economic and Housing Development’s Office of Sustainability where I would be able to work with all city departments. At that time there were only 11 other food policy positions like mine across the country. (As of 2016 the number doubled.)

As a social justice worker and advocate, I was wary of institutionalizing my role and saw myself as an extension of the stakeholders who were repairing our food system with minimal government support and the residents who didn’t even know it could be someone’s job to think of solutions 24/7 to their food access challenges. Indeed, my role was created in response to the community’s requests: nonprofits, environmental education centers, elementary schools, urban farmers, senior centers, universities, farmers’ markets, and food pantries and food entrepreneurs to name a few, who wanted a champion in city hall. These residents couldn’t wait for a new budget cycle or council to approve a new position.

I soon realized that they were right to demand that the city create my coordinating and policy-making role. It was the city’s job to make sure their voices were heard, not just in city hall but also at our county, state, and national offices to improve the delivery of services and benefits like WIC and SNAP that were controlled by other levels of government.

Read the full article about closing racial gaps by Elizabeth J. Reynoso of Living Cities at medium.com.