The objective of this report was to better understand how the emergency food system works during a crisis. The research sought to identify networks and points of strength as well as areas to be strengthened to improve resiliency during an emergency.
Emergency Food System
Middlesex County Emergency Food System Covid-19 Pandemic Report
This report examines how emergency food providers in Middlesex County, New Jersey, changed their practices during the pandemic. The report looks at how food pantries navigated challenges related to food demand, supply, and distribution, and highlights the experiences...
Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on People, Pantries and Practices in the Emergency Food System
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the emergency food system, challenging a system that was already operating with few resources. Food pantries developed strategies to meet surging need while navigating COVID-19 safety challenges and dramatic shifts in...
Innovative Practices in Emergency Food Delivery
Ralph W. Voorhees Public Service Fellows Hina Arshad, Nashia Basit, Cassie Bolinger, Aiza Nageeb, Julien Rosenbloom with Evan Iacobucci, Planning and Public Policy Doctoral Program. During the Fall 2019 semester, Middlesex County Food Organization and Outreach...
New Brunswick Community Food Assessment
The New Brunswick Community Food Alliance (NBCFA) launched in 2012 to improve community food security with a vision that “All City residents have access to adequate amounts of nutritious, safe, affordable, and culturally appropriate food at all times and in socially...
New Brunswick’s Emergency Food System Pantry Profile
The study of New Brunswick’s food pantries is the product of a partnership between the Feeding New Brunswick Network, a coalition of emergency food providers in New Brunswick, and the Ralph W. Voorhees Public Service Fellows, a group of undergraduate students at...
Farm-to-Freezer: An Institutional Guide to Saving Summer’s Bounty
The 2013 Voorhees Fellows worked with Elijah’s Promise to prepare a farm-to-freezer guide. Elijah’s Promise asked the Fellows to create a guide to illustrate how and why Elijah’s Promise processes and freezes fresh food. EP freezes fresh food to save money by...
Recent Updates
Amara Thompkins selected to be a 2025-2026 Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development Graduate Fellow
Amara Thompkins is a 2025-2026 Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development Community Development Graduate Fellow. Through the Fellowship, Amara has been paired with Pratt Area Community Council Inc. (IMPACCT Brooklyn), a nonprofit community development...
Congratulations to Soo Yeon Lim, Bernice Amankwah and Zehra Mahdi
Three RWV Center student researchers won awards this past month. Congratulations to Soo, Bernice and Zehra! At the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting (March 24-29, 2025) PhD Candidate Soo Yeon Lim presented a chapter from her dissertation work,...
Federally Assisted Housing in New Jersey
This report examines the stock of federally subsidized rental housing units. It first investigates how federal housing priorities have shifted over time, and how those shifts have reshaped the composition of federally subsidized housing units in New Jersey. It then...
Jovanna Rosen publishes new article in Urban Studies
Jovanna Rosen, along with Sean Angst, Gary Painter, and Soledad de Gregorio, published an article in Urban Studies entitled, "Harassment or neglect? How market dynamics and rent control shape landlord behaviour in Los Angeles," examining "how housing market dynamics...
Understanding the Role of Housing Navigators
This year, five Ralph W. Voorhees Public Service Fellows worked with New Community Corporation, a community development organization in Newark, New Jersey, to research housing navigation. Part of a Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health (REACH) community engaged...