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 acceptable ways and enjoy the health and economic benefits of a strong local food system” (NBCFA Bylaws, 2012). The Alliance is the city’s food policy council and it brings a variety of people together “to integrate aspects of the local food system (production, processing, distribution, access, consumption, recycling and waste management) to enhance the environmental, economic, social and nutritional well-being and health of the New Brunswick community” (NBCFA Bylaws, 2012). NBCFA operates through five work groups: Advocacy and Policy, Agriculture, Community Engagement, Food Economic Development, and Healthy Food Access and two partner organizations, the Feeding New Brunswick Network (FNBN) (a coalition of food pantries and community kitchens) and the New Brunswick Community Garden Coalition (CGC) (a coalition of people who work with the city’s community and school gardens). It engages residents through an annual Food Forum community meeting and at regular bi-monthly meetings.

Working Together for a Food Secure New Brunswick is a collaborative project of the New Brunswick Community Food Alliance (NBCFA), Johnson & Johnson, and Rutgers University. Project partners conducted a multi-year, three-phase food assessment and planning process to support efforts to improve community food security in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Partners

• New Brunswick Community Food Alliance
• Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station