On this last day of Pride Month and leading up to the 4th of July, I can’t help but think of all the ways our freedom is impacted on a regular basis, from how and who we choose to love and marry, how we raise our children, our body autonomy, how we care for our health and make decisions about our body and how to care for it, our ability to be free from the religious views of others, and our freedom to move freely in the world. I share some thoughts and welcome yours in return!
Then I am joined by Kristin Kessler, a project manager in the Department of Health and Wellness for the City of Kingston where she manages New York State grant-funded Creating Healthy School and Communities program (CHSC). CHSC works towards making Kingston a healthier place to live for everyone by supporting policy, system, and environmental changes that increase equitable access to nutritious foods and opportunities for physical activity in our schools and communities. Additionally, she supports Live Well Kingston, in particular the Heal Well and Eat Well focus groups.
As a registered dietitian nutritionist for over a decade, she has worked in a variety of roles from teaching family nutrition workshops to nutrition communications for food brands to advocating for equitable nutritious food access at a large food bank. After exploring the field of dietetics, she ultimately found her greatest passion was in exploring how to make food and healthcare systems more accessible and affordable for everyone. She strongly believes that equitable access to nutritious food is a right, not a privilege.
Kristin lives in Woodstock with her husband, son, and dog, where she is a part of the Woodstock Complete Streets Committee. In her free time she enjoys hiking, biking, teaching yoga, and exploring all of the charming nooks and crannies the Hudson Valley and Catskills have to offer.
Live Well Kingston has launched a new photo and storytelling project, “Kingston Spotlights” which captures the real-life impact of theCreating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) grant, a New York State program, now in its final year of a 5-year grant. CHSC has supported everything from the community-driven design for the new Post Office Park to helping to launch the now annual Spinach Fest at JFK Elementary School, and so much more in between! But in this shifting environment, there’s growing urgency to share not only the impact of these community-based initiatives, but the strength and beauty in local communities like ours in Kingston.
The project consists of documentary photographs and interviews with community members to highlight how they’ve made use of the funds and the impact they’ve had on the community.
Here are some resources from Kristin:
Food Policy Bite- She writes these quarterly. During the show she referenced Food Policy Bites Issue 3 on SNAP: https://livewellkingston.org/food-policy-bites-issue-3/
The stats that she quoted for SNAP-Ed came from the Educational Toolkit on this website: https://savesnaped.org/
If hearing about the positive impacts of SNAP and the potential cuts was interesting to you, she recommends checking out Food Policy Bites Issue 5, which lists a whole bunch of food policy resources: https://livewellkingston.org/food-policy-bites-issue-5/
Kingston Spotlights project page: https://livewellkingston.org/kingston-spotlights/
https://www.instagram.com/livewellkingston/
https://www.facebook.com/livewellkingston/
Keep an eye on the Engage Kingston page for updates soon about the Food System Plan- https://engagekingston.com/food-system-plan
Kristin’s email is located here along with the Eat Well Kingston info! And, here’s my previous conversation with Kristin about working motherhood.
Today’s show was engineered by Ian Seda from Radiokingston.org.
Our show music is from Shana Falana!
Feel free to email me, say hello: she@iwantwhatshehas.org
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