Good morning team!
I have an exciting update on the Scratch Cooking Implementation Bill (Intro 1676) which I advocated for last year and was introduced by CM Rosenthal, Kallos, Ayala, Grodenchik, Gibson, Lander and Brannan as part of the Speaker's Growing Food Equity plan.
The bill will require the DOE —within 180 days of bills passage—to submit a report to Council that includes an implementation plan for scratch cooking, including a budget for renovating kitchens, an economic model for hub and spoke, and commissary style kitchens, and an estimate of the cost to up-train kitchen staff, as well as a timeline for rolling out scratch-cooking city-wide within 5 years.
The bill is going to be heard and is expected to pass this month, at either the March 18th or March 25th Stated Meetings.
Once the bill passes (fingers crossed) and we have this report, we can use it to advocate with the Mayor and the State to increase funding to the DOE to support city-wide scratch-cooking for all children.
This is a huge step in the right direction and our thanks to the Council Members noted above and Speaker Corey Johnson and Nadia Johnson for their support.
Onward!
Andrea
