Helping Feed NYCHA Residents During the Pandemic

Since the start of the pandemic, New York City has provided hundreds of millions of free meals to anyone in need. These programs continue, whether through home delivery for people who cannot go out, or through Grab & Go options at approximately 200 Department of Education sites throughout the five boroughs. In addition, the City recently launched a new program, Pandemic Food Reserve Emergency Distribution, which supports local food pantries by getting millions of pounds of food into the communities where it is most needed. Many NYCHA residents have received food through the City’s food programs.

Marina Oteiza, Manhattan Borough Administrator for NYCHA’s Family Partnerships Department, has been instrumental in representing NYCHA on the City’s food team, which helped develop and coordinate a program to help New Yorkers — including NYCHA residents — get the food they need during the pandemic. The team includes multiple City and State agencies, non-profit organizations, food pantries, private food vendors, and delivery services.

As a city within a city, coordinating efforts to get food to NYCHA residents requires multiple partnerships with community business organizations, resident associations, elected officials, other NYCHA colleagues and departments, and more.

In May, around the height of the pandemic, Ms. Oteiza helped coordinate bulk food distribution to NYCHA’s most vulnerable residents, including homebound older adults and disabled residents. “We didn’t want to create a space that would encourage seniors to congregate and be on lines,” Ms. Oteiza said. “We worked with organizations who committed to accept the delivery of bulk food orders, deliver door-to-door, and keep social distance practices. Our partners were so supportive and willing. Some had to call in staff who were working from home and ask them to come in during the peak of COVID.”

In Ms. Oteiza’s position at NYCHA, she works closely with community business organizations that manage senior centers and was able to tap into partners she had strong relationships with to get bulk food delivery set up. In addition to local partners, NYCHA hired 36 seasonal workers to help distribute food, and provided bulk food distribution to residents at 34 developments from May through the end of August. A total of 1,707,921 meals were delivered to NYCHA residents through the bulk meals program.

“So many people were happy with the food they received, happy for the opportunity to have food,” Ms. Oteiza said. “No one wants to go to bed hungry. We live in such a food rich country and still we have people who go to bed hungry. It’s good to be doing the work – feeding people is always satisfying. To know it was a really dire situation we were all in and to be able to bring food directly to residents was an amazing opportunity to be able to give back.”

When the bulk food delivery was transitioned to the home delivery program by September, Ms. Oteiza helped ensure that residents still in need of food received it through the City’s Emergency Home Food Delivery program. Residents were notified via flyers and phone calls, and 60 NYCHA staff members were trained to become Authorized Enrollers, able to enroll seniors directly into the City’s program.

As COVID-19 cases begin to rise again and New Yorkers age 65 and older have been advised to stay at home, Ms. Oteiza wants to remind residents that there are numerous options to get help with food: “It’s still such a scary time. A lot of residents were facing food insecurity before the pandemic. COVID-19 is a reminder of the disparities our residents face. They fall into the categories of economic insecurity and racial injustice, and then there’s this disease, which mostly affects the demographic that Family Partnerships serve: NYCHA’s most vulnerable residents.”

Anyone in need of food can call 311 or visit NYC – COVID-19 Food Assistance.

NYCHA residents may also email NYCHA’s Family Partnerships Department (nychafamilypartnerships@nycha.nyc.gov) to ask for an Authorized Enroller to contact them to enroll in the home food delivery program. Residents may also call their NYCHA Borough Office to speak to an Authorized Enroller.

Borough offices:

Bronx
(718) 409-8699

Brooklyn
(212) 306-6027

Manhattan
(212) 306-6717

Queens
(718) 969-6240

Staten Island
(718) 816-1521