first day on the job

today was the first day at Cornell Cooperative Extension. I'm working in the nutrition education department. My tasks will begin with helping to organize and plan for the education initiatives that happen later in the summer. We will be going to farmers' markets in low income areas and giving food demonstrations. Sharing simple tips and actually preparing food to be sampled will help to broaden peoples' awareness of food use.
Today I had the amazing fortune to have my first internship day coincide with a major meeting of food availability minds. Representatives from non-profits all over the city (approximately 30 people were there!) are in the beginnings of forming a coalition, calling themselves Food Systems Networking, NYC. These are people who are making it their mission to improve the availability of nutritious, local foods. Represented were groups that organize the green markets, groups that collect food that would otherwise be discarded from farms and restaurants, food production groups, healthy schools groups that provide free school breakfasts, as well as even a group that does activist theater about food issues. This meeting, although pretty overwhelming, was an amazing introduction to the breadth and depth of organizations working on issues of food acquisition.
It was also very encouraging to meet people who have made it their work to ensure that they can feed as many other people as possible. Policy is a big focus of their work, and it was also interesting to hear one man mention the fact that this kind of meeting also has a slightly "talking head" component--as they are run by people who are mainly not the actual folks growing the food. I guess I have the hope that meetings like this have the power to really affect the politicians.
Something I find myself wondering about is whether the deep roots of the problems are addressed in these initiatives, however. I am very excited about Cooperative Extension's mission to get messages about healthful food out to as many people as possible...lingering in my mind, though, are still questions pertaining to my concept that there are just not enough dollars to go around to the people that need them. WIC is an amazing program--it allows people who may not otherwise be able to, to buy good food, but it seems like there's always a struggle to try to get more money from the government to fund this program. So many price standards seem to be rooted in antiquated food costs and poverty levels---why has the government not come into the present with realizing that more money needs to be available to purchase these needed healthful foods?
I am looking forward to exploring my perceptions regarding policy and long standing institutions. What makes me so excited about being in NYC doing this work is the sheer magnitude that everything carries. Not just a small group (in Ithaca there might be 10 people working on a project) comes together, but in NYC there's really a confluence of so much intellect because there are so many people and this creates a pool and network of motivation that can make problem solving very dynamic. Ok, also I acknowledge that bigger is not always better, but right now the magnitude is inspiring.