Welcome to the Staten Island Neighborhood Food Initiative
The Staten Island Neighborhood Food Initiative started in 2014 with the support of the City Harvest programs department. The members are all Staten Islanders--business owners and consultants, non-profit leaders, visual designers, and community organizers.
SINFI's goal: Every Staten Island neighborhood will have a store, restaurant, deli, or bodega that provides or uses fresh local fruit and vegetables so that anyone can follow the My Plate recommendations. The people living in the neighborhood will know where these stores are and support them.
Most Staten Island neighborhoods do have one or more great stores, but sometimes they're hidden in plain sight. If the writing in the windows of the store is in Arabic, Spanish, or Sinhalese, English speakers tend not to go in. For all our projects, we introduce the stores to their neighbors, and the neighbors to the stores.
We partner with (among others):
- City Harvest, which offers corner store training, consulting, and equipment
- SI Child Wellness Initiative, which is working to bring down the high levels of childhood obesity on Staten Island
- SI Perinatal Network, which works with gynecologists, pediatricians, and primary-care clinics to help women have healthy pregnancies and babies
- St. John's University on their Academic Service-Learning projects and Difference Makers program
