Jeff and Carol welcome Dr. David Chokshi and Chef Greg Silverman for a conversation about child poverty and food insecurity in New York. Dr. Chokshi, reflecting on his time as NYC’s health commissioner, emphasizes the urgent need to reduce child poverty by 50% by 2032. He highlights the effectiveness of expanding the Child Tax Credit to $3,000 per child per year, pointing out that 46% of children in Syracuse and 35% in the Bronx live in poverty.
Chef Silverman, CEO of the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, discusses the alarming rise in food insecurity, with nearly 800 families now receiving assistance daily. He underscores the importance of providing healthy, fresh food and calls for increased government funding and collaboration to address these critical issues.
Action Steps for Change:
Dr. Chokshi shares personal stories that illustrate the devastating health impacts of poverty on children, emphasizing that bold investments in economic and health policies are key to meaningful change. Chef Silverman highlights creative innovations in food distribution, such as delivering groceries directly to vulnerable populations and ensuring the availability of healthy options. Both guests stress the importance of community involvement, from volunteerism to unrestricted donations.
Interested in learning more? Visit the West Side Campaign Against Hunger or explore your local opportunities to volunteer with food assistance programs.
Coming soon.
Former Health Commissioner of New York City
Dave A. Chokshi — a practicing physician and public health leader — serves as Chair of the Common Health Coalition and is Sternberg Family Professor of Leadership at the City College of New York. Dr. Chokshi previously served as the 43rd Health Commissioner of New York City.
Greg Silverman graduate from Ithaca College, and after traveling with the Peace Corps, he returned and opened Olivia, one of the first farm-to-table restaurants supporting local growers. He ran three restaurants and catering businesses while serving on the board of Loaves and Fishes of Tompkins County, Ithaca’s soup kitchen, making sure community members had access to healthy, local, tasty food and support.
He left Ithaca with his partner and now spouse Dr. Lauren Houghton to move to the UK where he received a master’s degree in food policy from City University London. While there, he worked for the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, helping low-income families learn to cook healthy food on a budget.
After returning to the U.S., he joined Share Our Strength, the national organization working to end childhood hunger and poverty. He became the chef leader and face of the Cooking Matters program, which teaches parents and caregivers with limited food budgets how to shop for and cook healthy meals, and he also helped lead the national Chefs Move to School Program one of the core Lets Move initiatives of former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Now living and working in New York City as the CEO/executive director of the West Side Campaign Against Hunger,(www.wscah.org) Silverman combines the insights learned while traveling, the culinary skills he gained as a chef, and the business acumen he developed as an entrepreneur to feed its 50,000 customers, who are food-insecure New Yorkers. He manages a $6 million budget a staff of 30, and a network of thousands of volunteers who have been working, day in and day, out all throughout the pandemic to make sure all New Yorkers have access with dignity to a choice of healthy food and supportive services.
