Healing Through Harvest: Local Initiatives Tackle Health Inequities

Food as a Tool for Transformation

In Central New York and the Southern Tier, two innovative programs are proving that food isn’t just fuel, it’s a powerful tool for healing, equity, and community transformation.

Harvesting Change: A Community Workshop Series

Nourish Syracuse, in collaboration with 1199SEIU, has launched Harvesting Change, a six-part workshop series that brings the concept of Food as Medicine to life. These monthly gatherings, hosted across Syracuse neighborhoods, are designed to empower residents with the knowledge and tools to grow their own food, make healthier choices, and understand how nutrition directly impacts chronic disease, mental health, and long-term wellness.

Hands-On Learning and Healthy Meals

Each 90-minute session includes hands-on education in urban agriculture, discussions led by healthcare professionals on the role of food in preventing and managing illness, and a locally catered meal that reinforces the importance of access to fresh, nutritious, and culturally relevant foods. In a city where food deserts and diet-related illnesses disproportionately affect underserved communities, Harvesting Change is planting the seeds of health equity.

“Food as medicine is more than a concept, it’s a movement,” said Charles Madlock, food justice advocate at Nourish Syracuse. “With support from Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Harvesting Change empowers Syracuse residents to grow their own food, make informed choices and take control of their health. It’s about putting power, wellness and healing into the hands of the community.”

Three Sisters Garden: Indigenous Knowledge in Action

Just down the road at Binghamton University, the Three Sisters Garden is cultivating a different kind of medicine, one rooted in Indigenous knowledge and ecological harmony. Planted with sacred varieties of corn, beans, and squash, the garden honors the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and demonstrates how traditional agricultural practices can support both physical health and cultural healing. These crops, known as the “Three Sisters,” are not only nutritionally complementary but also ecologically interdependent, an ancient system that modern science now recognizes as a model of sustainable, health-promoting agriculture.

Supporting Community Health Through Partnerships

We are proud to support both of these strong community initiatives through our Community Health and Wellness Awards. These programs reflect our mission to improve access to care and promote healthier lives by addressing the root causes of health challenges starting with what’s on our plates.

Addressing Nutrition Gaps with Local Solutions

According to the CDC, poor nutrition is a leading cause of chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Yet millions of Americans lack access to the fresh, whole foods that can prevent these conditions. By supporting programs that combine education, cultural relevance, and local food systems, we’re helping to close that gap, one garden, one workshop, one meal at a time.

A Harvest Worth Celebrating

Because when communities have access to healthy food, they have access to better health, and everyone benefits. And that’s a harvest worth celebrating.