Mayor Adams reappoints Kate MacKenzie director of Office of Food Policy

MacKenzie has served as executive director since Sept. 2019, spearheaded city’s COVID-19 emergency food response

October 7, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Kate MacKenzie, the executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. Photo courtesy of nycfoodpolicy.org

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The mayor reappointed Brooklyn resident Kate MacKenzie to the position of executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy (MOFP). The current agenda of MOFP includes the equity goals of Food Forward NYC, the 10-year food policy plan of the city government, the first of its kind.

“Mayor Adams has already established New York City as a global leader in innovative, forward-thinking food policy, and I am honored to be reappointed to this critical role,” said MOFP Executive Director Kate MacKenzie. “Under the mayor’s leadership, we will continue to promote health, sustainability, and equity in our food system, working toward the goals outlined in the city’s Food Forward NYC plan.”

MacKenzie lives in Brooklyn with her two children (who attend public school). She has served as the executive director of MOFP since September 2019, with over two-decades of experience addressing food insecurity and health in food systems in the city and across the country. She is a graduate of Cornell University and Teachers College at Columbia.

The Food Forward initiative, launched in 2021, aims to promote the access and consumption of good and healthy foods, as well as support economic opportunity and environmental sustainability in the food system.

Under MacKenzie’s leadership, MOFP is carrying out the mayor’s mandate to “Get Stuff Done” additionally serving as the architect of GetFood NYC, the city’s pandemic food response.

“Making our city’s food system healthier, more sustainable and more equitable is a key priority of my administration — and we have hit the ground running since I took office to ‘Get Stuff Done,’” said Mayor Eric Adams.

“From launching Plant-Powered Fridays in all public schools to expanding Plant-Based Lifestyle Medicine Clinics in NYC Health + Hospitals facilities to all five boroughs, we are implementing transformative changes in the meals we serve and the food we source. Kate MacKenzie has been a critical partner in our efforts to envision and implement these transformative changes, and I am thrilled to reappoint her to lead the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy.”

GetFood NYC is committed to institutionalizing the use of the Supply Gap to drive equitable emergency food distributions, incubating the Groceries to Go pilot program and securing budgets for food across city agencies as well as increase transparency among institutions who distribute emergency foods.

MOFP also launched Plant-Powered Fridays in all city public schools, and operates the NYC Food and Climate Dashboard site, which offers data about food purchases by type through different fiscal years.