Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City

Home
United States
New York, NY
Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City

CUCE-NYC is a research-based educational organization that bridges Cornell University and NYC communities, bringing together shared knowledge and expertise.

Cornell University Cooperative Extension – New York City Programs have served as an essential link among researchers, students and faculty, and the land grant mission of Cornell University for more than 50 years. Our work – to identify connections between New York City’s needs and the research agenda of the university – is ongoing. Our programs are supported by Cornell research and are well-suited

to the diverse needs of New York City residents. Through our Nutrition and Health workshops we reach families in all five boroughs of New York City by working in partnership with community organizations, schools, job training programs, faith-based organizations and emergency food assistance providers. During 2015 more than 42,174 individuals participated in our Nutrition and Health programs:

3,237 youth participated in our workshop series and received education designed to increase awareness of healthy eating and the benefits of being physically active

3,900 adults and youth received information at one time events such as training workshops and demonstrations at community organizations

30,985 people at 9 farmers’ markets visited Cornell University Cooperative Extension cooking and learning stations in NYC. Most tasted farm fresh produce cooked using simple nutritious recipes. Our 4-H programs engage New York City youth in projects and activities that build youth skills in engineering and math, literacy, nutrition & health, STEM, civic engagement and teen leadership. Want to learn about sustainable food production, nutrition and science by working in a real lab? The Cornell Hydroponics, Aquaponics and Aquaculture Learning Labs in New York City are real-time, applied science and research laboratories allowing students to learn about sustainable food production, nutrition and science. Additionally, our positive youth development & parenting trainings and workshops enhance the knowledge, skills and practices of adults who interact with youth and adolescents, at home or through agencies and other organizational settings. CUCE-NYC offers many site-based, on-demand, fee-for-service and tailored training programs in your community. Contact us for more information.

40 E. 34th Street, Suite 606,
New York, New York 10016
Office: 212-340-2910
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://nyc.cce.cornell.edu/

09/09/2026

How can nutrition education better reflect the financial realities New York City families face every day?

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) provides nutrition education to families with limited incomes throughout New York City and across New York State. Our educators use curricula developed by teams at Cornell and partner institutions to promote nutrition, healthy eating, and practical skills that support family well-being. Over the past several years, however, we have increasingly recognized that financial constraints and other stressors can make it difficult for families to purchase, prepare, and eat nutritious foods.

To help address these challenges, we received funding to develop Healthy Habits, Healthy Budgets, a curriculum that integrates nutrition education with practical strategies for managing food resources. After piloting the curriculum at four sites in Brooklyn and the Bronx, we are now working to refine its content and approach so that it better reflects the needs, experiences, and assets of the communities we serve.

As part of this next phase, we are inviting New York City community-based organizations and other stakeholders who serve communities with limited resources and have an interest or expertise in nutrition education and community health to participate in our Community Co-Design Workshop Series.
Participants will have the opportunity to review and provide feedback on selected curriculum lessons, identify gaps, and share their community knowledge and expertise to help shape Healthy Habits, Healthy Budgets. The workshops will use a participatory and collaborative approach to better understand and address community needs.

The workshop series will include two cohorts, with three online sessions per cohort. Participants will also be asked to complete research surveys about their experiences and will receive an incentive for their participation.
In addition to the workshops, we plan to interview parents with limited incomes to better understand the barriers they experience in trying to eat healthfully, as well as the resources, strategies, and supports that could help them and their families along their healthy eating journeys.

Together, this input will help us strengthen the curriculum and prepare it for use by other organizations and communities.
Interested in participating?

Register here: https://forms.gle/wrBucaSqqyQmynSt5

For questions or additional information, please contact us at [email protected] or 267-253-8461.

09/01/2026

Plates full, hands up, certificates in the air at East Harlem Bilingual Head Start
This is what the graduation ceremony of a nutrition and health workshop series looks like with CUCE-NYC.

Our nutrition and health work is rooted in a community-based paraprofessional model: our educators come from the communities they serve, bringing shared language, culture, and lived experience into hands-on nutrition education. Trust is cultivated when the person at the front of the room knows your block, your neighborhood, your grocery store.

And the certificate of completion isn’t just for the fridge. Participants bring it to job applications, add it to resumes, and count it as a professional development milestone. It’s one way CUCE-NYC supports health and opportunity.

Con los platos llenos, las manos arriba, y los certificados en el aire en el East Harlem Bilingual Head Start.

Así es como se ve una ceremonia de graduacion de los talleres de nutrición y salud de CUCE-NYC.

Nuestra labor en nutrición y salud se centra en un modelo del paraprofessional basado en la comunidad: nuestros educadores provienen de las comunidades de donde sirven, traen un idioma en común, la cultura y la experiencia vivída a una educación de nutrición que es práctica. La confianza se cultiva cuando la persona al frente conoce tu cuadra, tu vecindario, y tu bodega.

Y el certificado de finalización no es solo para el refrigerador. Los participantes lo traen consigo a entrevistas de empleo, lo agregan a su currículum (résumé), y lo cuentan como un logro de desarollo professional. Esta es una manera en como CUCE-NYC promueve la salud y la oportunidad.

Spanish translation by Yvonne Bravo

08/31/2026

What does it take to turn decades of research into meaningful change for New York's kids and families?

Our 2026 Extension Spotlight shows how, moving research into communities across the state and beyond. Examples include:

-PRYDE's Youth Investigators Program, which puts research tools directly in teens' hands

-Farmers' market nutrition programs with Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City, reaching thousands of New Yorkers

Trauma-informed training from the Residential Child Care Project, Cornell University, reaching many of the state's public schools

This report highlights five programs translating Cornell research into meaningful impact.

Rooted in our land-grant mission, this year's spotlight tells the story of a center closing the gap between what research knows and what our communities experience, one classroom, farmers' market and community center at a time.

08/26/2026

Plant it. Study it. Grow it. Harvest it.

That’s hands-on STEM learning in action through our Hydroponics and STEM Education program.

📷: Danielle Parks

08/25/2026

What if a grocery store could do more than make healthy food affordable, and become part of the healthcare system?

In a recent New York Daily News op-ed, three Cornell-affiliated experts, Saurabh Mehta, Janet and Gordon Lankton professor and director of the Cornell Joan Klein Jacobs Center for Precision Nutrition and Health; Marian Flaxman, the center’s communications and advocacy lead; and Michelle Loy, a faculty fellow at the center, argue that New York City’s planned city-run grocery stores present an opportunity to rethink the relationship between food and health.

Their proposal: transform the stores into Food-as-Medicine health and grocery hubs that bring nutritious food, healthcare resources and nutrition education together in one place.

The authors point to existing programs that could help make that vision possible, including Medicaid-supported produce prescriptions, medically tailored meals and nutrition counseling; Food is Medicine initiatives through Medicare Advantage and the Department of Veterans Affairs; and programs that stretch SNAP benefits for fresh produce.

The hubs could also offer cooking and nutrition workshops, connect shoppers with clinicians and dietitians, and source food from New York farms, creating benefits that extend beyond the stores themselves. The authors cite research estimating that locally sourced Food as Medicine programs in New York could direct nearly $30 million to local farms each year.

“True innovation in grocery requires recognizing that food and health are inseparable,” they write. “Food choices can drive disease, or they can be powerful medicine for preventing and reversing chronic illness.”

By integrating Food as Medicine into the city’s grocery initiative, Flaxman, Loy, and Mehta argue, New York could create a model that expands access to nutritious food while addressing diet-related chronic disease, supporting local economies and demonstrating how food and healthcare can work together to improve human health.

Read the full op-ed in the New York Daily News: https://www.nydailynews.com/2026/08/23/healthcare-is-the-missing-ingredient-in-mamdanis-grocery-plan/

08/18/2026

Nidia Vasquez has spent more than 20 years helping New York City families build healthier lives. As a Community Nutrition Educator, she brings practical, research-based nutrition and health education directly to adults, young people, and families in communities across the city.

Her commitment is reflected not only in the years she has dedicated to this work, but in what it takes to show up each day. Nidia commutes from Staten Island to communities across New York City, driven by a deep connection to the families she serves and a belief that education can give people the knowledge and confidence to make meaningful changes in their lives.

For Nidia, Extension is ultimately about meeting people where they are, building relationships, and helping families recognize the power they already hold to strengthen their health and well-being.

“Empowering families. That’s what Extension means to me.”

Video editing by Juan Vazquez-Leddon & Danielle Parks

08/17/2026

Honoring our past. Responding to the present. Preparing for the future.

This month, Jenny Weil Malatras, Ph.D., ABPP, convened the inaugural meeting of Cornell University Cooperative Extension - New York City's Family and Youth Development Advisory Committee and Youth Subcommittee— a milestone that grew out of listening— to our communities, to young people, and to what this moment requires of us— and a deep belief that we cannot reimagine this work without first hearing from those we serve.

Community and youth voice are not additions to this process— they are the foundation of it. Young people are at the table as genuine thought partners, alongside community members, educators, clinicians, and city agency partners who bring deep knowledge and lived experience of the communities we serve. Their voices, combined with a rigorous, data-informed needs assessment, will shape the future of CUC-NYC's Family and Youth Development programming across New York City.

“I am grateful to be doing this work alongside ACT for Youth and Cornell's Organizational Development and Effectiveness team, whose partnership is helping us ask better questions and build something more responsive and sustainable,” Malatras stated.

What do you believe young people and families in New York City need most right now? We’d love to hear from you.

08/10/2026

Summer Spotlight: Caroline Coors ’28
Parenting Intern, Cornell Cooperative Extension | Jamaica, Queens, NYC
Major: Human Development

This summer, Caroline Coors ’28 helped strengthen parenting resources for families across New York City as the Parenting Intern with Cornell Cooperative Extension - New York City in Jamaica, Queens.

Working on the Growing and Learning Together Through Play (GLTTP) curriculum, she combined research, curriculum development and community engagement to support parents and caregivers while gaining firsthand experience that aligns with her goal of becoming an occupational therapist.

Q: What did you do this summer?
A: I served as the Parenting Intern at Cornell Cooperative Extension NYC working under Dr. Marianella Casasola and Monica Gopaul on the Growing and Learning Together Through Play (GLTTP) curriculum. As the sole intern at the site, I wore many hats, including writing parent-facing blog posts based on facilitator materials, designing a pre-program survey, creating print-ready activity workbooks, building the curriculum website, researching funders and supporting community outreach. I also co-facilitated in-person parenting sessions and documented my work weekly, culminating in a capstone poster.

Q: What interested you in this opportunity?
A: I was drawn to this internship because I wanted community-centered, person-focused work that put me directly in contact with families. This opportunity also allowed me to work toward my long-term goal of pursuing a career in Occupational Therapy, since so much of OT is rooted in understanding people within the context of their daily lives and relationships.

Q: Are there any specific courses you've taken that helped prepare you for this experience?
A: HD 1150 Human Development: Infancy and Childhood gave me a strong foundation for this internship, as much of the GLTTP curriculum centers on how young children learn and develop through play. My ongoing research in Dr. Casasola's Play and Learning Lab also shaped how I approached translating academic content into something accessible for families.

Q: Did anything surprise you or make you think differently after the experience?
A: I was surprised to learn how much work happens behind the scenes before a program reaches a family. Building a curriculum involves much more than designing activities; it also requires thinking through evaluation, funding, outreach and logistics long before anyone sees the final product. As the only intern in the office, I was also pushed to take greater ownership of my projects, and I came away with a much deeper appreciation for the many elements involved in community-based work.

Q: Anything else you wish to add?
A: Looking ahead, I'm excited to continue building on this experience. I plan to keep working in the Play and Learning Lab and hope to eventually pursue a Parenting Educator Credential so that I can continue developing and delivering this kind of family-centered work.

08/06/2026

60+ years. 5 boroughs. 1 mission.

It starts with Cornell's land-grant mission. As New York State's land-grant institution, Cornell University is charged with advancing the lives and livelihoods of the state's citizens through teaching, research and public service—ideals set in motion by the federal Morrill Land Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890. Cornell University Cooperative Extension in New York City is how that promise reaches all five boroughs.

Accessible education for real-world impact. Swipe to learn more about who we are and what we do. →

07/31/2026

to fresh fruits and vegetables from farmers’ markets across NYC. How many can you name? Drop your answers in the comments!

Visit us at a farmers’ market near you and discover what’s in season this summer.

Food not only connects us—it also creates meaningful opportunities to learn, share knowledge, and build healthier communities.

Address

570 Lexington Avenue 11Fl
New York, NY
10022

Website

https://nyc.cce.cornell.edu/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your university to be the top-listed University in New York?