Name: Klara Moss

Social Justice Group: Food insecurity in NYC (B)

Date of Fieldwork: January 17, 2025

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):BJ Neal

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork:

On Friday my group and I zoomed with BJ Neal, the director of guest services at City Relief. BJ shares the two main ways his organization helps with food insecurity: Number 1 – by directly offering food which is the immediate solution but not long term. He compared this to grabbing buckets to scoop water out of a house during a flood, it’s your first instinct but it won’t fix the problem. Number 2 – by connecting people with services like employment or shelters that will help them long term. He explains that City Relief is a safe space for people to come and get help but their main job is to help navigate and connect guests to get back on their feet.

We also asked BJ about the main reasons guests haven’t been able to turn their lives around after interacting with City Relief and he responded with the following in our notes:

-People aren’t willing to try the whole time
-Quitting halfway through
-Mental health problems
-When people struggle, they find out how they handling diversity
-We live in a society where we teach people to be successful before human
-Going through hard things is the time when you find out your abilities to survive
-They don’t know how to navigate trauma and hardship
-Most people aren’t equipped for hardship
-So much to work through that it’s hard to process all the aspects
-#1 issue is mental health
-Trying to solve mental health is getting more counselors
-System that is therapeutic
-It is very difficult to even get to clinics when somebody is extremely traumatized

BJ is so devoted and willing to help with hunger partly from his own experiences, too. BJ openly spoke about his childhood and how he grew up homeless with his two sisters and mom. He said that at the time he came from a background where not enough help was given and that is what drove him to be the support of those struggling today. His personal memories helped him form acceptance and see everyone as humans regardless of what they are going through.