{"id":139350,"date":"2026-02-19T22:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T22:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139350\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T22:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T22:50:15","slug":"mellon-foundation-awards-1-25-million-grant-to-lehman-college-for-launch-of-new-bronx-food-humanities-program-bronx-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139350\/","title":{"rendered":"Mellon Foundation awards $1.25 million grant to Lehman College for launch of new Bronx Food Humanities program \u2013 Bronx Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lehmancollege-scaled.jpg\" class=\"crop-center wp-post-image\" alt=\"grant\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Lehman College was awarded a $1.25 million grant for the creation of a new Bronx Food Humanities Program.<\/p>\n<p>Photo by ET Rodriguez<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lehman.cuny.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Lehman College<\/a> has received a $1.25 million grant from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mellon.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Mellon Foundation<\/a> for a new Bronx Food Humanities program, which will create research and leadership pathways in Arts and Humanities for students.<\/p>\n<p>The three-year initiative, launched in partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bcc.cuny.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Bronx Community College<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostos.cuny.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Hostos Community College<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">New York Botanical Garden<\/a> (NYBG), will provide students access to a humanities-centered program of courses, experiential learning and paid internships that explore food, culture and community across the Bronx. The program will be part of Lehman College\u2019s School of Arts and Humanities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are grateful to receive this Mellon Foundation grant to support the Bronx Food Humanities Program,\u201d Lehman College President Fernando Delgado said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis initiative, which dovetails with our CUNY Beyond career building initiative, is a natural extension of Lehman College\u2019s commitment to not only educating our students but also preparing them to make a real difference in their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Storytelling and research will be used to look beyond nutrition and explore how food shapes life in the borough. The histories of local food and community traditions will be traced by students to learn how these practices help to shape the communities and preserve the heritage there. The main goal of the program is to prepare the next generation of community leaders, cultural thinkers and policy makers. Additionally, faculty members will be able to create dynamic food humanities-oriented curricula.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are delighted that with the Mellon Foundation\u2019s generous support, we will be able to deeply explore the abundance of food knowledge and stories in the Bronx and create opportunities for our students in arts and humanities-related fields while strengthening partnerships with other Bronx institutions,\u201d Lehman College Professor and Department Chair of Latin American and Latino Studies Alyshia G\u00e1lvez said.<\/p>\n<p>NYBG and other Bronx-based organizations will provide students with hands-on experience through paid internships, which help them build professional skills, in addition to connecting classroom learning to real-world projects.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe New York Botanical Garden is proud to partner with Lehman College, Bronx Community College and Hostos Community College on the Bronx Food Humanities Program. This initiative highlights the power of the humanities to illuminate food as culture, history and lived experience, while connecting students to the Bronx\u2019s rich traditions of growing, cooking and sharing food,\u201d NYBG LuEsther T. Mertz Library Director Rhonda Evans said. \u201cThrough access to NYBG\u2019s extensive and globally significant living plant and library collections and our community-based programs, students will gain hands-on experience that bridges research, storytelling and community impact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The courses at Lehman College, Bronx Community College and Hostos Community College will expose participating students to diverse faculty and different perspectives. Access to the plant collections, archives and expert staff at NYBG will also help them deepen their understanding of food and its histories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are grateful and excited to be receiving this generous support from the Mellon Foundation,\u201d Bronx Community College Social Sciences Professor Devin Molina said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis grant provides crucial support to better prepare our students to transfer to Lehman College, at the same time that it gives them opportunities to work with local organizations and institutions to gain practical work experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am thrilled to be part of this generous Mellon grant, which will enrich students across the curriculum and the local Hostos community,\u201d Hostos Community College English Professor Elyse Zucker said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving taught Food Studies and Expository Writing Service Learning courses focused on food systems and the value of real food, I have seen how life-changing this knowledge is for students and the families with whom they share it. This grant will help ensure these interdisciplinary opportunities continue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lehman College was awarded a $1.25 million grant for the creation of a new Bronx Food Humanities Program.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,3974,58924,3581,49381,24449,32982,9,641,24,43515,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-139350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-bronx-community-college","tag-bronx-food-humanities-program","tag-grant","tag-hostos-community-college","tag-lehman-college","tag-mellon-foundation","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-botanical-garden","tag-new-york-city","tag-nybg","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}