Opinion: Congress Eliminated SNAP-Ed. Here’s What it Will Mean for New Yorkers. 

Without access to nutritious food New Yorkers are at threat of rising rates of obesity diabetes and other preventable illnesses and our city s children are affected the majority Their academic performance mental soundness and longterm well-being are all at threat A box of groceries at a food distribution event Parents shouldn t have to choose between feeding their kids food that s affordable and food that s healthy but it s a choice that countless New York City parents are forced to make every day At Children s Aid we see this struggle play out across the city where families are forced to stretch their grocery budgets skip meals or settle for the cheapest calories they can find because healthier options are out of reach That s why from April through November we run our Food Box activity every week in Harlem the Bronx Staten Island and Washington Heights to deliver farm-fresh affordable produce directly to communities that need it the greater part But this vital project is at jeopardy of being eliminated entirely function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'u kmqsczew vunxutxmd' The Food Box is funded by SNAP-Ed a federal effort that supports nutrition schooling and healthy food access for low-income families Congress new federal budget eliminates this funding as of Sept and now programs like ours may have to shut down altogether Every week our sites distribute boxes packed with nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables enough to feed a family of four for an entire week At just or with SNAP EBT each Food Box helps stretch limited budgets while providing the healthy food kids need to grow strong and healthy Across our sites we distribute thousands of boxes each year reaching families in neighborhoods where full-service grocery stores are scarce and food costs are soaring Last year alone we distributed more than food boxes and hosted over nutrition workshops for youth and adults Over a thousand New Yorkers participated in these programs during the year But numbers only tell part of the story The real power of the Food Box venture lives in what we hear from families One mother of two young children in the last few days shared that the activity not only helped convert her sons from fast food to nutritious meals it also made it financially viable for her to patronage her elderly mom and dad Another advised us that the scheme helped her eat healthier and reverse her prediabetes We ve heard across the board that the availability of fresh food via Food Box has helped the society to eat better and sparked a deeper interest in cooking and wellness In too several New York City neighborhoods especially those historically underserved access to fresh food is still a daily challenge Communities on Staten Island where one of our Food Box programs operates experience food deserts especially on the North Shore High prices limited grocery options and long-standing healthcare inequities all compound to make nutritious food the exception rather than the norm in fact more than million New Yorkers face food insecurity and one in four can t afford essentials as costs continue to rise Without access to nutritious food New Yorkers are at exposure of rising rates of obesity diabetes and other preventable illnesses and our city s children are affected the majority Their academic performance mental vitality and longterm well-being are all at peril The Food Box plan is part of the approach It meets people where they are at their local schools area centers and after-school programs Whether it s supporting older adults on a fixed income youth in our after-school project or busy working parents the Food Box plan helps remove the walls that make healthy eating harder than it should be It s not a luxury It s a necessary part of a healthy city Now with SNAP-Ed funding eliminated we liability undoing years of progress toward a healthier more equitable New York Skeptics have called SNAP-Ed duplicative It isn t In fact SNAP-Ed is the only federal nutrition training initiative focused specifically on low-income families and delivered in population settings That s why we need leaders who will step up and prioritize food measure programs like these with federal promotion disappearing it s never been more vital Now is not the time to take food off the table It s time to double down on what s working and fight for continued expenditure in programs that nourish our families promotion populace robustness and strengthen communities across our city New York City s families deserve better than empty shelves and empty promises They deserve fresh affordable food and a authorities that makes it workable Taisy Conk is the director of food and nutrition programs at Children s Aid The post Opinion Congress Eliminated SNAP-Ed Here s What it Will Mean for New Yorkers appeared 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