Food insecurity in New York is a significant challenge, which is often exacerbated by economic disparities related to socio-demographic factors such as immigration status, family structure, and age. Current policies that work towards addressing food insecurity, such as SNAP, provide essential support to these communities but often fail to fully address the underlying issues at hand.

Historically, NYC's SNAP programs have failed to adequately address food insecurity, which impacts roughly 2,638,700 individuals across New York State, including immigrant families, older adults, children and their caregivers.

(Cheung, 2024; Feeding America, n.d.; Florez et al., 2023; Fortuny et al., 2010; Gill et al., 2018; Giordono et al., 2021; Kim et al., 2021; Leung & Wolfson, 2021).

Problems with SNAP:

• Not enough access to healthy foods or food options that do not reflect what participants actually eat based on family type, culture, and dietary restrictions.
• Costs of the plan not being adjusted to rising food costs.
• Families running out of benefits too early due to underfunding.
• Not assuming adequate time for food preparation based on items available.

(All sourced from Carlson, S., Llobrera, J. & Keith-Jennings, B. (2021). More Adequate SNAP Benefits Would Help Millions of Participants Better Afford Food. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/7-30-19fa.pdf

Our Proposed Solution

We want to expand SNAP in New York to include programs offering employment opportunities or education to empower individuals to make healthier life choices and begin to make a path out of their position of food insecurity.

We want to encourage a more sustainable diet for the general New York population based on the models from Finland and California. Food insecurity overlaps with many other critical aspects of living, such as job security, healthy eating, and health education. By just providing food, we will never fix the root causes of food insecurity.