Legislation Aims to Bring Healthy Choices to ‘Food Deserts’

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said about two million New Yorkers live in places known as “food deserts,” areas with few or no options to shop for affordable, healthy food.

“Often, people in these areas have to travel for miles just to buy basic food necessities like fresh fruit and vegetables,” she said.

Gillibrand said the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, or HFFI, was authorized in the 2014 Farm Bill, but she said under the Trump administration, that funding is at risk.

The program provides grants and loans to fresh food retailers and grocery stores to incentivize them to serve underserved areas.

Now she, and some fellow Senate democrats are pushing the Healthy Food Financing Initiative Reauthorization Act that would provide $50 million in federal funding each year. That would double the amount currently allocated to the program and ensure the funding would continue into the future.

“Organizations can use these grants to help pay for things like expanding cold storage or developing food incubator kitchens or creating more mobile markets,” Gillibrand said.

Gillibrand said the new legislation has not received support from Senate republicans, but she hopes that will change.

“They are making a conscious choice to not feed families, not feed hungry kids, not feed our seniors, so they can give a tax giveaway worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the wealthiest Americans,” she said.

The HFFI has provided assistance to four fresh food retailers across the state.

To see where food deserts are located, click here.

Story by Jessica Cain/New York Public News Network

Jessica Cain is a freelance reporter for WRVO