Sen. Borrello Sponsoring Legislation To Fix Nourish NY Program

George Borrello

State Senator George Borrello has sponsored legislation to fix a problem regarding the distribution of Nourish NY funds to regional food banks.

Borrello helped spearhead the effort to make Nourish NY a permanent state program in 2021.

The program established a process for regional food banks to purchase New York State-sourced dairy, meats and produce for families in need with state funding.

Borrello said both the funding and operational processes were working well until September 2022 when the Department of Health merged the Nourish NY funding with the funding for the Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program. He said the resulting Request for Funding process did not account for the vastly different purpose, guidelines and eligibility of each program, leeding to steep funding cuts for some regional food banks.

Borrello said his Senate bill would fix that error by clarifying that all Nourish NY funds are to be allocated to regional food banks, as originally intended.

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