Our Approach to Ending Child Hunger

By almost any measure - food insecurity, poverty, emergency food participation - families with children in New York City are among the most vulnerable. Almost half (47 percent) of all New York City households with children struggle to afford food. One in five New York City children relies on emergency food from soup kitchen and food pantries.

Food Bank For New York City is committed to ending childhood hunger by ensuring that all children and families have access to affordable, nutritious food, and the knowledge and skills to make healthy food choices with the resources available to them. We work to meet these goals through a three-pronged programmatic approach - emergency food distribution, income support and nutrition education - supported by research, policy and public education including the Ending Childhood Hunger by 2015 Initiative:  

• Emergency Food Distribution: The Food Bank distributes more than 74 million pounds of food annually - including 13 million pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables - to a network of approximately 1,000 community-based member agencies citywide. This helps provide more than 300,000 meals per day for children, teens and adults in need.
• Income Support: The Food Bank offers income support programs including free tax help and food stamp outreach and application assistance to put money back in the food budgets of people in need.
• Nutrition Education: Through CookShop, our federally-funded nutrition education program for food stamp-eligible New Yorkers, we help families leverage all available resources to provide nutritious, affordable meals by equipping them with the knowledge and skills to make healthy food choices on a limited budget.   
• Ending Childhood Hunger by 2015 Initiative: President Obama has challenged the nation to end childhood hunger by 2015. We are working to meet this goal through the Ending Childhood Hunger by 2015 Initiative, which works to increase access to and participation in federal child nutrition programs, and collaborates with other organizations on policy development, advocacy and community outreach strategies.

For more information on the Ending Childhood Hunger by 2015 Initiative or associated coalitions, please contact Roxanne Henry, Community Outreach Manager.