Raise your voice in the fight against hunger
In Westchester, 41% of households are unable to afford the basic cost of living—including food. Together, we can advance practical policies that strengthen food access today and help every neighbor build a more secure tomorrow.
Take a stance, make your voice heard
Food, funds, your time, or voice — any action can help deliver nourishing meals to neighbors in need.
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Advocacy Action Center
Know the Issues
Explore the programs and priorities that drive our advocacy to end hunger across Westchester County and beyond.
Federal Nutrition Policy Priorities
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
- Strengthen TEFAP in the next farm bill by increasing funding for TEFAP food purchases by $500 million per year, adjusted to inflation, to meet the rising demand for food assistance.
- Increase the authorization for discretionary funding for TEFAP storage and distribution to $200 million per year to help food banks and other assistance organizations expand their reach, subject to appropriation.
- Increase the availability of culturally relevant foods, including halal and kosher, through TEFAP.
Enhance, Expand SNAP Benefits & Eliminate Barriers
- Delay the SNAP benefit cost shift for all states so they have the time needed to stabilize operations, improve accuracy, avoid state tax increases or deep budget cuts.
- Congress should ensure SNAP purchasing power remains strong so that benefits align with grocery prices and provide adequate support during tough economic times.
- H.R. 2512 Hot Foods Act- which allows SNAP participants to purchase hot food and prepared meals with their benefits.
- H.R. 3117 / S. 1540 Fairness for Victims of SNAP Skimming Act of 2025- which requires states to replace 100% of SNAP benefits stolen through card skimming and similar fraud.
Invest in the Health & Wellbeing of our Communities
- Guarantee school breakfast, lunch, after school and summer meals for all children nationwide.
- Provide adequate funding to ensure all eligible households can participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
- H.R. 4782 Local Farmers Feeding our Communities Act- which would boost the purchasing and distribution of local food.
State Priorities
The final FY27 New York State Budget included significant investments in State Nutrition programs. While we celebrate these investments, we continue to advocate for a New York where no neighbor goes hungry.
Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP) and Nourish NY (NNY)
- HPNAP was funded at $72.8M: This provides a $15M increase across the state to emergency food providers to continue to purchase nutritious foods as demand rises.
- NNY was funded at $55M: This program received sustained funding in this year’s budget.
In the past three years, FW has distributed over 9M pounds of HPNAP foods and in the last four years FW has distributed 8M pounds of NNY foods.)
Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP)
- NOEP was funded at $8.738M: This supports New York’s network of SNAP navigators, with some of the programs federal funding sunsetting in October 2026, this additional $3.1M will sustain the program in New York.
Feeding Westchester receives $75k in NOEP funding to continue to assist our neighbors in navigating and applying for SNAP benefits. In 2024, Feeding Westchester assisted 600 households with SNAP enrollment.
SNAP EBT Chip Security
- Funding to transition EBT cards to chip-based technology was secured, which will help protect New Yorkers’ benefits from skimming and theft.
New York PLATES (Providing Local Assistance to Transform Emergency Services)
NYPLATES was funded at $10M: This is a statewide grant program established by the state to combat food insecurity. It provides capital grants to eligible food pantries to build or upgrade their capacity to safely store, transport, and distribute food to families in need.
Together we feed for a better tomorrow
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