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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Stephen Grimaldi, Executive Director of New York Common Pantry, on Food Insecurity in New York City
5:24:05
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Stephen Grimaldi, Executive Director of New York Common Pantry, testified about the critical issue of food insecurity in New York City. He presented statistics on struggling households, rising food costs, and the increasing use of food pantries. Grimaldi emphasized the urgent need for expanded support from the city council due to recent federal funding cuts and potential future cuts to safety net programs.
- New York Common Pantry served over 11 million meals last year and assisted nearly 730,000 guests
- Recent federal funding cuts have resulted in a loss of over $2 million in support for New York Common Pantry
- Grimaldi requested that baseline funding for the Community Food Connection program be increased to $100 million to address the growing need for food assistance
Stephen Grimaldi
5:24:05
Okay.
5:24:06
Can you hear me?
5:24:06
Yes.
5:24:08
Great.
5:24:09
Good afternoon, everyone.
5:24:11
Good afternoon, Chair Ayala.
5:24:12
Nice to see you and all of your esteemed peers.
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My name is Stephen Gramaldi.
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As was mentioned, I'm the Executive Director of the New York Common Pantry.
5:24:19
I'm here today to discuss the critical issue of food insecurity in New York City, like my peers spoke earlier about some of the core issues with relate as it relates to CFC, and federal cuts.
5:24:31
The statistics in our city speak for themselves.
5:24:34
1,300,000 households, nearly 3,000,000 people in New York City are struggling to make ends meet a cost according to the True Cost of Living report.
5:24:41
Three out of four New York City residents say the cost of food is rising faster than their income.
5:24:47
And the Robinhood report just released a report that said one in three New Yorkers has used a food pantry in the past three years.
5:24:54
Last year, the New York Common Pantry served more than eleven million years.
5:24:57
Meals, excuse me.
5:24:59
We assisted nearly 730,000 guests and we expanded our mobile programs.
5:25:05
We now have three fifty partners across the city of those, to over two eighty are food distribution sites.
5:25:13
We and our organizations, we and organizations like us and those in the roundtable, battle daily to feed the millions of New Yorkers who are food insecure and struggling, but we cannot do it alone.
5:25:25
We are grateful for the city council, and that has funded crucial food security initiatives in the past, but now your expanded support is more urgent than before.
5:25:35
Just in the last two weeks, with the recent Department of Agriculture termination, the local food purchase assistant cooperative agreement, the end of the EFSP, is a program we have been funded for over twenty years, has taken away over $2,000,000 in support, in the coming year for the New York Common Pantry alone.
5:25:55
Potential cuts to the Farm Bill appropriations that cover safety net programs such as SNAP, WIC and CSFP, the city council must fill the funding gap to support the organizations feeding food insecure New York City residents.
Judith Rosenfeld
5:26:09
Thank you.
5:26:10
Your time has expired.
Diana Ayala
5:26:11
You can you can you can wrap up.
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This
Stephen Grimaldi
5:26:14
begins with providing food pantries with direct support to provide healthy nutritious food with proper staffing and operations.
5:26:19
The proposed 2026 funding for the Community Food Connection is $20,900,000 This is woefully inadequate to feed the high volume of hungry neighbors in need.
5:26:32
For example, if CSFP gets cut, 36,000 seniors who now receive food through this program will need to come to food pantries increasing their burden.
5:26:40
We respectively request that the baseline funding for CFC be increased to 100,000,000.
5:26:45
Finally, we appeal to the mayor and the city council to provide this much needed funding that will allow us to continue meeting this intractable and growing need throughout the city.
5:26:54
Thank you for your time and consideration.