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PUBLIC TESTIMONY

Testimony by Molly Eckerly, Food Policy Associate at Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty

2:21:41

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114 sec

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Molly Eckerly from the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty testified about the urgent need for increased funding for food pantries and the Community Food Connection program to address food insecurity in New York City, particularly for those with religiously informed dietary restrictions.

Requested $20 million in discretionary funding for emergency food pantries
Advocated for baseline funding of $100 million for the Community Food Connection program
Emphasized the importance of flexible funding to provide appropriate food products for diverse communities, including kosher and halal options

UNKNOWN

2:21:41

My name is Molly Eckerly.

2:21:42

I'm the food policy associate at the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty.

2:21:46

I'm here today on behalf of Met Council's food programs.

2:21:49

We operate the largest kosher food pantry network in the country providing kosher and halal observant food assistance to 200,000 New Yorkers annually regardless of religious observance.

2:21:59

It's on behalf of those we serve and all New Yorkers that we and our partners Catholic Charities and Hispanic Federation urgently request that City Council allocate $20,000,000 in discretionary funding for emergency funding for food pantries.

2:22:11

During the pandemic, at the height of need and uncertainty, New York City wisely created a special fund for emergency food, allowing us to deploy needed resources to areas with limited pantry and social service infrastructure, to communities with religiously informed or culturally nuanced diets which are often left out of the emergency food system, and to programs that facilitated increased access to emergency food.

2:22:33

Due to the success of this initiative, we're urging City Council to commit $20,000,000 to continue and expand the important work that has been done.

2:22:41

Additionally, we want to express our support for the council's decision to call on the administration to baseline fund community food connection at $100,000,000 and reiterate the importance of this program.

2:22:52

New Yorkers observing religiously informed will go without food if the emergency food system does not provide appropriate products.

2:22:58

CFC provides flexible funding that allows Met Council to purchase the products that clients want and need.

2:23:03

Because of this incredible flexibility, City Council must continue to invest in programs like CFC that meet the needs of all hungry New Yorkers.

2:23:11

The decisions made by this committee will impact the lives of millions of our neighbors.

2:23:15

Allocating $20,000,000 in discretionary funding for food pantries and funding CFC at a baseline of $100,000,000 This committee can benefit all food insecure New Yorkers, including those with religiously informed dietary restrictions.

2:23:31

We thank you for your time today and we hope to continue to work with this committee and city council to fight food insecurity.

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Testimony by Joe Rosenberg, Executive Director of Catholic Community Relations Council