News

In response to the recent delay in SNAP benefit distribution, the Enlarged City School District of Middletown partnered with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s SNAP-Ed New York program and Walden Savings Bank to distribute 300 boxes of fresh produce and eggs to district families on November 6^th at William A. Carter Elementary School… Read more

For families across New York, building a healthy future is getting harder day by day. Soaring grocery prices are putting nutritious food out of reach, while food deserts compound the problem. More than two million New Yorkers already face food insecurity. For those living with diseases like diabetes, learning how to use food as medicine can mean the difference between health and hardship… Read more

Talented chefs of the future are using their newly learned skills to make a difference in their community. Students from the Orange-Ulster BOCES Culinary Program recently processed gleaned produce, fresh fruits and vegetables that may otherwise go unharvested or unsold, into nutritious and tasty foods for local residents as part of a new community-driven collaboration organized by SNAP-Ed NY’s Rescued EATS initiative… Read more

New York’s $30 million in federal funding to SNAP-Ed is due to be cut off at the end of the month.

The program, which benefits nearly 1 million New Yorkers, provides nutrition education, promotes physical activity and supports community-level changes to help low-income individuals and families make healthier choices and manage their food budgets more effectively.

“Over 200,000 people have been reached, and that’s just in our direct education,” said Shayna Russo, SNAP-Ed’s Project Manager for the Hudson Valley region. “That’s not even including the 750,000 that we’re reaching through policy and systems change as well.” … Read more

Richard Kramarz, 77, of Bath, New York, hated chickpeas – the taste, the look, the consistency especially. So when educators for Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) made chickpea salad at a nutrition workshop and asked him to try it, he balked.

“At first I said, my God, I do not want this, I will not eat it,” said Kramarz, a resident of the Clyde F. Simon Lakeview Apartments for low-income seniors, where a series of workshops are held every year as part of CCE Steuben County’s Fruit and Vegetable Prescription (FVRx) Program. “They go, ‘Just taste it.’ So they gave me a little bit. It tasted so good, I went for more…Read more

Congressman Pat Ryan (D, NY-18) stood in an apple orchard on Tuesday with members of the agricultural community to highlight how federal cuts threaten to harm farmers and those they feed… Read more

The Massena Public Library was the site of a mini farmer’s market and a recipe demonstration using ingredients that could be purchased from the farmer’s market.

Susan Rau from Drumlins End Farms set up a table of locally grown items outside the library as part of a “pop-up market,” while Kristy Coyle from the Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County was in the Warren Room to demonstrate how to use some of those ingredients… Read more

Parents shouldn’t have to choose between feeding their kids food that’s affordable and food that’s healthy—but it’s a choice that countless New York City parents are forced to make every day.

At Children’s Aid we see this struggle play out across the city, where families are forced to stretch their grocery budgets, skip meals, or settle for the cheapest calories they can find because healthier options are out of reach… Read more

At Fairmont Neighborhood School in the Bronx last week, an eagle-eyed kindergartener just tall enough to peer over a row of elevated flower beds spotted a small red bulb covered with tiny seeds.

“The strawberries are growing!” he exclaimed as the rest of his Bronx summer school classmates rushed over to see the plant… Read more

On a sweltering afternoon this week, Ana Garcia, 41, and her 3-year-old son, Elliott, arrived at the Goodhue Community Center on Staten Island to pick up their weekly haul of fresh, affordable produce.

Garcia tasted a sample of tabbouleh salad. She and her son surveyed a spread of leafy greens, zucchini, summer squash, and peaches. For eight years, her family has returned regularly to buy a box of locally sourced produce. This week’s box — priced at $14, or $7 for those with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits — included a bounty of fresh fruit and vegetables, plus a recipe for tabbouleh… Read more

A weekly program dedicated to helping Staten Islanders eat healthier could soon be a thing of the past, as the funding that supports it was recently axed in the federal spending bill. Each week, the Children’s Aid Society’s Food Box program provides low-cost, farm-fresh produce and nutritional education to North Shore residents living in what’s considered one of the borough’s driest food deserts — a term used to describe areas where residents have limited access to fresh produce due to a lack of easily-accessible grocery stores… Read more

Spring is just around the corner, and Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County (CCEDC) is gearing up for another thriving season with its 32nd Annual Master Gardener Plant Sale Fundraiser…Read more

During this year’s NYS Agricultural Literacy Week, our students learned about pumpkins, thanks to the New York State Agriculture in the Classroom program, which funds and provides a book and activity each year to help students explore a new fruit or vegetable grown in New York…Read more

The Elmira Economic Opportunity Program is hosting a six-week series to help promote healthy eating in the Southern Tier by providing resources to those who need it most…Read more

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County received one of nine grants to increase people’s access to fresh, locally grown fruits and veggies.

To celebrate March as National nutrition month, Fidelis Care gave CCE a grant for $10,500…Read more

This past year, the board room at Ellenville Regional Hospital has been a home to community, conversations, collaborative learning, and laughter. Motivated to continue working towards their personal nutrition goals, residents of the Ellenville/Wawarsing area and patients of the Ellenville Regional Hospital’s Rural Health Network met for 10 sessions, enrolling in SNAP-Ed New York’s Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program through the support of the hospital’s nutritionist. For their participation, group members received up to $120 in vouchers to purchase fresh produce at Peter’s Market, a local, family-owned grocery store that has taken initiative in supporting the area following the closure of a major food retailer. … Read more

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Education Program (SNAP-Ed NY) and Middletown Enlarged City School District are proud to announce the second successful year of “Market Sprouts,” a program designed to inspire curiosity and empower even the pickiest eaters to fill their plates with more fruits and vegetables. By exposing children to farm-fresh local produce, teaching them how to prepare it themselves, and giving them the freedom to shop for it at their very own farmer’s market, Market Sprouts continues to make a lasting impact on the eating habits of elementary and middle school-aged children… Read more

The Middletown Enlarged City School District, in collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orange County’s GleanMobile and SNAP-Ed New York program, hosted two free summer produce box distributions, benefitting hundreds of families in the Middletown community. These events, aimed at providing fresh local produce and healthy recipe ideas, were a tremendous success… Read more

The SNAP-Ed New York program in the Hudson Valley is proud to announce the success of a collaborative pilot project of Rescued EATS (Education, Assessment, and Technical Support), aimed at reducing local food waste and promoting community nourishment. This initiative, organized in collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County’s Gleaning Program, successfully provided local apples from Crist Bros. Orchards in Montgomery, N.Y., to students in the Enlarged City School District of Middletown… Read more

Go!Healthy is a Children’s Aid program that ignites enthusiasm for nutritious eating among youth and their families while also equipping them with tools for embracing wholesome, energetic lives. Children’s Aid provides comprehensive support to children, youth, and their families in targeted high-need New York City neighborhoods. Children’s Aid’s Go!Healthy program offers cooking lessons, gardening activities, and educational workshops on nutrition at Children’s Aid schools, early childhood centers, and other sites throughout New York City… Read more

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Education Program (SNAP-Ed NY) introduced a new addition to their interactive nutrition education sessions called “Market Sprouts” incorporating interactive nutrition education, cooking, and a farmer’s market shopping experience that allows kids to select ingredients to recreate recipes at home with their families… Read more

Break away from the daily grind this Saturday with a marked walk around historic Bagg’s Square.  Signs are set up along the Bagg’s Square Mile right out front of the Oneida County Public Market. The Bagg’s Square Mile is a bit over a mile long, and the goal is for people to be just a little healthier… Read more

he Oneida County Public Market (OCPM), Cornell Cooperative Extension Oneida County, and the CCE Oneida Snap-Ed Nutrition Program are happy to announce the Bagg’s Square Mile launch on July 22nd at 10:00 at the Oneida County Public Market. On the 22nd, the OCPM will give participants a free water bottle, courtesy of the Farm Credit East Farmers Market Grant, once they complete the mile loop. .. Read more

The SNAP-Ed New York program of the Hudson Valley is pleased to announce that the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program (FVRx) has launched as SNAP-Ed staff, partners, and medical providers continue to work together to provide the program throughout local communities. The FVRx program is designed to address food insecurity in addition to providing education and support to better participants’ health… Read more

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oneida County has kicked off its Monday Mile initiative, hoping to help people get active and educated… Read more

The Springs Food Pantry will hold an event on Wednesday, July 11th to thank Suffolk County for its $4,500 grant and the Town of East Hampton for its grant of $2,000. This will take place from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Fellowship Hall in the Springs Community Presbyterian Church, 5 Old Stone Highway, East Hampton… Read more