SNAP-ED / Eat Smart New York Program Launch
- Wednesday, July 15, 2015, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
SNAP-Ed/EAT SMART NEW YORK Program Launch
at The Farm at St. Joseph in Brentwood
July 15, 2015 at 10:00am
The Farm at St. Joseph
1725 Brentwood Road
Brentwood, NY
Cornell Cooperative Extensions of Suffolk County and Nassau County, along with Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, Inc. (FREE), is hosting the launch of the Long Island’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Eat Smart New York (SNAP-Ed/ESNY) Program at The Farm at St. Joseph. All media are invited to attend.
Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE-SC) of Suffolk County will oversee the SNAP-Ed/Eat Smart New York Obesity Prevention Program through 2019. CCE-SC will serve as the lead agency, working with CCE of Nassau and Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, Inc. (FREE).
The program will be funded for five years through a $6.5 million grant from the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. The grant is part of $14.7 million in federal funding provided to the state for nutritional education and assistance.
The goal of Eat Smart New York is to improve health and reduce obesity among low income families who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits or are SNAP eligible.
CCE of Suffolk/Nassau and FREE will bring education to families in targeted schools and communities to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and increase physical activity. Staff will also educate families who are eligible for food assistance but not yet receiving this benefit. A variety of education strategies will be utilized to reach low-income families—including policy and environmental approaches, and social media and marketing.
The USDA reports that more than 2 million New Yorkers, 12% of the state population, do not have enough money to meet their basic nutritional needs. Currently, there are 127,345 food assistance recipients in Suffolk and another 67,200 in Nassau plus a significant number of families who are eligible but do not receive assistance.
The Farm at St. Joseph is an affirmative business of Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, Inc. (FREE) a not for profit agency that supports individuals with intellectual disabilities, mental illness and traumatic brain injury. The Farm at St. Joseph provides an employment opportunity that includes land cultivation, harvesting produce and delivering the produce to the farm’s shareholders.
Last updated July 9, 2015