The history of the Council starts in 2013 when a Child Hunger Task Force was formed. This task force accomplished many objectives and goals. At the end of 2019, the founding members decided that they would like to form a Council to address food insecurity for the entire county for all people experiencing food insecurity. In 2020 during the COVID pandemic, the Council became an emergency food resource to provide food access and distribution across the County. In the Spring of 2021, the Council started to meet and formed a Steering Committee and sub-committees called “work groups”. Their goal was to begin the process of developing a food access plan for Broome County. At that time the Council had members from over 40 agencies and organizations around the county but did not have backbone support to help facilitate, network, and coordinate the council work forward. The council was put on pause at the beginning of 2022 until August when backbone support was hired to Coordinate the Council.
At present, the Council has over 185 members, 70 agencies and organizations represented, a Steering Committee, and 4 Work Groups. Their 24-month goal is to work towards a food access plan for Broome County.
To date, the Council's highlights include active involvement in the Healthy School Meals for All NY kids campaign, partnering with Binghamton University’s Food Justice group to compile a story map using GIS (Geographical Information Systems). This technology is being used across the country to map services, demographics of people, and transportation, strictly to tell a story of food insecurity in communities. The Council is starting to write the Food Access Plan. The plan should be complete by September 2024.
Our next meeting is Wednesday, September 18th, 2024, 9-11:30 AM. If you are interested in attending or if you would like to learn more about the Council, please feel free to contact: Theresa Krause: 607-796-6061 ext. 4032
The Council is grateful for the funding from NY Health Foundation.