Support Food Access for Your Constituents

As grocery prices continue to rise, federal nutrition programs can help your constituents afford food. Elected officials can share outreach resources to help families connect with food assistance, while advancing policies that expand the reach and effectiveness of these critical programs.

Share Constituent Resources

• Help with SNAP: Visit FoodHelpNY.org to connect with local SNAP navigators who can help families through every step of the SNAP application process, from prescreening to submitting the application and required documents.
• Help with WIC: Visit our WIC Resource Center for free outreach resources to connect moms, moms-to-be, and young children with WIC. WIC provides healthy food, breastfeeding support, nutrition education, and other services.
• Summer meals & Summer EBT: Share free outreach resources to help families find free summer meal sites for kids. Eligible families can also participate in Summer EBT, which provides food benefits for low-income children during the summer break.
• School meals: Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, all 2.7M New York students in schools participating in the National School Lunch Program can receive a free breakfast and lunch every school day. Use our universal school meals outreach toolkit to share information with families.
• Child care meals: Child care providers and afterschool programs in your district may be eligible to serve healthy meals and snacks through the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Learn more and access outreach resources on ChildCareMealsNY.org.

Protect and Strengthen Nutrition Assistance Programs

We urge New York’s delegation to support the following legislative actions to protect food access:

• Cosponsor the MODERN WIC Act / 21st Century WIC Act (H.R. 1464 / S. 3842). Since 2020, families have been able to access WIC services remotely, a common-sense flexibility that has fueled dramatic and much-needed growth in WIC participation among New York’s children and families—but without Congressional action, that flexibility will expire on September 31, 2026. The MODERN WIC Act creates permanent virtual service options, modernizing WIC and alleviating barriers to this vital public health and nutrition program.
• Delay harmful SNAP cost shifts that jeopardize food assistance for children and families across the state. H.R.1 shifts massive SNAP costs from the federal government to state and county budgets, jeopardizing other critical state and local investments that help families meet their basic needs. Some states will receive a two-year delay, but New York is unlikely to qualify. In any Farm Bill or other viable legislative vehicle, New York’s delegation must prioritize expanding the two-year delay to all states, giving New York an equal chance to prepare for the cost shifts while protecting food access. Learn more here.
• Cosponsor additional bills that expand the reach and effectiveness of federal nutrition programs. Click here for current marker bills that will help more of your constituents access the food they need.

Learn More

Visit our federal nutrition program pages for additional information and resources:

• SNAP
• WIC
• Summer meals
• Summer EBT
• School meals
• CACFP