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Senator Sue Serino to visit the Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market to support Field & Fork Network’s Double Up Food Bucks Program

Senator Sue Serino to visit the Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market to support Field & Fork Network’s Double Up Food Bucks Program

SUE SERINO

July 12, 2022

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – The Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum is pleased to host Senator Sue Serino at its Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market at 3:30 pm on Monday, July 11, 2022, to support the Market’s second year of participation in the Double Up Food Bucks Program (DUFB). DUFB is a program through Field & Fork Network that doubles the amount of money that SNAP EBT card users can use to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables. For every SNAP dollar spent at the Market (up to $20), patrons receive an additional dollar. DUFB at the Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market starts July 11th and runs until October 24th .

The Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum launched the Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market in 2017 in response to a community-wide need for greater access to fresh, healthy foods. In doing so, the Museum became the first children’s museum in the country to open a public farmers market as a strategy to reduce food insecurity among its families and within the City of Poughkeepsie. The Market has since expanded its operations to ensure greater availability of farm fresh foods for residents and guests while showcasing the agricultural bounty of local Hudson Valley farms. Field & Fork Network has been a critical partner in further increasing access to fresh produce while offering the opportunity for local farmers and producers to sell more product.

The Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market first utilized the DUFB in 2021, and it has been well received. Market vendors such as Maynard Farms, Dutchess Outreach, and J&J Farms carry products that qualify for DUFB. “SNAP EBT customers are eagerly awaiting the start of the Double Up Food Bucks program. It is such an amazing program. I see firsthand the gratitude and relief people feel when they are given extra dollars to shop with no strings attached,“ says Market Manager, Josephine DaCosta.

“The Double Up Food Bucks Program (DUFB) not only helps connect area families with fresh, healthy food options, it also provides a boost to local growers making it a major win for the Hudson Valley community. We thank the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum for being a great community partner and for working to ensure that the Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market continues to be an invaluable resource for our neighbors,” says Senator Sue Serino.

Christine Paris, from Maynard Farms, comments, “As a small, local farm we’re always looking to connect with our community and participate in incentive programs that are offered. We’re especially proud to participate in the Double Up Food Bucks program. Double Up Food Bucks is a great program that helps to expand one’s food budget to encourage more healthy fruits and vegetables, while at the same time supporting local farmers and Farmer’s Markets!”

Families that are not on SNAP, but who were issued a P-EBT card, as part of a pandemic relief package for children in public school for the 2020-2021 school year, can use their P-EBT Cards and receive the benefits the Double Up Food Bucks Program provides. For more information about the Double Up Food Bucks Program visit doubleupnys.com.

About Double Up Food Bucks NY

Double Up Food Bucks NY is a statewide nutrition incentive program, administered by Field & Fork Network that provides SNAP participants with a dollar-for-dollar match to increase affordability and access to fresh healthy foods at farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets, and grocery stores. In New York State, Double Up has contributed to 4.8 million pounds of healthy food sales to over 32,000 customers, at more than 180 sites spanning 28 counties. To learn more about Double Up Food Bucks and a complete list of participating sites, please visit the program website and social media sites, or call 1-800-682- 5016. www.doubleupnys.com | Facebook Instagram

About Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market

The Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market, now in its 6th year, is open to the public and features farm fresh vegetables, fruits, eggs, poultry, baked goods, beef, pork, and more. Applications for Summer Vendors are being accepted. The Market is a vibrant, weekly celebration of the Hudson Valley and is under a fully covered, open-air pavilion on the Hudson River. The Market accepts both SNAP and WIC benefits. Eligible market patrons should check in at the Market Manager table for info about SNAP and DUFB benefits. The Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market offers free onsite parking at the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum during the Market hours. The Market is held on Monday afternoons from 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm in the Pavilion at the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum, 75 North Water Street in Poughkeepsie. Please note: There is NO market on Monday, July 4th .

For Market updates, events, and follow the Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market on Facebook (www.facebook.com/POKWaterfrontMarket) and Instagram (poughkeepsiewaterfrontmarket). For more information on becoming a vendor at the Poughkeepsie Waterfront Market visit: www.mhcm.org/visit/poughkeepsie-waterfront-market or email market@mhcm.org. The Poughkeepsie Waterfront

Market is managed by the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum.

Link to original article: https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sue-serino/senator-sue-serino-visit-poughkeepsie-waterfront-market-support

In the News: Dealing with a ‘Food Desert’

Dealing with a ‘food desert’

USA NIAGARA: Expansion of healthy food options in city being explored.

By Philip Gambini philip.gambini@niagara-gazette.com

Jan 5, 2019

Officials at the state-run agency that typically focuses on property acquisition and corporate assistance are also considering healthy food options as an economic tool.

Staff at USA Niagara Development Corp. are in the preliminary stages of exploring an incentivized food purchasing policy with an aim to encourage large institutions and businesses to provide nutritious offerings bought from local providers.

Rob Sozanski, an associate planner and project manager with the USAN, has briefed the Niagara Falls City Council on the policy idea as part of an action plan developed by a mayoral task force. The plan was endorsed by lawmakers in December.

“We have a really robust agricultural landscape in Niagara County,” he said.

The policy idea is an outgrowth of Mayor Paul Dyster’s Healthy Food, Healthy People Task Force, which covered multiple local stakeholders to contemplate solutions to various food-related issues. Laura Magee, a spokesperson for USAN, said similar policies have been successful elsewhere in the country.

“By increasing procurement/purchasing from Western New York farmers and producers, these institutions and businesses may be able to generate positive economic and workforce impacts while providing fresh, high-quality food to local customers, students and patients,” she said.

Tom Lowe, the director of Niagara University’s ReNU Niagara program, described the larger food action plan as a “guiding document.” It enacts no official measures and will require the work of others to implement its ideas.

According to the document, among the most pressing issues – and one that has been talked about in the city for sometime – is the existence of a “food desert” in the the Falls’s North End. The term refers to a general lack of access to fresh food within walking distance of a given community.

Alex Wright, a leader with the African Heritage Food Co-op, was involved with the plan and sees his organization as a way to address the lack of access.

But Wright prefers to call it by another name, “food apartheid,” due to what he told the Niagara Gazette earlier this year was the purposeful divestment of resources in black and brown communities across the country.

The absence of healthy food options helps generate “higher rates of diabetes, hypertension (and) high blood pressure” in minority communities, Wright said.

“It will solve the problem of people having to travel 30 to 45 minutes to get fresh fruits and vegetables,” he said.

Wright said the group made its first hire late last year in what he expects will be a group of 35 local employees in the next two years.

 

Link to the original article: https://www.niagara-gazette.com/news/local_news/dealing-with-a-food-desert/article_ac5caff3-01da-523f-829a-95ef223f6499.html