Broome County Council of Churches, Inc.

There are a variety of barriers that prevent people from eating healthy meals. One barrier is time poverty or lacking the time to plan, shop, and cook because of work, caregiving, and other responsibilities. Time poverty can be compounded by financial constraints, lack of basic kitchen equipment, age, and disability. The problem is stark in Broome County where nearly a quarter of adults are food-insecure, one in five residents is an older adult, and a quarter of individuals with disabilities live below the poverty level. Broome County’s housing crisis complicates the situation, as a large proportion of emergency housing is in hotels, where preparing healthy meals is challenging. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) does allow the purchase of prepared foods that are cold and eaten at home like pre-packaged and chilled meals, which opens opportunities for SNAP recipients to use their benefits to purchase healthy, prepared, grab-and-go meal options. In 2025, NYHealth awarded Broome County Council of Churches, Inc. a grant to improve food security for people with low-income in Broome County by expanding access to healthy grab-and-go meals for purchase with SNAP benefits.

Under this grant, the Broome County Council of Churches, Inc. (the Council) will develop a model for preparing and selling SNAP-eligible healthy grab-and-go meals at its grocery store and mobile market, which both accept SNAP, produce prescriptions through Food Is Medicine programs, and Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits. The Council will design culturally relevant meals, test and refine the model with community input, and launch SNAP-eligible meal sales. Lessons from the pilot will inform longer-term sustainability and be shared with nonprofit grocery partners and coalitions to support replication and broader access to SNAP-eligible prepared meals.