West Side Center for Community Life, dba West Side Campaign Against Hunger

The emergency food system is made up of food pantries and food banks. Food pantries are community-based sites that provide people in need with free food, while food banks are regional entities that source and aggregate food. Food banks receive funding from the government to purchase food on behalf of food pantries. There are nearly 1.4 million New York City residents who are food-insecure, and many of these individuals regularly visit food pantries. With rising food costs and inflation, pantry utilization has more than doubled pre-pandemic levels. Many pantry clients are also requesting more fresh produce and products from their countries of origin, rather than the shelf-stable goods often stocked by pantries. In 2024, NYHealth awarded West Side Campaign Against Hunger (WSCAH) a grant to enable more food pantries across New York City to procure competitively priced, fresh, healthy, culturally relevant foods for clients. In 2025, NYHealth awarded WSCAH a grant to expand the utilization of a collective purchasing tool among New York City’s food pantries and soup kitchens, increasing their ability to efficiently purchase affordable, fresh, culturally relevant food for their clients during a time of significantly heightened need.

Under this grant, WSCAH will expand food pantries’ access to its pricing and purchasing tool, enabling organizations to analyze costs for items and identify opportunities for collective purchasing. It will engage food pantries and soup kitchens across New York City and provide technical assistance to ensure pantries can participate effectively. WSCAH will gather and assess data from pantries to generate cost savings, strengthen the case for scaling collective purchasing, and continue advocacy to secure increased funding and resources for the emergency food system statewide.