Gillibrand proposes bill that could help bring grocery store to Syracuse’s south side

The lawmaker on Monday visited the Valley Plaza to announce her Healthy Food Financing Initiative Reauthorization Act. She spoke at Food Access Healthy Neighborhoods Now Winter Market.

“When we look at many communities across our country and across the state, people don’t always have access to healthy nutritious foods. Food deserts are far too common and they disproportionately impact communities of color. And barriers to food access become even more common with [COVID-19] and inflation,” Gillibrand said in her remarks. “Here is Syracuse, we have an unacceptably high rate of food insecurity. Across Onondaga County, over 46,000 people, or nearly 10 percent of residents, were food insecure in 2021. According to the USDA, thousands of Onondaga County residents live in food deserts.”

Food deserts are areas where a significant portion of residents don’t have easy access to a grocery store and affordable, nutritious food, as described in Gillibrand’s news release. Instead, they are forced to rely on corner and convenience stores, which often sell “little to no” fresh produce, meat or dairy and “whose prices are higher” than those of a typical supermarket.

Gillibrand’s legislation would provide $50 million annually in mandatory federal funding for the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI). HFFI is a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that offers loans and grants to incentivize grocery stores to establish locations in underserved communities, such as Syracuse’s Valley neighborhood.

That area of Syracuse has lacked a large grocery store since the local Tops supermarket in the Valley Plaza shut down in 2018.

Gillibrand is also calling for $25 million for HFFI to be included in the upcoming government funding bill, her office said.

During her Monday afternoon announcement, Gillibrand was joined by Rhonda Vesey, co-founder and project director of Food Access Healthy Neighborhoods Now; Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh; Karen Belcher, executive director of the Food Bank of Central New York; and members of the Onondaga County Legislature.