U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand recently visited the Thurston Road YMCA Neighborhood Center in Rochester to announce legislation providing $50 million annually to help end food deserts across western New York.
The legislation is a part of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), a USDA program that offers loans and grants for grocery stores to open in underserved communities.
Many Rochester neighborhoods are classified as food deserts, including the 19th Ward since the closing of Walgreens on the corner of Thurston Road and Brooks Avenue in 2022.
Food deserts are areas where residents don’t have easy access to a grocery store and affordable, nutritious food. These residents either have to travel over a mile to the closest grocery store or rely on convenience stores, which often sell little to no fresh produce, meat, or dairy products. For the stores that carry those items, the prices are usually higher than those of a typical supermarket.
“An easily accessible grocery store is a basic necessity, but for years, residents of the 19th Ward and other underserved communities in Rochester haven’t had consistent access to one. It’s unacceptable,” Gillibrand said.