Connecticut has increased funding for food pantries in response to higher grocery prices and cuts to federal food assistance programs.
The increase is for CT-NAP, the Connecticut Nutrition Program. It gets $3 million this year and $6 million next year, up from $850,000 a year it has had for the past 20 years.
Governor Ned Lamont said on Tuesday at a news briefing at Connecticut Foodshare, a nonprofit that services food pantries in all 169 towns and cities in the state, that the increase is needed to make up for some of the loss in federal food assistance from Washington.
“People are hungry, and we are getting less food support from Washington every day. We are going to work closely with our farmers; we are going to work closely with our partners in Foodshare to make sure that not one kid goes hungry in this state,” Lamont said.
“People have to choose whether they want to pay their rent, do they want to pay their electricity, do they want to pay for their mediations, or do they want to buy food,” said Jason Jakubowski, the president of Foodshare.
“Here in the state of Connecticut, we want to make sure that that is not something that people ever have to choose,” he said.
He said the money to Foodshare is to be used only to purchase food, and about 15% of that is for produce from local farms.
One in seven Connecticut residents struggles with hunger, and 1 in 6 children lack proper nutrition, according to state officials.
