County committee advances $3 million matching plan to help launch Electric City Food Cooperative

Schenectady County’s Food and Nutrition committee voted to report a resolution that would allow the county manager to sign a grant agreement with Electric City Food Cooperative Inc. Ray Gillen of Metroplex told the committee the co-op had satisfied the legislature’s conditions by signing a lease for 15,000 square feet in the renovated Wedgeway Building and securing matching funds totaling $3,000,000. "They met the requirement for the lease and they met the requirement to match the $3,000,000," Gillen said.

Gillen reviewed prior county efforts to address food access, including streetscape and redevelopment projects that helped recruit grocers to underserved neighborhoods. He said the co-op won a $2,100,000 state grant, a $1,000,000 grant from the city, a $150,000 federal grant and had raised about $1,350,000 in member capital, meeting the county’s stated thresholds by the 12/31/2025 deadline. County staff indicated all county disbursements would be for capital construction draws as work progresses.

Legislators voted to move the resolution forward. The committee report will allow the interim County Manager to execute an agreement to disperse the funds if the full legislature approves the grant resolution.