Sacred Heart Academy kicked off the 2023-2024 school year by holding their annual opening school Liturgy where students, faculty, and staff join in prayer for the SHA community. Another tradition on this meaningful day is the presentation of the Justice and Peace Award to an individual who has made a difference through her work in an area of justice. This year's recipient is Rachel Sabella '98.
Rachel Sabella has been a respected advocate, strategist, and leader for nonprofit organizations for more that 20 years. She has been the Director of No Kid Hungry New York, a campaign of Share Our Strength, since 2018. In this role, Ms. Sabella works closely with stakeholders across New York State to ensure children have access to the nutrition they need to grow and thrive. She oversees grant-making, awareness building, programmatic and advocacy priorities for No Kid Hungry New York and manages relationships with state and local policymakers. Since the start of the pandemic, she developed a strategy and new partnerships to distribute more than $8 million in emergency grant funding to organizations across the state of New York and Puerto Rico to connect more kids and families to meals. She has led successful advocacy campaign at both the city and state levels on issues including expanding access to school meal programs and SNAP in order to connect more New Yorkers with meals. Ms. Sabella also serves as a member of the NYS Council on Hunger and Food Policy and was appointed to Mayor-Elect Eric Adam's transition team.
Prior to this role, Ms. Sabella serves as the Director of Government Relations and Policy for the Food Bank For New York City. During this time, she lead advocacy to unprecedented support for food pantries and soup kitchens in New York City. Her advocacy efforts also led to the creation of 25 school-based pantries that distribute food, menstrual and hygiene products, and household cleaning supplies to families in need.
Ms. Sabella is often quoted in the media about food insecurity, complex policy issues and programs to help New Yorkers put food on the tables. She has appeared in numerous television and radio shows and in print media publications including NY1's Inside City Hall, PIX11, CBS1, NBCNewYork, Fox5, News12, NPR, the New York Daily News, 1010WINS, The Hill and the Capitol Pressroom.
Before that, Ms. Sabella worked for more than eight years at ExpandED Schools (formerly known as The After-School Corporations, TASC) as Senior Director of Government Relations. She also worked in Washington DC for the National PTA and Afterschool Alliance in support of programs to help families and children across the nation. She has been recognized by the New York City Council as a "New York City woman of Distinction," Schnepps Media as a "2021 Power Woman of Long Island" and by City and State as a 2021 and 2022 "Responsible 100" honoree and a 2022 "Above and Beyond: Women" honoree. Ms. Sabella has a Masters in Social and Public Policy from the State University of New York and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Boston College. She is a lifelong and proud New Yorker.