Albany, NY – April 5, 2023 – Feeding New York State, the state association of New York’s 10 Feeding America member food banks, applauds Speaker Heastie, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and the state legislature for uplifting New York families in their respective budget proposals. Both the Assembly and Senate budgets include critical investments that would reduce hunger, poverty, and food insecurity across the state.
Over the last year, federal relief measures – which helped avert a hunger crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic – came to an end. Congress’s failure to extend these interventions caused over 726,000 students across New York to lose no-cost school meals, and nearly 3 million New Yorkers to see a steep drop in their monthly SNAP benefits beginning last month.
Thankfully, New York is not powerless in the fight against hunger. With leaders in Albany currently negotiating New York’s FY 2024 budget, we’d like to highlight some of the key investments and provisions included in the legislature’s one-house budgets:
- Healthy School Meals for All
- Adequate funding for New York’s anti-hunger programs including the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP), Nourish New York, and the Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP)
- More ambitious proposals to raise the state’s minimum wage
- Additional support to address the disproportionately high rates of food insecurity on college campuses
We know that eradicating hunger and poverty will require significant action from the federal government. But in the meantime, New York has a responsibility to step up and look after our most vulnerable.
It is our view that the New York Legislature has put forth budget proposals that would uplift hungry New Yorkers. We respectfully call on Governor Hochul to support these investments.
