INTRODUCTION
Good morning Chair Dromm, Chair Gibson and members of the Finance Committee and Capital Budget Subcommittee of the New York City Council. My name is Rachel Sabella and I am the Director of No Kid Hungry New York. Thank you for the opportunity to testify at today’s hearing on the Fiscal Year 2021 Executive Budget.
First, we thank the City Council for your steadfast commitment to protect New Yorkers from food insecurity, especially in light of the COVID-19 crisis. The City Council has long been a leader in this arena—from supporting Breakfast in the Classroom to the expansion of universal school meals to leading the charge for increased, baselined funding for food pantries and soup kitchens to creating food and hygiene pantries in New York City public schools and now being key partners in the “Feeding New York” plan—now, more than ever, we are grateful to count you as our partner in this work.
No Kid Hungry New York is a campaign of Share Our Strength, a national anti-hunger organization dedicated to ending hunger and poverty. Using proven, practical strategies, our No Kid Hungry campaign builds public-private partnerships with the goal of ensuring children have access to the healthy food they need, every day. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, No Kid Hungry has provided emergency grants across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to help school districts, food banks and other community organizations feed kids during this crisis. In addition to our grant-making, we have advocated for policies to address the unique barriers and unprecedented level of need brought on by this crisis – including national child nutrition waivers that offer flexibility to meal providers, expanded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Pandemic EBT – while offering strategic assistance to hundreds of local organizations. No Kid Hungry also launched a text line to help families locate meals and worked closely with New York City to customize the service to reflect specific offerings from the Department of Education.
Since 2011, our No Kid Hungry New York campaign has helped connect millions of children across the state with school breakfast and summer meals.
IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON HUNGER AND POVERTY IN NEW YORK CITY
The coronavirus pandemic has affected all parts of our lives as New Yorkers. More than 1.4 million New Yorkers have filed for unemployment since the start of the pandemic, leading to one of the worst unemployment crises in the city’s history. For many of our city’s children and families, the pandemic and its economic consequences has had a disastrous impact on food security. Prior to the pandemic, over 1.2 million New Yorkers were food insecure. Today, Mayor de Blasio estimates that around 2 million individuals are experiencing food insecurity. Food insecurity rates are even higher for children. Before the pandemic, 1 in 5 children in New York City faced food insecurity and with record jobs and wages lost, we estimate this number is now much higher. In fact, we fear a decade of progress may have been eliminated in a few short months.
Here’s what food insecurity looks like: In some families, the pantry is completely empty. In others, mom or dad skips dinner a few nights a week so the kids can have something to eat in the evening. Many families are making impossible decisions between paying their ConEd bill or buying groceries. All of these scenarios have a profound effect on kids and families.
When kids don’t get the consistent nutrition they need each day and throughout the year, it’s harder for them to grow up healthy, happy, and strong. Consistent access to nutrition is linked to cognitive and physical development, test scores and long-term health and education outcomes. With the economic impacts of the coronavirus reverberating across the city, an entire generation is at stake. The New York City Council must take decisive action to ensure that children have adequate nutrition whether at school or at home.
FY 2021 NEW YORK CITY EXECUTIVE BUDGET
Starting March 16, 2020—the day school buildings officially closed in New York City—the New York City Department of Education (DOE) Office of Food and Nutrition Services (OFNS) shifted its normal food service model to provide grab-and-go-meals to students across the city. Since then, OFNS has worked tirelessly to adapt, improve and increase their meal service. There are now more than 500 meal sites in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs serving upwards of 500,000 meals a day. These meal sites serve not just students, but parents and individuals in need of a nutritious meal. The sites also serve culturally appropriate foods, including halal and kosher meals, to ensure that no New Yorker goes hungry.
Maintaining Access to School Meals While Protecting Kids. Once schools re-open, OFNS will again likely have to entirely re-think their food service model. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends serving school breakfast and lunch in classrooms, rather than in the cafeteria, to reduce the risk of infection for schools experiencing minimal to moderate transmission levels. Though DOE continued rolling out Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) prior to the crisis, it was not in every New York City school building. In order to implement this model, there will be additional start-up costs and efforts associated with following the CDC best practice of moving school meals into the classroom. Keeping school meals accessible and safe is vital to children and families. It appears that PEGs in the budget would eliminate funding for BIC expansion and we urge you to ensure that the final FY21 budget reverses those cuts. While we recognize New York City is facing unprecedented financial challenges, both Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Council have listed eliminating hunger as a top priority. We must ensure DOE has every resource at their disposal to continue to feed children.
Providing Support and Protection for Nutrition Staff Working to Serve Vulnerable Families and Children. We also want to recognize the members of the DOE OFNS staff who are serving school meals on the front lines of the pandemic. The entire New York City school system relies on the incredible members of Local 372, DC 37 to provide nutritious meals to children during the school year. Now, they are helping to feed every New Yorker. As we look to the next fiscal year, we must ensure that OFNS has the funding they need to keep their staff members safe and to continue their essential work of feeding vulnerable children.
Informing Eligible Families about Resources Available to Help Them Make Ends Meet. With record unemployment numbers in New York City and across the country, safety net programs are more important than ever. Many families are struggling to put food on the table while balancing rent, health care costs, and other unavoidable expenses. Thankfully, federal programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and a new benefit called Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) exist to help families get back on their feet during hard times. However, these programs only work when people can access them. With many New Yorkers qualifying for benefits for the first time and fear still associated with participation in some programs due to immigration status, there is a clear need for outreach efforts to inform communities about these programs and help eligible families enroll in them. The programs are important tools to help families in New York City weather this crisis, and investing in outreach will help families keep their children healthy and fed.
Strengthen the Emergency Food Network. Further, we urge you to continue to add funding and support the emergency food network in New York City. Food pantries and soup kitchens are often the last line of defense against hunger for many families. We have seen emergency food providers be forced to close their doors across the city and those that are able to stay open are seeing an overwhelming number of clients. For the last several years, this City Council prioritized increased, baselined funding to the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) and we urge you to continue to work with the Administration to increase funding to this program as well as any program that strengthens the emergency food network in New York City.
Leverage Available Federal Resources to Help Provide Food Assistance. As infection rates in New York City decrease and we start looking to recovery, we urge New York City to take every opportunity to keep kids and families from going hungry. We encourage the City Council and Administration to explore all federal programs that could help New Yorkers facing food insecurity. For instance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is issuing grants through the Public Assistance Grant Program in response to the pandemic. State, local, and tribal governments are eligible for these Public Assistance grants during a disaster or emergency to cover qualifying costs, including those associated with the purchase and distribution of food, not covered by other federal programs. There may be opportunities for the City Council and Administration to leverage these grants to support programs that provide food assistance in New York City, such as helping schools pay for unforeseen costs associated with adjusting their school meals programs—a much needed support for strapped school budgets.
Despite these challenging circumstances, the Department of Education and other city agencies are taking the necessary steps to feed children and families across the city during this devastating time. I urge the City Council to fight for an FY21 New York City budget that protects and grows funding for programs and policies that keep our city nourished.
CONCLUSION
New York City is facing a time of unprecedented challenges and devastating loss. In order to rebuild stronger and help struggling New Yorkers, it is essential that we ALL come together to help the City rise again. As you continue deliberations on the FY21 New York City budget, I urge the New York City Council to continue to prioritize funding to programs that ensure no New Yorker faces hunger. No Kid Hungry New York stands at the ready to work with the de Blasio Administration, the New York City Council and our fellow New Yorkers to ensure all children and families have access to the food they need to thrive.