Gov. Kathy Hochul on Oct. 30 declared a state of emergency in New York and announced new actions including another $65 million in new food assistance funding. The actions came in response to the impending Trump administration stripping of food assistance from 3 million New Yorkers as part of defunding SNAP effective Nov. 1. As the federal government shutdown continues, the Trump administration has refused to release $6 billion in previously approved contingency funding that would continue food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for about 42 million U.S. citizens. Hochul made the emergency declaration and additional aid announcement at NY Common Pantry, a food bank in upper Manhattan.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat this on what is being unleashed on our people, not just here, but across the entire country,” Hochul said. “It’s coming. It’s coming. There’s still time to stop this. It doesn’t have to be this way. Republicans in Washington, get off the plane from globetrotting over there around the rest of the world. Get back in your office. Call in the leaders of the Republican Party — who, by the way, run the House, the Senate and the White House. Get together and figure this out.”
New York administers approximately $650 million per month in federally funded SNAP benefits to New Yorkers. While the $65 million in new state funding would not fully replace federal funding, $40 million would go toward the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP). HPNAP works in partnership with a network of about 2,700 Emergency Food Providers including food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters.
$25M in new funding would go to Nourish NY, which supplies surplus agricultural products such as milk, apples, cheese, yogurt, cabbage and squash to populations who need them through regional food banks, food pantries, soup kitchens, and community-based organizations that provide food for free to persons experiencing food insecurity.
“The new emergency funding brings our total investment this week alone to $106 million,” Hochul said. “That’ll provide over 56 million meals to help stock our food pantries and our distribution centers.”
Under the emergency. the state would deploy Empire State Service Corps and SUNY Corps members to support food banks. Currently, hundreds of SUNY students serve as peer navigators, helping fellow students complete SNAP applications and assisting at campus and local food pantries. The Empire State Service Corps will allow current members to expand their paid hours, enabling them to provide greater support at food pantries statewide. In addition, new short-term crisis response positions will be created to assist food pantries and food banks facing staffing shortages.
“My message to Republicans in Washington is to get back to work,” Hochul said. “Restore the health care premiums, turn the federal government back on and start feeding hungry Americans once again. And I look at scripture a lot. I was raised in a social justice Catholic household. Isaiah 58:10 says, ‘If you spend yourself on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed. Your light will rise from the darkness and your night will become like noonday.’ Caring for others is fundamental to my faith teachings and the faith teachings of all of us.”
