Mayor Eric Adams announced a slate of public-private initiatives Saturday to help fill the gap left by the federal food assistance pause as the U.S. government shutdown stretches into its second month.
The effort comes as more than 1.8 million New Yorkers — including 540,000 children and 540,000 older adults — have stopped receiving benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The city typically receives about $420 million a month in SNAP benefits, according to the mayor’s office. In contrast, New York City budgeted $820 million for the entire fiscal year for food services, with another $15 million in emergency investments announced last month.
Adams said local efforts won’t come close to replacing federal funding but urged businesses, philanthropies and community members to help prevent hunger.
“While we sadly can never provide as much support as our federal partners, our social services agencies are ready to help New Yorkers in need, and we’re calling on business leaders, philanthropic partners, faith leaders, and community members to join us in this effort,” Adams said in a statement.
According to the mayor’s office, the initiatives will be spearheaded by the New York Community Trust, which will direct donations to nonprofits across the region.
Those include City Harvest, which rescues food that would otherwise go to waste and distributes it to New Yorkers; Food Bank for New York City, which partners with 800 groups to deliver food across all five boroughs; and the Roundtable: Allies for Food Access, a coalition of nine large food pantries and soup kitchens.
Among them is the Met Council, which provides kosher and halal food. The organization said it is receiving an additional $200,000 from the city and another $200,000 in private donations. CEO David G. Greenfield said the Met Council has already seen a 15% uptick in demand and expects a 30% increase in the coming week.
“We are working overtime to make sure that folks have the food that they need, especially some of the key products when we think about the food that we’re giving out,” he said.
A spokesperson for Food Bank For NYC said 87% of the food pantries that had distributions this weekend recorded an increase in attendees over the weekend. Meanwhile, more than half had less to give per household to ensure everyone on line got something to eat, and nearly a quarter said they ran out of food, according to the organization.
The mayor’s office said the city is also managing a resource list for affected SNAP recipients and conducting outreach in partnership with local food providers.
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