Food Bank For New York City continually works to raise awareness and support for hunger relief through media outreach and information sharing. Here are highlights of the recent stories that have featured the Food Bank:

NY1, “Food Bank Offers Free Tax Help As Uncle Sam Offers Sizable Tax Credit”
With tax season officially in full swing, the Food Bank For New York City, elected official and government agencies join forces to make sure New Yorkers get back every penny they deserve…read more [Includes VIDEO]

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “Free Tax Site Helps Brooklynites File for EITC Credits”
The Food Bank partners with the Brooklyn Community Foundation and Capital One Bank to provide tax assistance for the working poor in northern Brooklyn as part of our Tax Assistance Program...read more

The Huffington Post, “My 2010 Wish List for NYC”
Gordon Campbell, President and CEO of United Way NYC, brings in the New Year with a loud cheer and his recommendations of achievable goals for 2010 that will help low-income New Yorkers…read more

The Economist, Letter to the Editor
Food Bank For New York City President and CEO Lucy Cabrera responds to “The Big Apple Is Hungry,” published in January 2010 by The Economist…read more

The Packer, “Produce Industry Contributes Heavily to Feeding New York’s Hungry”
The Packer — the leading source of news for the fresh fruit and vegetable industry — explores the Food Bank’s food distribution efforts, which provided more than 13 million pounds of fresh produce for New Yorkers in need in fiscal year 2009…read more

by Ashley Goforth

Congressman Charles Rangel shows his support for strong student leadership as he chats with students trained as tax preparers from Frederick Douglass Academy and Rice High School.

Our free tax services can constitute a significant step from food poverty toward self-sufficiency.

Food Bank Board Chair Rev. Henry Belin hosted our special guest speakers at the kickoff event and emphasized the importance of community support for the program.

For the Food Bank, February means tax assistance is in high gear and heading full speed into the April 15 tax deadline. At the start of the month, the Community Kitchen & Food Pantry of West Harlem hosted a press conference to kick of the tax season and to remind New York City residents that many of them may be eligible for free tax-return preparation and electronic filing at 14 sites citywide operated by the Food Bank’s Tax Assistance Program and online through the IRS and New York State Free File Alliance programs. On hand to discuss the merits of the program was Congressman Charles Rangel; IRS Commissioner Douglas Schulman; NYC Department of Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jonathan Mintz; and Human Resources Administration Commissioner Robert Doar; Ed Black, President and CEO of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA); and Brad Smith, President and CEO of Intuit Inc.

Then, on February 18, the Food Bank, Capital One Bank and the Brooklyn Community Foundation joined forces to bring attention to the program at the Fulton Street Capital One, where our program provides tax assistance for the northern Brooklyn community. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz joined Fran Freedman, LMSW, Deputy Commissioner, External Affairs  NYC Department of Consumer Affairs; our Vice President of Agency Resources & Benefit Access Carlos Rodriguez and Capital One’s Brooklyn Market President B.J. Duffy to extol the benefits of free tax assistance.

The Food Bank’s Tax Assistance Program provides low-income New Yorkers with free tax preparation services as well as information on how to access the various credits they are entitled to – including the Earned Income Tax Credit , a key piece of the public safety net for the working poor. One of the largest programs of its type in the country, the Food Bank's Tax Assistance Program has completed up to 50,000 tax returns for low- to moderate-income New Yorkers annually — helping to provide as much as $100 million in tax refunds.

If you think you may be eligible for EITC, use Intuit’s free EITC calculator today. For a listing of the Food Bank’s Tax Assistance Program sites, click here.

by Daniel Buckley

Every year, the Food Bank For New York City convenes our Annual Agency Conference — the largest gathering of our city’s hunger relief community — for workshops, a panel discussion, keynote speeches and more to strengthen our city’s response to hunger.

In addition to members of our food program network and other hunger-relief organizations throughout the five boroughs, leading legislators, policy makers and academics often attend, adding their voice and support to the struggle to end hunger. At this year’s conference – January 12, 2010 – the Food Bank was honored to provide a forum for NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Comptroller John Liu and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to present their views and goals on subjects ranging from food stamps to food production.

While we face drastic cuts to emergency food proposed by New York City and State, the appearance of four of our city’s most prominent leaders at the Food Bank’s conference shows that there is strong awareness and support of the needs of low-income New Yorkers in city government.

Their words give us hope for the future of our city – please take a moment to hear them for yourself:

by Carly Rothman

The New York Budget pas de deux is in full swing — and both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson are dangerously close to trampling on New York City’s most vulnerable.

It started with the governor’s budget proposal last month, in which he called for a $1.2 million reduction in the amount budgeted for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP), a state program that provides funds to approximately 2,500 emergency food organizations statewide.

The governor’s proposal also called for a $1.3 billion drop in overall state funding for New York City. In response, last week Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a preliminary budget that outlined steps the city could take if the governor’s plan succeeds — a list that includes eliminating New York’s Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP), which provides millions of dollars in funding to about 500 local soup kitchens and food pantries each year.

“[It’s] just a possibility, but in the aggregate it has to be something like this,” the mayor said.

That’s scary talk in a city where roughly 40 percent of residents have difficulty affording food.

Last year alone, more than 90 percent of the city’s soup kitchens and food pantries saw a rise in demand. Even an influx of federal stimulus dollars couldn’t save many of our city’s emergency food providers from having to turn families away. And while stimulus funding will disappear this year, demand for emergency food isn’t expected to abate.

President Obama seems to recognize the need to provide for America’s most vulnerable. Despite his call to cap federal discretionary funding, the budget released by the president this week calls for an investment in Child Nutrition programs, and preserves funding for emergency food assistance.

Even with this federal aid, significant cuts to food assistance at the state and local level would be devastating to those who depend on these funds to eat.

“You have my commitment that we won’t let the quality of life decline now,” Mayor Bloomberg said in his budget address, calling on New York to “do more with less.”

But those who turn to soup kitchens and food pantries are already struggling to do more with less. They are falling behind on rent. They aren’t filling needed prescriptions. The food pantry and soup kitchen are often their last resort.

It’s bad enough that families are sacrificing basic needs to balance their budgets. New York City and State should not follow them down that desperate, dangerous road.

by Carly Rothman

In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama’s call to freeze federal discretionary spending raised alarms about the future of discretionary nutrition assistance programs, including certain components of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). But the budget he released on Monday demonstrates his administration’s commitment to keeping food on the tables of America’s most vulnerable.

White House Photo, Pete Souza, 1/27/10

According to an analysis by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), the president’s budget would preserve $246.5 million for commodity purchases under TEFAP, as well as another $50 million for transportation and distribution costs.

It also calls for an investment of $10 billion for Child Nutrition programs over the next decade and the strengthening of programs including SNAP/Food Stamps, school meals and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

The president has said he wants to end child hunger by 2015. The expansions he has proposed, particularly for child nutrition, are a promising step — especially in a budget that includes cuts — but achieving this goal will require far more.

Food Bank For New York City applauds President Obama for protecting these vital programs during a national fiscal crisis. It’s a good starting point for a strong Child Nutrition Reauthorization that includes Universal School Meals. And it sends the clear message that feeding people in need is especially important during hard times – a message we hope state and city leaders also hear and take to heart.

by Triada Stampas

Comparing America to a “cash-strapped family,” President Obama announced a tightening of the federal money belt in his State of the Union Address this week.

“We will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t,” he said. “Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years.”

Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security won’t be affected, the president said — but all discretionary government programs could find their way to the chopping block. And if The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is among the programs that land there, New York’s cash-strapped families will suffer.

Last year, TEFAP helped protect millions of struggling American families from hunger, distributing about $250 million in food to emergency food providers.

In New York City, 40 percent of families reported difficulty affording food last year. TEFAP — which received a major boost from the stimulus bill — was a key reason that figure was lower than the year before (48 percent).

Even with this temporarily increased help from TEFAP, more than half of our city’s food pantries and soup kitchens have reported running out of food or having to turn people away in recent years, unable to keep up with the dramatically increased demand.

Without TEFAP and other federal nutrition programs, even more families could face closed doors.

To be sure, the president’s speech wasn’t all doom and gloom for families in need.

His commitment to double the child care tax credit and to expand the tax credit for “those who start a nest egg” could free up families to spend more precious resources on food. The Food Bank’s Tax Assistance Program, which already helps thousands of New York City’s working poor access critical tax credits, will help many others achieve greater financial stability.

Low-income families could also achieve greater financial empowerment — the key to ending food poverty — through the president’s efforts to reduce the high cost of health care. In addition, First Lady Michelle Obama’s choice to spearhead the fight against childhood obesity could improve the health — and reduce health care costs — for millions of low-income children.

Although the president has said he hopes to end child hunger by 2015, that goal will never be reached without protecting critical food and nutrition programs. Tough choices lie ahead, but if we are to protect our country’s children and their struggling families, cutting these programs cannot be among them.

by Triada Stampas

Last year the Obama administration made promising gestures toward improving child nutrition in America, including a proposal to add $1 billion to child nutrition programs.

Food Bank For New York City continually works to raise awareness and support for hunger relief through media outreach and information sharing. Here are highlights of the recent stories that have featured the Food Bank:

CNN International, “Growing Number of New Yorkers Depend on Food Help”
CNN International visits the Food Bank’s Community Kitchen & Food Pantry of West Harlem to examine a nationwide increase in need for food assistance...read more [includes VIDEO]

New York Daily News, “Queens Sees Huge Surge In Demand for Emergency Meals & Food”
Queens has seen a whopping 106 percent spike in the number of emergency meals being provided to hungry residents in the past two years — the second-highest increase in the city — according to a recent report on hunger from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand...read more

The New York Post, “Target Gives $5K to Boro Soup Kitchen”
Target Stores donates $5,000 to Food Bank network member Biblica Restauracion church and soup kitchen in Sunnyside, Queens...read more
 

by Paul Hernandez

According to a recent New York Times article, more and more Americans are taking part in the Food Stamp Program (now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) — both because there is more need during this enduring recession, and because the stigma attached this resource has lessened.

When I was growing up, my family received food stamps for many years. At the time, I felt ashamed — not only because food stamps signified that we were poor, which we were, but also because it was unavoidably clear to anyone around when we used our food stamps. At the time, there were only certain items that you could buy with food stamps; at the same time the list of acceptable items was ambiguous. While generic cereals might be alright, brand name cereal might not. And, most times, you wouldn’t find out until you got to the cashier. I can tell you, there’s nothing worse than being a young teenager at your small-town grocery store when the checkout lady loudly announces, “You can’t buy diapers with food stamps.”

And, while food stamps are now provided on a card that you can swipe at the check out just like a typical debit card, at the time food stamps were provided in a packet that made them look like Monopoly money. Each stamp had a specific dollar value. And, as I recollect, stores had to give you change in real money and they wouldn’t give more than one dollar worth of change. As a result, we had to keep our total within a dollar of the amount of food stamps we had, meaning that some months we ran out of ones or fives and would either have to leave some items at the register or run and grab some extra items just to bump up our total. I remember once buying an extra fifteen packages of gum so we could still get all the items we needed.

Much of that has changed today, and the food stamp program is growing because of it. Perhaps it’s time for people who stigmatize the program to rethink their preconceptions, especially those who qualify for but aren’t receiving food stamps. The Food Bank’s Food Stamp Outreach Program helps to connect qualified people with food stamps, and along the way works hard to reduce the stigma associated with accepting this benefit — essential for so many individuals and families. I know that if I needed food stamps today, I wouldn’t hesitate to apply, Monopoly money or no.

Meet other Americans who benefit from food stamps, many of whom have struggled with the decision to accept help, in the New York Times’s “Food Stamp Use Soars, and Stigma Fades.”

Paul Hernandez, a recent graduate of Princeton University, works in the Food Bank’s Business Partnerships department.

by Ashley Baughman

NYC Hunger Experience 2009: A Year in Recession — the Food Bank For New York City’s new report, just released — reveals that throughout the five boroughs, the number of residents experiencing difficulty affording food decreased from 3.9 million (48 percent) in 2008 to 3.3 million (40 percent) in 2009 — even as all indicators, from soaring unemployment to rising food insecurity, suggest that today’s environment is even worse for low- and middle-income households. Is it possible that affording food has been easier for New Yorkers during the past year of the recession?

These findings suggest that the response to the economic crisis in the last year, including the federal stimulus package (the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, ARRA), had a real impact. ARRA and other measures bolstered resources for emergency food, food stamp benefits, the Earned Income Tax Credit, unemployment benefits and other supports for low- and middle-income families. These resource increases were an important step. However, as the lines at food assistance sites grew — including an increase in the number of first-time visitors reported by 93 percent of the soup kitchens and food pantries in our network — emergency food organizations citywide are still struggling to stretch resources and many have been forced to reduce their services.

And, while the Food Bank has worked hard to confront the unprecedented level of need seen over the past year, the 3.3 million New Yorkers experiencing difficulty affording food in 2009 continues the steady rise in need we have seen over the past six years.

As we look to 2010, most of the increases in support — designed as temporary responses to the recession — will soon end. The danger of losing ground and continuing this steady and worrisome trend is real. Further, in the current federal fiscal year, New York City is budgeted to receive half as much food from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) — an important piece of the hunger safety net — as we did last year.

Therefore, it is essential to address growing demand at soup kitchens and food pantries with immediate support for the hunger safety net that we know works. We must also implement permanent, long-term solutions to food poverty, including establishing affordable housing, health care and a living wage.

For further information from the Food Bank's recent report, NYC Hunger Experience 2009, download the full report and listen to Food Bank Vice President of Research, Policy & Education Áine Duggan on WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer Show."