WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JANUARY 28, 2021 13
De Blasio must reauthorize emergency
funding for hungry New Yorkers
BY COREY JOHNSON, DAVID GREENFIELD
AND SHEENA WRIGHT
New York City will be hurting for
a long time. We have lost family,
friends, neighbors and loved
ones in the fi ght against COVID-19 and
its many rippling devastations. Millions
of New Yorkers are out of work. Our seniors
are homebound and isolated. Children
are out of school, and away from
friends and teachers, as their parents
struggle to put food on the table.
We want to rebuild a city where all
New Yorkers can thrive, but right now
New Yorkers are hungry and struggling
to aff ord basic needs. The Council has
led the way calling for re-authorizing
the $25 million in emergency food pantry
funding distributed last May. Mayor
de Blasio must act again. Millions of
New Yorkers still need this support.
As we plan for our fi scal future and
the healing this city will need for years
to come, it’s crucially important that we
don’t forget the millions of New Yorkers
hurting right now and the role our food
pantries play in helping them put food
on the table.
Last May, the city, responding to calls
from a united City Council, acted boldly
to get $25 million in emergency funding
for food providers who knew their communities
best. The challenges caused
by COVID-19 were unprecedented
and wide-ranging. The pandemic
forced pantries and soup kitchens to
close; disrupted supply chains; caused
shortages of staff and volunteers due
to quarantine; and forced pantries to
make signifi cant changes to their operations
to meet new safety and social
distancing protocols.
Fortunately, the availability and fl exibility
of the city’s emergency funding
helped avert a larger hunger crisis in
New York City, enabling providers to
open additional pop-up sites, purchase
PPE and needed equipment, and do
whatever it took to ensure that those
in need could access nutritious food.
With the funding organizations
that serve the hungry received, they
provided millions of dollars’ worth of
food, direct fi nancial support and technical
assistance to the food pantries in
their networks. This provided healthy
and nutritious meals to New Yorkers
in need.
The three-way partnership between
the de Blasio administration, City
Council and leaders of New York City’s
emergency food system was key to its
success. Met Council and United Way
of New York City worked closely with
OP-ED
the Mayor’s Offi ce of Food Policy, City
Council members, Catholic Charities,
City Harvest, Food Bank for New
York and other organizations. These
organizations met regularly to assess
needs and develop a coordinated funds
distribution plan.
This enabled decisions to be made by
organizations directly working in our
communities in need, but also facilitated
coordination to avoid overlap, ensured
equitable distribution in priority neighborhoods,
and maximized the reach of
the city’s funds for emergency food.
This benefi ted the entire ecosystem of
emergency food providers, ensuring
no community was overlooked.
Demand has never been so immense
or the situation so dire. Parents are
reducing their own meals to feed their
children.
There are thousands of elderly New
Yorkers, including Holocaust survivors
and people with disabilities, who are
homebound, and vulnerable to COVID-
19. There are cab drivers and college
students who need support, as well as
small business owners who went under
in this challenging economic and social
environment. Families who have lost
a provider at home, especially among
Black and Brown communities, are
struggling fi nancially. New Yorkers
who are undocumented and have
been left out of federal relief depend
on emergency food providers for
meals. Millions of New Yorkers rely on
assistance from Met Council, United
Way for New York City and others to
provide them with safe, reliable access
to healthy meals and groceries. These
are our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers
and our family.
There is so much to do. While hope
is on the horizon, we cannot forget or
abandon those hurting right now as
more and more New Yorkers rely on
food pantries for survival every day.
Corey Johnson is the City Council
speaker; David Greenfi eld is Met Council
CEO; Sheena Wright is United Way of
New York City President & CEO
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