Recent Press Releases

For Immediate Release: April 1, 2012

A few months after a man who claimed to be Mayor of New York City, using an assumed name “Bloomberg,” declared that panhandlers no longer existed in the city, thousands of panhandlers held a rally at Zuccotti Park to declare that the Mayor didn’t exist.

Advocates Blast “Beyond the Pale Demonizing of Poverty"

For Immediate Release: January 6, 2012

Advocates Also Release Point-by-Point Rebuttal of Bloomberg Claims

Joel Berg, Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, issued this statement:

“On John Gambling's radio show this morning, Mayor Bloomberg claimed that, just as we will never know how much terrorism was prevented by the New York Police Department, we will never know how much fraud was prevented by food stamps finger imaging. Comparing all food stamps recipients – the vast-majority of whom are law-abiding citizens – to terrorists, even indirectly, is a beyond the pale demonizing of people forced to live in poverty. In another recent statement by the Mayor, he said that collecting DNA from criminals is essentially the same as collecting their finger prints. There is no question that finger imaging is an electronic stop-and- frisk, which assumes that low-income people are guilty until proven innocent. In yet another recent interview, Bloomberg implied that all people who didn’t want to give their finger prints have something to hide. This was another shocking statement that entirely ignores both the Bill of Rights and shows a disregard for the civil liberties that prevent America from becoming a totalitarian society. It is truly heartbreaking that a Mayor with a reputation for non-ideological, data-based governing – who has taken fact-based, common sense, stands on issues like gun control, religious liberty, and marriage equity – descends into misinformed right-ring rants against low-income people that drag him down into the Newt Gingrich realm.

Praise Governor’s “Common Sense Call” to End Food Stamps Finger Imaging

For immediate release: January 4, 2012

Advocates Blast “Holiday-Weekend Cover-Up of Failing Policies”

For immediate release: December 31, 2011

According to data posted on the web site of the City’s Human Resources Administration just before the close of business on Friday, the City removed 13,015 people from the federal Food Stamp rolls in November of 2011. Click here to view the PDF file of HRA's November 2011 numbers. Despite soaring poverty and unemployment in New York City, Food Stamp Program participation has decreased in six of the last 12 months in the city, even though it has increased significantly during that time in the rest of New York State and nationwide.

USDA Data: 1 out of 4 Children in NYC is Food Insecure

Advocates ask, “Why aren’t kids and local food programs ‘Too Big to Fail’”?

• Download the Hunger Survey Report here (PDF).
• Download the full Citywide Press Release here (PDF).
  

The number of New York State residents that live below the poverty line ($18,310 for a family of three) increased by 11% from the 2007-2008 time period to the 2009-2010 time period, according to new federal Census data released today. More than three million state residents – one in six – now live in poverty. Download NYCCAH's full press release here.

The number of New York State residents that live in homes that directly suffer from hunger, a conditioned labeled by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) as “very low food security,” increased by 56% from the 2005-2007 time period to the 2008-2010 time period, according to a new government report.

For immediate release: April 12, 2011

Federal Budget Deal Cuts Hunger, Obesity Programs
Hundreds of NYC-Based Pantries and Kitchens Lose Two Million Dollars

According to information just released by Congress, the budget deal agreed to by the President and Congressional leaders would cut programs that fight hunger and obesity in New York City and nationwide.

For Immediate Release: April 1, 2011

Citing countless times that key liberal elected officials have caved into far right-wing demands with no fight whatsoever, the New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH) launched a campaign to encourage members of the public to donate backbones which can be surgically implanted into such leaders.