Access to food (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Imagine having $100 less every month to buy groceries. 

Millions of New Yorkers are now facing that painful reality. They’ll feel it in a thousand ways, big and small. A child who comes to school without breakfast. A mom who skips a meal so her kids have enough to eat. A refrigerator that’s empty because money ran out before the end of the month.

March marked the end of a pandemic-era lifeline that provided

Emergency food (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

The White House will soon convene a conference on hunger, nutrition and health – the first of its kind in over five decades. In that time we have made great strides in reducing food insecurity, but the changes are not all good. After an explosion of unhealthy, cheap foods, diet-related diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and hypertension have become some of the leading causes of death. The goal of this conference is therefore not only to end food insecurity but to increase healthy eating and physical activity

Emergency food distribution (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

A new year marks the beginning of a new chapter for New York City. With Eric Adams officially sworn in as New York City's 110th mayor, a refreshed City Council and historic new City Council Speaker, 2022 offers a new opportunity to turn the tide on one of the most pressing issues facing New Yorkers: food insecurity.

Right Now, 1.5 million New

Mayor de Blasio at a school food site (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

In just a few weeks, more than 1 million New York City kids will head back to their school buildings — most of them for the first time since March 2020.

But the imminent return to a new normal in the classroom shouldn’t mean a return to the status quo when it comes to one of the biggest challenges our young people continue to face: hunger.

Before the pandemic, one in five New York City children struggled with hunger, meaning their families lacked the

Free meals (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

We are fast approaching the one-year mark of an incredibly tumultuous time, a year filled with hardship and uncertainty. There is neither a geographic corner of New York nor area of industry in our state that has escaped unscathed. As our economy has gone into a tailspin, food insecurity has skyrocketed. Food banks and pantries have emptied their shelves, and farms have been unable to sell their goods as supply lines have been disrupted. One of the most effective ways we have been able to address

Mayor de Blasio at a food pantry, pre-pandemic (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)

The New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy is announcing the city’s first-ever 10-year food plan, called Food Forward NYC, to better address food insecurity, improve a number of food- and nutrition-related processes, and meet the requirements of legislation passed by the City Council early last year.

The policy, previewed by Gotham Gazette before its public release on Monday,

Healthy food help (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)

On February 9, nine of the more than 30 candidates for New York City Mayor participated in the Mayoral Food Forum 2021, a discussion of the future of food policy in the city. Candidates who joined the event included Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Ray McGuire, Dianne Morales, Scott Stringer, Jocelyn Taylor, and Maya Wiley. Eleven New York City food organizations*, including the CUNY Urban

Free food giveaways (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

Nine candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to become the next mayor of New York City gathered Tuesday morning in a virtual forum to discuss their visions for the city's food policy and serving the roughly 2 million New Yorkers who are food insecure.

At the "Town Hall on the Future of Food in New York City" -- hosted by Hunter College in partnership with City Harvest, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, Food Bank for NYC, Hunger Free America, and other organizations, and moderated by

Free food offerings (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, far too many of our neighbors didn’t know where their next meal would come from. Today, the number of food-insecure New Yorkers stands at a staggering 1.6 million people. In the Bronx, 24% of residents—including children, seniors, and working families—are impacted. While it is crucial to continue supporting the civic sector, which includes community-based organizations, faith partners, and food pantries, we must also ensure that these essential partners are not the first and only line

Emergency food offerings (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

Many New Yorkers have become less certain about securing their next meal during the economic crisis wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, and the situation has worsened since federal aid evaporated this summer, a new study shows.

In September and October, almost a third of New York City residents had visited a food pantry in the previous 12 months, compared with roughly one in eight at the beginning of the year, according to a ...

Mayor de Blasio at a school food hub (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

The uncertainty around how New York City public schools will be reopened come September extends to the emergency food initiative greatly expanded by city government during the devastating coronavirus outbreak that led to mass unemployment and food insecurity, as a large portion of the program was using public schools to distribute millions of free meals.

A part of the massive program that has distributed over 100 million free meals since March will likely shift as students and

Food being prepared during the coronavirus crisis (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and New York City Council Member Ben Kallos of Manhattan, both Democrats, announced new legislation last week that would mandate nutrition standards for the “grab & go” and home delivered meals provided by the city, which have become essential sources of food for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers during the coronavirus crisis.

As unemployment in the city has skyrocketed from 4% to past 14%, children are not attending schools

The City continues to try to meet food needs amid the coronavirus crisis (photo: @NYCHRA)

The coronavirus pandemic has put a strain on food access, with unemployment skyrocketing and increasingly more people relying on food assistance, food pantries, and meals provided by the city. Additionally, as New York City is home to many different races, ethnicities, and cultural traditions, concerns have arisen about whether the city’s massive emergency food program, including food delivery, is reflecting that diversity, causing further food stress on communities.

New

Mayor de Blasio holding a food package (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

New York City officials’ recently-released plan for how the city will keep New Yorkers fed during the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis does exactly that: tells us how New Yorkers will be fed. But where it missed the mark altogether is that it lacks any direction as to how it will keep New Yorkers well-fed.

The lack of consistent access to healthy food, which has been a looming

De Blasio visits a food pantry in Brooklyn (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

As the coronavirus crisis was unfolding in New York City last month, Mayor Bill de Blasio named his sanitation commissioner, Kathryn Garcia, as the new “food czar” to lead the implementation of a massive effort to ensure New Yorkers don’t go hungry. With the city already home to over a million “food insecure” people, the scale of the need accelerated quickly as hundreds of thousands of New

Meal handouts from school during coronavirus (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

April 1, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Hunger and the Coronavirus Crisis

Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, joined the show to discuss the city's hunger and food insecurity crisis, which is becoming exponentially worse due to the coronavirus outbreak and its fallout. Berg discussed the

Mayor de Blasio serves food (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)

As the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has spread in New York, people have begun buying food off the shelves of local supermarkets to prepare for prolonged periods of isolation in the face of the virus. Public schools and senior centers are closing, many of which provide vulnerable New York City residents with food and meals, and tens of thousands of people appear to have already been laid off from their jobs, all leaving New Yorkers increasingly worried about food

(photo: New York City Council)

Food insecurity and hunger, which impact more than one million New Yorkers, don’t exist in a silo; instead, they are often connected to other challenges, like housing, health care, immigration status, domestic violence, and more.

A new report from the Food Bank For New York City released at the end of last week outlines those intersecting challenges, detailing how the city’s widening wealth gap and rising costs of living, among other trends and hardships many experience, are putting an enormous strain on millions of city

CMs Lander, left, and Menchaca confer on Wednesday (photo via @NYCCouncil)

At an oversight hearing Wednesday about the city's efforts to fight hunger, members of the City Council general welfare committee questioned a panel of de Blasio administration officials about key city programs. Council members asked about participation in the Supplement and Nutritional Assistance Program (also known as “SNAP” or “food stamps”), Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) efforts, and other components of anti-hunger services.

Mayor de Blasio serving food (photo: Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office)

The City Council’s Committee on General Welfare will hold an oversight hearing on hunger in New York City on Wednesday morning at City Hall.

Council Member Stephen Levin, the chair of the general welfare committee, told Gotham Gazette he and his colleagues want to get a broad assessment of hunger in the city, as well as specifics related to de Blasio administration efforts to mitigate the problem, which is the