On Saturday April 9th, Governor Hochul signed into law New York’s $220 Billion annual budget for FY23. Disagreements over the last minute additions of $600 Million for a new Buffalo Bills stadium (which is owned by billionaireTerry Pegula), rollbacks on bail reform, and decisions not to include funding for home health care workers or Universal Child Care pushed the budget past its April 1 deadline and led some left leaning Democrats to vote against the bill. However, many in New York City are celebrating some progressive policy wins in the budget, including language to approve Mayor Eric Adam’s first expansion of the city’s Earned Income Tax Credit that will result in an additional city investment of $250 million on an annual basis to help lift low and middle income families out of poverty.

Food Systems Initiatives Funded in the New York State FY23 Adopted Budget

We also were incredibly pleased to see that over $410 Million was invested in initiatives that will help address the ongoing hunger crisis, advance food justice and improve healthy food access across the state. Included in the final budget were the following priorities that Equity Advocates and members of the NY Food Policy Alliance that we convene advocated for, including:

$258 Million for CUNY to expand part time tuition assistance (TAP) for students, establish child care centers on CUNY and SUNY campuses and hire additional full time staff.
$56 Million for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP)
$50 Million for the Nourish NY Program
$25 Million for the New York Restaurant Resiliency Grant Program.
$11.5 Million to Support Farm to School in New York State, including increasing the reimbursement subsidy to schools to 25 cents per meal
$4 Million to the Department of Agriculture and Markets for a competitive grant program for socially and economically disadvantaged farmers and CBOs that work with them, including urban farmers.
$2M for Double Up Food Bucks administered by Field and Fork Network
$1.064 Million at Department of Agriculture and Markets for the development of regional food hubs to facilitate the transportation of locally grown produce to urban markets, including the development of cooperative food hubs
$1 Million for the Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP)
$800,000 for the Department of Agriculture and Markets new Urban Farms and Community Gardens Grant Program
$200,000 to Black Farmers United- NYS to advance their mission and assist BIPOC owned farms and food businesses.

We were disappointed that the Administration did not make investments to expand access to school meals by providing Healthy School Meals for All in New York State. During the pandemic, schools have offered meals at no cost, ensuring students’ access to a healthy breakfast and lunch each school day; however, nationwide waivers enabling that flexibility are set to expire in June 2022. As a result, more than 800,000 students across NY State will lose access to free school meals and the educational, health, social, and economic benefits that come with them.

In addition, the Hochul Administration failed to re- fund the Excluded Workers Fund which provides payment to workers with low income who lost income due to COVID and who are not eligible for Unemployment Insurance (UI) due to immigration status or other factors. State legislators also did not include in the final budget bill language from S1175A/A5081 to legalize and decriminalize sidewalk vending without a permit across the state or the New Deal for CUNY bill that would have made CUNY tuition free again and helped dramatically reduce hunger rates among students.

Looking ahead, we are eager to work with the Hochul Administration to ensure that the investments announced in this budget are successfully implemented and administered with the input of experts within the food nonprofit community. We also look forward to working with leadership at the state level to see that funding is directed towards communities of color that have been hit the hardest by the economic, hunger and health crises exacerbated by COVID-19.