Levin leads fight for emergency food funding
More than 1.4 million New Yorkers rely on food pantries and soup kitchens to feed their families, according to Councilmember Stephen Levin, who is leading a fight to convince the de Blasio administration to provide funding in the city budget for programs providing food for residents facing emergencies.
On May 24, Levin was joined by several of his fellow City Council members and anti-hunger advocates at a rally outside City Hall to plead with Mayor Bill de Blasio to ensure that food programs will be adequately funded.
The Executive Budget proposed by de Blasio would cut funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) by $4.9 million, Levin (D-North Brooklyn) said.
Coupled with funding cuts proposed in President Donald Trump’s federal budget, which seeks to reduce the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by more than $139 billion over 10 years, the mayor’s proposal would hit New Yorkers hard, Levin said.