On Wednesday, March 4 at 11 a.m., a coalition of lawmakers, advocates, and community leaders assembled at the Capitol’s Million Dollar Staircase to urge Governor Kathy Hochul and other New York leaders to invest in solutions to end child poverty.
“We want the governor to stand firm in her effort to combat poverty in New York State, and that’s got to be shown in the budget,” Legal Aid NYC’s Supervising Attorney Susan Welber said.
The rally, hosted by the New York Can End Child Poverty Coalition, also called on the legislature to include proposals embraced by the Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget. Hochul announced the launch of the council on Oct. 13, 2022, citing the startling New York State statistic that approximately one in every five children live in poverty as one of her main motivations.
The coalition’s rally occurred just a day after Hochul joined Mayor Zohran Mamdani to announce the first major milestone in introducing free childcare for two-year-old in New York City.
“Adorable faces like the ones right here are going to know they have a secure place to go,” Hochul said in a press hearing on March 3.
Advocates at the anti-poverty rally acknowledged that they are “hopeful” that positive change will come from Hochul and Mamdani’s propositions. “We see in [Hochul] a real champion for children,” Dede Hill, Schuyler Center Vice President of Policy, said. “She has a real partner in [Mamdani], who is also prioritizing children and families and affordability.”
Despite reassuring progress, those in attendance at the rally still had concerns. While legislatures like Hochul and Mamdani have announced proposals to make the state more affordable, many of their constituents struggle due to funds for SNAP and other food stamp services being slashed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“We need to fully fund access to programs like SNAP,” Senator Lea Webb (D-52) said. “We understand her in New York that the federal cuts are having devastating impacts not just on our ability as a state when it comes to the budget, but also policies.”
Hunger Solutions New York’s Government Relations Manager Ryan Healy shared a similar opinion as Webb in an interview with the Legislative Gazette prior to the start of the rally. “Poverty is a persistent and continued problem only exacerbated by changes in Washington DC cuts to SNAP and Medicaid,” Healy said. “Our state must do everything, not just to mitigate against that harm, but to commit to ending that harm.”
Housing stability was also a major talking point at the rally. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), approximately one in six kids, or 16% of all children, in the US live in impoverished households. A child living in poverty faces greater mental and physical issues, like higher rates of stress and illness, than his financially stable peers.
Eduardo Hernandez, a resident from Astoria, Queens, recounted his family’s financial difficulty after the birth of his youngest daughter. When he and his wife found that their combined income was a few $100’s over the qualifications for receiving childcare assistance, the Hernandez family was “floored.”
“Without that childcare assistance, 80% of my wife’s salary would go towards the childcare cost for our daughter,” Hernandez said. “Even though New York State has made some progress since then, it’s not been enough. [There is] a crisis that continues to perpetuate poverty amongst honest, hardworking families trying to do their best.”
The vote for the Fiscal Year 2027 budget is scheduled for April 1, 2026; however, the vote could happen even later than that.
