Power & Politics: The state of Long Island’s economy; 1:1 with Olena Nicks

Bridgeport nonprofit kicks off public awareness campaign in support of homeless protection bill

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces run for NYC mayor

Power & Politics: 1:1 with Connecticut's Democratic, GOP party leaders

Power & Politics: Norcross charges tossed; congestion pricing latest; 1:1 with Sean Spiller

‘It’s very scary.’ Trump transgender care ban leaves CT teens in limbo

newyork

News 12 Staff

BKPP32B_2025-03-02-11-54-31

Thanks for being with us for this episode of Power and Politics here on News 12. I'm Amanda Bossard. With food prices soaring these days, there are many families across the city wondering how they're going to get their next meal, and a local food rescue group is appealing to lawmakers to be able to reach more New Yorkers during this time of need. So joining us now to discuss that and more is Jerome Nathaniel. He's the director of policy and government relations at City Harvest. Jerome, thanks so much for being with us here on Power and Politics. Great, thank you so much for having me. Of course. So I just described City Harvest as a food rescue organization. Can we unpack that a little bit? Can you explain what exactly that is and the work that City Harvest does? Yeah, exactly. So City Harvest is New York City's largest and oldest food rescue organization, and what that looks like is essentially we pick up perfectly edible and fresh food from over 1000 different food donors ranging from wholesalers to farms to even kids doing food drives, and then we deliver that free of charge to a network of 400 different food pantries across the five boroughs. That food is donated, uh, chiefly because people really want to give back to their neighbors, but it's also a way to reduce waste. And also um do something to support um our neighbors. Uh, this year we're actually on pace to deliver 81 million pounds of fresh food across the five boroughs with the overwhelming majority of it being fresh produce. Yeah, that's a huge number, and I think that's a perfect segue to my next question, which is right now, how would you describe the current state of need here in the city? You just mentioned the number of pantries that you're working with at 400. Has that number changed or increased at all in recent years? Well, the number of pantries has been stable, but the demand and the number of pantry visits has certainly been exacerbated since COVID. Uh, quite often folks sort of look at 2019 as the baseline to compare where we are today. So compared to 2019, we're seeing 1 million more pantry visits each month across our network. Uh, we're also seeing that 1 in 3 New Yorkers visited a pantry in the last three years with 67% of them, um, being employed. So it really sort of underlines that, um, a lot of this. Isn't just about whether or not people are are working or if there's food scarcity it's really an affordability crisis where people are trying to balance the cost of food with housing, child care, and other essential costs. Yeah, and affordability, a big theme of budget negotiations this year at the city and state level, of course you just got back from a trip to Albany. What kinds of conversations were you having with lawmakers up there? What ways can the state support the work that City Harvest is doing right now and the need obviously big. Yeah, so I mean earlier this week we were able to bring 100 different pantry leaders with us to Albany, and we were all united in an act for a state budget that creates food security and addresses some of the root causes of hunger, such as, uh, affordable childcare and housing stability, uh, but just unpacking the food security priorities we had a little bit. Um, our first ask was for the state to increase the minimum SNAP benefit from $23 per month, so not a lot, to $100 per month. Uh, this is something that New Jersey did, and we believe that New York State, uh, is positioned and should also bring up, uh, the minimum SNAP benefit. Uh, we also asked for the budget to fund two very important but little known, uh, state programs called Norwich, New York and HipNAP or Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program, and what those two programs do is it allows food banks and food pantries to, um, purchase, have a line of credit to purchase fresh food from New York State farmers. Uh, so it's really a win-win for the food system and for the people that we serve as well. And then finally we also ask for um the governor to make good on her commitment uh to expand universal free school meals across the state uh that's one that we're very confident and um everyone's been pretty consistent um in saying that that's gonna be um what we see April 1st, uh, but we're just continuing to make sure that we voice the importance of access to school meals. You mentioned SNAP benefits and at the federal level. Now there are so many talks about cuts being floated in a variety of areas including to programs like SNAP. You mentioned it a little there in your response previously, but what kind of impact do you expect that to have locally if that is ultimately approved at the federal level? And is there any other action beyond what you just discussed that could be taken locally that could offset that if it were to ultimately be approved? Yeah, so, uh, you know, SNAPP is a very, very important program. We consider it really the nation's cornerstone program for fighting hunger. Here in New York City, 1.8 million New Yorkers rely on the SNAP program, uh, more than 50 million are seniors, more than 500 are children. Uh, so it's really an important program to make sure that we're feeding New Yorkers and the fact of the matter is, is for every, uh, meal that a food bank is able to provide, SNAP provides access to nine meals. So it's really the. efficient way to make sure that families are fed and it's at a scale that charities aren't positioned or designed to really fill uh if there are cuts to the SNAP program. So we're definitely deeply concerned along with other food banks across the nation about potential cuts to SNAPP. So that's why we're really sort of amplifying that as to increase the minimum SNAP benefit from $23 to $100 per month. $23 per month is the federal minimum, but there's nothing that says that states can't come out. Pocket uh to bring it up, uh, much more for families that are, you know, trying to navigate the rising cost of food and with everything happening at the federal level, I expect this to be a conversation that will be had at the state and local levels moving forward right now Jerome, everyone talking about prices on products like eggs, for example, and how sky high they are how do you affect, uh, or expect rather inflation on products like that or other areas to impact the need here in the city during the year ahead? Yeah, I'm sure we're all, all, all filling in and when you hear a $23 minimum SNAP benefit nowadays, that's not a lot of eggs, right? Um, so, you know, we've been here before, there were concerns about food price inflation, uh, during COVID due to supply chain issues, uh, and in 2022 we actually conducted a survey and the overwhelming majority of folks that use our program said that they were making more pantry visits because of the rising cost of food, and that's what we saw in 2022 and um unfortunately, You know, we're anticipating that this year is going to look similar uh more families are going to be going to, uh, pantries and it's up to, uh, both charities like City Harvest to make sure that we're meeting that demand but also most importantly that we have public policy in place to really, uh, protect and support families that are, uh, you know, uh, filling it when they're going to the grocery store. Jerome Nathaniel with City Harvest, thanks so much for your time and the conversation here on power and politics. We appreciate it. Great, thank you so much. Coming up, the city council votes on a controversial rezoning plan. Their decision and its impacts when power and politics returns. Stay with us.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/e65adc47-9300-44de-a9f5-fbf024ab5bff/e65adc47-9300-44de-a9f5-fbf024ab5bff.transcribe

BKPP32C_2025-03-02-12-00-15

Welcome back to Power and Politics. I'm Amanda Bossard. More homes and affordable options are coming to Windsor Terrace following the city council's approval of a major rezoning project, but this might not be a win for everyone. News Twelve's Valerie Ryan breaks down the details. The citywide housing crisis persists right now. The vacancy rate for all units across our city is less than 2%. In response, local officials proposed the 441 and 467 Prospect Avenue rezoning project. From the start, our goal was to secure the best project for Windsor Terrace, one that. Affordability, limits displacement risks, and ensures responsible growth. The plan calls for two buildings at the old Arrow linen facility now with 250 new apartments, 100 units permanently affordable, a proposal that from the start sparked a divide. It is not easy to find a place to live. I want it to be easier than it currently is. We've Been against it from the beginning. City council voted yes, which means that this industrial site behind me, as well as one just steps down the block here, will now become 2 10-story residential buildings. This is a huge win for New York City and a bigger win for the Windsor Terrace community. But those against the proposal say they aren't opposed to more housing, rather fear what. we're concerned about is with a very tall building like this is it's going to pave the way for more tall buildings like this, and then what happens is the median rents in this area will go up and up. The new buildings will also include commercial space for a childcare center and a domestic violence service provider. At this time it is unclear when construction will begin in Windsor Terrace, Valerie Ryan, News 12, Brooklyn. Valerie, thank you. News 12 has confirmed that allies of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have formed a super PAC to boost his likely campaign for mayor. It comes right after News 12 exclusively reported Cuomo's plans to enter the mayoral race. The super PAC called Fix the City registered with the state Board of Elections this week. It aims to raise up to $15 million to boost Cuomo's incoming campaign message. Cuomo is expected to announce his run in the coming days. Mayor Eric Adams is asking a federal judge to toss out his corruption case, citing prosecutorial misconduct. Attorneys for the mayor allege the government publicly leaked a letter. Former US attorney Daniel. Sassoon wrote to AG Pam Bondi explaining why she felt those charges shouldn't be dropped. They said the leaks directly contradict statutory and court rules put in place by the DOJ to prevent misconduct. The judge canceled Adam's April trial but hasn't decided on dropping the charges. That's all here on Power and Politics. We'll see you next time.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/8d962b83-2a12-41ec-abd4-5cedb661d02d/8d962b83-2a12-41ec-abd4-5cedb661d02d.transcribe

Brooklyn Council Member Mercedes Narcisse and City Harvest's Jerome Nathaniel join the show. 

Choose Your Region

Be the first to know

Change

Be the first to know

Power & Politics: The push to end TPS and SNAP – how it will affect NYC

Brooklyn Council Member Mercedes Narcisse and City Harvest's Jerome Nathaniel join the show.

More Stories

Power & Politics: The state of Long Island’s economy; 1:1 with Olena Nicks

Bridgeport nonprofit kicks off public awareness campaign in support of homeless protection bill

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces run for NYC mayor

Power & Politics: 1:1 with Connecticut's Democratic, GOP party leaders

Power & Politics: Norcross charges tossed; congestion pricing latest; 1:1 with Sean Spiller

‘It’s very scary.’ Trump transgender care ban leaves CT teens in limbo

Power & Politics: The state of Long Island’s economy; 1:1 with Olena Nicks

Bridgeport nonprofit kicks off public awareness campaign in support of homeless protection bill

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces run for NYC mayor

Power & Politics: 1:1 with Connecticut's Democratic, GOP party leaders

Power & Politics: Norcross charges tossed; congestion pricing latest; 1:1 with Sean Spiller

‘It’s very scary.’ Trump transgender care ban leaves CT teens in limbo

More from News 12

Power & Politics: The state of Long Island’s economy; 1:1 with Olena Nicks

Power & Politics: 1:1 with Connecticut's Democratic, GOP party leaders

Power & Politics: Norcross charges tossed; congestion pricing latest; 1:1 with Sean Spiller

City Council votes yes to Prospect Avenue rezoning

US tariff frenzy with Mexico, China and Canada putting local businesses on edge

Democrat Olena Nicks speaks to News 12 following win in Second Legislative District