“Proposals in Congress and public comments from the incoming administration give us every reason to fear that federal leaders will target programs that fight hunger for cuts.”
The “free minutes” program dates back to early in the COVID-19 pandemic, when detention centers across the country closed their doors to visitors. “The phone calls are a lifeline to people in detention,” said Rosa Santana of Envision Freedom Fund.
According to ICE’s detention management tool, 55 immigrants are detained at the upstate New York jail. Nahum Ortiz, one of the plaintiffs, says ICE is only renting one of the jail’s wings. “The ICE wing shouldn’t be treating us the same way as criminals. We’re not waiting for our sentencing, but we get the same…
Meet activists from across the five boroughs, from oyster keepers in The Bronx to environmental justice advocates in Brooklyn, interviewed by student reporters enrolled in the City Limits Accountability Reporting Initiative for Youth.
‘College campus food pantries have short hours of operation, lack physical space, and regularly run out of food. Already strained, many have been stretched to a breaking point under the current explosion of student hunger.’
‘With my savings gone and just working one day a week, I’m standing in food pantry lines for hours just to get enough to eat. I have to constantly borrow money because I am afraid that if I do not pay my rent, I could lose my home. Each day I worry, how will I…
A top nutrition advocate says the pandemic exacerbated a significant hunger crisis in the city. And a year later, it is still exacerbating it—although the federal stimulus package will deliver help.
‘Crossing this milestone is bittersweet – a mark of what the government and civic sector can accomplish…but also a sad reminder that too many people were hungry before this crisis exacerbated the situation, and too many are still hungry today.’
‘I know hunger is not new. But over the last six months in the New York City metro area it has become worse and there are easy ways that those of us with more than we need can move from awareness to action.’
From local pols to community leaders, volunteers to residents, no one believes things are getting much better in the neighborhood now, months into the pandemic.