Legislation (S.64/A.1524) Creates Statewide Restaurant Meals Program; Mandates OTDA to Apply for USDA Approval so SNAP Recipients Can Purchase Prepared Foods
Once Approved by USDA, Would Help SNAP Recipients to Use Their Benefits for Prepared or Hot Food at Participating Restaurants and Delis
Launches $25 Million Restaurant Resiliency Program, Building on the Successful Nourish New York Initiative, to Provide a Boost to Struggling Restaurants While Feeding Families in Need
Restaurants Can Apply Here for the Resiliency Program Beginning Today
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation (S.64/A.1524) establishing a statewide Restaurant Meals Program as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The legislation mandates the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance to apply for USDA approval to authorize the program, which would allow homeless, elderly and disabled SNAP recipients to use their benefits for prepared or hot food from participating restaurants. Governor Hochul signed this legislation at the Brownsville Recreation Center in Brooklyn, NY on October 4.
The Governor also announced the launch of the $25 million Restaurant Resiliency Program to provide relief to the restaurant industry, which continues to face severe challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. The program, proposed by the legislature, will build on the successful Nourish New York initiative. It will provide funding to New York's network of food banks and emergency food providers to purchase prepared meals from New York restaurants and deliver them to families in need.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the event is available here.
PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:
"Good morning, Brownsville. Oh, okay. You can do a little better than that. This is a good news day, my friends. First of all, to my great friend, Roxanne Persaud. We have been sisters since she first found her way to our State Capitol and I could see in her this deeply held passion for the people she represents and we've done so much together. She continually says, I don't think I've seen her once when she says, when are you coming back to my district, when are you come back to my district? I say, I was just there yesterday, I was there the day before. She's persistent, but she's impactful. Let's give her another round of applause.
Also, the co-sponsor of a bill that's so important, they're going to be talking about in a couple of minutes, Assemblymember Karines Reyes. I want to thank you for what you have done, not just on this bill, but how you've put your heart and soul into your work as well. It's leaders like this who are truly transforming our state and I want to thank them for their leadership on these issues.
Assemblymember Latrice Walker. Yes, I'm always in your district, too. I know. I know you're saying how come you're not in my district? So thank you for all you do. And Assemblymember Robert Rodriguez and all the other partners in state government. I truly have served in every level of government there is. I want to thank you for your incredible partnership and helping just bring the needs of your constituents to the forefront when we're taking action Albany. And even when we're not in session, just making sure that people are taken care of. So to our elected leaders in this room, let me give you all an extra round of applause.
We have amazing partners in the private sector, and you have been called to be superheroes during this pandemic. The extraordinary pressure that you and your teams have been under. On a given day, non-pandemic world, you were already out there scrambling to get the resources, the money, the food into your facilities, to get them out to needy New Yorkers. Then you throw a pandemic on top of it. You truly are the unseen heroes who need to get recognized. And I want to thank you for what you're doing and thank you for your advocacy of the bills that I'm signing today to make a difference in the lives of New Yorkers. Again, let's give all of our, our partners a round of applause.
We'll be hearing from Andrew Rigie in a couple of minutes at the end here, and he's Executive Director of the New York City Hospitality Association. I can't think of another industry that's been harder hit than the hospitality industry in the State of New York, than the New York City Hospitality Association. We have to do whatever we can to bring you back, not just because of the restaurants and association members that you represent are the heart and soul of New York, but also the thousands of jobs that just aren't back yet until we can fully say this pandemic is behind us. And I thank you for hanging in there as well as Jerome Nathaniel from City Harvest. Thank you for all you've done. We've visited many times. You guys are just extraordinary and I want to thank all of you. I think Senator Brisport will be here as well in a few minutes.
Today is about feeding people. It's a very simple, basic human need to be fed. And that whole premise of what is a simple proposition that people deserve to have food on their table and little children go to bed, not with their tummies growling, but with a full sense that they have been nourished and they have the ability to continue and do well in school.
And people can just have a good, healthy life. That is as basic as it gets my friends. And that right has been denied for too long through no fault of anybody else's. Other than this pandemic has been brutal. It has turned people's lives upside down in ways we could not have foreseen 18 months ago. And the duration of this.
People thought, I was at the food banks early on, well we can, we're doing okay. We have this nourish New York program. We're bringing money in, or produce from farms all over the state to help the farmers. We get it out to people. It was a military operation like I've never seen it. I've been in Afghanistan my friends. I've seen military operations.
I was so impressed with what I've seen when I visit your many facilities, but how [were we to] know it would just keep going on and on and on and jobs weren't coming back. And in addition to distress about people's jobs they lost, they lost their ability to feel secure in their homes when people couldn't make their rental payments.
And that's why, again, I thank our legislators for coming back in the first days of my brand new administration, coming back and in the end of the mid-summer to say, yes, we will do what it takes to extend the eviction moratorium, to do what it takes to keep people in their homes. Okay. They're in their homes. That's great.
They also have to eat. And so many people have challenges, people who are elderly and disabled, and when someone can't come in and take care of them every day, my father is taken care of by people. If the aide calls in sick, I'm not sure my dad is eating that day. That's the stress that people feel.
So why not? With this whole advent of people, relying on the delivery services, the take out food, the ability to get your dinner from a restaurant when you might've thought I'll just make it at home. That is a life saver. That is what we're offering today. A way to do things differently with our snap program and to start the process so we can join three other states and be among the first to say, why not, why not help the restaurants that need the income? Why not make it easier for people with disabilities and our elderly, and even people don't even have a home to cook and our homeless, they have to eat too. So that's what this is all about. To find a way to get those programs to them.
We also increased our snap benefits. So a family of four will see their allotment go from $680 to $835 onto the new plan, which still does not sound like a lot, my friends, but it is something. You can give that a round of applause, you look like you want to clap on that.
That'll bring an additional $1.4 billion from federal funding to New Yorkers. So we are going to allow our homeless, elderly, and disabled snap recipients to use their benefits, to purchase prepared and hot food for participating restaurants. That'll make sure those who are the most in need in our state will have the resources they need, but also let's just take a look at our restaurants. It has been so long and hard. I spent five years working in a tiny restaurant, making chicken wings, and pizza, and pasta. I cooked the food. I served the food. I took the phone orders. I have scars on my arm to show how hot the oven was when I made the pizzas and didn't do it very well, and here I was a 15, 16, 17 year old.
I have a deep appreciation for the entrepreneurs who start a restaurant because they often give people their first job. We have to keep them alive and healthy. I'm today announcing a $25 million restaurant resiliency program to help the restaurant industry continue facing the challenges from COVID-19. Let's get that money in their hand. Let's give them a hand.
What we're going to do is, along the lines of nourish New York, we're going to award funding from the New York Department of Health to New York's network of food banks across the state. They will they will be able to purchase food from the restaurants to get out to the people they serve. It's that simple. Let's just get that done.
So we've been through some extraordinary times. But what we're doing today, increasing the ability for people to use the SNAP benefits in restaurants directly. Giving more money to our restaurants and giving more money to individuals directly to increase the amount they have to purchase food.
This is how we start bringing the state back and start taking care of people in their most vulnerable time. That is my highest priority. Get through this pandemic, get people vaccinated, and I don't want to be bringing any negative news, but this zip code only has a 48% vaccination rate. Can we leave here today committed to the cause of bringing more people to the realization, that the only way we're getting out of this pandemic, and we don't have to worry about these emergency food sources the way we have to right now, or emergency assistance for people who are going to lose their rent because they will have their jobs back, they'll have their lives back.
That's how we start getting back to whatever the new normal is going to be. All I know is that the status quo... We're getting real tired of it, aren't we friends? We are real tired of the way things have been, and we need to start breaking through. The only way to have a true breakthrough is to get more people vaccinated, particularly in these most vulnerable communities, like where we are.
So thank you everyone for participating today, thank you for being here. This is not about a press conference, it's about what you're going to do, and we're going to do when we leave here and directly affect the lives of our brothers and sisters who are struggling right now. They need our help right now. And we here to deliver that for them. Thank you very much."