these are serving the communities that need help the most — and they’ve received little funding assistance from the CARES Act. • Advance the House’s state fiscal stabilization fund to support statewide and local funding for K-12 and public postsecondary institutions. • Extend the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, and any future stimulus payments to Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) filers and make stimulus payments retroactive for ITIN filers — to protect 10 million undocumented migrants and more than 5 million children and spouses.
Our advocacy and policy team was equally engaged at the city and state levels, as Governor Cuomo, the state legislature, Mayor de Blasio, and the City Council forged it’s own relief plans. One special area of focus was helping local policy and lawmakers recognize and stave off the looming crisis of evictions, due to the unprecedented number of people who lost their jobs and could not afford to pay their rent. As we move through a period of slow recovery toward the resurgence of a dynamic city, advocacy and policy work will guide our efforts to dismantle the systems and structures underlying poverty in New York City.
Robin Hood’s new offensive line — policy and advocacy Dismantling systems and structures requires strategy.
“Budgets are moral documents” is a highly relevant quote often attributed to the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Budgets reflect our priorities, while policies guide decisions that affect lives. Both are driven by choice and intention. At Robin Hood, we know that governmental decisions can have generational consequences for poor people. Our data and research support an often-voiceless constituency and help policy and lawmakers make better- informed decisions. We understand that to win the fight against poverty, we must actively and aggressively leverage the role of philanthropy to combat the budgetary priorities and policy structures behind poverty in New York City. At Robin Hood, we are in the fight for the long haul, and we are seeking real change. The extraordinary events of 2020 have had our advocacy and policy team working in overdrive. While Congress began its debate of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, our team was busy talking to our community partners on the frontlines of the pandemic and translating the real impacts of the pandemic for policy and lawmakers. As soon as President Trump signed the CARES Act into law, our team
sprang into action advancing an agenda to shape the next wave of federal relief funding. These are some of the policies Robin Hood is currently calling upon Congress to enact to provide urgent assistance and stimulate New York City’s long-term economic recovery: • $100 billion in emergency rental assistance for renters who have lost work or income during this pandemic — plus additional aid in Homeless Assistance Grants for people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. • A continued expansion of federal unemployment insurance benefits and an increase of maximum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, while also extending the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Program until students return to school full time for in-class instruction. • Make permanent the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credits to childless adults, to benefit the nearly 16 million working childless adults across the country, including essential workers. • Institute automatic Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP) increases for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Providers who depend on
735,000
91%
LOW-WAGE EARNERS
735,000 New York City households are estimated to have lost employment income because of COVID-19. That’s one-third of all renting households.
Of the most severely burdened New Yorkers, 91% are low wage earners.
Nearly half of Poverty Tracker respondents who lost work or income after COVID-19 began reported experiencing food hardship within just three months, marking a nearly 30% increase, with a disproportionate impact on Black and Latinx New Yorkers. Increasing SNAP benefits reduces hunger rates and food hardship — and each additional dollar spent on SNAP benefits generates up to $1.79 in additional economic activity.
INCREASE IN FOOD HARDSHIP 30%
+ $1 = $1.79
$$
Studies show that the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) encourages work, boosts incomes, and reduces poverty among families with children.
=
33
32
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