“Our schools are incredibly well-positioned to address hunger. They’re connected to nearly 1 million students and their families, and are one of the few resources that reach a citywide scale.”
A school lunch tray. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is entering City Hall during one of the most dire hunger crises in recent New York City history. Unprecedented cuts to federal food assistance and the lapse in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during last year’s shutdown have brought this crisis into the spotlight.
However, the rising cost of groceries, threats to food benefits, and economic factors like inflation have been driving children and families into hunger since the pandemic. According to a March 2025 poll from No Kid Hungry, 86 percent of New Yorkers said the cost of food is rising faster than their income.
New York’s hunger crisis has been devastating for kids and families, but it also represents an opportunity for the new mayor—who made affordability his central campaign issue—to take a bold stance and ensure that every New Yorker stays fed.
Mayor Mamdani already has a solid track record on the issue. As a State Assembly member, he championed legislation to expand free meals for public school students. On the campaign trail, he also acknowledged that kids must eat to thrive. If he wants to make an immediate impact on the hunger crisis, there’s a place he can start reaching families on his first day in office: New York City Schools.
Our schools are incredibly well-positioned to address hunger. They’re connected to nearly 1 million students and their families, and are one of the few resources that reach a citywide scale. There are three things Mayor Mamdani can do at the start of his tenure to ensure kids get the food they need: maximize the reach of tried-and-true school meal programs; provide in-school resources to help families apply for SNAP and other benefits; and increase the number of school pantries.
The Mamdani administration should work to ensure that successful school-based meal programs reach even more kids and families. Since New York City started adopting Breakfast in the Classroom programs in 2008, students have had higher attendance rates, better test scores, and fewer chronic health problems. Schools can go even further by fully implementing Breakfast After the Bell in every school to reduce the stigma of free breakfast programs and increase participation, especially as participation has tapered off. Similarly, the administration should actively promote and expand access to summer meal programs that help connect kids to meals when school isn’t in session.
The administration can also tackle the hunger crisis by providing in-school resources to help families apply for SNAP and other benefits. With 1.8 million recipients in New York City, SNAP is the first line of defense against hunger. Yet many families don’t know they’re eligible or that enrollment in SNAP qualifies them for other programs, like Summer EBT grocery benefits. Schools are trusted messengers for kids and families and they have remarkable infrastructure in place to keep families informed. From creating resource pages on school websites to providing on-site eligibility and application assistance in schools, a little extra support can go a long way in helping eligible families make the most of these programs.
Finally, adding more school pantries would help put healthy food back within reach for thousands of New York City children. Back in 2016, in partnership with the New York City Council, New York City Schools launched its first-in-the-nation food and hygiene pantries, which provide free food, cleaning supplies, and hygiene products in some school buildings. While many schools have taken steps to create their own pantries, the need is still there: a back-to-school poll from No Kid Hungry found that 40 percent of New York City families were worried about running out of food. Schools can collaborate with city agencies and nonprofit organizations to take inventory of existing pantries, assess school needs, and get new pantries or mobile markets up and running.
New York City’s progress in the fight against hunger has come thanks to our schools and school nutrition staff, as well as our elected officials. In just the past few years, New York City schools have expanded access to school meal programs, rolled out even more food and hygiene pantries, and launched farm-to-school programs to bring healthy, local produce into classrooms.
Mayor Mamdani will need to act quickly to build on that progress and address the city’s hunger crisis. If he wants to make an early impact, he should start with our schools.
Rachel Sabella is the director of No Kid Hungry New York.
The post Opinion: To Fight Hunger in New York City, Start With Schools appeared first on City Limits.
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