Spotlight on Food Hardship in New York City
Despite the additional challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity rates in New York City remained stable between 2019 and 2020, a testament to the social policy response and efforts by the city’s emergency food distribution network. However, the rate of food hardship still remains high in New York City.
Double Pandemic: Discrimination Experiences of New Yorkers of Chinese Descent During COVID-19
New Yorkers of Chinese descent have been suffering from the “double pandemic” of COVID-19 and racial discrimination. Over half of study participants reported experiencing discrimination and one third an incident of harassment. The vast majority of New Yorkers of Chinese descent are worried about their own safety and that of loved ones.
Direct Cash Benefits during the Pandemic: Spending, saving and returning to work
After being forced into unemployment by the pandemic, direct cash benefits allowed New Yorkers to avoid material hardship while adapting to a changing labor market. Using Poverty Tracker interviews, we also find that while New Yorkers put their COVID-relief benefits to good use, they did not substitute for work. Rather the benefits helped people secure their current, and even future, economic survival while they figured out when and how, and not if, to return to work.
Child Care, Affordability, Accessibility, and the Costs of Disruption
The Early Childhood Poverty Tracker data provide a window into how families–especially low-income parents–managed their child care needs before the onset of the pandemic.
Life in New York City during Covid-19
Using Poverty Tracker data, we explore the impacts the COVID-19 crisis has had on employment and income, housing security, food hardship, and internet access and remote learning. The crisis exacerbated hardships across the city, but the lives of the poorest New Yorkers and communities of color have been disproportionately impacted.