Across New York State, community-based organizations like mine are bracing for disaster. But we’re not monitoring weather reports or tracking hospital intakes, not this time.
That’s because now the damage being done isn’t coming from rising water, or the spread of disease — it’s coming from H.R. 1, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” and its slashing cuts to our social safety net that are now becoming real for our neighbors.
In New York State, where 3.5 million people receive federal nutrition benefits, we estimate that 1.02 million people (29% of all recipients) are at risk of going hungry. More than 1 million could lose their health coverage. Cruelly, these groups also substantially overlap.
Neighborhood economies, which typically benefit strongly from SNAP spending, will also take a big hit — we estimate Lower Manhattan businesses will lose up to $66 million per year in annual revenue.
This is a different kind of disaster, one that’s harder to see because it’s been bureaucratically obscured, and because its first phases will be felt most deeply by our neighbors with the least social power. It is a catastrophe, nevertheless.
My organization, University Settlement, and our more than 45 peer neighborhood houses across New York have plenty of experience as vital “second responders.” In the last 25 years, we’ve played active roles in keeping our communities connected, and our neighbors stable, through complex and very different disasters including 9/11, Superstorm Sandy and COVID-19.
We’ve learned that effective disaster response requires forethought, collaboration, and efficiency — and that in times of crisis, trusted relationships are vital for ensuring that accurate information is shared and acted upon.
Because no one else is coming to save our communities, we must have each other’s backs. And that’s why we are raising the alarm, training hundreds of team members to communicate accurate information to our neighbors, and setting up an intentional coalition with our peer organizations in Lower Manhattan.
With modest investments in centralizing our efforts and by partnering with peers including the Chinese-American Planning Council, Educational Alliance, Grand Street Settlement, Hamilton-Madison House, and Henry Street Settlement, we will reach tens of thousands of our NYC neighbors with accurate information and effective, skilled case advocacy to help as many people as possible retain their benefits.
We are coordinating with the city and state, but nothing can replace the deep trust our teams have built with the families who are in harm’s way, or the safe places we provide to address basic needs. This makes NYC’s settlement houses and human service organizations a key link in the chain of help.
Disaster response and recovery takes all of us. While it is impossible for philanthropy or mutual aid to make up for massive cuts to vital government programs that keep all of New York healthy and thriving (and it’s true that it will take years to build back what H.R. 1 has destroyed), we call on the philanthropic community and New Yorkers across the city to support our coalition’s efforts and join us in the fight to prevent the worst outcomes of this catastrophe.
Aase is CEO of University Settlement.