Public Employee Press

Union calls on city for new hires in food stamp program

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a campaign to get more New Yorkers who qualify for food stamps to sign up.

More than half a million residents qualify but don't sign up, city officials said.

The de Blasio administration launched a new website and ad campaign to get enrollment up. The new website, www.foodhelp. nyc, offers links to apply for the program and a map of places to apply in person, as well as a map of food pantries and soup kitchens.

During a New York State Senate public hearing before the Social Services Taskforce on April 16, Ralph Palladino, 2nd VP of Local 1549, recommended that more Eligibility Specialists IIs and IIIs be hired to process the backload of applications of people signing up for the Supplemental Nutrition Application Program.

"Deploying Eligibility Specialists lls in non-traditional settings, in other city agencies like hospitals, would see a big increase in enrollment," said Palladino.

Eddie Rodriguez, president of Local 1549 and DC 37 president, recalled when signing up people at other city agencies was a common practice. "We used to process applications for SNAP at the unemployment office," said Rodriguez, who worked as an Eligibility Specialist. "The city should consider doing that again, and setting up satellite offices where people also sign up for Medicaid."