NY Governor Andrew Cuomo
ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2015 State of the State address is still a couple of days away, but New York’s top executive has already laid out the details for an ambitious, ten-point anti-poverty plan.
On Sunday, Cuomo released details of his Anti-Poverty Opportunity Agenda – a ten point plan that he says will combat poverty and fight inequality. The anti-poverty agenda is the eighth part of the governor’s 2015 Opportunity Agenda – which he first unveiled last week.
The agenda includes a plan to raise the minimum wage to $10.50 an hour by the end of 2016, investing nearly half a billion dollars in housing initiatives for low-income New Yorkers, invest $220 million in services for the homeless, providing an additional $50 million toward non profit groups that offer services to the poor, fighting hunger by committing $4.5 million to the state’s emergency food system, expand the state’s unemployment Strikeforce, and initiating a “Get on Your Feet” loan forgiveness program for college graduates.
According to 2012 U.S. Census data, New York’s poverty rate is 15.9 percent, putting New York 21st in the country. In addition, the statewide family poverty rate is 12.2 percent and 23 percent of New York State children live in poverty.
Leave a Reply