154 years ago this month, Louisa Lee Schuyler looked at what was happening to the poorest people across New York and decided it wasn’t good enough. She didn’t have a staff or a budget or a policy agenda. She had a conviction that human beings deserved better, and that the people with the knowledge and the will to fight for them had an obligation to do so. That conviction became her mission, and it remains Schuyler Center’s work today. As we mark our anniversary this month, I find myself thinking about how much that original impulse still drives everything we do: the research, the testimony, the coalition meetings, the days spent in the halls of the Capitol, or traveling across the state to learn about how policy impacts communities. We do this work because New York State should be a place where every person can thrive, starting from the very beginning of life, and because we know that with the right policies, it is genuinely possible.
This past year gave us real proof of that. Because of our community of supporters, New York enacted the largest expansion of the state child tax credit, putting up to $1,000 back in the pockets of families with young children. Free school meals are now guaranteed for every student in the state. More families can get affordable child care. None of it happened quickly or easily. All of it happened because people showed up, year after year, and refused to let these issues fall off the agenda. I am so proud of what we’ve built together, and I am clear-eyed about what’s still ahead. Now, massive federal funding cuts threaten basic services families depend on. Child poverty is still too high. The work is far from finished.
So as we mark Schuyler Center’s 154th anniversary, I’m asking you to invest in what comes next. A generous donor is matching every gift made this month, dollar-for-dollar. That means your contribution will go twice as far for New York’s families. Whatever you’re able to give, it funds the data analysis that makes the case, the advocacy that moves policy, and the sustained presence that turns an idea into a real difference in a family’s life. Please make your gift today at scaany.org/donate.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being part of this. We may be 154 years into this work, but I believe we’re just getting started.
This May 11th, Schuyler Center is celebrating our 154th Founder’s Day! On this day in 1872, what we know today as the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, was founded by Louisa Lee Schuyler in the parlor of her parents’ home. Originally founded as the State Charities Aid Association (SCAA), the mission was to promote an active interest in New York State institutions of public charity and aid the state in the administration of its public charities. It was organized as a nonprofit, nonsectarian, and independent organization and remains so today.
The early achievements of SCAA include founding a committee that removed young children from poorhouses, educating the public about tuberculosis, working in adoption and foster care, developing a training school for nurses, and advocating for improvements to the deplorable conditions in tenement houses. This advocacy continued throughout the 20th century, setting the stage for The Schuyler Center to become a powerful force in protecting families and children in New York State.
In December 2000, SCAA changed its name to the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, to reflect its expanded mission to analyze and inform public policy and to acknowledge in a permanent way the organization’s indebtedness to Louisa Lee Schuyler for her vision and action.
Today, Schuyler Center continues to build upon the legacy started by Louisa Lee Schuyler 154 years ago. Our dedicated team continues to advocate fiercely for improved conditions for New Yorkers living in poverty and advance social welfare policy for all New York families.
For 154 years, we’ve asked one relentless question about every policy decision: Is this good for children? That question guides our work today, in a moment that demands more from all of us. Federal funding cuts are threatening Medicaid, nutrition programs, and child care assistance that millions of New York families depend on. Nearly 1 in 5 New York children still lives in poverty, a higher rate than 38 other states.
Right now, expert, evidence-based advocacy has never been more vital, or more at risk of being drowned out. Your support keeps Schuyler Center in the room, making the case for children who cannot always speak for themselves.
Louisa Lee Schuyler was born into a wealthy family in 1837 in New York City. At 24, she became a leader in the Women’s Central Association of Relief, where she was tasked with overseeing all of the volunteers on the home front of the Civil War, including distributing supplies and providing training materials.
With this experience, she founded the State Charities Aid Association, useing the skills she developed during the Civil War to create visiting committees. She established these committees of volunteers with the intention to visit every institution in New York State to make the public aware of the deplorable conditions and to make recommendations to the State Commissioners of Public Charities, later renamed The State Board of Charities.
Louisa leveraged her position in society by inviting her wealthy friends to join these visiting committees and using that social power to make recommendations and urge change. Initially, she visited Westchester County Poor House and Bellevue Hospital with volunteers and wrote a report to the State Board of Commissioners, which gave approval to inspect other charitable public institutions. This gave SCAA. the ability to champion big changes, including removing children from poor houses and placing them in foster families (https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/organizations/state-institutions/schuyler-louisa-lee/).
Other notable achievements of Louisa Lee in SCAA’s early years include: founding the first Training School for Nurses in 1873, passing of The State Care Act, Chapter 126, Law of 1890 (requiring aftercare of those institutionalized for mental illness), and organizing physicians and laymen for the Committee on the Prevention of Blindness. She was also appointed as one of the original Trustees of the Russell Sage Foundation, and in 1915, se received an honorary degree of laws (L.L.D.) from Columbia University.
“I was afraid of having a child because of the financial responsibilities…I took maternity leave, and the number one thing that I recognized to be a consistent problem is food—always figuring out what to do, how can we feed her? [Now with WIC] it’s just a lot more enjoyable having access [to fresh fruits and vegetables].”
– United for Brownsville Parent
Few public health programs have earned their place the way WIC has. Decades of research, billions of dollars in documented savings, and generations of healthier children make the case plainly: WIC works. As federal support for families erodes—with cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and other safety net programs—New York’s WIC program stands out as exactly the kind of investment the state should be doubling down on: proven, cost-effective, and life-changing for the families it serves. But WIC is at a breaking point, and without action in this year’s budget, the progress New York has worked hard to achieve is at risk.
The Nation’s Original “Food Is Medicine” Program
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has delivered one of public health’s best track records for more than five decades. WIC provides pregnant and postpartum parents and children under five with tailored nutrition packages, breastfeeding support, nutrition education, and connections to health and social services.
The evidence is overwhelming. WIC improves birth outcomes, reduces infant mortality, prevents childhood obesity, and closes disparities in infant health. Every dollar invested generates an estimated $2.48 in savings through lower medical costs and better long-term outcomes. Last year, WIC-prescribed purchases brought back $540 million federal dollars into New York’s local economies.
For families who rely on it, the impact is deeply personal. As one mother shared, “My children wouldn’t be eating healthy food if it weren’t for my education and assistance from the WIC program. I am a young mom who had lots of questions over the years, I was always treated very well by people who genuinely cared and wanted to help.”
New York Is Leading
New York deserves credit for its commitment to WIC. More than 462,000 New Yorkers now participate—the highest level in a decade and a 28% increase since early 2020, compared to 10% growth nationally. That expansion came from evidence-based policy: increasing the fruit and vegetable benefit, allowing remote appointments, and investing in strategic statewide outreach.
But local WIC agencies have not seen meaningful funding increases in a decade. The federal formula hasn’t kept pace with New York’s rising caseloads or costs. The funding system was designed to support 443,000 participants through 2028; caseloads surpassed that in early 2024. Since 2022, the ratio of participants to qualified nutritionists has grown 24%—now sitting at 656 to one.
WIC at its best means a nutritionist with time to sit with new parents, food packages tailored to a family’s needs, and agencies equipped to reach the families not yet enrolled. That is what adequate funding makes possible—and what New York’s agencies are straining to deliver as caseloads grow and resources lag.
The Cliff Is Coming
Federal waivers allowing remote WIC appointments—a key driver of New York’s enrollment growth—expire at the end of this fiscal year, adding new strain to already-stretched agencies. Without additional state funding, those agencies will face an impossible choice: scale back services, delay time-sensitive appointments, or maintain waiting lists. Every option puts agencies out of compliance with WIC policy—and means families that could have been served, weren’t. An estimated 200,000 eligible New Yorkers aren’t yet enrolled. With federal cuts to SNAP and Medicaid deepening hardship, WIC has never been a more essential backstop.
Albany Can Fund What Works
The solution is clear: $30 million in additional state funding for WIC in the FY 2026–2027 budget—to stabilize local agency operations and support outreach to connect those 200,000 still-eligible New Yorkers to the program.
Thirty million dollars is a fraction of what WIC returns—in healthier babies, stronger families, lower healthcare costs, and more resilient local economies. In a budget season defined by difficult tradeoffs, this is one of New York’s clearest bets.
New York should be proud to lead the nation in growth in WIC participation. Now it must lead by making that growth sustainable. We urge Governor Hochul and the NYS Legislature to include $30 million for WIC in the final FY 2026–2027 budget—because the perinatal, postpartum, and pediatric patients who depend on this public health nutrition program cannot wait, and because investing in their earliest years is one of the best things New York can do for all of us.
Authored by the NYS American Academy of Pediatrics, Hunger Solutions New York, United for Brownsville, WIC Association of New York State, Community Health Care Association of New York State, New York State Public Health Association, New York State Perinatal Association, and the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy.
Read Schuyler Center’s assessments of each phase of the New York State 2026-27 Budget and how it advances priorities that improve the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, especially those living in poverty.
This legislation authorizes parents and legal guardians to apply fluoride varnish to a child’s teeth under the prescription and protocols of a licensed healthcare provider, expanding access to this safe and effective preventive service, particularly for children at highest risk of dental disease.
Child Care
Child Care Assistance Reform Act: Creating a uniform system that delivers child care assistance fairly to families around the state—A.10494 (Clark)/S.9529 (Baskin)
This bill transfers administration of the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) outside of New York City from 57 different local social services districts to centralized administration by the state to make the program more efficient and equitable; to direct resources expeditiously to meet demand; and to create scaffolding around which to build statewide universal child care.
This bill dismantles a significant barrier that keeps New York families from accessing the child care they need by ending the State’s practice of tying the exact hours a caregiver works to the care and education that children can receive when using the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). The current rule denies children consistent early education and predictable schedules that allow them to thrive, and disproportionately burdens the lowest-income New Yorkers—including those who work part time, have inconsistent or rotating schedules, are homeless, or work in the growing gig economy. Ending this restriction will be a significant milestone on the path to building a system of universal child care that meets the needs of all families.
Child Care Assistance Enhanced Rate for Services for Children with Disabilities and Development Delays — A.10586 (Hevesi)/S.9396 (Fahy)
This bill will help eliminate barriers to accessing child care for families of children with disabilities and developmental delays by increasing the enhanced Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) rates for providing services to children experiencing disabilities and developmental delays to 30% of the market rate (up from 15%). New York must also take steps to make it easier for child care programs to access the enhanced rate.
The New York for All bill prohibits state and local employees from engaging in federal immigration enforcement, sharing personal information with immigration authorities, or cooperating with immigration authorities unless presented with a valid judicial warrant. The bill aims to preserve and build trust between immigrant New Yorkers and state and local law enforcement, schools, and social services agencies by ensuring they can safely call 911, cooperate with criminal investigations in their communities, or access essential social services to which they or their children are entitled without being targeted by immigration enforcement. This legislation is particularly important for immigrant families with children, to encourage them to continue participating in public spaces and utilizing public programs for which they are eligible without fear of being separated from their families due to immigration enforcement or deportation.
This bill requires medical care providers to seek the informed consent of pregnant people and new mothers before they or their babies are drug tested. Black women are drug tested disproportionately, which leads to disproportionate calls to the State Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, and sometimes to family separation at or near birth. Informed consent is already in effect in New York City’s public hospitals.
Across New York during the 2023-2024 school year, 137,511 students were suspended at least once – including 8,331 children in grades Pre-K to 3. This equates to 957,934 school days lost to suspension. This loss of learning impacts Black, Latino, disabled, low-income, LGBTQ+ students and students in foster care at higher rates than their peers. New York must commit to using solutions to student behavior that do not deprive young people of an education.
Additional Legislative Priorities for Child and Family Wellbeing
Update, 4/23/26: Negotiations between the Governor and Legislative leaders on a package of proposals to protect immigrant New Yorkers from federal immigration enforcement actions have taken center stage in recent days. On April 16, Governor Hochul released a proposal that includes expanded sensitive location protections which prohibit all state, local, and school employees from permitting immigration authorities access to any non-public area of a state-owned or operated facility without a judicial warrant. Schuyler Center welcomes the proposal’s extension of protections to privately-owned and operated sensitive locations, including child care programs, hospitals, schools, housing accommodations, and houses of worship—spaces where families must be able to access critical services without fear.
We are concerned that the governor’s proposal on local law enforcement coordination with federal immigration authorities does not go far enough to protect New York children and families.
The proposal would still allow significant cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents by authorizing local law enforcement to report a New Yorker to federal immigration upon a determination of “probable cause” that they committed a crime. Probable cause determinations are subjective, and can be susceptible to racial and other biases. This proposal would leave many New Yorkers at risk of being turned over to immigration enforcement and separated from their families before they have their day in court, particularly those in communities in which local law enforcement has pre-existing agreements with immigration enforcement.
We applaud New York leaders for making protecting immigrant New Yorkers a top priority, and we urge them to enact a strong final package that includes the full protections of the New York for All Act.
More than 1.4 million children in New York State live in immigrant families. That’s more than 1.5 times the size of the entire New York City public school system, the largest in the country. An estimated 324,400 New York children live with at least one undocumented family member. These are children in our classrooms, our child care programs, our communities.
With increased immigration enforcement activity and ICE presence in communities across the nation, and here in New York State, many of these children face the unthinkable reality of being separated from a parent, grandparent, sibling, or other family members. In most cases, they don’t know where their family member is or if they will return home.
The impacts of family separation on children are devastating and lasting: long-term health and psychological harm, significant income loss, and, in the most acute cases, children entering the foster care system. But the harm doesn’t just begin at the moment of detention or deportation. The chilling effect of enforcement is keeping families away from the programs and benefits they’re entitled to—pulling back from schools, health care, food assistance, and community life. When caregivers live in fear, children pay the price.
New York State has the power to change this, and we need our leaders to act now.
The New York for All Act (S.2235A Gounardes/A.3506A Reyes) would direct state and local officials to refrain from engaging in federal immigration enforcement activity or sharing sensitive information, including data, with federal authorities, except where explicitly required by federal law. It would also prohibit federal immigration officers from entering non-public areas of state and local property—including DMVs and social services offices—without a judicial warrant. This matters because fear of encountering immigration enforcement in the very spaces where families seek food, health care, and support is what keeps people away from services they need and to which they are entitled.
New Yorkers need the State to pass legislation that clearly precludes local governments from engaging in federal immigration enforcement activity and prohibits federal agents from accessing non-public government spaces or sharing personal data. We need the full New York for All Act, not a partial version that leaves too many doors open.
Passing New York for All is essential, but it can’t stand alone. Unlike in criminal proceedings, immigrants facing deportation have no guaranteed right to an attorney, meaning parents and caregivers are forced to navigate a complicated legal system alone. The data is stark: non-detained individuals without legal representation are 2.5 times more likely to be removed than those with representation. We urge Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie to pass both the Access to Representation Act (A.270 Cruz) and the BUILD Act (S.4538 Liu/A.2689 Cruz)—assuring that no immigrant New Yorker faces that system without support, regardless of their ability to pay.
Keeping families together is a moral imperative and an investment in the health, stability, and future of New York’s children. Every day without action is another day families live in fear.
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