As the 2026 New York State legislative session comes to a close, we are reflecting on the tenacious advocacy efforts of the Schuyler Center team and our partners. Together, our work has driven policy and investments that will build a brighter future for the youngest New Yorkers.
Schuyler Center staff at the 2026 State of New York’s Children Data BriefingSenior Policy Manager Crystal Charles at Legislative Caucus weekend
January
To kick off 2026, we released Schuyler Center’s annual State of New York’s Children report on January 13th. That morning, we hosted a data briefing for legislators, reporters, policymakers, and partners. Our policy team presented data across policy areas alongside policy recommendations to uplift New York’s children and families.
In early January, Governor Hochul joined Mayor Mamdani to announce a historic plan for Universal Child Care in New York State. Schuyler Center’s Vice President of Policy Dede Hill and Empire State for Child Care (ESCCC) Campaign Manager Shoshana Hershkowitz stood with Governor Hochul as she shared her proposal.
Later in January, over 400 parents, advocates, and providers braved a winter storm to attend ESCCC’s Advocacy Day. Attendees met with legislators and rallied for funding for statewide universal child care and for a permanent workforce compensation fund.
Associate Director of Policy Kari Siddiqui spoke to North Country Public Radio about New York’s child poverty rate still being one of the worst in the nation.
February
Dede Hill testified at the NYS Joint Fiscal Committees Human Services Budget Hearing on February 5, and Medicaid Matters New York Coordinator Lara Kassel testified at the Health/Medicaid Budget Hearing on February 10.
In early March, Dede Hill and Kate Breslin gave a budget presentation to the NYS Association of Small City School Districts. They shared Schuyler Center’s policy priorities, especially those impacting the children being served by schools in New York’s small cities—such as pre-k, food security, and child poverty reduction.
Schuyler Center President and CEO Kate Breslin was invited to speak alongside the Governor, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal People-Stokes, and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins at Governor Hochul’s Women’s History Month reception at the Executive Mansion in Albany on March 23rd.
Following the proposed elimination of funding for the adult home resident advocacy and the EQUAL program, an op-ed calling for protections to adult-care funds authored by Kate Breslin was published in the Queens Chronicle at the end of March.
April
While state budget negotiations continued past the April 1 deadline, Schuyler Center’s advocacy for budget and legislative priorities remained steadfast.
Advocates including members of the Schuyler Center staff partook in several rallies calling for the passing of New York for All (NY4All) to protect immigrant children and families in NYS.
Dede Hill spoke to Capitol Confidential about what was missing from Governor Hochul’s proposed child care plan—specifically workforce funding and CCAP investments. Later in the month Schuyler Center supported the Empire State Campaign for Child Care’s virtual press event highlighting the need to fund both the child care workforce and the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) in this year’s state budget. Reporters were invited to hear from parents and providers representing different regions of the state.
The 2025 expansion of the Empire State Child Credit was a major win for families, and Schuyler Center was a driving force behind it. This tax season, we helped raise awareness of how families could claim the expanded credit when filing their taxes.
In April, we marked the halfway point on the Child Poverty Reduction Act’s 10-year timeline to reduce New York’s child poverty rate by 50%. Schuyler Center continues to hold the Governor and legislators accountable to this commitment and to New York’s children. We drew attention to the achievements to date and what else must be done to achieve this goal.
ESCCC Campaign Manager Shoshana Hershkowitz speaks at the Mom Squad RallySchuyler Staff with Rep. Paul Tonko at the NYS Association of Small City School DistrictsSchuyler communications staff and spring intern at Anti-Poverty Advocacy DayKate Breslin speaks at the Governor’s Women’s History Month reception
Kate Breslin with Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-CousinsSenator Lea Webb at Anti-Poverty Advocacy DayAssemblymember Sarah Clarke speaks at the Mom Squad Rally
Vice President of Policy Dede Hill at NY4All rally
Shoshana Hershkowitz with Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas at Imagine a Day Without Child Care
May
On May 11th, advocates with the ESCCC participated in events inviting New Yorkers to “Imagine a Day without Child Care”. This was an opportunity to exemplify how every part of daily life would look different without child care, and to voice support of a universal child care system that supports every family AND pays thriving wages to educators. Campaign Director Shoshana Hershkowitz joined ECE on the Move for a press conference and rally in City Hall Park in NYC and attended an event at a provider’s home hosted by The Innovative Day Care Corp in Freeport, NY.
Later in May, Schuyler Center helped launch the New York Partnership for Dental Therapy as a founding member. The Partnership is a statewide coalition of organizations committed to expanding access to oral health care by authorizing dental therapists to practice in New York State. Dental therapists are credentialed providers who bring preventive and restorative dental care to communities that have long gone without adequate access.
Following the adoption of the state budget at the end of May, Schuyler Center President and CEO Kate Breslin was invited to stand with the Governor as she signed the 2026-27 NYS Budget bills in Albany.
June
As the official New York partner for KIDS COUNT by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Schuyler Center hosted a data release event on June 9th to launch our partnership and kick off conversations around the data and what New York can do to help children and families.
In a Times Union op-ed following the release of this data, Kate Breslin highlighted that “the most devastating policy choice made in New York is the decision to allow 18% of our children, nearly one in five, to live in poverty.”
Schuyler Center President and CEO Kate Breslin also joined Susan Arbetter on Capital Tonight to discuss the data and what it means for New York.
Members of the Schuyler Center staff attended the New York State Food Summit hosted by the Alliance for a Hunger Free New York on June 16. Staff members were able to connect with New Yorkers from across the state and attend enriching presentations about food security in NYS.
Kate Breslin and Dede Hill presenting at the KIDS COUNT Data BriefingSchuyler staff at the NYS Food Summit
Kate Breslin and Susan Arbetter on Capital TonightKIDS COUNT Data Briefing
By Kate Breslin, Schuyler Center President and CEO
Every person deserves access to good health care, and that includes dental care. That is not a radical idea. It is a basic expectation that our health systems should be built to meet. Yet right now, too many New Yorkers cannot get basic dental care. Not because they have not tried or don’t care, but because the doors are locked. There is no dentist in their area. The nearby practices do not take their insurance. Appointments are unavailable. Out-of-pocket care is unaffordable. These are not personal failures. They are the predictable result of a system that wasn’t designed to reach everyone.
Schuyler Center recognized this pressing issue and launched the Future Oral Health Workforce Project in 2024. Over two years, this initiative brought together and synthesized insights from over 300 individuals, statewide studies, expert consultations, and community convenings to develop comprehensive recommendations for building a more equitable and effective oral health system. The goal is both simple and challenging: Bring good, affordable oral health care to more New Yorkers in more areas of the state.
We didn’t arrive at this conclusion without taking the time to talk with consumers and providers; to thoroughly investigate how dental therapy is working in the other states where it is authorized; and review data about safety and effectiveness spanning several decades. The data and the experiences in other states show that adding dental therapists to the oral health workforce brings better care to more people, especially people with low incomes and in rural communities.
For Schuyler Center, this is both an equity and a public health issue. No one should lack access to dental care because of where they live or what insurance they have. As an organization dedicated to reducing poverty and creating an equitable New York for all populations, we see that dental therapy can improve access to oral health treatment for the most underserved populations and can create good jobs near the people they serve.
And it can start working soon: Other states have shown that it is possible to create and open a program to train dental therapists in just a few years.
We are fully committed to bringing dental therapy to New York State because getting dental care shouldn’t depend on your zip code or your income. That is basic fairness and basic humanity.
The New York Partnership for Dental Therapy is a statewide coalition of organizations committed to expanding access to oral health care by authorizing dental therapists to practice in New York State. Dental therapists are credentialed providers who bring preventive and restorative dental care to communities that have long gone without adequate access.
Schuyler Center recently welcomed four new members to the Board of Trustees. We are grateful for their leadership, expertise, and service while we work to create a New York State where all children and families can thrive.
Learn more about our newest board members:
Damyn Kelly is a recognized leader in the nonprofit sector. As a strategic thinker and planner, he combines experience, data, evidence-based practices, and strong ties to the community to lead organizations seeking to enhance the quality of life for the marginalized and underserved in New York City. Damyn currently serves as the President and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of NY, an $85 million social services organization, employing 660 human services professionals across 39 sites. Programs of LSSNY include: immigration legal services, foster care, supportive housing, family shelters, early childhood education, prevention services and food pantries.
Hope Lesane is an experienced policy leader specializing in early childhood education and advocacy. As Senior Policy Advisor at the CUNY Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, Hope works with statewide leaders to advance early childhood initiatives. Her work centers on workforce development, compensation, and advocacy efforts impacting New York State’s early childhood professionals.
Previously, as Associate Director for Early Childhood at The Education Trust-NY, Hope led a prenatal-to-three advocacy coalition and cultivated extensive community relationships across New York State. She drafted influential policy reports and represented the organization before the NYS Childcare Availability Task Force and the NYS Board of Regents.
In her former role as Director of Early Childhood Initiatives at Teach For America-New York, Hope developed a specialized training institute and successfully secured scholarship funding for early childhood corps members. She additionally possesses deep experience in instructional coaching and classroom teaching, having served at both the Manhattan Charter School and the Grand Street Settlement Head Start Program.
Hope holds a Master of Science in Early Childhood Education and Students with Disabilities from Touro College and a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Nyack College. A resident of Brooklyn, she lives with her husband, Jamaal, and her two children, Mia and Theo.
Rev. West McNeill is the NYS Labor-Religion Coalition Program Director. They are ordained in the United Church of Christ and have over a decade of experience organizing with community, faith, and labor organizations across New York State. They were named to City & State’s “Faith Power 100” list of New York’s most influential religious leaders. West holds an M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, a B.A. in journalism from Ithaca College, and is a graduate of the Union Leadership Institute of the NYS AFL-CIO and Cornell.
B Panchanadeswaran (Panch) is a senior Finance Executive with over 40 years of global experience across the Financial Services Industry, with a strong track record leading companies through startup, growth, and turnaround phases.
Currently Head of Monetization at Pagaya Technologies (NASDAQ: PGY), a global technology company enabling financial products accessible to more customers nationwide. Panch has served as CFO of Caliber Home Loans, Consumer and Commercial Banking at Santander Bank N.A., Citi Mortgage, and Citi Financial. His expertise spans Capital Markets, Pricing, and Portfolio Management.
A seasoned Risk Management leader, Panch served as COO of Global Consumer Risk at Citi during the Financial Crisis, interfacing with regulators, redesigning the bank’s Risk architecture, and leading its first Stress Testing exercise. Throughout his career, Panch has managed diverse lending programs — Cards, Personal Loans, Auto, and Mortgages — across large banks, regional banks, and nonbank finance companies, serving the full credit spectrum in varied regulatory environments.
His global experience living and working in India, Turkey, Belgium, Dubai, and the USA has shaped a dynamic, flexible management style marked by strong communication skills and an analytical, results-oriented approach.
Panch holds a CPA from India and a degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. A New York City resident for 20 years, he actively contributes to numerous NGOs.
ALBANY, NEW YORK — New York State ranks eighth in child health, according to the 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book, a 50-state report of recent data compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzing how kids are faring nationwide.
While New York remains strong in child health, it ranks 30th in the nation overall. The data shows New York State leaders must do more to support economic wellbeing (rank 46), housing affordability (rank 46), and child poverty (rank 38). View Schuyler Center’s KIDS COUNT Data page.
For the first time this year, states receive a comprehensive score (from 0 to 1,000) in the Data Book, not just a ranking. The scores track 16 indicators in four domains — economic wellbeing, education, health, and family and community factors — over a five-year period from 2019 to 2024. The new scoring system shows whether policies and public investment are actually improving children’s lives, not merely how states compare to each other.
New York State received a score of 558, just above the national score of 547, with highest scores in the child health domain where New York scores 768 out of 1,000 and ranks 8th in the nation, highlighting the fact that only 3% of New York children are uninsured.
New York’s lowest scores, however, fall in the economic wellbeing domain, where New York scores just 406 out of 1,000. In particular, the data show that approximately 700,000, or 18% of New York children live in poverty, while 37% of children in New York live in households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing.
“New York has made a commitment to reducing child poverty, but a ranking of 30th in the nation should be a wake-up call. A state with our resources and our values should be a national leader for children and families, and we are not there yet. The data are clear: New York must invest in family economic security, child care, children’s health, and child welfare if we are going to make good on our promise to cut child poverty in half by 2031. The good news is we know what works. We need the political will to do it.” said Kate Breslin, president and CEO of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, New York’s member of the Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT network.
In its 37th year of publication, the KIDS COUNT® Data Book provides reliable statewide numbers to help leaders see where progress is being made, where greater support is needed and which strategies are making a difference.
Schuyler Center encourages New York’s lawmakers and officials to use this detailed information to unite across party lines and respond with initiatives that invest in young people. By offering a state-specific road map, the Data Book equips policymakers, advocates, and communities with the information they need to make decisions that help kids and young people thrive.
“Behind every number in this report is a child who is either hungry or fed, housed or homeless, progressing academically or falling behind. No state is consistently getting this right,” said Lisa M. Lawson, president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. “The Data Book challenges us to follow the evidence and do what delivers results.”
###
DATA RELEASE INFORMATION
The 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book will be available at www.aecf.org/databook. Journalists interested in creating maps, graphs and rankings in stories about the Data Book can use the KIDS COUNT Data Center at datacenter.aecf.org.
ABOUT THE ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION
The Annie E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for the nation’s young people by developing solutions to strengthen families, build paths to economic opportunity and transform struggling communities into safer and healthier places to live, work and grow. For more information, visit www.aecf.org. KIDS COUNT is a registered trademark of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
ABOUT THE SCHUYLER CENTER FOR ANALYSIS AND ADVOCACY For more than 150 years, the Schuyler Center has led advocacy rooted in compassion, evidence, and belief that government should work for the greater good. Schuyler Center’s work acknowledges the historic inequities woven throughout shared systems, and advocates for public policies and investments that seek to address those inequities while improving health, welfare, and human services for all New Yorkers, with a focus on children and families experiencing poverty.
Schuyler Center’s advocacy has advanced policies that reduce child poverty, build a universal child care system, promote child health and wellbeing, and transform the child welfare system.
Schuyler Center achieves its goals through creative and detailed data and policy analysis, coalition building, and advocacy with elected officials, agency executives, policymakers, and stakeholders. Learn more at https://scaany.org
On May 27, 2026, the Governor signed into law the 2026-27 New York State Enacted Budget. Schuyler Center’s Last Look is our initial assessment of the enacted State budget and how it advances priorities that improve the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, especially children and families living in poverty. The dollar amounts included in this document—and all of Schuyler Center “Looks”—reflect budget appropriations, or “spending authority.” Appropriations tell us the maximum spending authority permitted by the State, which is often much greater than what the State actually spends. Actual state expenditures are more closely reflected in the financial plan which will be released in a few weeks.
This year’s budget makes key investments that will support children experiencing poverty but will likely not be bold enough to protect families from the full impact of federal cuts and rising costs. The Enacted Budget makes meaningful investments in child care, including record funding for child care assistance, pre-K, and universal child care pilot programs, and includes new protections for immigrant families, some new funding for legal services, and inclusion of New York City in funding for Raise the Age services. It does not include new investments in health coverage, nutrition supports, Early Intervention Services, and WIC funding.
Key investments will support children experiencing poverty but are not bold enough to protect families from the full impact of federal cuts and rising costs.
As advocates for policies that support children and families experiencing poverty, Schuyler Center welcomes this budget’s meaningful investment in child care, including record funding for child care assistance, pre-K, and universal child care pilot programs.
The right state investments can ensure family wellbeing and make New York State the best place for a child to learn, play, grow, find their passion, and participate in a vibrant future for our state.
New York State is in a unique moment. The federal government has taken many significant actions causing low-income and immigrant New Yorkers to lose access to health care, food assistance, rental assistance, and due process. If there is a time for New York to step up and protect low- and middle-income New Yorkers, especially those in immigrant families, it is now.
While the budget agreement includes new protections for immigrant families, along with some funding for legal services, it largely neglects to cushion families and communities across our state as they lose health coverage, nutrition supports, and housing, while facing rising costs for basic needs, like transportation and groceries. Young children with developmental delays and disabilities will continue to miss precious early opportunities for remediation through Early Intervention because of the state’s decision to keep reimbursement rates so low that children age out of eligibility for services before receiving them. Thousands of pregnant women, new babies, and low-income parents are at-risk of poorer birth outcomes and challenged development, as they miss out on nutritious foods, breastfeeding support, and nutrition and health education, because of WIC funding and staffing shortages that the state chose not to invest in.
Universal Child Care
Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy celebrates this budget’s monumental progress toward a vision of universal child care with its record, recurring investments in child care assistance for low- and moderate-income families, and significant pre-K and 3-K expansions. This budget also includes funding for the state’s first-ever universal child care pilot projects outside of New York City, and 2-K in New York City. Unfortunately, the budget makes a significant misstep in failing to include any funding for child care workforce compensation.
In addition, while it contains historic levels of funding for the child care assistance program – the foundation of universal child care and a powerful tool for reducing child poverty- it still falls short of what is needed to end child care assistance waitlists around the state.
Nonetheless, these historic investments are a testament to the unflagging efforts of parents, child care educators, grassroots organizers, and advocates from communities across the state.
We applaud the leadership of Governor Hochul, who has championed child care for decades – long before it was a widely popular policy — and Mayor Mamdani, who has made this a top priority of his new administration. We are grateful for the support of legislative champions: chief among them, children and family committee chairs, Senator Jabari Brisport and Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi, who have been tireless leaders in advancing universal child care for all New York State families and a thriving wage for the child care workforce.
As New York proceeds toward a goal of universal child care and pre-K, it is essential that it is built upon a solid foundation comprised of two non-negotiables: a well-compensated workforce and prioritizing low-income families in the rollout.
Participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is up 28% since 2020, yet local agencies have been essentially flat-funded over the past decade. The final budget misses the opportunity to provide the additional funding needed to ensure all eligible families can access WIC’s vital services.
Child Poverty Reduction Act progress – Beyond child care assistance, the final budget includes no intentional or significant investment to reduce the number of children experiencing poverty.
Schuyler Center welcomes the budget’s actions to protect immigrant New Yorkers, which are an important step toward ensuring the safety of immigrant children, families, and communities. No matter where they were born, all New Yorkers should feel safe in their homes, their schools, their child care centers, their places of worship, and their communities.
In particular, the budget codifies the right to free public education for all children, regardless of immigration status, and takes steps to ensure that children and their families are safe in “sensitive locations” like schools, child care centers, and houses of worship by limiting access to those locations by immigration enforcement.
While the budget takes critical steps to limit interaction between local law enforcement and immigration enforcement by ending formal agreements, it misses the opportunity to clearly ban informal collusion between local police and ICE and Border Patrol that can lead to harmful family separations.
When immigrant New Yorkers do become detained, they urgently need access to legal representation. The detention of a caregiver is devastating for children and can cause families to experience significant financial stress. The budget recognizes this urgent need by increasing investments in legal services, but additional funding is required to meet significant need.
We look forward to partnering with Governor Hochul, the Legislature, and partners across the state to ensure that our immigrant neighbors can safely access the resources, legal services, and protections they need to live, thrive, and feel at home in New York State.
Essential Plan – left unfixed:
The Essential Plan provides public health insurance coverage to people with low incomes who are just above Medicaid income limits. Last year’s federal budget reconciliation bill, HR1, forced the State to make the difficult decision to change eligibility for the Essential Plan. This preserved coverage for over one million New Yorkers, but it will leave 450,000 people uninsured. There was a chance to include a solution in this year’s budget and secure an affordable coverage option for the nearly half a million people about to lose coverage. Despite significant support from the Legislature, this coverage option was not included in the final budget.
Child and Family Wellbeing:
Schuyler Center welcomes incremental increases in funding to key services that support children, young people, and families involved in New York’s child welfare system, and notes that more investment is needed for transformational change.
The Foster Youth College Success Initiative and legal services in Family Court both received modest increases in funding that do not reach the levels needed to fully fund either program. The Child and Family Wellbeing Fund remains a missed opportunity for New York State to invest in the communities impacted by decades of Child Protective Services interventions.
Effective and Timely Implementation is Necessary to Support Children and Families
Schuyler Center stands ready to support the state in swiftly implementing the policies and investments included in the budget to deliver the relief and support children, families and communities need. These include:
Making the supplemental CCAP funds for counties outside of New York City available to be accessed immediately, along with longer term allocation information that will give counties the certainty they need about their CCAP funding over time, so 32 counties that have closed enrollment due to inadequate funds can immediately reopen CCAP enrollment. Families are running out of time to enroll their children in summer programming that is essential for working parents.
Ensuring the success of the three universal child care pilot projects in Broome, Monroe, and Dutchess Counties. Successful pilots must be truly universal – without means testing, immigration or activities testing,and must pay the workforce a just wage.
Ensuring New York SNAP recipients can utilize their benefits to access the food they need by protecting New York SNAP recipients from having their benefits stolen. The state should act swiftly to upgrade New York’s SNAP benefits to secure chip-based EBT cards.
###
Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy is a leading statewide, nonpartisan, policy analysis and advocacy organization based in Albany. For over 150 years, Schuyler Center has worked to shape policies to improve health, welfare, and human services for all New Yorkers, especially those impacted by poverty and inequitable systems. Schuyler Center is focused on statewide policy related to universal child care, family economic security, family wellbeing, and child health. Learn more at www.scaany.org.
Recent Comments