B-roll, Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Highlights Distribution of More Than $216 Million in Food Assistance to More Than 1.8 Million Children Across[...]

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that more than 1.8 million low-income children have already received summer food assistance totaling more than $216 million as part of the 2026 Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) program. The program provides $120 per child to eligible families to help pay for healthy food during the summer months when many children lose access to free school meals.

B-ROLL of the Governor's meeting kids during arts and crafts at Grand Street Settlement is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Robert, thank you for being an individual who's carrying on the legacy of Rose. And all of you, your incredible team here, knows who we're fighting for and what we have to do to give people who've had a tougher time in life, especially their children, the knowledge that they're going to be okay. They come to a safe place like this, and I'm really proud that we could invest in the technology center to execute a continuation of the vision, to give young people all the advantages that are possible to them, and that is making sure they're ready for the jobs of tomorrow as technology's rapidly changing. Let's give another round of applause to everyone at the Rose Center, Robert.

You'll be hearing from a great partner of ours in Washington in a moment. That is our Congressman, Dan Goldman, who's been an incredible champion for his beloved neighborhood here, and I thank him for many years of service and look forward to continuing to work with you [for] many years to come. I also want to thank Rachel Sabella, the Director of No Kid Hungry in New York. You'll be hearing from Rachel just about what nutrition programs mean and how they can lift families up and just finally give them some breathing room, with all the stresses they have on how everything is so much more expensive. So Rachel, thank you for all you do. Manuela Ceballos, a grandma of a four-year-old. Where is she? I can't see who's back there. How are you? I heard you give hugs. You know how to give hugs? Yeah, I heard you're a good hugger, sweetheart.

As the grandmother of a four-year-old, that made my day.

I got to go, I'm just going to play with her. You know, they're not judgmental, unconditional love. That's how we love our children, and they love us right back. And so thank you for bringing that special gift for me.

Also, a real leader in championing for families that need help is our Commissioner, Barbara Guinn. I want to thank her for all she does. And let me give a quick shout-out to the elected officials who've joined us. Government doesn't run by just a governor or mayor. They run with a team. And all the elected officials who are here, I thank them for everything they do and will continue to do for many years to come. Our Councilmember, Harvey Epstein, is here. Senator Roxanne Persaud has joined us, the Chair of the Committee on Social Services. Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson, the Chair of [the] Subcommittee on Nutrition and Food and Farm Policy. New York State Assemblymember Maritza Davila. The Assembly Committee on Social Services. Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, the chair of the Committee on Women's Issues. Assemblymember Chantel Jackson, thank you for joining us. I think we've got that covered.

I'm just going to take a few minutes to talk about why we're here today. I just had a great time seeing young people working on their technology project, using all kinds of shapes to tell a story, and just having a chance to sit down with them and talk to them and just have an idea of why this is such a refuge for many of them. This is a place that looks out for them and cares about them, and literally an alternative to being on the streets, especially in the summertime, which we know is not a good place for kids to have that much free time. As a parent, I know that.

So they're involved, and I just know how special summers can be. Building memories now, making friends that'll be there through the school year and beyond. So this is a very special place. And I think about school right around the corner. I'm sure they don't, but as a parent, you're conditioned to say, "It's almost school time." What that also means is that the kids who sometimes are food insecure in the summertime, or their parents are, really have a chance to rely on food that we provide at the state level.

I would say one of the initiatives that I'm most proud of - that I worked on with our state legislature - was promising every single child in the State of New York that you will no longer have to go hungry. You won't have to skip a meal because of the stigma associated with having to get into the different line, or let people know that you're that kid whose parents couldn't afford to feed them, and you're now getting subsidized meals. That era is over in the State of New York. We just finished our second year of completely free meals, breakfast and lunch, so no more tummies are growling in school, and the kids are paying attention. And the teachers are seeing the results as well. So we've done that. So the kids are taken care of during the school year. We made sure of that.

But we also have to make sure that when school is out, that the kids don't go hungry. And so they still need their free meals. And ensuring New York's children have a chance to grow up healthy and strong is really just a top priority as a mom. And we see what's happened - and you'll hear about this from some of our advocates - groceries that we thought could not possibly get more expensive, got more expensive. And it's everything that's driving it up, and many of these are unnecessary. What's happened with tariffs driving up the cost of the groceries, making it more expensive for schools and everyone, but especially for struggling families.

Or the cost of gasoline going up. What does that mean? The distribution systems are more expensive. Getting the food from the farms and into the stores and from the stores into the homes, it's all costing so much more.

And parents do face that terrible choice of, "Can I provide this many meals?" I talked to one mom with a 13-year-old. She says, "He eats me out of house and home every day. I mean, I really don't know how to ration." Ration a growing 13-year-old boy, having his meals cut back because his mom can't afford to do this. That is heartbreaking to me. And it's a terrible, terrible decision that they have to make.

So this year - I want to say this loud and clear - we have prioritized these individuals and their children, making sure that no child goes hungry in the summertime waiting for that meal to start at the end of a day where maybe they didn't have breakfast or lunch. Didn't have breakfast or lunch - that is far too common in our state these days. So we distribute over $200 million in extra food assistance for children in the summertime, and I'm so proud of that through the Summer EBT program. That's an extra $120 in extra food assistance that otherwise would not be there.

I want to thank - and Dan will talk about this at the federal level, the role they play, but we distribute this, and it reaches two million children. Two million children will not have to deal with the specter of being hungry in the summertime because their parents could not afford to feed them. And it'll help offset the cost of healthy meals, make it a little bit easier for families to just have a little less stress in their lives, whether they're talking about how to pay for the utility bills, and the rent keeps going up, and insurance is going up, and it's just, it's getting really hard.

So I'm really proud that we can come here to showcase a program that the children who come here benefit from. And I want to make sure that families all over know that this is available. Many children have already received their benefit already, but I want people to know it expires after 122 days after being issued. So I just want to remind everybody: If you haven't gotten it, there's still time available because it does have a long lifespan.

But also remind caretakers of New York City's Free Meals Program right now is open. So breakfast and lunch, if you're under the age of 18 at the swimming pools, in the parks, in the libraries, and of course, you'll see food again once again when school starts.

And so, I also want to say this: This is a fight for working families. This is a part of our fight. We let families know who we're fighting for every single day. This is just one more exclamation point, but I think about the families that we help with the state legislators - $1,000 going to families, a tax credit for every family with a child under the age of four; $1,800 "baby bonus" for struggling families to help with the cost of a newborn; children over the age of four, upward of $500 per child every single year. That's money back in people's pockets. That's going to help pay for the backpacks in a few weeks - if you haven't gotten them already, they're selling them. They've been selling them since Fourth of July. I saw them in the store the other day.

The notepads, the books, the little lunchbox. All this is so expensive, and this is really, truly benefiting millions of dollars statewide as we put money directly back into parents' pockets. So let's make it easier on families - that's what we're all about. It's just trying to make life a little bit easier. And one more way we're going to do that, we talked about childcare. We are moving full steam ahead on our promise from the state to have universal childcare for every child in the State of New York. Working with the Mayor of New York, working with mayors all over the state, elected officials are so excited about this because this is a personal fight for me.

You've heard me tell the story of having to give up a job that I loved, literally cutting our income in half because I could not find childcare that I could afford. At the same time, my husband left a job that he liked, worked for the government, so we took a lot of pay cuts. And I was that mom clutching the coupons, holding [them] together until I could get to the big-box store and buy as many diapers and formula as I possibly could fit and carry back to the house.

And so I know what it's like, and it hasn't gotten easier. That was a long time ago, and it has not gotten easier for families today. So this is personal to me. I don't want this generation of young people to struggle in a way that is not their fault. They didn't foresee any of this, and they just want the same benefits that other generations have had and be able to manage their expenses, raise a family and really enjoy life here in New York State.

So I've made New York's families my fight. We've invested so much money in all these programs. But I also want to say, finally, we're not done. We're not done. We're going to continue investing in families and let them know that they have real champions in the Governor's office, in our State Assembly, our State Senate, as well as in City Council and in Congress.

Together we can stand up and speak out on behalf of the families who feel they do not have voices, to let them know that we are putting direct money back into their pockets, and it's all about investing in families because the beneficiaries are those little innocent children, the ones that look to us for care and love and food - and that's what we're delivering on this summer in particular.

So thank you very much for joining us as we focus on this important program. Let me bring up another champion for New York families, Congressman Dan Goldman.