This Saturday, Public Advocate Gotbaum joined the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and local elected officials to honor Nelson Mandela's Birthday and call on the City to end their practice of finger-printing NYC food stamp applicants. 
The city's policy currently requires food stamp recipients to provide a finger print in order to obtain their legally entitled benefits. This practice costs the city up to $800,000 every year, and may deter eligible families from applying for food stamps.
Gotbaum said, “Commissioner Doar tried to limit finger imaging when he ran the State agency that manages HRA, but now he insists on continuing this wasteful, unnecessary, and demeaning policy. If New Yorkers from Wall Street don’t need to provide finger prints to benefit from the Mayor’s JumpStart program, why should hungry New Yorkers have to provide finger prints for food they need to survive? This program is just one more hurdle for families trying to access needed benefits. The administration should be doing everything in its power to break down barriers to food stamps, which bring federal dollars into the local economy." Read the full press release [pdf] here.
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