Fight Poverty Not The Poor NYC Action

Start: Monday, March 18, 2019•12:00 PM

The New York State Budget is an expression of our state’s values and priorities - and sadly the 2019-2020 budget proposals continue to prioritize a failed status quo over the 50.5% of New Yorkers who are poor and low-income. This budget continues to under-invest in public services, maintains New York’s first-in-the-nation inequality, fails to fix our regressive state and local tax system, and continues to direct our tax dollars to for-profit companies with no accountability. On March 18, the New York Poor People’s Campaign will take action across the state, showing that the poor, activists, and faith leaders of all races and in all regions are united in demanding our state government change course and prioritize ending systemic racism, poverty, militarism and ecological devastation.

In sight of both the Statue of Liberty and the Charging Bull of Wall Street, New Yorkers will gather for the New York City Poor People’s Campaign's Fight Poverty, Not the Poor Day of Action to lift up the contradictions of this place both as a symbol of historic welcome and obsession with wealth. We will call on the state’s budget to be a moral document, and we will highlight how the lack of funding has impacted criminal justice, education, healthcare, housing and immigration. We will challenge the City’s profiteers that put profit above people and those most impacted by these immoral policies and practices will share their stories with those gathered to demand that our needs be met. New York City is undeniably a place of abundance, even extravagance, and in this city we challenge the narrative of scarcity and acknowledge the ability to end poverty.