We’ve learned that philanthropy alone cannot solve the poverty fight. We must also address the systems, structures, and the narratives that hold and keep New Yorkers in poverty. Our team of policy experts advocates for structural political change in an effort to reduce barriers to economic mobility.

Learn how Robin Hood is fighting poverty through the New York State FY24 Budget.

For years, non-profits in the human services sector have had low and slow reimbursements from the city for their work, but we joined others to successfully secure higher payments for human service groups. Also, we partnered with Columbia and Stanford to provide evidence against a new Federal rule that adversely harms immigrant New Yorkers living in poverty, and we teamed up with the Brennan Center for Justice for a new study of the economic impact of incarceration.

Since eviction is the leading cause of homelessness, we fought this year for a law providing low-income New Yorkers universal access to free legal counsel in eviction proceedings, and we’ve succeeded in getting the Child Tax Credit on the 2020 agenda of Governor Cuomo. Since eviction is a leading cause of homelessness, we fought this year for a law expanding eligibility for low-income New Yorkers to have universal access to free legal counsel in eviction proceedings. We succeeded in convincing Governor Cuomo to increase the number of children eligible for the state’s Child Tax Credit and will continue advocating for this critical poverty-fighting policy in the future.