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FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2025

Dear New Yorkers,

The Trump administration has cancelled more than $1.3 million in federal emergency grants awarded to a Brooklyn food pantry to feed migrants, after advising the nonprofit it was suspected of violating U.S. law by serving food to “illegal aliens.”

The move leaves the Campaign Against Hunger — which each year serves 17 million meals to over 1.5 million New Yorkers, including thousands of new arrivals — in a lurch.

“To take that much money from any organization that does not have an endowment or a large budget is to take food out of the mouths of those that need it the most,” said Melony Samuels, the CEO and founder of Bedford-Stuyvesant nonprofit.

The nonprofit says it has already spent about $600,000, most of it on food, for which it may not be reimbursed. Samuels said she wakes up in the early morning, dreading the day to come, her mind spinning with the decisions she’ll have to make.

“What am I going to do? Will I be able to meet the needs? How many people will be turned away? Are we going to ration the amount of food?” she said.

Read more here about the food pantry who lost its FEMA grants because it served migrants.

Weather ⛅

Partly cloudy, with highs in the low 60s.

MTA 🚇

There’s no J train from Crescent Street in Brooklyn and Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer in Queens from 11:45 p.m. tonight through Monday morning. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s suspended today, April 18, for Good Friday.

By the way…

If you want to start a business in the city, we’ve got good news: even though a General Vendor license is hard to get, you don’t need one to sell at street fairs and night markets.

Our Other Top Stories

A Colombian mother had planned to move her family out of their Brooklyn migrant shelter at the end of the school year. But then she received a menacing email from Customs and Border Patrol telling her she had seven days to leave the country. New York’s first major offshore wind project was essential to the state’s ability to meet its future energy needs and legally mandated environmental goals — plus, create thousands of well-paying jobs and give the local economy a boost. But it suspended construction on Thursday in response to a stop work order issued by the Trump administration. We’ve published lots of stories on how much local campaigns have raised — but when it comes to mayoral money, that’s only part of the picture. Flyers, television spots, radio ads, merch: monied outsiders try to push their favored candidate or issue through independent expenditures — or New York’s local version of Super PACs. In this week’s edition of our election newsletter Ranked Choices, one reader asked whether the winner of the general needs at least 40% of the vote — and if one person doesn’t get that, whether we’ll have a runoff election. For the answer, read the newsletter here. Exciting news: THE CITY will be co-hosting many of this year’s official political debates! Our first one is on June 12 for the leading Democratic candidates for mayor. Here’s the full calendar and list of co-sponsors — save the dates!

SPONSORED The Knicks Aren’t the Only Stars at MSG  The Knicks are going to the playoffs — but they weren’t the only stars at Madison Square Garden this season. Earlier this year, JPMorganChase hosted over a dozen New York City entrepreneurs at MSG for the “Chase Rookies Program,” which provided a day of networking, workshops, and fireside chats with Knicks and Rangers executives and successful business owners. This new program builds on a strong foundation: for the past three season, the iconic New York City brands have partnered to spotlight eight local small business owners each season at Knicks and Rangers games. Learn more about how JPMorganChase is supporting its hometown small businesses.

Reporter’s Notebook

Job Growth Stalls

Job growth in New York City has come to a halt as businesses try to figure out the impact of the Trump administration’s tariffs and its downsizing of the federal government.

Seasonally adjusted employment in March totalled 4,847,100, the state Labor Department reported Thursday, virtually unchanged from where it stood at the end of 2024. The number of federal government jobs in the city remained stable as well at 46,000, a sign that the Elon Musk DOGE campaign had yet to make a significant dent in that workforce here.

The city’s unemployment rate declined slightly to 5.1% but remains a percentage point higher than the national figure of 4.2%

However, an economic and tax revenue report issued this week by city Comptroller Brad Lander says the city could lose 37,500 jobs this year if Trump policies result in a mild recession. A severe recession would pare the city’s workforce by 100,000 jobs.

— Greg David

Things To Do

Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.

Friday, April 18: Transform a T-shirt into a tote bag at the Greenbelt Nature Center on Staten Island. 11 a.m. Saturday, April 19: Earth Day isn’t until April 22, but Governors Island is celebrating early: free activities all day, with walking tours, scavenger hunts, community science exhibits, DJ sets and more. Starts at 10 a.m., ferry tickets are $5. Sunday, April 20: Celebrate Easter with a parade on Fifth Avenue — and don’t forget your Easter bonnet. Parade starts at 10 a.m. on East 49th Street and Fifth Avenue.

THE KICKER: Documentary filmmaker David Hoffman conducted these man-on-the-street interviews on Wall Street in 1979 — eat your heart out, TikTok.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Friday.

Love,

THE CITY

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