‘No More Crumbs rally’ blasts SNAP cutoffs after work rules returned on March 1

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Organizers of the Feb. 28 “No More Crumbs” rally called on state and city officials to protect residents from food assistance cuts as stricter SNAP enforcement resumed in New York on March 1.

“This is basic human life that we’re trying to keep, to sustain,” said Diana Ramos, a rally participant, as she talked about what she and others called widening threats to the social safety net. “We don’t deserve crumbs — we deserve a full meal.”

Federal government Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits recipients designated as ABAWD (able-bodied adults without dependents) face a time limit. Those who do not meet monthly work or training requirements could have their benefits cut off starting March 1, 2026.

“Once you use up the three months and you are not meeting the ABAWD work rules, you will lose your SNAP benefits,” the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) explains. According to OTDA, New York’s current three-year period began Oct. 1, 2023, and will end on Sept. 30, 2026. Those unable to provide documentation of eligible hours could reach this cutoff sooner.

New York City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) had been preparing for this shift. HRA stated that it was required to implement ABAWD eligibility requirements beginning Nov. 1, 2025, and that identified individuals “will be required to comply” beginning March 1, 2026. The agency said recipients subject to the rule should expect notices, and if they are not already meeting the requirement, appointments can be made to connect them with approved work activities.

For Ramos and fellow organizers, the policy shift is more than just a paperwork issue — they said it’s a hunger issue, one that hits working-class communities and older adults especially hard. “I don’t want to ever hear about a child going to school hungry, or an elderly person having to decide between food and medication, or rent and electricity,” Ramos said. “I want that child thriving… I want that elderly person… to be able to enjoy retirement.”

The Feb. 28 event began with a noon community meetup at Harlem Hospital on Malcolm X Blvd at 135th Street, followed by a 12:30 p.m. rally. Participants then marched down Malcolm X, delivering call and response chants like “Healthcare not warfare! Healthcare not warfare!” and “What do we want? Tax the Rich! What do we want? Tax the Rich! What do we want? Tax the Rich! Tax who? Tax the Rich! Tax who? Tax the Rich!” before coming together for a second rally in front of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building on 125th Street.

The rally was organized by the Safety Net Activists/Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, along with a coalition that included Radical Elders, NY-11 Health Coalition, Make the Road, Rise and Resist, Physicians for a National Health Program NY Metro, Housing Works, and Manhattan Community Board 10, according to the organizing materials.

“It starts at home,” said Ramos, a Safety Net activist. She framed the “No More Crumbs” rally as part of an effort to rebuild the kind of mass, cross-neighborhood mobilization that shaped earlier welfare rights fights. “Movements like civil rights movements… didn’t just become nationwide… It started in one small space and then it progressed forward.”

In their public call, organizers argued that the federal government is “threatening” and “attacking” safety-net programs, and that local leaders need to respond with “bold plans” to protect people’s access to food, housing, and healthcare. They link SNAP to a larger set of struggles over Medicaid and housing programs.

Organizers said the coalition’s immediate demand was that state and city leaders counter the March enforcement shift with expanded support, instead of tighter restrictions. The longer-term goal is to bring “No More Crumbs” rallies to every New York City borough and to build a broader base for securing the safety net.

“We want all the boroughs to come together and say, ‘Hey, this is what needs to happen,’” Ramos said.