Jie Jenny Zou covers social services and public benefits for New York Focus. She previously worked as an investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times and the Center for Public Integrity where she delved into topics ranging from environmental health and worker safety to immigrant detention and scientific integrity. Her award-winning work has appeared in dozens of national outlets including the Associated Press, The Guardian, Vox, NPR, VICE, The Marshall Project and more. She was raised in Brooklyn and is an alumna of Stony Brook University and Columbia University.
New York state has pumped millions of taxpayer dollars into an online portal that vowed to make life easier for Rochester’s neediest, but critics say it’s fallen short.
We’ve compiled information for SNAP recipients in New York on the changing work requirements.
Despite last-ditch efforts by a coalition of lawmakers, the state failed to avert a health coverage cliff coming this summer.
New rules could result in thousands of New Yorkers losing their food benefits this summer.
Nearly half a million New Yorkers on the Essential Plan could lose their coverage this summer.
The governor, Senate, and Assembly all have different ideas for how to implement this year’s increases for human services contracts.
Senate and Assembly budget proposals would leave New Yorkers at risk of losing their benefits from federal cuts.
New Yorkers could see new benefit cards in 2027 as officials pledge to prioritize a long-awaited upgrade.
State officials have so far dodged questions about the future of New York’s largest health plan. A hearing on Tuesday could provide some insight.
Will this week’s budget hearing provide insight into the state’s plan to salvage its safety net?
The governor’s vision for tackling historic cuts to public benefit programs remains blurry.
Drug policy advocates are calling a new reporting mandate a missed opportunity for needed transparency and sustained action.
New Yorkers who rely on federal food assistance could see more program disruptions in upcoming months.
Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers could lose their food benefits due to new SNAP work requirements, after the Trump administration phased them in months earlier than expected.
The board overseeing opioid lawsuit settlements is raising the alarm that New York could use the funds, which are meant to expand substance abuse initiatives, to backfill federal cuts.
The federal government shutdown and new work requirements will throw New York’s food stamps program into chaos.
New York counties thought they had months to prepare to implement SNAP work requirements. Now, they have weeks.
Massive changes are coming to the state’s comprehensive, low-cost healthcare plan.
Trump’s immigration crackdown is having a chilling effect on New Yorkers’ access to public benefits.
Whether legislators should return to Albany this year to tackle historic cuts to Medicaid and food assistance has become a thorny political question.