(New York Jewish Week) — On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed Jewish leaders in Brooklyn and announced that the state’s FY 2023 budget will include $2.6 million in funding to support Holocaust survivors.
The Holocaust Survivors Initiative, to be administered by the New York State Office for the Aging, will fund programs that provide health care and other services to 40,000 state residents who are victims of Nazi genocide, 40% of whom are in poverty, said Hochul.
“Survivors of the Holocaust endured tragedy beyond the imaginations of the average person — we owe them a lifetime of care and with this funding we can ensure they receive just that,” Hochul said in remarks at the Boro Park YM-YWHA Wednesday.
Before announcing the funding, Hochul met with a group of survivors.
Year to year, the funding increases support for Holocaust survivor services by over $1 million. UJA-Federation of New York, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and other Jewish nonprofits lobbied for the funding.
“UJA-Federation of New York is grateful for the unwavering efforts of Governor Hochul and the Legislature resulting in $2.6 million to support critical services for Holocaust survivors in New York,” said Eric S. Goldstein, CEO of UJA-Federation, in remarks at the announcement. “Because of their past trauma, survivors often require a special set of social, medical and mental health services, and this funding will make a dramatic difference in helping these individuals access the care they need and age with dignity.”
Thursday is Yom HaShoah, a day established in 1951 by lawmakers in Israel to remember the victims of the Holocaust.