According to a new analysis conducted by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, pilot anti-poverty programs initiated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg aided only 3 percent of New Yorkers in poverty. The figure rounds out to about one in 33.

The announcement was made during a press conference on Tuesday, backed up by numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, indicating that more than 1.5 million New Yorkers lived in poverty in 2008 – enough to fill Yankee Stadium 25 times.

Tuesday's press conference was held at Cabrini Immigrant Services on the Lower East Side. The organization offers immigration services along with a food pantry that gives 15,000 bags of food a year to 6,000 families. Lack of funding has left the pantry with bare shelves and empty refrigerators.

"The demand we've seen for our services at Cabrini Immigrant Services exemplifies the soaring poverty statistics released by the federal government," said Director Christina Baal. "It is clear that there is a heightened need for food throughout New York City."

The number of people in poverty increased from close to 1.4 million in 2000 to 1,522,195 in 2008, with one in four children in the city living in poverty. Nearly 110,000 New Yorkers slept in shelters at some point, which is a 32 percent increase from six years ago.

Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, said, "Rhetoric, promises and pilot initiatives aside, the fact that there are more people in poverty in the state and the city in 2008 than in 2000 proves that city and state polices are failing in fundamental ways."

Berg added that only three out of every 100 poor people are even impacted by the Mayor's poverty initiative.

"City residents wouldn't be satisfied if we had only miniscule anti-crime measures that protected only one in 33 New Yorkers from crime. Likewise, we shouldn't find it acceptable that we are only aiding one in 33 New Yorkers in poverty," he said.

A conservative mindset is one thing that Berg attributes to the Bloomberg's failed anti-poverty programs and the ideology that poverty is caused by a dependence on the government. Berg believes poverty is caused by the lack of jobs and jobs that pay enough.

He also said Bloomberg's plan to reduce homelessness by two-thirds has backfired, only increasing the number of homelessness, since he's been in office. Berg blames the lack of funding to several programs the mayor has launched.

"The pilot projects he supports are so small and so underfunded that they can't make an impact," Berg said. "The philosophy is very conservative and based on the belief that it's caused by irresponsible behavior of poor people. That is not the case."

Berg added that Bloomberg has also failed to put all of the numbers together when it comes to the specific impact of his programs nor has he ever announced if poverty is going up or down.

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger has not received any funding from Bloomberg but has received money from the New York City Council.

"The statistics released by the Census Bureau yesterday show the progress we're making in our fight against poverty. While poverty in the United States increased over the course of the last year from 13 percent in 2007 to 13.2 percent in 2008, New York City held steady, moving from 18.5 percent in 2007 to 18.2 percent in 2008," said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Ser vices Linda Gibbs. "And over the past three years, there has been a statistically significant downward trend, particularly in Black and Hispanic households. Among the nation's eight largest cities, New York City has the lowest rate – lower than Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Philadelphia. We're investing tremendous resources and creativity through the Center for Economic Opportunity to find new solutions to fight poverty and will continue to do so."