If the Adams administration is serious about moving homeless New Yorkers from the streets and shelters and into permanent housing, they should just do it, said Milton Perez, an activist who spent five years in shelters before winning an affordable housing lottery in Brownsville. The “Housing First” approach eliminates onerous eligibility packets and preconditions, like […]
CONTACT: Mariah McGough, mariah@vocal-ny.org VOCAL-NY RESPONDS TO MAYOR ADAMS’ STATE OF THE CITY See VOCAL-NY’s 2023 Policy Platform for Mayor Adams and the New York City Council NEW YORK — Today, in response to Mayor Adams second annual State of the City, VOCAL-NY released the following statement, attributable to Jawanza Williams, VOCAL-NY Director of Organizing: “Today we heard little about
VOCAL-NY Responds to Mayor Adams’ State of the City Read More »
When New York changed its laws around where incarcerated people were counted, the next step was to quantify which areas sent the most people to prisons, according to VOCAL-NY’s civil rights campaign director, Nick Encalada-Malinowski. He sees the numbers of incarcerated people coming from upstate communities as a reflection of politics. As New York City
Right now, the impact of the city law remains unclear due to a lack of data to analyze yet, according to VOCAL-NY’s Keli Young, the police reform group’s civil rights campaign coordinator. However, New York’s proposal would go further than the city’s law, and even those in Colorado and New Mexico. Unlike in those instances,
Celina Trowell, a homelessness organizer with VOCAL-NY, said the CityFHEPS program is “one of the most successful tools that we have in the city to try and get people out of shelters into permanent safe housing.” Trowell flagged issues and shortcomings, ranging from administrative flaws and errors when processing CityFHEPS applications, structural barriers, and long delays that
CONTACT: Jasmine Budnella, jasmine@vocal-ny.org//Mariah McGough, mariah@vocal-ny.org VOCAL-NY SLAMS GOV. HOCHUL AFTER NYC 2021 OVERDOSE DATA RELEASED Governor Hochul Recently Rejected the Opioid Settlement Board’s Recommendation to Use Settlement Funds to Keep Overdose Prevention Centers Running NEW YORK — After calling on Mayor Adams and DOHMH Commissioner Vasan to release finalized 2021 overdose data, new data was released yesterday illustrating significant increases in preventable overdoses.
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NEW YORK CITY — The true scope of New York City’s fatal overdose problem for the past two years remains unknown because city officials have dragged their feet on the literal life-and-death data, advocates charged. The city needs to release fatal overdose numbers from three months of 2021 and all of 2022, advocates with VOCAL-NY
PATCH: NYC Stalls Vital OD Data, Puts Safe Injection Sites At Risk: Read More »
Just over a year after New York City led the nation in establishing two overdose prevention centers to serve people at risk of falling to a continuing epidemic of opioid abuse, not only have no additional facilities opened, the existing ones are now at risk of closing. The centers, run by nonprofit OnPoint, could run out
New york daily news: No Harm done: overdose prevention centers must stay open Read More »
CONTACT: Mariah McGough, mariah@vocal-ny.org ON WORLD AIDS DAY, NEW YORKERS DEMAND GOV. HOCHUL KEEP PROMISES TO LGBTQ COMMUNITY AND INVEST IN HOUSING FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV NEW YORK — Today, on World AIDS Day, leaders with VOCAL-NY’s Positive Leaders Union called on Governor Hochul to make good on promises in her World AIDS Day Proclamation by investing in statewide rental assistance
We also speak with Jawanza Williams of social justice group VOCAL-NY, who says Mayor Adams and his administration are intent on obscuring issues of homelessness and mental illness rather than solving them. “Hiding, disappearing people experiencing homelessness, dismantling encampments, preventing people from taking photographs inside of the shelters will not prevent the truth from coming
