MAYOR DE BLASIO INVESTS $200 MILLION TO REPLACE BOILERS AND UPGRADE HEATING SYSTEMS AT 20 NYCHA DEVELOPMENTS

Part of the Mayor’s unprecedented investment in NYCHA including $2.1 billion in capital infrastructure and $1.6 billion in operating funds  

  Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today a $200 million investment to replace boilers and upgrade heating systems at 20 NYCHA developments experiencing chronic outages. This funding will go towards replacing outdated boilers, and modernizing heating system controls and hot water-making technology. These renovations will be finished by 2022, and will benefitting approximately 45,000 residents. Furthermore, these upgrades will help NYCHA save approximately $5 million per year in energy costs.

This latest investment brings the Mayor’s total commitment to NYCHA’s capital infrastructure to $2.1 billion from Fiscal Year 2014 to Fiscal Year 2027 and $1.6 billion in NYCHA’s operations from Fiscal Year 2014 to Fiscal Year 2022.

“Like our investment to replace aging roofs, this commitment to new heating systems cuts right to the heart of the biggest problems NYCHA residents face, and will make a difference thousands of them will feel,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “The record-setting cold this winter has hit these aging boilers and pipes hard. We’re coming to the table with real resources to attack these problems, and urge our federal and state partners to do the same.”

“The Mayor has demonstrated through his previous commitments that when NYCHA has the funding, residents get real improvements to their quality of life,” said NYCHA Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye. “While the city faced one of the coldest spells in over a half century, NYCHA staff worked around the clock to keep its aging boilers running. This new investment will help us improve service to our residents and provide them with the safe, warm homes they deserve.”

Starting in Fiscal Year 2019, the $200 million will be invested over three years to do the following:

• Replace Outdated Boilers at 10 developments with chronic outages. Developments are often comprised of multiple buildings, with multiple boiler plants, and this funding will go towards installing more than 39 new boilers. The heating upgrades at the 10 additional sites below will help complement previously allocated federal funding for boiler replacements.

• Modernize Hot Water Systems at 12 developments by separating hot water from the heating boilers to reduce the strain on boilers. This will allow NYCHA staff to make repairs on the boiler system during the spring and summer without jeopardizing tenants’ access to hot water. Decoupling these systems also reduces the likelihood that tenants will simultaneously lose heat and hot water during outages.

• Install New Heating Controls at 15 developments to regulate boiler temperature. This will help NYCHA monitor performance more closely, detect possible faults earlier, reduce the strain on boilers and provide more consistent heat to tenants.

The following 20 developments will receive at least one of the aforementioned upgrades to their heating systems from City funding. The other parts of their heating system are funded by the federal government or energy performance contracts: 

• Morris I*
• Morris II*
• Taft*
• Cypress Hills*
• Farragut*
• Sotomayor Houses*
• Rangel*
• Fiorentino Plaza*
• Long Island Baptist Houses*
• Robinson*
• Astoria
• Baruch Houses Addition
• Baruch
• McKinley
• Melrose
• Pelham Parkway
• Pomonok
• Rutland Towers
• Soundview
• South Beach

These developments (*)  are receiving new boilers with City funding.

Since 2014, NYCHA has committed nearly $300 million in HUD funds to upgrade heating and plumbing at 100 boilers.  In addition, more than $100 million of the $3 billion FEMA grant for Sandy Recovery and Resilience will fund replacement of 67 boilers at 17 developments, and NYCHA’s three in-progress Energy Performance Contracts include more than $40 million in heating-related improvements.

The de Blasio Administration has made an unprecedented commitment to preserve and strengthen public housing. This latest investment brings the Administration’s total commitment to $2.1 billion to support NYCHA’s capital infrastructure from Fiscal Year 2014 to Fiscal Year 2027 and $1.6 billion to support NYCHA’s operations from Fiscal Year 2014 to Fiscal Year 2022. This investment includes $1.3 billion to fix over 900 roofs, over $500 million to repair deteriorating exterior brickwork at nearly 400 buildings, and $140 million to improve security at 15 NYCHA developments.  The City waived NYCHA’s annual PILOT and NYPD payments to the City, relieving NYCHA of nearly $100 million in operating expenses a year. In January 2018, the Mayor announced $13 million to improve NYCHA’s response to heating emergencies this winter.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

While this is a step in the right direction why has it taken four years to happen?

What are the other Approximately 130,000 other residents of NYCHA buildings suppose to do?

Wait until after 2021 when a new mayor comes in?

This is not acceptable Mayor Bill de Blasio. What has your head of NYCHA been doing the past four years other than signing off on false reports to HUD?

Engel Responds to President Trump's Out of Touch State of the Union Address

  Congressman Eliot L. Engel issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s State of the Union address:

“There were points during tonight’s State of the Union speech when I sat in the House chamber wondering, ‘what reality is President Trump living in?’

“His description of how his first year went in office, and his claims about how his policies have created a roaring economy, were pure fantasy. And his ideas to fix the issues plaguing our country—which, once again, included his ridiculous border wall—were even more out of touch.  

“The President’s belief that a soaring stock market is the direct result of his overzealous deregulation and disastrous tax bill is ludicrous. He’s also wrong to assume that the market alone is the best measure of how well our economy is doing for working families. Job growth was slower in 2017 than in any year since 2010. The trade deficit he swore to shrink actually grew. Many corporations, which enjoyed the bulk of the tax cuts given by this President and the GOP, used their tax savings to fund massive lay-offs instead of hiring new workers. Wages remain relatively stagnant and, despite what the President says, job growth in black and minority communities has slumped to its slowest pace in four years. These are hardly the markers of an economy working for everyone.

“I was also very disappointed by the President’s heated, xenophobic rhetoric regarding immigration. The President cannot claim that an immigration plan that separates families is in the best interest of America. And his insistence on building a massive, wasteful border wall will do nothing to help foster a deal between Democrats and Republicans in Congress before the March deadline for DACA. 

“On health care, the President’s message completely fell flat. He touted a policy that will cause health insurance premiums to rise 10 percent on average. That amounts to an extra $1,990 in health care costs each year for a family of four. And though he did mention the opioid crisis, he has yet to put his money where his mouth his. The President again failed to call for the funding needed to combat this public health crisis, and instead of working to solve the issue, he and his Republican cohorts spent the past year trying to repeal the law that guarantees substance abuse treatment for Americans.

“Then there were the issues the President didn’t even bother to address adequately, like disaster relief assistance. On this President’s watch, four months after a devastating hurricane, nearly half a million American citizens in Puerto Rico are still without electricity. He also spent a great deal of time touting an end to his phony ‘war on energy’ without once mentioning the dire challenges we face with climate change. And let us not forget that two members of Trump’s campaign team are currently under criminal indictment, and two more – including his former national security advisor – already pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. 

“What we heard tonight does not reflect our true, shared American values. Like most of this Presidency so far, tonight’s speech was filled with plenty of bad ideas and empty double-speak.”

A.G. Schneiderman Announces $6.4 Million Settlement With Brooklyn Home Health Care Provider Over False Medicaid Billing And Cover Up

Home Family Care, Inc. Billed Medicaid for Services of Unqualified Care Providers and Aides on Vacation When They Were Supposed to be Caring for Elderly Medicaid Recipients – Then Falsified Records to Cover Up the Neglect

Supervisor Responsible for Neglect to Pay $100,000 in Separate Settlement

  Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that Home Family Care, Inc. (“Home Family”) of Brooklyn, NY and its President, Alexander Kiselev, will pay $6.415 million to resolve allegations that they violated the federal and New York False Claims Acts by falsely billing the New York State Medicaid program for home health care services that were not provided or that were provided by unqualified staff.

The settlement resolves allegations in a complaint filed by the State of New York and the United States that Home Family routinely permitted its aides to circumvent verification procedures purportedly put in place by Home Family to ensure that its aides were providing scheduled services to Medicaid recipients who depended upon them. As alleged in the complaint, even after Home Family put in place an electronic attendance verification system which purportedly required aides to call a central number to “clock in” and “clock out” of their shifts before their services could be billed, Home Family aides routinely ignored this requirement and failed to clock in or out of their shifts – yet were still paid for them.

“New Yorkers place the highest level of trust in home care providers to care for their vulnerable family members,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “My office will continue to make clear that there are serious consequences for neglecting vulnerable home care patients – and even further consequences for trying to cover it up before sending New Yorkers the bill.”

Medicaid is a jointly funded federal-state program that provides health care to vulnerable individuals. Home Family operates a Licensed Home Care Services Agency (“LHCSA”), which provides home health aide and personal care aide services to frail and elderly individuals, including Medicaid recipients, who need assistance with activities such as cooking, cleaning, dressing, and bathing. Home Family bills these services to Managed Long Term Care (“MLTC”) Plans and Certified Home Health Agencies (“CHHA”), which in turn bill the New York State Medicaid Program for these services. As a LHCSA, Home Family was obligated to ensure that the home health care services – which its clients depended upon to remain in their homes – were provided by qualified staff, and to maintain records documenting the services that were rendered.  

The Attorney General’s complaint alleges that the aides’ supervisors, known as Coordinators, in turn, modified or created call entries in the attendance verification system to make the records appear as if the aides had clocked in or out of their shifts. The complaint also alleges that Home Family then billed for these services, without even attempting to contact the aides or otherwise verify that the aides had visited their clients. As further alleged in the complaint, Michael Gurevich, a former Vice President of Home Family who had responsibility for supervising the Coordinators, was aware of the efforts of Home Family aides and Coordinators to circumvent Home Family’s attendance verification systems and took no measures to stop it. In a separate agreement, Mr. Gurevich has agreed to pay $100,000 to resolve the allegations against him. 

The complaint further alleges that, as a result of Home Family’s circumvention of its own attendance verification systems and procedures, Home Family on multiple occasions billed for services of aides who were traveling outside of the country during times when they were supposed to be caring for their clients. In one instance, Home Family billed for the services of an aide who was vacationing on the island of St. Maarten on the dates when Home Family claimed he was providing these services.   

In addition, as alleged in the complaint, Home Family employed numerous individuals who were not qualified to provide home health care services, and who utilized false identifies stolen from qualified individuals in order to obtain employment. Furthermore, even after Alexander Kiselev became aware that unqualified individuals were obtaining employment at Home Family using false identities, the complaint alleges that neither Mr. Kiselev nor anyone else at Home Family took any meaningful steps to ensure that Home Family’s clients were being properly cared for by qualified aides. 

The investigation was triggered by a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the federal and New York False Claims Acts, which allow private persons, known as “relators,” to file civil actions on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. The case is docketed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York under number 10-CV-2490. The investigation and settlement were the result of a coordinated effort among the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the New York State Attorney General’s Office, and HHS-OIG. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Schachner. 

Bronx Jewish Community Council - Exciting Volunteer Collaborations in February

Exciting Volunteer Collaborations in February 2018

If you are associated with any of these institutions or want to donate to the Pack it up for Purim food collection, please do! We greatly appreciate all your help!

If you are interested in setting up a volunteer collaboration with BJCC, please contact  Niti Minkove.

Feb 1

UJA Larchmont:   

UJA Federation Larchmont/Mamaroneck sandwich making

Feb 7

YSOP: Teens volunteering at the Food Pantry

Feb 11

Kinneret Day School: sandwich making

Feb 11

Shaarie Tikvah Scardsale:  

Packing 200 Shalach Manot packages for our clients

Feb 12

UJA Engage and Beth El Synagogue Center:

Hamantaschen Baking

Feb  12-26

Pelham JCC: Pack it up for Purim food collection event

Feb 21

Annual BJCC Purim party for our clients

Feb 28 

UJA-Federation: sandwich making

And a special thank you to the JCC Harrison for making beautiful center peices for out Tu B'Svat Party 

Learn more about Bronx Jewish Community Council's volunteer opportunities and how to get involved at www.bjcconline.org 

 

Bronx Jewish Community Council, 

2930 Wallace Avenue, Bronx, NY 10467

NATIONAL PUERTO RICAN DAY PARADE LAUNCHES 2018 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Applications available now on NPRDPinc.org

Deadline is March 30, 2018

 

Eligibility nationwide, including Puerto Rico

New:  Past recipients now eligible to re-apply

  The National Puerto Rican Day Parade (NPRDP) is now accepting applications for its 2018 National Scholarship Program.

 

This year the program will award 100 scholarships valued at $2,000 each, for a total $200,000, to exceptional students of Puerto Rican descent that are making a difference in their communities.  Applicants must be high school seniors or full-time college/university students in their freshman through junior years in college. 

 

To be eligible, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Be of Puerto Rican descent;
• Have a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better, or the equivalent high school grade;
• Be a high school senior or freshman through junior in college, ages of 17 through 25;
• Be enrolled in an accredited two or four year college/university, for college students;
• Have a track record of doing volunteer work or community service;
• Participate in an interview with a member(s) of the scholarship selection committee.

For the first time in the program's history, previous scholarship winners are eligible to re-apply, given that they comply with all other eligibility rules. 

 

Applications are available for download at www.nprdpinc.org.  Candidates must submit completed applications, essays and biographies electronically to NPRDP.Scholars@gmail.com by Friday, March 30, 2018.  Letters of recommendation and sealed transcripts should be mailed together to National Puerto Rican Day Parade, P.O Box 975, New York, NY 10272 by Friday, March 30, 2018.  Materials received after this date will result in the applicant's disqualification.  

 

NPRDP National Scholarship Application packages must include: a completed application form; an essay; a written biography; two letters of recommendation, of which one letter of recommendation must be from the site where the student performs his/her volunteer work; official academic transcripts and a head shot photo.  Letters of recommendation should be requested from teachers, professors, counselors, mentors, clergy, community leaders, etc.  The letters should highlight the applicant's volunteer community service, length of the relationship with the candidate, and the specific contributions the applicant has made to the community.

 

NPRDP established the Scholarship Program to promote the pursuit of higher education in the Puerto Rican community.  Last year, the organization broke its all-time record for total number and dollar amount of scholarships to be awarded (100 scholarships valued at $2,000 each, for a total $200,000), which the organization was able to maintain in 2018.

 

For more information about other NPRDP programs and updates on the upcoming annual parade on Sunday June 10, 2018, the public can visit www.nprdpinc.org.  Facebook: @nationalpuertoricandayparade.  Twitter and Instagram: @PRParadeNYC.

News From State Senator Marisol Alcantara

Co-signed Bill to Push Back Primary Date to Accomodate Rosh Hashanah

After a call from a constituent, I cosponsored S7597, which would change the statewide primary date from Tues, 9/11 to Thurs. 9/13 in recognition of Rosh Hashanah and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This is one more reason to push for early voting and no-excuse absentee voting- New Yorkers should not have to choose between religious observance and voting! Our current law does not include religious observance as a reason to vote absentee.

DE BLASIO ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES CITYWIDE GUIDANCE AND NYPD PROTOCOL TO CODIFY RESTRICTIONS ON ASSISTANCE WITH FEDERAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

New guidance implements Local Law 228, and prohibits City agencies from entering into agreements that would place employees under the direction or supervision of ICE, including 287(g) agreements

  The de Blasio Administration today announced the issuance of citywide guidance and new NYPD protocols to clarify and institutionalize the City’s policy that it will not voluntarily cooperate with federal immigration enforcement activities, and will only coordinate in limited circumstances, including where there is a public safety risk. In addition, the guidance prohibits City agencies from entering into formal or informal arrangements in which employees are placed under the direction or supervision of federal immigration officials, such as 287(g) agreements with ICE.

“We have been very clear that that our police officers and employees will not be a part of a federal deportation force,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This new guidance reinforces that clear line. The City is committed to ensuring that immigrant New Yorkers have confidence in interacting with their local government in order to protect and promote public safety for all.”

“The NYPD’s job is to fight crime and keep New Yorkers safe,” said Commissioner James P. O’Neill. “This codifies existing procedure to ensure the NYPD is doing just that. The NYPD does not conduct civil immigration enforcement. The NYPD does not seek individual’s immigration status. Our work can only be done if every New Yorker has trust in the police and is willing to work with us in our collective efforts to ensure the safety of every neighborhood and every block of this great city.”

The new citywide guidance and the new NYPD protocols, issued pursuant to Local Law 228 of 2017, ensure that the City’s policy is institutionalized across the municipal government. In addition, the new guidance and protocols will ensure that any federal immigration officials’ requests for assistance will be reviewed in advance by senior City agency officials and assessed based on City policies such as the need to protect public safety, not for purposes of providing assistance with deportation.

The newly codified NYPD protocols have been issued to all members of the Police Department in an order from Police Commissioner O’Neill. Effective immediately, any requests for assistance with enforcement activities from a federal immigration enforcement agency are to be responded to in accordance with Local Law 228. Consistent with current policy, NYPD shall only coordinate with or assist ICE in instances where the citywide Duty Chief (that Chief in charge of citywide operations at the time of the incident) has identified a public safety issue and conferred with the NYPD Legal Bureau on the need to coordinate with or provide assistance to ICE. In emergency, life-safety related situations, the decision will be made by the highest ranking uniformed officer on the scene, with immediate notification to the Operations Unit.

City agencies, including the NYPD, will continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement agencies in certain circumstances, including as part of inter-governmental criminal task forces focusing on topics such as gangs, human trafficking, and terrorism, and by sharing information about individuals in the City’s criminal custody who have been convicted of one of approximately 170 qualifying violent or serious felonies under the City’s existing laws on immigration detainer requests.

The local law and the new guidance issued today prohibit City agencies from entering into 287(g) agreements in which local officers or employees are deputized by ICE to perform immigration enforcement. These agreements, which are in place elsewhere in the country, have been emphasized as an immigration enforcement tool by ICE under the Trump Administration.

The City remains in compliance with federal law and the U.S. Constitution, notwithstanding the U.S. Department of Justice's attempts to unilaterally impose immigration-related conditions on public safety grant funds that Congress intended to support local policing and prosecutors. The law and guidance do not regulate the disclosure of information described by 8 U.S.C.  1373, which is governed by the City's generally applicable confidentiality policy.

“New York City has long been at the forefront of asserting local government leadership in immigrant inclusion,” said Bitta Mostofi, Acting Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. “With this guidance, we are ensuring the solidity and longevity of the City’s commitment to restricting assistance to federal immigration officials where it is not in our public safety interests.”

“The NYPD should always be focused on ensuring the safety of all New Yorkers, while keeping a clear line between any deportation efforts within the five boroughs,” said Council Member Donovan Richards, Chair of the Committee on Public Safety. “The day we start helping ICE is the day we lose the public trust, which is why this guidance and protocol is so critical. I’d like to thank Mayor de Blasio, Speaker Johnson and Police Commissioner O’Neill for their commitment to maintaining New York City as a sanctuary city.”

FIRST LADY CHIRLANE MCCRAY ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVORS TO ALL FIVE BOROUGHS

City has invested $3.3 million to support the implementation of Mental Health Teams at all five of the City’s Family Justice Centers to address the unique mental health needs of domestic violence survivors

  First Lady Chirlane McCray, Commissioner Cecile Noel of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence and NYC Health + Hospitals announced the expansion of Mental Health Teams at all five of the City's Family Justice Centers, with one in each borough. The City has invested $3.3 million to expand the Family Justice Centers holistic approach to mental health through trauma-informed psychotherapy and psychiatric services. The Mental Health Teams are an expansion of a program first piloted at the Bronx Family Justice Center in 2015 to deliver on-site clinical psychiatric services to survivors; a collaborative effort of ThriveNYC, the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, NYC Health + Hospitals, the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, sponsored by the Chapman Perelman Foundation.

The Mental Health Teams will provide onsite clinical psychiatric and psychological assessments for clients within the FJC collaborative framework. Each team will work with clients to develop individualized treatment plans, which may include individual therapy, group therapy, psychoeducation and medication management. Clients will be able to attend workshops where they will learn adaptive techniques for dealing with trauma. As of December 2017, more than 250 survivors of domestic violence have already received mental health services at the City’s five FJCs.

“Nearly half of all women whose lives were lost last year occurred at the hands of an intimate partner - a grim reality nationwide as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is why New York City continues to make early intervention and access to support for individuals a priority for those who have suffered trauma from intimate partner violence. The expansion of services will ensure survivors have greater access to the mental health services they need to heal,” said First Lady Chirlane McCray, Co-Chair of the Domestic Violence Task Force.

In recognition of pilot program’s success, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in 2015 that New York City would replicate this mental health service model to FJCs across the five boroughs. There is a wide body of literature documenting the link between domestic violence and mental health conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, as well as increased substance abuse and suicidal thoughts. Domestic violence programs that have incorporated on-site trauma-informed counseling have demonstrated that such programs have a significant impact on supporting survivors’ emotional healing, strengths, resilience, and recovery.

“This Administration has an unwavering commitment to both assuring all New Yorkers have access to mental health services and all survivors of domestic violence receive the resources and support they need,” said Dr. Herminia Palacio, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. “Through this investment we will now ensure that our Family Justice Centers not only address critical safety needs of survivors, but also meet their mental health needs through a holistic approach.  I am proud of our City agencies who are working together to make this a reality.”

“Addressing the mental health needs of survivors is a critical part of safety planning, and our efforts to help survivors heal,” said Cecile Noel, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence. “The expansion of mental health programs into the FJCs ensures that survivors have even greater access to services that will help them move forward and rebuild their lives.”

“Through the first adopters of our program, we’ve seen the meaningful impact of convenient access to behavioral health services for so many survivors of domestic violence,” said Charles Barron, MD, Medical Director of Behavioral Health, NYC Health + Hospitals. “We are very pleased that these services are now available in all five boroughs.”

“Survivors of IPV and their families often suffer with mental health needs as a consequence of trauma, but unfortunately face multiple barriers to accessing psychiatric and psychological services in traditional settings,” said Elizabeth Fitelson, MD, Co-Director of the Women’s Program at Columbia University. “Through our pilot partnership with the Chapman Perelman Foundation and OCDV, and now joining with a team of dedicated clinicians through NYC Health + Hospitals we have seen what a powerful positive impact providing collaborative, culturally appropriate care where survivors can access it has on survivors and their families.”     

                                                                

 “The Chapman Perelman Foundation has been proud to partner with Columbia University and the Mayor’s Office on this important and unique initiative,” said Anna Chapman, MD, of the Chapman Perelman Foundation. “In addition to providing critical trauma-informed clinical services to survivors of domestic violence city-wide, Columbia University's team of psychiatrists and psychologists are helping to disseminate an awareness of the mental health needs of domestic violence survivors, to all of the service providers with whom they come into contact.”

The Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence manages the City’s five FJCs in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. The Centers serve as one-stop service centers to reduce barriers for victims of domestic violence, elder abuse, sex trafficking, and connect them to services in their language, regardless of immigration status, income, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. The City’s Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 and provides safety planning, referrals, and connections to emergency housing for victims of domestic violence. Individuals can contact the City’s Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-621-HOPE.

The de Blasio administration is prioritizing new and innovative approaches and responses to domestic violence and launched the NYC Domestic Violence Task Force last year, an $11 million initiative, which is implementing a set of 32 recommendations for a coordinated, citywide strategy to combat domestic violence. Co-chaired by First Lady Chirlane McCray and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill, the work of the Task Force is led by Elizabeth Glazer, the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence Cecile Noel and the Task Force’s Executive Director Bea Hanson.

New York City has made significant strides towards combating domestic violence and supporting survivors within the last year, including:

• Signing Intro. 1313-A that expands paid leave to domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and trafficking survivors to allow individuals the opportunity to tend to immediate safety needs without fear of penalty or loss of income.
• Forming a new protocol to intervene on behalf of families in high-risk domestic violence cases, receiving prevention services from the Administration for Children’s Services to be screened for risk factors and help develop safety plans – a recommendation from the NYC Domestic Violence Task Force.
• Assisting FJC clients in housing related matters, in collaboration with the Office of Civil Justice. Domestic Violence Survivors can receive legal assistance or representation for eviction proceedings, rent arrears, foreclosures, housing discrimination and tenant harassment.
• Expanding healthy relationship education to 128 middle schools throughout all five boroughs through the Early-Relationship Abuse Prevention Program (Early-RAPP). Additionally, through the Creating Awareness about Relationship Equality Program (CARE), which launched in 2016, more than 1,700 youth in foster care have participated in healthy relationship workshops. 

“Building up the mental health skills and capabilities of staff working with people who have experienced trauma is crucial to ensuring better paths to recovery,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett. “By increasing the ability of trusted Family Justice Center staff to respond to mental health needs, along with offering other social services, the City is making it easier for domestic violence survivors to get support. This is an exciting expansion of the work we’re doing as part of ThriveNYC to ensure every New Yorker has access to mental health services.”