What's Happening in NYC?

As Black people when we run out to vote for those that have the same skin color we do, we vote under the belief that it will give us the platforms we need to make improvements to our quality of life, but instead our lives are gradually becoming worse for those of us living in the city of NewYork.

When Black people become ?frustrated, angry, lost, feel misplaced, uncertain and lose trust we are defined as the "ANGRY BLACK MAN OR WOMAN", but what others do not ask us is this: what are the triggers? although many theorize that black people are just like that. This theory is baseless because black people do not wake-up in the morning and decide they want to be angry, lost, uncertain about what's next for us (just to name a few), we are very clear about why we feel the way we do and our struggles are REAL.

Many of us voted for a Mayor that (on the streets) we are tired of listening to what we have come to define as (a bunch of nothing) all for the sake of bragging rights and we are all asking "what is he doing?". This entire city of New York is upside down and while there are many reasons why today I will focus on housing.

Housing - when we see the Mayor cutting ribbons on a new shelter and shouting about getting homeless people off of the streets, we the black people are saying why not just turn the buildings we struggle to live in into shelters since that is the direction for many of us. I have been fighting with clients issues for almost a year. I had a client who was in the City FEPS program, a program designed to prevent eviction by paying a portion of the rent and let me be clear my clients are hard working people. She had been doing fine, then in August 2021 she had to renew her application as she has done for a few years now. She never got any?acknowledgment. After 5 trips to the Human Resource Administration (HRA) office, finally on April 7, 2022 after leaving their office she got a letter with that date on it telling her she made too much money. Mind you, her income did change, but much less than it had been the previous year, so it is obvious that they just rejected her and likely never even reviewed her application. I forgot to mention that she had even supplied her 1099's and was told that they do not accept that, that she needs a W2, and she made it clear that "self employed workers do not have a W2" and that was when the worker became very hostile to her simply because she lacked the necessary training to do the job. I also want to add that many of those workers are black and that many of them got those jobs by being on public assistance which allowed them to take the civil service test free of charge. I know this because I was a former supervisor for the (Welfare-to-Work) program and saw many things come my way which had been (1) of the reasons I moved on. I NEVER been in favor of the treatment I had witnessed clients forced to accept just to get some help. Back to the story - She was given 60 days to file an appeal and she did and her 60-days are about to expire and she has gotten any acknowledgment from them confirming they had received her appeal. Again we went down to their office and went to the floor mentioned on the letter since the number they provided is not operable, we were told that we have the wrong floor and went to another floor that a staff person instructed us to do. After a 1 1/2 hour wait and listening to all of the other people in the waiting area talking about the same struggles and how rude the staff were, my client was finally called to the window to be told they could not find any of her paperwork and that if she does go into the shelter, she can just have her assigned caseworker submit a new application for the City/FEPS program. This rude worker also told the client she can file for a fair hearing. Well I attempted to help her to do this and after 3 calls, listening to music for 26 minutes I was told that they do not deal with City/FEPS.

My client was now on the verge of a breakdown, she was angry, ?frustrated and did not even want to return to work because she felt that what was the point. I knew that I had to do something. In a previous post I shared about a meeting I had arranged with the senior advisor to the Mayor and at the last minute he?canceled, this was after sending numerous emails to meet with the Mayor. Dealing with the city seems to always be a waste of my time and very toxic.

I have since reached out and got a lawyer from the Legal-aid Society and I was able to get her an appointment with Catholic Charities (Homebase) and I have also encouraged her to return to work and not to give-up. I am also working closely with both?agencies to make sure that my client does not become homeless and I am thankful for the connections that I made when I worked in the social services field because whenever I send an email on behalf of people some, not a client, both?agencies have stepped-in.

While I cannot save the world, I will NEVER stop trying to help others and if anyone even yourselves are in need of help below is some information. Legal-aid Society hot-line (1888) 663-6880 and follow the prompts. This is NOT your regular hot-line - THEY DO CALL YOU BACK AND TAKE ACTION. For Bronx residents please call Catholic Charities Homebase (347) 947-3920 and a contact there is "Valerie Rodriguez" and you can also send an email [email protected] ? Please do not become discouraged if it is not the office that covers your zipcode, they are great at making sure you get the help you need at the right office. You can also file an application with the NYS Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) https://otda.ny.gov/programs/emergency-rental-assistance/help-applying/ Do not be alarmed about lack of funding as things are picking-up and once you apply it protects you from being evicted. For anyone struggling to complete the application, call them and they will do it fast with you on the phone. (844-691-7368). For the hearing impaired, TTY phone number:?1-833-843-8829.

This story is only a snippet to the never-ending challenges that black people daily deal with and I cannot help but to come back to this: I HAD TO FIGHT ALL MY LIFE.

I pray that this article inspires my subscribers to be that leader today and share the information provided and for those that are not black, I hope that this article will help you to gain a better understanding to what we are faced with and NO, for many of us it is NOT our fault. Many black people hold good jobs, but are just not able to make ends meet with the inflation. I even shop for bargains for my food these days ($8 for a dozen of eggs) and it does not stop there. I shared this to say that "NO" many of us did not create this lifestyle for ourselves. So here is my big question: We have a black Mayor, what is he really doing? He talks about putting mental health workers on trains and blah, blah when he seems to be the driving factor for why many of us would need mental health.