The People's Money (2024-2025)
Play your part: Your Money, Your Community, Your Vote!
- Do you have specific Neighborhood(s) in mind?
- Chinatown/LES (or across all of Manhattan)
- Which group(s) does your idea focus on? Select as many as apply.
- Unhoused People
- Describe the challenge you want to address:
- On October 17, 2024 the NYC Department of Investigation published a report detailing repeated patterns of corruption within city-funded nonprofits that operate homeless shelters as well as flawed city oversight of DHS-funded providers. Most, if not all, residents of the facilities reported in the report are aware of corrupt activities within the homeless services system. Contracted security staff as well as other shelter staff are also aware of these realities. Some of these corrupt activities include: serving rotten and unhealthy food, withholding essential information for residents to find housing, intentionally preventing residents from progressing out of the facility to retain head counts for city funding, staff stealing residents' belongings, retaliation against residents who raise complaints in the form of moving them to a worse room or transferring them to another shelter.
- What is the solution to the challenge?
- Fund a 1-year participatory action research project that uses a restorative justice approach. A few participants from each of the following parties will be engaged: (1) transitional housing residents from all categories of facilities: men, women, family, older adult, youth; (2) DHS on-the-ground staff; (3) Contracted nonprofit on-the-ground staff; (4) Security agents from contracted security companies; (5) Case-workers and social workers. The goals of the project are 1. To learn what the appropriate next steps should be in response to the corruption outlined in the DOI report as well as other flaws in the homeless service system. 2. To foster greater understanding between all parties engaged in the homeless service system. Potential outputs of the project include: - Clear advocacy agenda to present to City Council, Public Advocate, Mayor's Office, DHS, HPD - Report that outlines the main findings of the research project - Recommendations for new or revised programs and services that nonprofits offer at shelters An organization experienced in participatory action research, facilitation, restorative justice, and advocacy should win the bid for this program.
- Please provide your Zip Code
- 10473
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