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  • Writer's pictureEpiscopal Charities
    • Aug 8
    • 8 min read

Weekly Resource Round-Up: August 8, 2023

This Week's Resources

If you have resources to share with our network, please contact Tobi Mojeed-Balogun our Associate Director of Programs Support.


NYS COVID and MonkeyPox Updates (Plus Info about the Flu, RSV, and Norovirus)


A lot of the news around mandates, vaccines and restrictions have been a little confusing so I will list some resources below that might help.

  • Interview with NYC Health Commissioner on COVID bump. Link here.

  • NYS Department of Health COVID website - It's a one stop shop with an info summary at the top. Link here.

  • Walgreens COVID Index - there's concerns about the accuracy of some COVID trackers but Wallgreens released one based on their tests. Link here.

  • NYC Department of Health Monkeypox Webpage - lots of information and resources about the virus with pictures of the rash included. Find the link here.

  • With Mpox at Risk of Flaring, Health Officials Advise, ‘Get Vaccinated’ - New York Times - Read here

  • COVID vs Flu vs RSV info - I found a good article from the Washington post that gives information about three viruses that have been spiking this winter. Read the article here.

  • The Time Magazine article on the new variant (XBB.1.5) - Link Here


New York Announces 60-Day Limit to Stays in City Shelter (The Documented)


"New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the City will be rolling out 60-day notices to find alternative forms of housing for asylum seekers who have been in city shelters for a significant amount of time. These new guidelines, first reported by Gothamist, come after Adams said that New York City’s system for those facing housing insecurity has reached “full capacity” and that “we have no more room in the city”.

The update to NYC’s shelter policy will apply to single adult migrants, not to children or families. Those impacted will receive a notice of 60 days in the upcoming weeks with extensive casework services to explore alternative forms of housing. If they are unable to find housing, migrants can reapply for a shelter bed at a shelter intake system. They could be reassigned a different shelter bed if there is one available. If not — Adams says that people in need will have to “wait”." Read more here.


NYC to open new emergency shelter for migrants on Randall's Island (Gothamist)


"New York City will open a shelter for migrants on Randall’s Island — some nine months after officials closed a similar center that housed asylum seekers in the East River park, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday.

Adams said the new space will house roughly 2,000 adult asylum seekers. Officials said the new site will open in the coming weeks, along with two other new relief centers in other parts of the city.

“As the number of asylum seekers in our care continues to grow by hundreds every day, stretching our system to its breaking point and beyond, it has become more and more of a Herculean effort to find enough beds every night,” Adams said." Read more here.


Migrants cleared from sidewalk of Manhattan's Roosevelt Hotel (Gothamist)


"City officials cleared a crowd of more than 100 migrants from a Midtown sidewalk on Thursday morning — days after Mayor Eric Adams said there was no space to house the new arrivals.

The migrants had been sleeping on the sidewalks overnight outside the city’s intake center at the Roosevelt Hotel as they waited to be placed in scarce shelter beds. Images of the scene showing more than 150 people corralled within metal barricades received national attention this week.

The sight of migrants huddled in one of Manhattan’s most trafficked areas represented a new extreme in the city’s migrant crisis. But the crowd suddenly cleared Wednesday night into Thursday morning, according to Power Malu, head of Artists Athletes Activists, a community group that regularly distributes food to people waiting in line." Read more here.


“A Clear Violation of the Law”: Shelter Strain Sends City and State Back to Court (City Limits)


"For the second time in less than a month, lawyers gathered behind closed doors in a Manhattan courtroom Friday to discuss the fate of a set of rules that have defined New York City’s response to homelessness for decades.

In short, the city is obligated to provide a shelter bed to anyone in need—part of a unique set of rules that grew from a 1981 consent decree in the lawsuit Callahan v. Carey, establishing a right to shelter for single men. But until Thursday morning, asylum seekers had cued up for days outside of the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, a designated intake center, unable to gain entry. They were among tens of thousands of migrants who have arrived in New York City since last year, pushing the city’s overall shelter population north of 100,000. “What we saw this week was a clear violation of the law in New York,” Josh Goldfein, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Homeless Rights Project, told reporters Friday. The Roosevelt log jam prompted the Legal Aid Society, tasked with enforcing the right to shelter, to demand an emergency court conference. The parties first convened in July, after Mayor Eric Adams sought permission to pause shelter obligations for single adults in instances where the city lacks necessary resources." Read more here.


MTA says fare evasion crackdown coming to all NYC buses (Gothamist)


"MTA officials said on Thursday that a strict fare evasion crackdown is coming to the city’s buses — and warned riders across the five boroughs they’d be hit with tickets if they don’t pay.

Starting next month, officials will deploy unarmed MTA guards known as EAGLE teams onto local buses. They’ll issue tickets between $50 to $100 to those who can’t prove they swiped a MetroCard or tapped to pay on the agency’s OMNY readers.

The agency will also be sending NYPD officers to 20 bus hubs around the city to help support enforcement by the EAGLE teams, officials said." Read more here.


Documented's Immigrant Resources and Job/Housing Discrimination Guides


"Documented has gathered all of the resources we can find to help immigrant New Yorkers. New links will be added and the following pages will be constantly updated. If you would like us to add information to this list or have questions, please reach out to us at info@documentedny.com."


Find the guide here.


"The New York City Human Rights Law is one of the most comprehensive anti-discrimination laws in the country, prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on race, color, religion/creed, age, national origin, immigration or citizenship status, gender (including sexual harassment), gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, military service, marital status and partnership status. As a newsroom that serves immigrant communities, Documented has written a comprehensive guide for immigrants."


Find this guides here.


Free ride: MTA to nix fares on 5 NYC bus routes by late September (Gothamist)


"Free rides are coming to five city bus routes by Sept. 24, the MTA said on Monday.

MTA officials said during a committee meeting that fares won’t be collected on one route in each of the five boroughs for at least six months as part of a program mandated by the state.

  • The B60, which runs in Brooklyn between Williams and Flatlands Avenue, in Canarsie, and Williamsburg Bridge Plaza.

  • The M116, which operates across Manhattan, primarily along 116th Street, Manhattan Avenue and W 106 Street.

  • The Q4 LCL/LTD, which runs in southeast Queens between Cambria Heights and Jamaica Center.

  • The S46/96, which runs in Staten Island between the St. George Ferry Terminal and West Shore Plaza.

  • The BX18 A/B, which runs in a loop in the western Bronx between Undercliff Avenue or Sedgwick Avenue and Grand Concourse"

Read more here



Hudson Link Employer Toolkit


Our friends at Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison put together an employer toolkit for hiring formerly incarcerated people. Thank you to Sean Pica, Eldredge Blalock, Elisabeth Santiago, and the rest of the team at Hudson Link for this important resource. The toolkit can be found here. If you have any questions about hiring formerly incarcerated people, please contact Elisabeth Santiago from Hudson Link's Alumni Services at esantiago@hudsonlink.org.


Community Food Funders Newslink


Community Food Funders has opened up their newsletter to a wider audience (so not just food funders). "Each month, CFF compiles a newsletter with news, articles, reports, and events for those in our region interested in an equitable and sustainable food system." Highlights on this month's newsletter include:


  • New Exploratory Grants Program - In 2023, the Tauck Family Foundation (TFF) plans to distribute several exploratory grants ranging from $10,000 to $25,000. The intention is to use learnings from a variety of grantee partners to help inform and further refine their areas of focus and the specific impact they seek to achieve through their giving. The Foundation seeks to support communities and groups most affected by climate and other environmental challenges by distributing grants to organizations for new or existing efforts that contribute to healthy land use and regenerative ecosystems. A link to their Exploratory Grant Eligibility Checklist, Guidelines, and Application as well as other resources is available here. You can also read about the Foundation's recently announced shift to the environment sector with new vision, mission, and long-term outcomes. Application deadline: August 1, 2023

  • Study: Food insecurity among households with children during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic - Understanding impacts of the COVID-19 pan­demic among households with children is neces­sary to design appropriate public health responses that protect food and nutrition security. The objec­tive of this research was to understand predictors of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic among households with at least one child. Con­sistent with other data collected and analyzed dur­ing the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study contributes findings that emphasize the need for enhanced public health responses and emer­gency preparedness measures that protect food and nutrition security.

  • Food Forward NYC: 2-Year Progress Report - Food Forward NYC is the City’s first ever 10-year food policy plan, laying out an comprehensive policy framework to reach a more equitable, sustainable, and healthy food system by 2031. Food Forward NYC emphasizes the importance of equity and choice - enabling a food system where everyone should be able to access the food they want wherever they may want it. To enable this choice, we need to support both our food workers and our food businesses. To strengthen the sustainability and resiliency of our food system, we need to rethink our food infrastructure and deepen our connections with the region.

  • NY Healthy Food, Healthy Lives Match Program - This ioby match opportunity may be of interest to BIPOC-led organizations using grassroots fundraising approaches to support food justice work in New York State. For approved participants, donors are matched up to $1,000 and projects may access up to $5,000 in matching, until the program ends. Learn about eligibility requirements and share your idea.

  • Dyson Foundation Mini-Grant Program - The Dyson Foundation’s mini-grant program funds capacity-building projects that improve a nonprofit’s administrative, governance, or programmatic functions. Mini-grants enable nonprofit board, staff, and volunteer leaders to develop new skills through specific consultant-led capacity-building activities, or through conferences, seminars, and other relevant training opportunities. Mini-grants are available to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations and libraries in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Grants are available on a rolling basis.

I will continue to include highlights from each month's newsletter on our weekly resource round-ups but if you would like to subscribe yourself, the link is here. The link to last month's newsletter is here and their archive is here.


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That's all for this week -- thanks for all you do!


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