 I was gonna I was gonna go like this to you okay ready good morning everyone good morning everyone my name is Anne Williams I some and I'm the deputy mayor for health and human services the mayor is constantly asking us to think creatively about how we address issues facing our city and how to enlist the whole community in problem solving it's not just government or just business or just community groups and advocates it is all of us working together and it's about individuals all across the city putting their time effort and energy into making New York City stronger safer and more equitable today's announcements shows the power of individuals coming together to work to help our fellow New Yorkers I want to thank the mayor for bringing us together this morning for and for leading this effort and for always providing us with the North Star that we need in order to move towards to move towards and to move forward I'd now like to introduce Mayor Eric Adams to kick off this announcement thank you so much deputy mayor it's good to be here with friends and allies for so many years Norman Siegel and I have stood side by side and so many issues and actually you saved my job when he tried to fire me and the police just realized that before we get into the topic at hand at hand we do have a national weather service heat advisory for New York City that would affect be in fact from Wednesday the 20th through Thursday July 21st we're looking at temperatures to be in the upper 90s on Wednesday and Thursday this is serious heat and we're really concerned about those particularly with pre-existent respiratory conditions and so we're we're going to be opening the cooling centers they will be open through Thursday and of course beaches and pools are open for the summer and New York's New Yorkers can also find ways to stay cool at New York City dot gov forward slash beat the heat or by calling 3-1-1 and we want to make sure that during these times there's often a moment with our electricity we're in contact with Con Edison and PSG Long Island and we're going to be continuing to monitor the situation the office of emergency management is on top of this but we cannot stress enough to you know take all the necessary precautions in the basic thing check on elders drink water you know rest if you're outdoors and just really you know be conscious of you know the heat that we're facing and so I want to thank Deputy Mayor William Isom and again I want to thank Norma Siegel he approached me when we first started doing our homeless outreach particularly on the streets and with these years of experience that goes so many years back and dealing with homelessness some of the most prominent cases Norman represented those and he critiqued he says listen I would do it a different way Eric you know I would like to bring my expertise to it the ways some things that you're doing I just don't agree on and friends can disagree without being disagreeable and as I always say if you got a better way to build the mousetrap or the better way to deal with the crisis you know bring your game for it and put skin in the game you know because a lot of people Norman they critique but they don't want to do anything but it's about coming out and getting engaged and that's what he did he reached out to a real pine in this space Bob Hayes that really understand this issue they came together and created this volunteer driven initiative that we excited about and he will lay out the full pieces of it and when he sat down and rolled it out with my team he met with Deputy Mayor William Eisen Gary Commissioner Gary Jenkins and others and they sat down and talked about it over and over again they peeled back layers and layers to deal with how we're going to move forward in this initiative and our best ideas come from everyday New Yorkers who have spent time in a particular field or who want to do the best they can to solve a real complicated problem complicated problem Friday I was out with of Shams the Baron as we walk the streets of Harlem and we saw people who really were not in a position to even take the care and services that were being offered we took the bus over to Wars Island around 11 12 o'clock at night and spoke to some of the men and women who were going into shelters or who were just outside of you know those who want to simplify the complexity of homelessness there's a reason no one has gotten it right thus far there's a reason and part of that reason is because no one was willing to listen to all aspects of this this administration is willing to hear those who have great ideas we care about this city you could one can say what they want but you cannot take away from the fact I love this city and the people I love in this city are those who are living in homes and those who are homeless because I speak with them every day that I'm I could possibly talk to them particularly those are brothers and sisters who are experiencing homelessness there's no dignity in living on the streets there's no dignity and the conversation is what what is the pathway to take people off the streets and into permanent housing so we could have a conversation on what pathway I'm using my pathway and today Norman is going to lay out what he believed another pathway another layer to do this but there's one thing we don't disagree on there is no dignity in living on the streets that we agree on and so we're going to lean into the things we agree on and not the things that we disagree on and I'm pleased that to announce that four months into our subway safety efforts I remember today you know week one we had 22 people and everyone talked about the failure of our initiative we up to seven over 1700 people that we were able to build a relationship with off our subway system and put them in a pathway to our shelters and want to put them in a pathway to permanent housing you know so the you could raise a conversation well how long did they stay did they stay forever one day off the street is a day towards permanent housing that's what it's about it is actually doing something too many administrations have stood by and watch people on our subway system and act like they didn't see them well you know what I saw them I saw them from day one and I am pleased of the plan our teams are making approximately 814 engagements each day and several of them I make when I speak with people on the street and we are engaging people building trust they become familiar with our faces we are bringing them to a place of trust because it's all about trust and listen a recent poll that we saw 60% of New Yorkers understand this is a real issue and they understand that we are leaning into this issue and so we know that we have to solve this problem we cannot just walk by and pretend if someone else's problem it is our problem I am responsible for taking people off the streets and putting place in them in permanent housing and so starting in early August for those who are harder to reach there's a lot of layers to reaching some folks when you've been doing this work they're harder to reach and for those we develop a new strategy in close coordination with advocates and partners we're going to take an approach that other administrations have not tried we're going to connect one-on-one heart-to-heart with New Yorkers that are living on the street and I'm calling on all those who are out there that have tweeted and Instagram and Google and wrote articles I'm calling on all of you now to get skin in the game come and volunteer because when I hear someone complain the first thing I'm going to ask that you volunteer that it's a right to complain and that right starts with you volunteering and so this initiative is is in all hands on deck situation and we have no time to lose we will pair you with city outreach workers will give you the proper training we're looking for everyone to participate those who live with lived experience of homelessness faith leaders retirees and everyday citizen this is about building trust and we want our unhoused neighbors because these are our neighbors and offerings we want to offer solutions like independent housing mental health services and substance use programs yesterday we were at fountain house walking through fountain house and an amazing model and keep in mind my commission of depth of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene came from fountain house of this entire administration is filled with people with private experience of showing compassion to those who are in need listen and this is not going to be easy but we have a moral duty and a moral responsibility to stop neglecting and denying those who are in need and we're asking people that if you see someone needs help please call 311 social change happens one person at a time one call at a time and rest is sure of your individual acts of compassion will become contagious and we will all start believing the possibility is here and so I want to thank again Norman and Robert for their years of commitment and their willingness to come and use of their efforts to make this happen and to my young interns that are out there see you guys and ladies are back there you know you are now part of our administration and trust me this is the most exciting administration you ever going to be a part of I told the press when I first got elected y'all gonna have so much fun covering me you know and so we enjoy this I want to turn this over to my friend okay you come on I know he's gonna get mad at me but you know the other thing I was gonna say is you said we went from 22 to 1700 but it was because you leaned into us and you made sure that we got the work done and you said their failure is not an option and that failure will teach us but you kept on pushing us so I just want to note that and appreciate that the other thing that you said mayor was you talked about dignity and I don't know if you remember a couple of weeks ago I text you when I was out at a restaurant with my friend and there was a homeless man that was in front of the restaurant and somebody must have called the police and as soon as the police showed up my friend and I ran out and we engaged with this man we found out his name we found out that he had two daughters that lived in Florida we found out that he had seven brothers and sisters here in New York City he wasn't just a person that was acting crazy out in front of the restaurant he was a person who needed support so we stayed with him and we talked with him until the DHS outreach workers came and when he was leaving he said hey sis can you pray with me so I grabbed his hands and we were we said the Lord's Prayer together I almost couldn't concentrate because he remembered the words almost better than me so I knew that in there there was someone who didn't need a new life he had a life we needed to reconnect him to the services and to the homes that he needs that's what we're about and that's why we're here so to Norman Segal a person who really doesn't need an introduction Norman has been a champion for New Yorkers and everyone fighting for civil rights for decades he formally served as the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union chapter here in the city serving the organization in various roles for some 25 years and has a distinguished legal career even though you left the ACLU you never stopped serving the city you have worked time and again with our mayor Adams on issues ranging from police community relations to FEMA rule changes during the heart of the pandemic and so many others and as a fellow attorney Norman you've led the way for so many of us who are advocates across the city and across the nation it is my pleasure to present Norman Segal welcome to all of you today I want to thank mayor Eric Adams for his support for this initiative I want to single out the deputy mayor and Williams Isom she got it exactly right those are real people we can connect with them we have to respect them we have to understand where they're coming from what they need then we turn to the government and say provided I want to also thank Gary Jenkins in that terrific light blue suit appropriate for today we are co-coordinated I see that's one plus for the day I want to thank Shane Cox for the DHS work that he does miss mart thank you and Jill I forgot your last name Barry I thank you all so also when the mayor and Anne are singling out me that's not the way I am comfortable we put a team together ourself advocates first person I introduced in 1979 many years ago as a young lawyer from NYU law school filed the Callahan case that established the constitutional right under the state constitution article 17 subsection one which is a theme that motivates us this government during the crisis in the 30s the state had the foresight to create a constitutional obligation that government owes to the people who need the aid and support it's a constitutional provision that sat there Bob Hayes had the foresight to bring that case and that's the legal framework for 40 years and all its acknowledge it's a 40-year crisis the mayor was correct from Koch to Dinkins to Giuliani to Bloomberg and to de Blasio they didn't get it right this is the first time that we the advocates are talking to the government and the government understands what we're advocating for and they're using our framework we're excited about that possibility Harriet McDonald on my far left she's been with the dough fund for 35 years she started when she was nine and take a second to remember the unique George McDonald who created the dough fund we're here in his spirit as well and Robert is here as the executive vice president for leapy-var guess as the director of programming that is another model program that has helped so many people off the streets and Mark Greenberg who's here with the Alliance for homelessness and housing he's been doing it he's a rookie he's only been doing it for about 25 30 years as well and someone who's not here one of the lawyers Deborah Berkman our rookie she's only been doing it for 20 years so what are we gonna do let's start with the premise that no no New Yorker should have to live on the streets of New York our experience is most people experiencing homelessness when asked respectfully very important they will tell you that they do not want to live on the streets as well so there's our common ground let me go back in history six decades ago in the 60s Americans express the commitment to racial equality but participating in the southern civil rights movement many including New Yorkers including myself took direct action traveling to the south and committing ourselves to the protection of the rights of black Americans today it is time for New York to create teams of concerned residents students hopefully you're listening formerly homeless people social workers doctors lawyers and people from all walks of life including the private sector I'll get to that at the end for us to venture into our streets regularly to learn about the homeless who they are why they are homeless and what they need to do to come inside it's what and did with appropriate residential options we believe that street homelessness in New York can be ameliorated never eliminated I remember in the 50s going to the Bowery and seeing we didn't call him at that point homeless but people who had similar problems but different today with regard and I'll get to that in a second if we can do this this would be good first for the people experiencing homelessness and also for all of us who are New Yorkers a few months ago the mayor received the report from a citizens commission called New Yorkers for social justice we published 81 recommendations to the mayor to make our city fairer and more just this is one chap as we call it the street homeless advocacy and that is key advocacy project will recruit New Yorkers to become advocate supporters for people living on the streets Miss Josie raise your hand she's one of our first volunteers a LMSW we believe in social work and social workers we will do training which will create a new generation of New Yorkers who use skills, compassion and talents for the public good Sam raise your hand he's 15 probably in high school hopefully and we will reach out to especially young folk to get them to realize that they have critical skills that are needed today to create that torture freedom and justice that my just generation was involved in to make sure this continues the challenge and it is a challenge be for us together to identify the existing appropriate options that match what a homeless individual needs and will accept we will work with the mayor and the Adams administration to provide the needed housing what is the needed housing it's different parts independent and supportive housing stabilization and safe haven placements but it's not just that it's mental health substance and alcohol use disorder and job training and placement programs there are people on the streets that are working there are people on the streets who can work want to work and we've got to create those opportunities hopefully we can reduce the barriers that currently exist that prevent us from achieving those goals this plan will succeed only if we identify and develop the options and remove the barriers the barriers after 40 years of bureaucracy in my opinion not adequately caring about the people on the streets need to rethink the process of when you go to even a congregate shelter why does it take so long why is the paperwork so burdensome for people what about programs like the dough fund when they're out on the streets and they identify someone who is a drug abuse person or alcohol abuse and they have a space in their facility and they want to take them and he or she wants to go why do we have to go through the government to make that match we should be able to do it immediately those are some of the barriers there's more barriers we're working with the administration as I said before it's enlightening to talk to people who listen and are willing to rethink some of these rules with the support participation and I make this pitch to fellow New Yorkers we need you together we can legally realistically and humanly confront address and ameliorate the unacceptable long-standing tragedy in our city a fellow New Yorkers living in our streets it is time to act if you are interested in participating in chap please contact us at NYCC SH AP at gmail.com I'll repeat NYCC SH AP at gmail.com and for those of you who want to call us we're willing to listen and talk with you 212-537-6772 in English and in Spanish 212-537-6772. What we're trying to do is make a difference will we succeed only time will tell it's been going on for too too long those of us here today and hopefully those of you in the public including the private sector we need you you see the people on the streets you see them in the parks as the mayor says don't close your eyes call us there are all kinds of services and personalities we need to make this work realistically also it's not going to happen in a week or a month or a few months you're talking about something that took four decades I'll be happy if in a year from today we having decreased 25% of the people out on the streets that's the realistic goal too often people get at these podiums and give false expectations we will not do that because we know the realities of what we're taking on but as people who love the city and more important love the people who are made up of the city especially the powerless the underdogs the people who don't have bank accounts who have trouble meandering this very complex city we're here for you and now it gives me great pleasure to introduce my colleague Bob Hayes so Norman is is at least as obstructive as the mayor and not following the rules for Anne but I did promise the mayor that I would finish in two minutes so put on your timers first I do want to say thank you this administration is a breath of fresh air I don't know the mayor but I have to commend him for his wisdom at listening to characters like Norman Siegel who has been a voice crying out in the wilderness for a very very long time like I want to put a little bit of perspective on this we are going to be bringing fresh faces fresh voices unskilled people into the connection business with folks on the streets it is not to replace by any means the what millions or tens of millions of dollars the city commits now to professional outreach they too are frustrated for some of the reasons we will be frustrated with volunteers the reason I kind of embrace Norman's volunteer ethic I think though is you guys don't know me but I was literally 24 years old working at Sullivan and Cromwell fancy law firm and started talking to homeless people and back then you know there was no issue there were no contracts there was nothing by way of support the charitable industrial complex we're ignoring them and it was by talking to folks that I had the epiphany that well kind of ruined my legal career but led to things like the right to shelter and a bunch of other good things I think 15 year olds 25 year olds 75 year olds involved in this project the connection the human factor matters and that's I think part of the great wisdom of Norman's idea here but look we're going to fail just like so much of the other outreach work fails unless we have the places to bring people you know we're not going to be you know homeless people whispers in any way better probably than the folks who are doing it professionally the key to making this work is having places that work for people number one of course all we can do is ask the administration to keep working with the state thrillingly from my perspective in a seemingly cooperative way to keep the gas on in terms of housing development long time ago the three-word solution to homelessness Robert Hay said was housing housing housing still true meanwhile we have a shelter system Norman mentioned some of the bureaucratic problems it still scares too many people blame me I did the right to shelter blame a half dozen mayors but we still can make improvements there critical for this outreach though is the availability night after night of having either one two-bed non congregate residents for people to come in off the streets all the reports all the conversations show that that is the answer for people to say okay I will try that I've been to the shelter system I got scared I had a problem I won't go back there so pretty quickly I think we probably can move to an increase maybe some lessons learned from the pandemic single rooms double rooms for people to come inside this may I hope I did not exceed two minutes if I did I apologize before we open to questions I just realized I have one of my former of borough hall employees show me come and tell your story thank you mr. mayor I had occasion to spend 51 weeks in the homeless shelter system and while there were adversities in being in such a place you know many of the other residents were out of state prison they were out of Rikers Island and they tried to impose you know the kinds of rules that they live by when they were in those institutions it made it trying you know for individuals such as myself that weren't accustomed to that kind of that kind of conduct the threats occasional violence it was one one person murdered while I was there and elderly and he happened to have been the only well he was an attorney retired attorney and he was intoxicated and he got into an altercation and he was beaten and next morning he dropped dead and there were a couple of other deaths in that particular shelter and mind you my understanding is that it was one of the safer shelters in the city system my background is such that dating way back first time that I was ever in city hall was covering then mayor John Lindsay so I was a reporter once upon a time and you know continue to follow the news on a daily basis and while I was in that shelter I was following a reporter by the name of Greg Smith who was writing about the various homeless shelters in the city I emailed him I shared part of my story with him we ultimately met he wrote a story about me in my situation and what brought me into the into a homeless shelter various people reached out to me but whereas he's known for his swagger this man is also and should be recognized for his compassion and understanding because it was then borough president now mayor Eric Adams that reached out to me sat with me for an over an hour heard my story asked me to follow him he tapped a computer and a desk and said you know whatever you'd like to do this is your dust this is your computer you come in and later we could discuss a salary and as it turned out I was also contacted by DHS after they're having seen the story and I met with the administrator of DHS at the time except that I called on another friend Norman Siegel to accompany me to that meeting there there were a lot of adversities not only in the shelter but also with the system that I found I didn't qualify for a voucher because of my social security income being such but there was a program whereby the city would pay one year's rent toward an apartment and thereafter you're on your own and I opted for that however the particular apartment that I found because I'd go out every single day I went to senior homes I went all over the city looking for an apartment and when I finally found one unfortunately the rent was a hundred dollars over half of my monthly income just a hundred dollars and whereas I knew that I was prepared to stock shelves you know a Dwayne Reed or a supermarket do whatever it was necessary bring in some income DHS would not grant me that voucher so I ultimately managed to get a section eight at which point Mr. Adams put me on a payroll I got into a building in downtown Brooklyn I remained with him for four years I regret having declined his offer that I was made to find the administration but as the former colleague said the doors never closed the family because I just left the Brooklyn Borough President's office but I'll tell you I cannot I cannot imagine what it might be like to live in the street I just can't despite all the adversities I had a bed I could ask for an extra blanket if I wanted despite some not nice people at times the staffing that would purposely virtuously close all of the bathrooms because why because she felt like it and you know 30 guys are in the corridor looking to use the facilities and we were unable to and when I asked that particular supervisor why she said because I felt like it you know bedbugs fights if the lights were turned on when everybody's sleeping it would it would cause a stir cause a fight so I'm glad to be out of there and you know I have to thank these two gentlemen and of course you know the guy who broke the story Greg Smith as well so thank you thank you thank you please give Sherman information there's always a job for you no matter where I am you know so they didn't understand your value in Borough Hall they're gonna understand it in City Hall and I will represent them in that series and it knows it's fascinating first of all it shows the power of the media you know you know you take you ladies and gentlemen you take hits from time to time particularly for me but the reality is that story started a movement I remember you know drinking my smoothie in the morning reading that story this was a prominent leader in the news industry well respected people knew him and you know there by the grace of God go I you know we don't know what crisis is facing us and he was just such an asset for me and Borough Hall and you know I benefited from him coming on our team he helped us navigate some of the problems in the shelter system he was able to be just a voice for those who were unheard and he just became a friend and I just thank him for his service and I am just happy that the that he knows that we would love to have him to be part of our City Hall chain this is a this is a complex problem it's a complex problem you know you have a former reporter now he's placing in an environment with some people coming right home from Rikers Island going towards Ireland and now you put in this mixture this almost toxic soup together and when I walked through Ward's Island just Friday I said what is the difference between what I saw in Ward's Island and what I saw on Rikers Island in the dormitory setting and we were like to be able to as Bob stated give every person that's homeless you know a single room and all the amenities we would love to do that the the inventory is not there the amount of money was spending on homelessness it's just astronomical during these tough financial times so I have to play the hand that the situation was dealt to me I have to make sure if I have a population that is going to be in congregate setting the Congress said it must be suitable those who need safe havens and other wraparound services we need to make sure they're in those places so this complicated chess game of homelessness we need everyone to be a part of it and that's why we're willing to listen to everyone for these solutions and it's my responsibility and damn it I want that responsibility I sat on the sideline and complained of the failures of the past and I want the ball in my hand and you go across the country a group of mayors are here today at the Bloomberg school and I went to the dinner yesterday every mayor I sat down and talked to you know what they said Eric we're facing homelessness crime affordability COVID in our economy every city every city no one has the answers yet but we're going to try so we're opening up to on topic yes and we're going to partner the teams with our personnel and that's part of the training to know how to engage and but we want to create those partnerships and make sure that we could do it to ensure as much safety as possible what we don't want to do we don't want the outreach team to be partnered with a uniform police officer because that sends a wrong message and so we're going to do it in a very safe way to ensure that we minimize any any interaction that could be harmful and it's about the right training and right engagement we believe in the spirit of people volunteering and coming together we also think that when I'm out on the streets and I approach someone when they tell them what we're doing and they realize I'm not for the government I'm a civil rights person I'm a New Yorker I'm here to listen and then maybe after a couple of times we're going to go out every Thursday night we're going to come to City Hall with the volunteers we're going to ask various speakers from government from the nonprofit sector former homeless people will have pizza water indeference some plant-based whatever it's called it's called and then we'll hit the streets the teams will be of four or five people one or two from the city two or three of us we'll go to the same locations every Thursday night from seven to nine at nine o'clock we'll go to a coffee shop or something a little stronger and we'll sit down we'll do our metrics our report to find out whether or not our assumptions turn out to be valid and we think by doing that without government funding with the bureaucracies and the regulations we'll be free to do what we think we have to do that's my answer Mr. Mayor, the statement you sent out this morning on asylum seekers that are putting a strain on the shelter system you know what's your message to the federal government do you think they shouldn't be sent here in the first place and like you said some from the state governments are being sent here on buses you know how much of an issue is this becoming and what's the solution? say it's a real issue and you know we are right to shelter a city and we welcome people during difficult times and we have been in close communication with the White House who the White House this administration has been a great partner with us on a number of issues but let's not leave out Arkansas and Texas and other municipalities they are sending people to New York and if New York is willing to show its humanitarian outreach and compassion then we need to get the resources to go with it we have close to 2,500 and the last probably 6 to 7 weeks that are here we already had a overburdened shelter system and so we need not only federal government but we need some of those states that have been given people one-way tickets we need them to understand that this must be a partnership in this country to deal with those who are coming here seeking refuge or asylum of you know New York is going to do a share but we have an overburdened shelter system now with the Texas government and how they're they're sending people here yeah I don't know those guys like talking you know yes you don't know Nolan this is the legendary Nolan Nolan Hicks what gap are you guys specifically trying to fill and the city offers a lot of services it has outreach teams it has counseling supportive shelters Eric shelters there's a suite of services what's the gap this volunteer effort is trying to fill specifically great question great question like yesterday when I was out with sham you know I was amazed at the it's almost an inert inability to connect with people when you've gone through that because sham was able to talk to people on the streets that I'm sure if a professional outreach worker would have done that I don't know if they would have responded the same way we walked up and down 125th Street from Linux over to Lexington and even when we got on a bus people were just connecting with sham and so the gap we're trying to handle is the hard reach population you know we yeah we got to 1700 I'm pretty sure if you go through the subway system you you'll be challenged to find an encampment but there's still those that are in the that's just a hard to reach and we need folks who have gone through this before to help us reaching that hard to reach population particularly with mental health issues and it's to repeat it over and over again talking to them building trust becoming familiar with the face of the individual we're going to try to keep doing that but I just think that they're going to bring an extra layer to our ability to reach that population yes you can answer your question the city in the past has refused to acknowledge the racial overtones to homelessness from way back when Bob and I in the 80s we're doing our work for example the city put out studies 45% of the people in the shelter system that last known place was an SRO when they got rid of the SROs which caught in the J51 program to build different times of housing remember the SROs were not huge facilities they're usually five or six story buildings it didn't have hundreds of people there so people got pushed out it was part of the gentrification especially in Upper West Side of Manhattan but in addition the overwhelming percentage back then will confirm it in our work now there's a racial overtone I have been quoted many times saying if the homeless work occasion the city would have dealt with it differently the overwhelming percentage of homeless people in the past were black and brown people and also I got in trouble by saying the following and I'll say it again even the brown people they were dark skin the reality of the homeless problem will in our metrics see whether it's still accurate in 2022 my observations anecdotally again it's people dark skin poor people people who've run across hard times every one of our teams ideally will have a former homeless person who'll be able to say to the person on the street I've been there I understand I as the lawyer will be on a team but I'll be in the background Melissa we are concerned about that but on my own personal experience for years of doing this stuff never had a problem in my opening I said if you approach people respectfully and that's our training our training is going to be three-hour sessions we're going to train people to ideally if we find that someone doesn't adhere to that kind of commitment they're not coming out with us and we will do it a pilot initially we want to make sure my famous say I hate to fail I hate to lose it's a difference between wanting to win and hating to lose coach Gordon in neutral high school when I played JV basketball and still that into me back in 1958 and 59 I still remember it thank you coach Gordon so there's a racial aspect to this and they my my appeal to the private sector face up to it help us out and you're talking about money we don't want any government money the private sector you can come forward and help us out no public money and just my my commission share with me is Arizona they're sending folks up Arizona sorry Arkansas don't you do it though because we care when you care you know I'm aware we keep wanting to not go public because of COVID I read the papers the 6th urge we'll wear our masks if we have to go back to putting on gloves again we'll do that but that will be off-putting we'll go out with masks in our pocket to give some of the folks on the street so that we'll talk to them about that that'll win over hopefully some trust because they'll understand we're there we'll go back again and again I did this many years ago we went to a particular area there were 13 people the first week we came with a cup of coffee and we spent some time it was incredible they had a street operation we disagree on the encampment raids I call them they counterproductive the negative but we're still going to agree to disagree on that and hopefully I can prove to the mayor that encampment raids are a mistake they counterproductive we had you remember that Saturday we had a 30 minute intense phone conversation between Eric and I about that issue I still think he's wrong on that and we'll keep pushing that's what advocates do but in the context that we said we'd come back the next week we came back that Tuesday at that time I think we went there at 9 o'clock and the group was shocked I said what are you shocked and they said you came back and I said we said we come back and they said nobody ever comes back I read the coalition for the homeless report in 2021 page 32 of their report they had people two people specifically saying people didn't come back so we're going to come back and we'll be prepared be concerned about safety concerned about the issue that you just raised but speak for myself I can't just sit in my house I can't sit my office knowing that people are out there we got to do something that doesn't mean I'm going to succeed but we're going to do it we're going to try and I'm sure knowing some of you now that I know Mr. Nolan Hicks whatever all I'm going to say is you'll call us we'll try to be as forthright and honest in our responses but we want to make a difference bottom line the training I'm looking at my my program for our training and I'll share it with you afterwards we're going to have two panels the first panel I'll just give it to you homeless history legal cases Robert Klein who's one of our lawyers is prepared Callahan Eldridge McCabe those are the seminal cases we're going to spend a half an hour on them what does it mean we're then going to talk about the shelter system itself the rules the regulations the barriers the lived experience and possible solutions it's 60 minutes people like Bob people like Sherman Harriet a DHS representative questions and answers then we're going to have a second role playing interaction with person experiencing homelessness 30 minutes Mark Greenberg executive actor in faith assembly homeless in housing will have an example of someone on the street how he interacts with them how to teach people that the final panel which goes for 45 minutes the do's and do nots of interacting with homeless people people like Larry Woods from God Riverside and Muzzy Rosenbach from the Bowery residents committee will have other people in addition we hope our first training session will be August 1 it will be from 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock that's the training we have metrics the metrics form that we're going to hand out which is very important so we can quantify and answer your questions to the person who volunteers put your name on the form who did you speak with name location phone number email address was the individual cooperative yes no does individual want to leave the streets yes no if yes what does the individual need housing safe haven stabilization bed job what kind mental health placement addiction placement other does individual want to see if I can help yes or no those are the kinds of things we have a volunteer recruitment intake form which is three pages maybe a little two volunteers but in response to Melissa's very good question we have to vet the people who are going to be out there so we're going to have people who potentially don't know how to respond to someone who's out of control or people who create the environment to make the person on the street out of control what we're going to do could their organizations out there already Muslims giving back they are on 42nd Street I think just about every Friday given out we gave them a stipend and when I was about president for blankets they given our food socks clothing now we're going to coordinate this effort of what they're doing with the kiosk over on 42nd Street with the foundation house we're going to coordinate with this effort so there's a lot of disjointed forms of volunteerism that's taking place every day young lady came up to me that I introduced Norman to the state that she wants to help she gives out socks here I met I met on the event in Williamsburg she gives outside she was given outside and so we're now going to coordinate the effort instead of having a disjointed effort so that we could accomplish our task yes I'm sorry on the first is you know fiscal hawks might say well you know the city's been spending billions on homelessness for years now what does it say that you know you're engaging in a volunteer program now as far as the spending this the second question is do you envision if this is successful turning it into something where there's a stipend attached like kind of like a city-based like American Peace Corps type thing yes yes here's what we here's what we're going and you're right we spent billions on a an inferior product we keep believing throw money at a problem money thrown at dysfunctional actions is going to produce a dysfunctional outcome you know everyone just believes and I'm seeing this over and over in government everyone believes throw more money throw more money no we're just not going to do that we're spending billions now and so if we can create a real America a volunteer core this human capital is just unbelievable number of students are asking what can we do how can we help many of our clergy organizations are asking that and it's about giving people a pathway to use the human capital that is what we are in abundance we're not in abundance with our budget we're going to go through some serious financial challenges in the next few years where we are rich is in human capital and if we could open that and have folks like Norman and Bob and some of the volunteers that are here to really empower other people to just not sit on a sideline and complain about what's wrong with the city but saying that I'm going to be part of the agents of change and so we can do that I just believe that you're going to see a different in so many areas on how we could use our human capital but that's that's what we would like to do I want to make one specific pitch that I left out as a proud graduate of Brooklyn College CUNY system I make a public appeal to the quarter of a million students in the CUNY system contact us when you come back to school we need you Thursday nights to be part of this effort you will like my generation when I went in 1966 as part of the law student civil rights research council to places like Mississippi and Georgia I changed my perspective of what I want to do with my life we want to do the same thing we're not excluding the NYU's the columbia is it ever but I make a pitch because of Nolan the racial overtones we want the CUNY students to be able to be involved and to give your editorial board a little credit yesterday they raised the issue that the mayor just raised about the economic issues for the future so more important even when we began we need those students coming forward for a new generation of people committed to public service thank you all for your time I want to clarify a couple points you made on the first one is you know do you have a sense of how many people you would like to sign up the full capacity for this pilot and then you also mentioned collecting this data and you listed what you're looking for you know is that data going to be published is it going to be made available for you know on government websites and Mr. Mayor is it possible for that data to inform how you're prioritizing building maybe like more supportive housing versus funding a new shelter for example well as a civil vegetarian I drew a wall between government and the private so the answer to your question when we get the metrics that we're doing you call me I'll give you the answers I don't know how else to do it whether it's going to be in a government website that ain't my call that's his call and the folks here and what was you asking about the using and using the data information well the op-ed that Bob and I published thanks to Josh Greenman at the Daily News got us about 10 volunteers and Harriet got through the dough fund nine so currently have 19 volunteers that's enough for us to begin our pilots because if the four pilots are only going to have two volunteers have the 19 we only have to choose eight but if we're successful and we get the kind of response that hopefully your editors don't tell you that this is not a story to run and we get some responses over the next 10 days or so we could start thinking about if the pilot works going citywide with regard to how many people that's such a hard question I heard him and his press conference say when they asked about how many rooms he was going to provide as many as possible I'll say as many as possible three yeah we've we've consulted with the city people and we have three locations in Manhattan and one of the Bronx that's conscious disproportionate number of street homeless people are in New York County but we don't want it to be seen as owning New York County so we'll do one in the Bronx and eventually if we're successful in the metrics prove we're successful we'll go to every borough we're also going to potentially go to places where we know that queer people are but we're also going to experiment perhaps in a place where we send out the word come to a different location I've talked to a couple of not-for-profits about potentially on a weekend starting in September doing a concert in some of the parks in the city in the different Tompkins Square Park would be a good place maybe other places Riverside in Manhattan and have performers perform so that it's a magnet to people to come also during the daytime with family settings etc as opposed to when we go out Thursday night 7 tonight once it starts getting dark one of the reasons we want to begin now is when we go at 7 o'clock to 9 it's still light once it gets to the colder weather it's more difficult especially doing this kind of stuff when it's 28 degrees and it's snowing but we'll be there as the post office used to say we'll be there rain shine etc and it's important to point out we want to take one more then we take about two or three off of topics I know I got it I got a bounce but isn't this is not in replacement of we need to be very clear on that this is not in replacement of what we're doing as the city this is a compliment to and we want others who have other ways of doing this and willing to put skin in the game so this is not I don't want it to come across as we are now having a new way of dealing with homelessness in the city this is a compliment to what we are doing with deputy mayor William Isom and Gary are carrying out so I just want to be clear on that let me take one more than a few of topics questions related to the pilot the lesson just being described the training is being primarily led by what sounds like professionals so you're expecting all these people who are conducting the training to also be volunteering their time throughout this absolutely that's a premise sure the interaction that mark is going to do for 30 minutes will will us lawyers do moot court before I go to the court on a big case when and if I have to sue this guy over here and when I'm in court you want your colleagues to question you of how you're going to respond to questions so we're going to do the same thing it's not just going to be theoretical it's going to be someone will be sitting on the floor mark will approach them the people he'll do that after we've done a panel on theoretically what are the things to do what the rights are etc and then we'll act it out questions and answers and again initially we're only gonna have to choose we think about eight volunteers from the group to start the pilot but then we'll do additional training the bottom line is we're going to vet the volunteers and the people who go out on the street and for the new people let's assume there's some volunteers that have never done this before that maybe we'll have one new person with four experienced people so that person will be to use the private sector on the job training and I think young people all kinds of folks learning the legal history of the homeless issue and their practicalities will be worthwhile in and of itself even if they're not chosen to be one of the people out on the street topics okay we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna allow you are to depart from this ritual we see you brother wow thank you thank you very much good stuff good stuff good stuff yes you can address that on the subject of the asylum seekers you said we need some partnership from the states that are just putting people on buses or planes how is this going down are they saying like here's a one-way ticket to New York show up at pad 151 East 151st Street you can you that are not gonna turn you away are they telling you to load it up? Right. I just want to give you a chance to respond to the legal aid society's criticism that you might be scapegoating the asylum seekers for what is already a bureaucratic problem that in the shelter system caused by you know other factors like high rats you know that's all good first let's peel it back in layers I'm not quite sure what methods they're using but based on our interviews and conversations with those who are arriving they're stating what states they're coming from and the conversation is something in essence you know if you could go to New York they would make sure you have shelter you know now if you knew to a country you just trying to find help and so someone tells you you know this is the way to do it we need to investigate I'd have given them one-way tickets we're not sure this just got on our radar when we started seeing a high number show up there you are you you you are hitting on those topics of why we're reaching out to the federal government and stating this is a real burden on New York is as we're trying to do the right thing we already as I stated we already have an overburden shelter system so now we're talking about as you stated food clothing school this is going to impact our of our schools because we do not turn away individuals because they're undocumented translation services there's just a whole host of things that this is going to produce and that's why we need we need help and getting this done and we need to write coordination to make it happen yeah I don't know I'm calling for help from the federal and and those states I don't know why they believe that's blame I don't know why they believe that's blame quoting and the facts and what we are dealing with so what we're saying our system is always already overburden fact these states are sending people to New York without any communication or coordination fact we're not receiving any dollars in addition to this new responsibilities that we're going to have facts so I'm just not clear what legal aid believe we are doing that is blaming anyone we're saying we're going to do our job as New Yorkers but we do need help to deal with this new wave of those who are in need of shelter or the DA and that's probably other people had that question also they did a thorough investigation and they made a determination of my understanding the charges were dropped and this happens sometimes in cases the preliminary arrests after review decisions are made and so I think in this case we had an innocent hard-working New Yorker that was doing his job and someone was extremely aggressive towards him and I believe that after the DA's review the DA in my opinion made the right decision you got 10 he was on the beach I think you had December 23 to make sure you don't have the same scrabble that we did this year no doubt the lifeguards are under a union we are already engaging in conversation around some of the practices and we need to be forward-thinking I don't know why we waited until this crisis to happen which is a national shortage of lifeguards but we have too many school pools that are being under utilized there's a beautiful pool I think a Jefferson that is not being used and so we need to do a real canvassing of all of the pools and see what programs we have we have to be more forward-thinking in teaching swimming I was part of swim strong when I was in the borough president's office we need to be better prepared to deal with the lifeguard issues start training young people to be certified look at what is safety with some of our law enforcement communities we talk about building a better relationship between police and communities this is a way to do so so we need to think outside the box so that we're not unprepared in the upcoming years that's what needed to be done we need to do it but again I keep going back to the first thing people say we need more money first we need to look at what we're doing with the money we have I keep saying that over and over again as I keep looking at these agencies what are we doing with the money that we have have we tapped into volunteerism swim strong is want to be a partner who do we have already on staff that's willing to do that so let's peel back all the other layers and then if we need more money to do so we should be open to doing that how are you well I know we have a couple of hundred that remained off some went to live with other loved ones some started believing they don't have to live in that condition but I keep saying every day off the street is a good day and I know we you know we like to look at the stats I understand that but if I got you off that subway system for that night and had you engage you may go back the next night but then you may come back and say listen I got the safe place to go to so I'm of the mindset every day I get you off the street is closer to getting you to permanent houses Mr. Mayor How are you? Yesterday congressman Richard Torres had a news conference about monkey pox it was very critical of your federal delay rollout but the community leaders with him said that the only vaccination location is in wrong science they say it's not accessible and it's not really good is there any plan to open up more vaccination locations but we need to listen to them because we have accessibility is important and so we haven't heard that that was not communicated directly to us but I would speak with the commissioner of department of health and mental hygiene because we have to have accessibility we have been fighting to get our share 25% of the cases are here in New York we were getting almost 50% of the proportionate level of vaccines but I'm going to speak with the commissioner this afternoon and find out where all of our sites I know we are big on making sure that it's accessible this just one question come give me that's what I'm gonna have a meeting with right now of the goal is this continuous battle of making sure dangerous people that are arrested are prosecuted go through the criminal justice system and off our streets it's taken too long to sentence dangerous people while they're on our streets they continue to commit crimes we continue to have this catch release repeat mindset we got to get that under control you see those numbers and you attribute all of that to this revolving door no but if you as the commissioner pointed out when she did her release last week or week and a half ago she showed you the repeated offenders she showed you the proportion of people who are getting arrested for grand larceny out to next day and doing it again who getting arrested for burglary out doing it again and so there's a combination but a substantial number of the people who are doing burglary's grand larcenies robberies they're repeated offenders and if we don't stop that flow we're going to have a harder time of getting these numbers under control my responsibility and we will get crime under control as we see the decrease in shootings we see a decrease over the last few weeks in homicides two areas we had to zero in on could have taken up a life it's it's significant those two important areas and chief managery chief of patrol is going to focus on those other crimes but i cannot be clearer that we've created an atmosphere in the city if not the country that people who commit these crimes are not being held accountable and that sends a signal on the streets that we could continue to commit these crimes catch release repeat cannot be a criminal justice mantra