 Good afternoon, everyone. I think we're going to get started. I'm Andel Castillo, Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment. As most of you know, our office works to support, promote, and strengthen New York City's creative sectors of film, television, theater, advertising, publishing, digital content, and video games. Our office comprises five divisions, the Film Office, NYC Media, Office of Night Life, Press Credentials Office, and Creative Sector Programs. And these sectors represent 150 billion in economic activity for New York City, and close to half a million jobs, which represents about 10% of New York City's economy with film and television production representing the lion's share of the $82 billion and close to 185,000 jobs. What that doesn't necessarily account for are the numerous jobs and businesses that are supported by the film and television industry. And so when we're talking about workers impacted by the WGA strike, we're talking about more than people that are just working in production. We could be working in businesses such as catering, dry cleaning, lumber, hardware stores that typically provide support for the film and television production sector. This is actually our second webinar. The first one that we held about a month ago. We heard from many of you that in addition to seeking information about unemployment benefits that a number of you are seeking information about public benefits and public assistance. And so we're very fortunate to have been able to engage some of our colleagues in government and nonprofit sector to do this follow up session to provide that information. And so I just want to thank our panelists today. Vanessa Mitchell from New York City Department of Social Services. I also want to acknowledge Thompson from the New York State Department of Labor, Lillian Galena from the Entertainment Community Fund, Goldie Patrick from the Dramatist Guild Foundation and Rafael Espanol and Jalen Vasquez from the Freelancers Hub. I also want to acknowledge the team at MoM that work very hard to put these webinars together. I also want to thank Tavri Crouch, Noel Maury and Marisa Radanti as well as our coms and marketing team for getting the word out about these seminars. If there are individuals you know that wanted to participate but weren't able to make this time, we are going to be making a recording of the session available online, and we'll be sending that out after this session. Okay, thank you for joining us and hope that you'll find today's session helpful. And now I'm going to turn it over to Tavri he's going to be moderating today's session. Thank you Commissioner. Thank you everyone for joining us today. And as Commissioner mentioned, this, this webinar is for all workers affected by the work stoppage that includes people working directly on on set, as well as support services at ancillary services and businesses that support these productions so. Next off, we have our first speaker Vanessa Mitchell is the community engagement liaison with the Office of Outreach with New York City's Department of Social Services and Human Resources Administration. Our community engagement liaison Vanessa support community partner organizations as they navigate the tools DSS slash HRA has developed to make the agency services more accessible to New Yorkers and community providers. She has to over 10 years of public sector and nonprofit experience she obtained her master's in social work from Hunter College in 2018, and currently lives in the Bronx so please welcome Vanessa. Hi, good afternoon and thank you for that introduction. I'm going to go ahead and share my screen since I have a PowerPoint. Just to keep me on track. I know I have five minutes so I'm going to try to make sure to ice that I stay within the timeframe. Again, my name is Vanessa Mitchell I am from the Department of Social Services. I am from the community from the Office of Community Outreach. So I will be talking a little bit about the core programs of DSS HRA. And I will give you a quick overview of this. I will have some contact information towards the end so in case you guys want to reach out in regards to any particular cases applications who are welcome to. So just to give you a quick overview of HRA, which is also known as a Department of Social Services. We are dedicated and by poverty income quality by providing New Yorkers in need with essential benefits. HRA connects over 3 million New Yorkers to a area of benefits and services to design to meet their social services and economic needs. HRA is committed to serving all New Yorkers regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, language proficiency or disability status. And I do want to mention that because a lot of people usually have a lot of questions in regards to immigration status. Regardless, people are welcome to apply and the only way to find out someone is eligible is if you apply. So I really encourage people to apply if they are interested in applying in a benefit or a service. And just to give you a quick overview, these are some of the core benefits and programs and some of the services that we provide for the most vulnerable New Yorkers. I'm not going to touch on every single one, but I did want to show you this slide just to give you a quick glance at some of the services that we do provide, and that are available so we have cash assistance employment services, transition assistance program also known as food stamps, medical insurance, child support services, homeless prevention and services, home energy assistance program, fair fairs, IDNYC, HIDA services, home care services, adult protective services, domestic violence services, and community food connection and burial assistance. That was a mouthful, but those are some of the services that we provide. So here by giving you a little bit information on AccessHRA, this is a public facing website, and this is available to anyone who is interested in applying for benefits like cash assistance, emergency assistance, HEAP, fair fair, NYC. You can access this through online, as long as you have access to a computer so you can go on to a public library, smartphone, and you can apply for any of these benefits and re-certify if you currently have an active case. So for people who have active cases, they can do so also by going on AccessHRA and looking up the status of their case, re-certifying any of their current active cases if it's coming up. They can also read e-notices to find out any updates on cases, updates on applications that have been submitted. Most likely you have an e-notice in the AccessHRA website if you have created an account. Along with that, you can also view payments and case details along with requesting budget letters. One of the most recent updates that we've done with AccessHRA is people can now renew their Medicaid cases for those that are 65 and older or legally disabled. So these are some of the few things that can be done on AccessHRA along with seeing current active cases and the status. I also want to touch on AccessHRA mobile app. So the AccessHRA mobile app is another feature of AccessHRA, but it's more accessible because it's an app. So anyone can download it on their smartphone. It's free. You can basically see the same thing that you see on the public-facing website. One of the benefits of having the app is that you can actually submit documentation after you submit your application by taking pictures and uploading them. So that is the benefit of having the app along with keeping track of your benefits. So in case you need to see how much money you have on your EBT card and see how much money maybe you have on cash assistance, you can see that information on the mobile app. You can also read notices that you receive through AccessHRA and you can also submit certain applications and make changes if needed through the mobile app. So there is one other app I want to mention and that's called NYC HRA Document Upload. This app is solely to submit documentation and this can also be used if you submit an application through AccessHRA. A lot of people find this to be easy or sometimes than AccessHRA. Again, this is solely to submit application. This is available to anyone that has submitted an application and wants to submit their documents. There is no need to sign in or create an account. So that is one of the shortcuts I guess you can say for this app. There is no need to sign in. So it's as easy as just making sure that you know either a case number, a send number that's located on the EBT card usually on the top left corner of the EBT card. That's also called ID number or people can also use their AccessHRA confirmation number that they get at the end of submitting an application. One of these things are needed is because when you submit your documents, you need to make sure that you attach those documents to the correct application. So again, one of those identifiers is required to be able to submit those documents through this app. Again, it's just selecting identifier, taking a picture and then uploading it. It's fairly easy. So I'm going to now go into cash assistance. That's also known as public assistance. Cash assistance is also available on AccessHRA. People are now able to complete their phone interview by calling HRA instead of waiting for a call from HRA. This recently got expanded. I want to say in the last month. So the first step is to submit the application through AccessHRA. The second step is to submit to complete that phone interview by calling HRA. There is also an application called a one shot deal. That is also under cash assistance. So the one shot deal is a little bit different because it's a one time benefit and it's an emergency assistance. So this is typically for people that are interested in needing help with their rent arrears or utility arrears. They can apply for a one shot deal through AccessHRA. You also have to complete a phone interview. And again, the person applying would have to contact HRA. All of that information is included on the confirmation page after submitting the application. So a little bit more information in regards to cash assistance and some of the qualifications needed or eligibility is they will be questions asked in order to see if the person is eligible for cash assistance. They will be asking about income. And if there is no income, that's okay. You can put zero as income. So if you have expenses like rent, utilities, childcare, medical expenses, if you are 65 or older or legally disabled, or if you have someone in your household that is legally disabled or 65 and older. Everyone, you will want to include everyone in your household. And then they will ask about immigration status. If you're unsure of the immigration status, you can leave it blank. They don't have a social security number. You can leave the social security number blank. But these are some of the eligibility requirements that will be asked to see if you and your household are eligible. Again, the application is available on Access HRA. So the application can be submitted through Access HRA and submit the documentation through the mobile app, which is called Access HRA as well. Families and children can receive up to 60 months of cash assistance from the program called TANF, which is also known as the Federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Childcare assistance is also available and can also be completed through Access HRA. Single adults and adults that are couples without children can also apply for cash assistance or a one-shot deal. And now I'm going to go into SNAP. SNAP is also known as food stamps. So SNAP is also available on Access HRA. People can go on and apply for SNAP benefits. If you have an active SNAP case, you can also recertify through Access HRA. You can submit periodic reports, change reports, make changes to your case through Access HRA. You can also upload all your documentation through Access HRA mobile app. And the eligibility interview is also required just like cash assistance. It's the same way clients would call HRA to complete that phone interview. And the phone number is 718 SNAP now, Monday through Friday, 8.30 to 5. We usually suggest just so people are aware that Mondays are usually a high volume so it may take a little bit of time for people to get through. Midday throughout the week is good. And again, so that phone interview is required and every if you do not complete that step, you will run the risk of being rejected. So we forgot about these some. Okay. So there are more than 1.6 million New Yorkers receiving SNAP benefits on a monthly basis. To qualify for SNAP an applicant must submit an application. Again, in order to find out if somebody qualifies for SNAP benefits, an application must be submitted. The SNAP household usually includes spouses, children living with or under parent control of an adult and biological or adopted parent of children under the age of 22. So for a household who have 22 or younger should all be on the same application. Elderly, those that are 60 and over or have a disability can apply with their spouses as well or separately. So those are people who are 60 or older or legally disabled. And again, we're just mentioning again, applicants are required to call 718 SNAP now to complete that eligibility interview. And some of the eligibility requirements would be including residency, proof of residency income, immigration status and resources. Single issuance benefits may be issued within seven days, which is also known as an emergency benefit, which is also known as a one time benefit. Not everyone is eligible for that one time benefit. However, even if you're not eligible for that one time benefit does not mean that you're not eligible for ongoing benefits. It takes up to 30 days to find out for to find out if you were approved or not. So I see residents can apply for SNAP online through access a char a applicants again are required to complete that phone interview and applied through access a char a. So I want to go through emergency assistance. I mentioned this earlier so emergency assistance is also known as like a one shot deal. So people can apply for one shot deals through access a char a to qualify applicants must be income and resource eligible and meet specific grant guidelines. Emergency grants can include rental assistance in case of impending eviction or rent arrears have occurred assistance with home energy and utility bills. New apartment expenses first month's rent security voucher disaster assistance including replacement of clothing or personal belongings. Emergency city residents already in receipt of cash assistance can also request help with an emerging situation situation online using access a char a by requesting a special grant. So just to summarize this people who are in need of rent arrears utility arrears have gone through some crisis emergency, whatever it need, whatever it is, you can apply for a one shot deal. If you have an active cash assistance case, you can apply for a special grant, and you can do all of this through access a char a. Now a little bit about homelessness and prevention services. So we have rental assistance hra provides rental assistance programs, including. Sorry. Including the prevention of emergency rental assistance to prevent evictions for low income families and individuals. The operation of the family homelessness eviction prevention supplement program also known as best for families with children on cash assistance who are facing eviction, or are in the shelter and the city best program that assist families and individuals and avoiding homelessness and if reciting and shelter or relocating to permanent housing. So DHS provides temporary emergency shelter to homelessness individuals and families, which also include social services. So it provides counseling case management substance abuse treatment specialized services for veterans housing permanency services to connect eligible household to rental assistance program. So it's either directly or in collaboration with other city agencies and community partners. We also have home base home base is a community based program that connects New Yorkers at risk of eviction and shelter entry so this home base usually provides a lot of assistance with trying to avoid eviction. They also provide a range of services, including eviction prevention services like public benefits education job search assistance financial counseling money management short term financial assistance. So it's an array of different services and this is all under home base. There is we do have on our website hra. There are there is more information on home base or the shelter system or rental assistance if you're interested in taking a look. And then we also have free legal assistance to prevent eviction so there are Office of Civil Justice partners with legal services organizations across New York City to provide legal assistance to New Yorkers New Yorkers facing eviction. Legal services are free and available in every zip code regardless of immigration status, you don't have to be an existing hra client to apply. They are available Monday through Friday between 9am and 5pm to provide over the phone or legal advice to callers with legal questions or issues about Tennessee evictions and landlord tenant disputes. You are welcome to call 311 for tenant helpline or email civil justice at hra.nyc.gov. So I wanted to talk about one last service and that is the community food connection. So the community food connection. Funds over 700 soup kitchens and food pantries across the five boroughs of New York City. And basically they fund a lot of food pantries in order for these food pantries to be able to have the funds to help the community. We do have a website that's called foodhelp.nyc.gov. I would encourage you all to just take a look at that website is super helpful because you are able to enter your zip code and it will generate a list of the closest food pantries around your zip code. This could be organizations or churches or different agencies that provide food and they sometimes give them on a weekly basis or twice a month I believe, but definitely explore that website to see all of the resources available in your zip code. And then lastly I wanted to just quickly mention how you can reach us. So we do have the one number also known as the hra info line that is 718-557-1399. If you do have any questions in regards to any of the services I just mentioned or other services that I did not mention, and you're interested in learning more about you are more than welcome to call that number. If you have an application that you submitted and you want to know the status of the application. I would first encourage you to take a look at access hra to see if you are able to see the status or take a look at the notice section to see if you have any notices pending. First, and then if you don't see any information there I would definitely encourage you to call the one number to get information and speak to a live worker. We are open Monday to Monday through Friday sorry from eight to five. If you do call after those hours or before those hours you won't be able to speak to a live person. So I just want to mention that you are also able to go on our hra website where we actually have a lot more resources and you can actually take a look at a list that we have on our website of organizations that actually assist with some of the applications. So if you're overwhelmed with all the information that I providing you might want assistance you can also contact one of the partner organizations so that they can assist you with that process. And I believe that is all I have for today I'm so sorry I feel like I went through that super fast. Vanessa thank you. No apologies. All of that was important information that needed to be shared and yes it's it's a lot, but I'm sure that we actually have plenty of questions already to address relating to to snap benefits and rental assistance and so forth so thank you so much for that. It's good to know that DSS has a large offering of support services for our workers. So next up we have Lars Thompson. He is the associate commissioner for UI claims processing and quality review for New York State Department of Labor. He oversees the intake of UI claims, benefit, eligibility reviews and federal state compliance assessments. But Lars, explain more as to what he does and what our Department of Labor offers for the workers. They are found the mute there sorry about that thanks director and thank you again Commissioner for having me here today and behalf of Governor Huckle and Commissioner Reardon. I just wanted to go through an overview here of the unemployment insurance program that the New York State Department of Labor runs here. So I'm in my deck. This website will come up again at the end of the slides. This is the best resource for all help. You can go to either one of those web addresses and all the information about the program will be covered there. A little bit about unemployment insurance. It is actually an insurance program. It is actually funded by employers and is a short term income for workers to become unemployed due to no fault to their own and this includes all the workers impacted as a result of the strike whether directly and or indirectly. So again employers pay for it, but then it's there for workers to get through these times will get in a little bit more about how long it covers and how much that is, there is qualification requirements. There has to be an enough amount of work being conducted in what's called a base period I can do that a little bit. There is a minimum amount of earnings shown here on the slide $3100 that's in a 13 week period. So that more more more than just one quarter of work. And the most part and thing is unemployed you do not fall to their own which obviously the situation would cover. There is a base period. So this is how far back we go to look at all the earnings to go through the calculations for how much people can be owed as it says it goes back for kids called calendar quarters. So we go back for five of them. We are coming up on what's called the quarter change soon so if people had wages back into early 2022 that actually changes for claims that be filed starting the beginning of July. Most important note on this slide here would be how much can you potentially be eligible for the most is $504 per week. But the minimum is $124 per week and that's a full benefit for people who are completely unemployed for the entire week. If you are working, you can report that work but still be eligible for a partial benefit. For those who may not know how long it lasts, your claim is open for an entire calendar year from the week that you open it. In that time you can receive 26 weeks or roughly six months of benefits at that time. So the second bullet here I wanted to note the last time I had the pleasure of speaking this group questions about extensions came up. Unfortunately just to reiterate there are no extensions at this time extended benefits are only brought into place beyond the 26 weeks by really one of two conditions. That would be a much higher unemployment rate statewide, not just industry specific unfortunately. The other thing would be an act of Congress because unemployment insurance actually is a federally backed program. So that would be the only other way we could pay beyond the base 26 weeks so again just to reiterate as far as unemployment insurance goes it is just the 26 weeks within the year at this time. To some of the qualifications. Again unemployed due to no fault of your own that means you know laid off lack of work. You know the strike is covered things like that somebody was let go due to it just not working out you know poor performance things like that. You need to be totally out of work you need to be otherwise ready and willing to work. So this is our work and we talked about partial credit, and it just it'll end up producing the benefits but you still can work and we want to make sure that happens. All that again is covered on the website with the very with the specifics because you'll claim each and every single week. Here's some information we wanted to expand upon a little time for people who may have their own business that was has been impacted. And today from these two questions and the answers here on the slide are absolutely file a claim you're more than welcome to ensure that if you're seeking the benefits, don't make a decision on your own let us make the decision. But there are some criteria for people depending on your business structure if you are self employed as to how you may be eligible. We do have a frequently asked questions page or FAQ that does cover this, and it is it can be found there as well. And when should you file for the first time do not wait. Make sure you file the first full week you're out as part of the claims process they will tell you're eligible within that week or if you need to wait a week. But the first week you know you're fully out of work or working less than 30 hours are going to earn less than $504. You have the whole week to file you have from Monday to Saturday to file the claims so how you're going to do that will go over shortly. We may not be familiar with the process. There's some information you'll need to bring to either, you know, we call in on phone to use our phone system or go to the website to use our web system, and this covers some of the information there. We have some awesome awesome videos and and slides on our web page, where they'll actually walk you through the claims filing process before you file so there's no reason to go in cold if you have if you're not familiar. We fully understand it's it can seem very, you know, challenging and something that you know, well what am I going to need there's a lot of questions we do our best to try to make sure it's covered with the resources we have online but just wanted to kind of highlight some of this information here. So here we go you're going to go online online isn't open 24 hours a day it has to do with how our system works so you have from 730 to 730 each day to file online but you can also apply over the phone. During those times. And again I spoke about some of the online resources. We have our pages there we have our Facebook we have our Twitter and also just to highlight other parts of what the Department of Labor can offer workers is a lot of on career training and in a multitude of areas so that's also there in addition to job post things. One note we wanted to flag here is the ID me process. Because we notify folks that they have to go through that so you may be familiar with UI and I've heard about this and the news or things like that. Not everyone needs to go through it. And if you do need to go through it it'll know it will be notifying you of how to do that and what steps you would need to take but just to reiterate it's not a process that everyone needs to go through. When you receive your first payment about three to six weeks but that's at most. And then you know that's after we process it but one thing just to reiterate here is if you get any questionnaires or anything in the mail or any phone calls from the Department of Labor, just please make sure you return them right away once you return it. And the ball is in our courts court so to speak to to respond to you so as long as you sent it back or you've called us back, then I assure you we will be you know we're viewing the documents you sent back or calling you back to continue the process on. And again, just keep certifying each week if you are waiting, I'd have your claim process that we have that information on file and when you're paid you would be definitely paid all at once. We're a little over time here but just wanted to reiterate our websites, our website links again they all go to the same website on.ny.gov slash UI, or you can just go to our main page dol.ny.gov. Again, our resources continue to grow by the week. We listen to our feedback from our customers and we're here to serve you, you know, anytime in any way you need us so again thank you for having me this afternoon and looking forward to answer any questions you may have at the end of the presentation. Thank you. Thank you Lars for that presentation. I notice you included some additional information on S4s and subcontractors. That's helpful. As a reminder to our attendees to please type in your question in the chat box and not the chat, the general chat box. There is a Q&A chat box so please type your questions in there we will go directly from there at the end of this program. We will be devoting time for Q&As at the end of all our presentations and thanks for your patience. The next speaker is Lillian Galina. Lillian is a licensed clinical social worker and director of workplace initiatives at the entertainment community fund, a human services organization serving all professionals and arts and entertainment. She was considered formerly the Actors Fund as not the entertainment community fund. Her work at the fund focuses on providing community stakeholders, industry employers, and union leadership with support and connection services for the members of the performing arts. With a focus on access and mental health care, crisis intervention and workplace challenges, her team serves as a vital support for the industry. So, welcome Galina. I'm sorry Lillian. I just have a little trouble. Thank you all for having me. Let me pull up my slides here. Hope everybody can see that. Great. Thanks so much for having me. Yes, we were formerly the Actors Fund. Our mission here at the entertainment community funds is really to serve all professionals in performing arts and entertainment. We are a national nonprofit organization. So we serve people in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and we're here to make that safety net for professionals during their entire lifespan. Who we help, we really help everyone in performing arts and entertainment. So if your profession is part of the performing arts, that's film, television, radio, opera, theater, dance, and music. We offer a wide spectrum of programs and workshops, support groups, online resources, our individual services, both with health insurance and social services. We'll get into that in a little bit. We do provide emergency financial assistance to those that are eligible. And really our goal is to support those unique needs, those essential needs of the people working in such a dynamic profession. Who is eligible for our services? So most of our services are available to everyone in performing arts and entertainment and our financial assistance for emergency needs is based off of a couple of different factors, including work history and need. All of our eligibility guidelines are listed online at entertainment community.org. We're also the stewards of several other funds in the community in the entertainment community. And you can find out about those funds and the eligibility required to access those funds on our website. So I encourage you to take a look, see if you're eligible. You can submit an application online. You can also give us a call and email us if you have any questions. Our social services that includes our emergency financial assistance is such a vital program at the fund. We support people as with mental health, which, you know, not just financial, although certainly impacted mental health is something that can also be impacted during this time during the strike. We have supports assessments and referrals crisis support for people in the community. Senior services support for people with disabilities are living with HIV and AIDS challenges with addiction and recovery services. We have our emergency financial assistance, which we spoke about. We also provide financial assistance and social services support for funerals and burials. Our financial wellness program during this time offers free and confidential zoom support on budgeting on investing on credit and debt and how to stretch your dollars during these difficult times. And we offer quite a few different support groups. Our support groups are run by social workers and they can help people come together during this difficult time form community and get support. Sometimes health insurance can be disrupted during a strike such as this. So we want to make sure that people are aware that we do have health insurance experts and navigators here at the fund. They can help people figure out the best health insurance options for them at this time, whether that's changing. Many of the workers may not be earning weeks of work towards their health insurance. So we want to make sure that folks know that we have some guidance and support. They can enroll people in a marketplace or Medicaid or Medicare plan here at the fund. And we can just talk you through some of those challenges that you may be facing with health insurance. We also offer our career center. These services really help people in the entertainment industry look at the their whole career in a holistic way. So considering freelance work, entrepreneurial opportunities, thinking about discovering meaningful industry adjacent or sideline work or even transitioning to a new career. So we have many different workshops throughout the week on resume writing on networking on building or managing a transition. We also offer individual one on one career counseling for some folks. So it's important to know that you can access that we have a career center orientation every Monday and Wednesday online on zoom that you can sign up for to get started and have access to all of those great workshops throughout the week. We want to make sure you know how to get in touch with us in New York City. That's our basic line great way info entertainment community.org. If you're looking for social services and emergency financial support. A great way is to go on to our website you'll see a banner at the top that says emergency financial assistance you can click on that. It'll take you to our eligibility page give you all of our contact info, and you can apply directly on our website. Thank you so much here to answer any questions just want folks to know that the entertainment community fund is here to support you through this strike, and a number of different ways and please reach out if you're in need. Thank you, Lillian. Right. Moving to our next speaker we have. We have Jaylin, that's class Jaylin is the freelancers hub director. I believe Raphael has the executive director Raphael has been all has had to leave for another meeting but Jaylin will be stepping in speaking on behalf of freelancers hub. Go ahead Jaylin take it away. Hi thank you for everything. Yeah so hello I'm Jaylin basket and the director of freelancers hub. The freelancers hub is a free co-working space for all workers in New York City we are operated by the freelancers union and partnered with mayor's office of media and entertainment. I'm just going to a little talk a little bit about the freelancers union first event I'll talk more about the freelancers hub and all the services we provide. The freelancers union is a nonprofit organization that we support individuals who want to pursue independent work. So especially in this time of need if you're thinking about pursuing freelancing whether it's part time full time or even pivoting your career. We're here to help you for that. We definitely recommend to go to our website freelancers union.org I'll add a couple links in the chat and bit, but we have a wonderful blog and a couple different resources as well provided by from members and we also have various discounts as well for our members and all that's free to join we don't ask anything. Just a little bit of your info and just background though but we are here to help. So a little bit more about our co-working space we are located in industry city Brooklyn and sunset park. Hopefully it's not too far for you, but we are free co-working space. We offer free wifi we have free printing so if you need to come by print anything whether it's applications resumes. Any other paperwork it also has a scanner and copier. All that's completely complimentary we have three refreshments of coffee tea and light snacks. And then the biggest thing is we also offer free workshops we generally have about eight to 10 workshops per month all about business development. As a freelancer they're tailored to very wide topics whether it's how to brand yourself how to mark yourself pitched to potential clients. We also have things of finances legal workshops for contracts and things like that just so you know how to protect yourself in the future. A couple of the things that we do have as well we do have a new program that we started a few months ago called the knowledge bar here where you can book a free one on one consultation with one of our member experts we currently have four experts on that you can talk to generally they're here twice a month and it's all based on their availability just because they're free lunches as well and they do various things on their own time. So we have one person you can talk to about digital tools and techniques and different software programs to help streamline your business. We have another person talk about branding marketing and social media and then we also have two other experts. One is financial planner talk to you about your business and retirement. So if you have any plans planning so if you have anything about that or you're worried about where incomes going to be, he can definitely help you and we have another final person who is a partner representative actually from SBDC Brooklyn. He can help you with business development and also with grant funding and kind of finding those resources of what grants are available to you that you might be eligible for. So happy to have you with us we're happy to help anyway we can feel free all of our staff is friendly all of our members are friendly as well if you have any questions about specific career path or just how to do something. Our members are probably some of the best members ever and the only way we can learn is by learning through one another, and just having each other's backs. So that's pretty much it for me I will put a couple links in the chat for people to see. But thank you so much. And thank you for your time. I wanted to let our attendees also know that happy there. There's a link on. I will add to chat as well that will provide a list of resources of all the resources mentioned today. So, there will be links coming away for list of resources. So, last but not least, we have Goldie Patrick. Goldie is a playwright and television writer, director and cultural worker with over 20 years supporting artists, institutions, and nonprofit organizations seeking to amplify their impact, increase their community engagement and build their capacity. Goldie is the programming director for the promises go foundation and I'm going to let you take it away. Thank you so much. All right, I am going to share my screen and I promise I'm going to do my best to make this quick so that you all can get your questions answered. So I'm excited to be here as a representative of the drama to skilled foundation. And I wanted to put this slide up, because I think it exemplifies and amplifies exactly what the mission of the drama to skill foundation is. And you can see on our website that the first thing you see is helping writers bring their important stories to light, but in a particular time that we're in right now this photograph, I think really demonstrates that you'll see our board member Miranda standing in solidarity on the picket lines and while I'm here presenting with you. Excitedly as the director of grants and programming for the drama to skilled foundation I also am here as a member of WGA East and so the conversation and the information that I want to share with you all is really around those who may find something between both industries of theater and writing for writing Guild of America and how those resources that the drama to skill foundation offers can serve you. When I speak of drama to say just want to clarify that dramatists include playwrights lyricist book writers composers, all individuals that create those stories for theater, and at any section of your career, regardless of your location and geography regardless of your age regardless of your professional experience, and regardless of any other aspects of your background it's very important at DGF that we're inclusive of the entire diverse community of the drama to And our programs are really built in two perspectives one is to support dramatists, and the other is to provide resources for dramatists, and I'll get into that a little bit later. The way that our programs are set up that serve dramatists are really under social protection services and programs and those are built and designed to try to respond to the needs of these dramatists with time with intention and with enough sustainability for them to be able to create the art that we all love. Here's a quick snapshot of the history of DGF, but what I will say is really important around our history is we were created by theater makers. We were created by Alan Jay learner who saw the need within the community and within the industry, just from peers and friends that needed a loan. And while he experienced his own professional success, what became important to him is to extend his resources to those who really appreciate, and it's the spirit of that giving that really continues to move us indeed at DGF. And so we continue this loan or this grant opportunity. And we also look at ways we can support the professional development of peers and community members inside the theater community. We also seek to learn and listen so that we can understand and research the field that we're inside of and that we seek to serve. Our social protective programs exist inside the grants and the programming department, and there are five resources that we offer. One are emergency grants and that's anything that's an unexpected cost. Our housing grants which are rental or mortgage assistance, then we have something newer called the bridge grant, which works directly to provide anything that may not be immediate or an emergency but would help you out around your living expenses. We also have a group of awards that recognize development merit creativity and talent within the field that offers financial support in that way and then we have a fellowship a series of fellowships that help with the professional development of drama tests. I want to talk today specifically about our grants, because I think the grants will be super helpful for those members that are seeking financial support and assistance at this time. Our emergency grants program is designed. It's a national program. That's the first and important thing, regardless of immigration status to any dramatist that is in the United States, or the United States territories. And inside of that regardless of whether you're a college student or if you're an elder playwright and something has occurred in your life that you were not financially prepared for. You can apply for an emergency grant. And inside of that, you'll demonstrate what your need is you'll give us an example of how you live as a dramatist. And what we'll get an opportunity to do is to look through all of the things that you've experienced and work our best to meet what your ask is your ask can be as simple as I need $500 I need $700 to I unexpectedly have this condition and I need $6,000. And work with a committee of peers of dramatists that help us evaluate and measure how we can best meet the needs of the dramatist that apply emergency grants. It can be anything for mental health services, legal services, loss or damage equipment tools, or an emergency that maybe we haven't even thought of that you're experiencing. The second one is our housing grants are housing assistant grants are when you are in experience where perhaps it is directly connected to your ability to pay rent, your ability to pay your mortgage, a national, a natural disaster that has interrupted your livelihood or in some way created a need for you to do renovations on your home, not on the luxury side of the renovation but on the, the vitality and the survival side, and through the housing assistance grant, we do something similar in terms of the emergency grants, we look at the need, we go to our resource pool, we go to a community of reviewers where it's necessary and need it, and we work to figure out how we can best meet your need with the resources we have in place. Now we also have something called a bridge grant. A bridge grant is for a situation where perhaps you wouldn't demon and emergency. Maybe you need support around transportation because your accounting didn't allow you to really be in a position to drive your car or pay for parking or get a metro card. Perhaps you need support around therapy this month or some type of mental health service that your insurance company doesn't cover or provide. Perhaps you are responsible for a dependent and you care for them and you would like support. Perhaps you work with an interpreter. Any of those things you can apply for the bridge grant the bridge grant is significant because there is a $500 amount given to it and we can expedite that payment. So based on your need, you can find yourself between emergency grants, the housing grants, or our bridge grants. In addition to that, we understand at Dramatist Guild Foundation that sometimes the creative process and occurs costs that we aren't prepared for. And we want to do all that we can to make sure that creatives have the space to create their best work. And so we have these writing rooms that are available for you. Located at our office at 528th Avenue, they are completely free to dramatist. You can come into our space and write, compose, sit with your lyricist, come up with new ideas. Once you've done that if you need a free space to present that work, you can come and present in our music hall space and invite your guests. It's a way that we want to honor and acknowledge that sometimes the cost for becoming a creative may be a may be detouring you from doing your best work and we want to try to create inspiration where maybe there is a barrier. So we encourage you to sign up to use our space our space will be available for reservations, starting in August all writers know editing is part of the process. So we're doing our own editing of the space and we want to make sure we have everything in place to best serve you. So during August 1st, our space will open up for new reservations. Quickly, the process to apply for either the emergency grants, the housing assistant grants and or the bridge grant. These grants are one time are awarded only once. So you want to be clear on what the need is as you apply. We will work with you it's not transactional word trust base, we operate with a trust base philanthropy but we also want to incorporate you as part of the community. You'll go online to our website. www.dgf.org emerge backslash emergency dash grants backslash and then there you'll see the application process it looks just like the picture in this slide. You'll submit your proof of work. The easiest way to do that is to submit a resume in addition to pages from a script similar to what you would do for any other kind of submission of your work or play. We'll look over the materials will communicate with you around your need. We ask that you be specific with your need if you're applying for housing and you need support around your rent. Please provide rental statements and or at least so we know the amount. And then where we need will go to a committee review of peers. They'll help us make the best decision will communicate with you and let you know the status of your application. Right now we're experiencing an influx of influx of applications. It's about four weeks that four weeks is the time period from you submitting your application to you receiving the deposit into your bank account. We are motivated and moved by the dramatist that we serve, and we are interested in always hearing how we can best serve you. We encourage you to stay and contact with us visit our space. You can stay present on our website. If you want if you are around with social media please log in it's not only a way of having conversation but it's also a way to stay updated with the resources that we provide. So we are located on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Join us follow us. And also it's a it's a community where you can have dialogue with what your needs are and we can listen and learn. Thank you so much for all that you do all that you've created we recognize this industry would not exist without you. Thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to your questions. Thank you so much Goldie. What a wealth of resources through the drop it is build foundation that this was actually new new information for us so really great to know that there are all these brands and available resources through the foundation. Okay, so we are at the end of the hour, however, our panelists are okay with us extending another 15 minutes to answer questions that would be wonderful. If you can stay on for that. Now we're going to pull questions from our Q&A box first. I know I see questions in the track box but let's let's start with the Q&A box. First question. This is actually, this is for Vanessa. Vanessa. The question is, I've applied for government assistance who each RA and haven't received anything. I applied me for nearly two months ago. Let's see. So what another. So this is not a question. But essentially, I think you covered it. Right, so they, this person has not. I've said my first application may forth I've uploaded documents three times and can't get a hold of anyone should I just show up to the office so. What is the process when they have not received a response from HRA to their application. Yeah, good question so I'm going to add in the chat three resources so the first one is going to be the DSS HRA one number that's also known as the HRA infoline. I would say, try that number but that might be the number that you mentioned that you can't get through again, usually Mondays and Fridays are high volume. I think there is an option that when you call you can indicate you want to be called back but still stay in line. So that is an option that you have. The second resource I have that I'm going to share is the constituent service affairs email address. So you can email them there let them know that you've been trying to get in contact and you still don't know the status of your case and it's been over 30 days. The last option I'm going to provide is the website where you can actually get connected to an organization that's partnered with HRA and typically they have other avenues of advocacy. When people have concerns or issues with their case. I'm putting all of that in the chat so that you can. I do some of these options are all links options, but definitely I would say if you do want to go in person you're more than welcome to go in person and ask for the status of your case and just mentioned that it's been over 30 days. It's Vanessa I think this is a similar question. I think it's because that they've applied for staff benefits, they've had a phone interview as required, during which they confirmed all the information, including for the application, however, a month later they received a notice of decision on your supplemental nutrition assistance in the mail that said not approved, because this, this person did not complete the required interview, which they did. They contacted the East End staff center, also called the main number, has been put into queue, wait time was very long. Essentially they did do the interview was denied saying that they didn't do the interview on and still can't get a hold of anyone so. Yeah, I would say for this particular scenario I would maybe say to go into the website and look for a partner organization because some of these partner organizations that are on that website actually do have an avenue for snap only cases issues that they can advocate on your behalf. So you did complete a step in that process and you were denied, and it's not correct, they can definitely assist with that process and and get it straight now. So I would say definitely reach out to one of those partner organizations that appear on that website. You can also request a fair hearing. So on the decision that you receive there is an option on that, on that decision notice, where you can actually apply for a fair hearing you can go up and speak to a judge and, you know, just let them know that you did complete that process and provide your proof, and they are able to overturn if they find that you did in fact complete that interview process. I'm sorry to ask you about entertainment community fund if they help with the experience, they might be going to the department she's talking about. Okay, so this is a question. The entertainment community fund also assists with food stamps. Are you a partner. We would, we would give out the same information so in terms of helping somebody through the application our social workers are happy to do that if they're engaged in engaged in case management but we don't have any direct connection to snap benefits, other than you know helping them access the resources that were presented here today. So going through the questions and going through as many questions as possible, given the time that we have. The answer that this is. This is a very specific question for for Lars, the Department of Labor, this person's asking when filing for unemployment. There's a question. Through a union hiring hall. I'm, I am in, I'm in IOTC and we do not have a hiring hall, but I was once told to check this box because I'm in a union was this correct advice. Yeah I just saw that I was debating do I type it or do we speak to it and I figure we get to it so it's great question. I would check that it's in a kind of a pro back the hiring hall term you've got some things that you either go back 60 70 years or just a different time but basically if your union member and you only work union jobs, then it would be in an obsessively through a hiring hall like because what it's a data point, it doesn't change anything on your claim it just lets us know that you're only going to be accepting union work because that's the nature of your employment so if you're somebody who does both you don't have to check that again it doesn't change your claim or make you eligible for anything different. It's just something on our end it has to do with, you know there's laws that protect union members during periods of unemployment and work you have to take and if you know your union member you only take union work we don't have to, you know, have you go for a look for other work so not incorrect to check that box hopefully that helps. Thank you for raising that. Another question related to unemployment. This is someone who for those who worked. I know we've answered this before, but in the previous webinar but for those who worked on a film or TV project in New Jersey, what are residents of New York, are they eligible for unemployment in New York, many projects are shot in New Jersey. So the best. You can file in either state the state in which you work and which your wages are paid or the file in the state with which you live. We deal with that a lot between other states, especially in the city area where you've got the tri-state area so you can have wages and people work in other states so my advice to you would be if the if your work is primarily in New Jersey file in the state in which you work, but they will coordinate with us as well if the claim should be in another state. I will say New Jersey potentially can have a higher rate too so try there first but. So, there's essentially for whatever state that you've worked in, apply for unemployment benefits within that state. That's usually how it works but again you've got the right to you know you can file with us here and we can work on it as well but usually we'll direct where the wages are typically reported which is usually where the work occurs. And I think you provided this information to this is a follow up about contacting Department of Labor. This person says I applied and was approved for unemployment insurance early May and everyone I know my similar situation has started to receive payments but I still haven't received any. Is there anything I can follow up. It's it's difficult to reach anyone when you call. Yep, I reached out to that person to recover so we'll do we can help. Appreciate you reach out. Great. Okay, this is this is for Goldie. My husband is a script writer and independent filmmaker who retired just this past year from working for the city to focus on independent filmmaking. Does the drama to skill foundation offer grants and resources for script writers looking me working on film projects. So our, our priority are theater makers. So if our if your husband has a background as a playwright or book writer. In addition to be a in addition to being a filmmaker, then yes, they will be eligible. But if their experience is solely in the filmmaking world, unfortunately, we don't work with the filmmaking world. Right. So I think we've answered the bulk of questions. Are there any last thoughts words and encouragement from our panelists that you could you would like to share before we end our webinar. Anyone. If not, we did ask, we did ask that question. Okay. All right, thank you everyone. This was incredibly helpful. I hope it was incredibly helpful for our attendees. And again, it's being recorded and will be uploaded to YouTube to watch later. Please share amongst your colleagues and anyone you know will benefit from from this information. Thank you again to our esteemed panelists. We appreciate your time. And we'll continue to monitor the situation. As we go forth, hopefully the duration won't be too long, but we'll continue to monitor and and continue to provide support and as such as this, in terms of information resources. Thank you again. And we'll be in touch.