CFL’s Food Pantry welcomes the fall season with a change of produce.
September : The Launch of the Excluded Workers Fund
This past July, Center for Family Life in Sunset Park was awarded an Outreach and Assistance Grant from the NYS Department of Labor’s Excluded Workers Fund, a first-in-the-nation $2.1 billion fund created to provide critically needed direct cash assistance to workers ineligible for state unemployment benefits or federal COVID-related income relief. Tireless efforts by immigrants, activists, and elected officials brought the EWF to fruition; the challenge now is to make sure as many eligible workers know about the fund and are able to apply, and CFLSP is working to meet that challenge within the Sunset Park community.
Why is the EWF crucial for Sunset Park? The EWF is a vital source of support for essential immigrant workers and undocumented workers who have not been able to receive unemployment, pandemic relief grants, or any other federal benefits like food stamps, cash assistance, or rent subsidies. According to the Center for Migration Studies, Community District 7 (comprised of Sunset Park and part of Windsor Terrace) is home to the largest number of non-citizens in Brooklyn, some 42,000 people, and an estimated 81% of the essential workers in District 7 are undocumented. This means that Sunset Park has a large population of workers who may be eligible for the EWF, and we are committed to ensuring that all community members who qualify for relief receive their fair share.
What has CFLSP been doing? This month, we have deployed outreach workers in the community and trained navigators to offer application assistance at the main office. On August 30th, we worked with State Senator Zellnor Myrie and CPC (Chinese-American Planning Council) for an outreach event, tabling outside the CPC Brooklyn Community Center in Sunset Park to provide information about eligibility and the application. Back at our main office, we have trained navigators to help workers see if they meet eligibility requirements and fill out application forms. CFLSP also created a text hotline specifically for inquiries related to the Excluded Workers Fund.
Since the launch of the application on August 1, the NY Department of Labor has received over 90,000 applications, and approved over $850 million in benefits. This is a huge success for the first month of this program, but NYC has an estimated 360,000 undocumented workers. We have a long way to go in making sure as many eligible workers as possible receive this much-needed support, and here at CFLSP we will continue working towards that goal in the months ahead.
August : CFL Summer Camp and the Summer Rising Initiative
This month’s edition of Stories From The Field highlights our action-packed, fun-filled summer camps!
As part of the City’s first-ever Summer Rising initiative, we partnered with the Department of Education to provide enriched summer programs for Sunset Park youth as they begin to recover from the pandemic and prepare to return to full in-person learning in the fall.
In our greatly expanded programs, a total of 1,435 youth, 200 Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) Counselors, and over 200 staff came together in a joyful spirit of community-building.
We enjoyed sports, games, fitness, dancing, drumming, outings at the park, Spirit Days, Camp Olympics, and outdoor performances. From banner-making and creating moon and star mobiles, to cooperative skiing and climbing a human ladder, to solving rhyming riddles on scavenger hunts, our summer days were filled with wonder and discovery!
Most precious of all has been the opportunity to spend time in-person with the incredible children and families of our community. A huge thank you to everyone who made this summer so special. This summer at CFL was truly magical!
July : News Updates
Youth Programming
This month we were excited to launch SYEP 2021 with 320 younger youth (14-15 year olds) participating in virtual project-based learning experiences. Our project based learning is participant directed and this year our SYEP youth have chosen to focus on social justice issues that they as youth leaders feel should be amplified. Such issues include: Environmental Justice, Police Brutality and Intimidation, LGBTQIA issues, Women’s Rights Issues (Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking, Cat-calling, Sexual Abuse), and issues regarding race, with a specific focus on the Black Lives Matter and stopping hate against AAPI movements. SYEP 2021 also engaged 400 older youth (16-21 year olds) who are placed at worksites throughout Brooklyn – including hospitals, camps, daycares, and local businesses. The program will run for 6 weeks and the participants will earn $15/hour for 25 hours of work per week – providing needed income to youth in our community and preparing them for the workforce. Additionally, our Summer Rising youth programs are underway at seven sites, with a total youth enrollment of 1,435. Summer Rising prepares students to return to in-person learning in the fall by addressing their learning gaps and socio-emotional needs as they recover from the pandemic and its aftermath. MORE ON OUR YOUTH PROGRAMMING
Community Services Program
Our incredible CFLSP VITA tax team was honored on July 14th at the VITA /TCE (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance & Tax Counseling for the Elderly) Partner 5th Annual Filing Season Recognition Ceremony. The Zoom event was organized by Stakeholder Partnerships, Education and Communication (SPEC), and included several members of the IRS Senior Leadership Team. Our team filed a total of 3,279 returns, resulting in refunds totaling $5.7 million for our community. We are grateful to our staff for their incredible efforts in our community this tax season. Further, we were thrilled to receive an award from the Department of Community Affairs that will enable us to support families to enroll in the Child Tax Credit program. This initiative will be launching in late summer and we are honored to be asked to play a part in connecting eligible families to much needed financial resources. MORE ON OUR COMMUNITY SERVICES PROGRAM
Cooperative Development Program
As we closed Fiscal Year 2021 on June 30th, we are proud to report that our Cooperative Development Program provided 263+ technical assistance services to 5 worker-owned cooperative businesses, and two nonprofit organizations that support immigrant workers in NYC, such as helping define annual sales goals and expense budgets, helping prepare finance documentation needed to file annual taxes, and developing marketing strategy for cooperatives. We are also proud to report that in the last year, we trained 32 new cooperative business developers, representing 17 community organizations across the USA, and facilitated 25 trainings for worker-owners of cooperative businesses with 405+ participants total. Our team is small but mighty and their impact is truly great! Lastly, we started the incubation of the 5th Brightly Cleaning Cooperative in NYC, with the participation of 19 immigrant women becoming empowered as business owners. We expect that this newest member of the Brightly family will be able to accept its first cleaning contracts early in 2022. MORE ON OUR COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Family Counseling Program
Our Family Counseling Program continues to provide Family Counseling, Family Support & Preventive Services, Immigrant Trauma-Informed Counseling, Individual & Couples Therapy, Know Your Rights Workshops, and the Sanctuary Families Program for supporting families at risk of immigration detention or deportation. This July, we were able to distribute $100,000 of cash relief to 100 of the most vulnerable local families in need. The emergency relief funds were provided by the Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, RFCUNY, and Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA). Thus far in 2021 we’ve also provided a total of $47,350 of rent relief funds to 30 families. This is in addition to the $75,000 in rent relief we distributed to 53 families in 2020. These funds are a crucial step in maintaining housing stability for families impacted by pandemic-related job or income losses. MORE ON OUR FAMILY COUNSELING PROGRAM
Test & Trace
Our staff have distributed face masks (~2,600) and information flyers (~700) daily on COVID-19 health and safety best practices to Food Pantry and other CFLSP clients. Since May, Chinese-speaking staff have also distributed face masks (including children’s masks) and flyers along 8th Avenue in Sunset Park. CFLSP Directors and Parent Coordinators at local schools receive weekly updates on COVID-19 testing sites, vaccine information, and other resources to share with staff, clients, and parents. MORE ON OUR TEST & TRACE PROGRAM
July : Covid-19 Cash Relief Distribution
This month, Center for Family Life in Sunset Park took another important step to directly combat the financial hardships experienced by so many community families throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Through cash relief distribution, we were able to distribute $100,000 to 100 of the most vulnerable local families in need. This is in addition to the more than $1,000,000 in cash relief distributed to families in 2020. The emergency relief funds, provided by the Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, RFCUNY, and Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), were made possible with the help of our friends at TD Bank, who acted quickly to produce 200 cash cards that CFLSP distributed to qualifying families.
Due to the strain of pandemic-related illness and the loss of jobs and income, many Sunset Park community members have struggled to maintain their supply of food, clothing, and school materials.
“This community has been hit hard by the pandemic. They lost family members and jobs, continue to experience economic hardship, have limited access to benefits, and fear accessing services due to their immigration status,” explained Jean Bae from MOIA. “The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs is proud to partner with CFLSP on the NYC COVID-19 Immigrant Emergency Relief Program to provide emergency monetary relief to immigrant workers and their families who were…excluded from most federal and state relief programs. We thank CFLSP for their work with the Relief Program and for all the work they do for immigrant communities in NYC.”
Given the urgent need in the community, CFLSP co-directors Julia Jean-Francois and Julie Brockway turned to a local community institution, TD Bank, to get resources into the hands of neighborhood families. CFLSP also relied on TD Bank for similar help last year during the cash distribution to 800 neighborhood families. We are thrilled to have the consistent support of our local TD Bank in distributing funds to the most disadvantaged members of our community. Vice President and Store Manager of TD Bank in Sunset Park, William Xie, noted,
“TD has been part of the fabric of the Brooklyn community for years. We are honored to again work with the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park to help distribute critical emergency relief funding to local families battling economic hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
CFLSP would like to thank the folks at TD Bank for going great distances to help us create this wonderful opportunity in Sunset Park, and acknowledge the vision, critical funding, and partnership from Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, RFCUNY, and MOIA. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to come together to support local families in our community!
