Author: Jacquelyn Simone

A small number of individuals with serious mental illnesses need long-term hospital care, but no one should need this level of care forever. In the 1990s, I worked as a social worker in a state-run mental health hospital of this kind in New York City; the pati ..Read More

Millions of New York moms will celebrate Mother’s Day by relaxing at home with their families and — with any luck — getting some special treatment from their children. That’s certainly how I hope to spend the day. But Mother’s Day always carries extr ..Read More

Mardi Gras morning was difficult at the Cupcake Cafe. The health inspector showed up, and Ruth Arcone, the cafe’s pie maker, was so startled she forgot to put the plastic babies into her king cake. “The inspector didn’t look in the fridge, didn’t even ..Read More

Walk into Shakora Wood’s apartment and you’ll notice something strange: light. Light may not be an abnormality in most of the country, but here in Brooklyn, light is a rare gem, a distant real estate dream. It covers everything in Shakora’s a ..Read More

A group of housing advocates are pressing state leaders to quickly release nearly $2 billion in affordable housing funding that was agreed to in the new state budget. The group that includes the New York State Association For Affordable Housing and AARP, sent ..Read More

Nursing homes are increasingly evicting their most challenging residents, advocates for the aged and disabled say, testing protections for some of society’s most vulnerable. Those targeted for eviction are frequently poor and suffering from dementia, acc ..Read More

City Council members are asking Mayor Bill de Blasio to increase funding for the city’s Emergency Food Assistance program, which they say is under threat due to a reduction of funding in the mayor’s executive budget. Councilman Stephen Levin, who is leadin ..Read More