Amid Crisis, New York City Mayor Expands Outreach to Street Homeless Posted on December 17, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in Associated Press Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday he is launching a sweeping initiative to combat the persistent problem of homelessness in New York City, ordering teams to do a daily canvass of every block of an 8-mile stretch in Manhattan to reach out to those living ..Read More
De Blasio Unveils ‘Most Comprehensive’ Anti-Homelessness Program to Date Posted on December 17, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in New York Observer Two days after announcing the departure of his commissioner of Homeless Services, Mayor Bill de Blasio touted a new initiative to combat what he acknowledged was the most “persistent challenge” of his mayoralty. Speaking at the Association for a Better New ..Read More
‘I Thought it Would be Easy’: One New York Family’s Search for a Home Posted on December 17, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Guardian On a warm July day, in the shadows of glitzy Times Square, Shakira Crawford cleans the sidewalk in front of Candlewood Suites with bleach and water. Dressed in an ochre uniform, she flashes her Hollywood-esque smile at the guests of this 188-room hotel. She mo ..Read More
New York Cares Still Needs You to Donate Your Coats for the Homeless Posted on December 16, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in New York Daily News The weather is unseasonably warm but coats are still needed. New York Cares hopes to collect 100,000 coats for needy New Yorkers this winter. It has received 30,000 to date. Coats are needed for children, women and men, especially in men’s larger sizes, the ..Read More
De Blasio to Have Expanded Outreach Teams Monitor Homeless Population in Manhattan as Part of Aggressive New Plan Posted on December 17, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in New York Daily News Mayor de Blasio, under pressure to combat street homelessness, announced on Thursday that teams of outreach workers will swarm huge swaths of Manhattan to monitor the homeless population. De Blasio also promised that when the program – which will be call ..Read More
Light a Candle and Keep Looking Posted on December 17, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in WNYC Sixty brokers, 10 months. Shakira Crawford is looking for a home. In the third installment of our series about homelessness in New York City (click above to listen) Shakira thinks she’s finally caught a break. But yet another apartment turns out to be a ..Read More
Partner Profile: Coalition for the Homeless Posted on December 17, 2015 by Nicole Edine It is hard to find housing if you do not have a job, but there are many barriers that prevent homeless New Yorkers from finding work. The Coalition for the Homeless’ First Step program helps homeless women break out of that Catch-22 and get a good job that c ..Read More
6 Smart Ways to Think About Helping Those in Need Posted on December 15, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in Time I spend my days fighting poverty in New York City, so this time of year I get asked a lot at holiday parties what people can do to help the poor. I like the question. At the Robin Hood Foundation, we’ve spent 27 years trying to answer it. As with any complex ..Read More
The Search for the Home With Blue Curtains Posted on December 16, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone in WNYC In Part One of The Long Way Home, we met Shakira Crawford, a homeless mother of three who is hoping to take advantage of a new citywide voucher program designed to lift people into permanent, independent housing. In Part Two (click above to listen), Crawford c ..Read More
