LGBTQ council candidates urge NYC to save work program for homeless young people
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NYC will scrap an employment program for LGBTQ teens and young adults due to budget constraints. Photo via Unity Project/NYC
By David Brand
A coalition of eight council candidates sent a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio Sunday urging the city to revive an employment program for homeless LGBTQ young people that has been scrapped for budget reasons.
The candidates, each of whom identify as LGBTQ, drafted the letter after the Eagle first reported on the city’s decision to withhold a $675,000-per-year contract to administer NYC Unity Works, a first-of-its-kind work program. The initiative, announced in October 2019, would provide meaningful job training and career opportunities for LGBTQ homeless young people aged 16 to 24.
The candidates said it was “imperative” that the city immediately reverse its decision to indefinitely halt the program.
“Now more than ever, LGBTQ youth are in dire need of pathways to good paying jobs,” the candidates wrote. “Given the current crisis we are facing as a city, we believe it is a poor decision not to move forward with and fund the contract for this program.”
A City Hall spokesperson said the city decided to “pause” the four-year program because of budget constraints and coronavirus uncertainty. Advocates counter that the program can begin remotely.
The eight candidates include two local leaders running for open council seats in Queens in 2021. Former Stonewall Democratic Club President Rod Townsend is vying to replace Councilmember Costa Constantinides in Western Queens’ District 22, while attorney and former Community Board 6 member Lynn Schulman is running for Karen Koslowitz’s soon-to-be-empty seat in Central Queens’ District 29.
The other candidates are Erik Bottcher, who is running in Manhattan’s District 3; Seth Rosen, District 6 in Manhattan; Marti Cummings, District 7 in Manhattan; Elisa Crespo, District 15 in the Bronx; Josue Pierre in Brooklyn District 40; and Wilfredo Florentino, District 42 in Brooklyn.
Though stalling the program could save a modest amount of money for the cash-strapped city, the decision will have far-reaching consequences for many homeless LGBTQ young people, the candidates wrote. LGBTQ teens and young adults are far more likely to experience homelesness or commit suicide than their peers.
“The NYC Unity Works Program is intended to facilitate jobs and various other wrap around services for one of our most vulnerable populations and it is desperately needed right now,” the candidates wrote. “The costs will be far greater for our city if you choose not to fund this necessary program.”
After a bidding process, the Department of Youth and Community Development selected an organization to operate the program at a cost of $2.7 million over four years, but the agency did not announce the contract recipient once the city halted the initiative.
In a letter May 12, dozens of local groups urged Mayor Bill de Blasio, DYCD Commissioner Bill Chong and Unity Project Director Ashe McGovern to award the contract in order to facilitate jobs for some of New York City’s most vulnerable residents.
“At a time when marginalized communities are already being disproportionately impacted financially by the COVID-19 crisis, we find it completely unacceptable that the City is not ensuring that a program that was intentionally developed to address income inequality faced by LGBTQ youth is not being awarded as planned,” the organizations wrote.
