Projects

Community Development Project Research & Policy Update

This has been an exciting year for the Community Development Project’s Research and Policy Initiative. Along with work to help coordinate several citywide coalitions, CDP has published eight Participatory Action Research reports with our community partners. These reports have spanned topics from the access to public space for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Youth to the public health impacts of police harassment. While the topics of the reports vary, one critical component remains the same: the research is designed and implemented by those most impacted by the issue being studied. This newsletter provides brief descriptions of the reports CDP has released in 2009 (and one in 2010) and some of the press attention our reports have received.

"2009 Research and Policy Update," February 2010

Stuck in the System

In partnership with Voices of Community Advocates and Leaders (VOCAL) and the New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN), the Urban Justice Center's Community Development Project released this report documenting the experiences of participants in syringe access programs who have experienced police harassment and arrests for lawful syringe possession. Although the New York Public Health Law authorizes syringe access programs, the New York State Penal Code was never updated to reflect changes to the Public Health law regarding syringe possession or residue. The inconsistency in state law has created mass confusion among law enforcement, leading to harassment, arrests and even jail time for drug users who lawfully possess syringes. This, in turn, reduces participation of active users in syringe access programs, and discourages safer injection and disposal practices. With research support from the Urban Justice Center’s Community Development Project, VOCAL conducted over 75 surveys, 10 in-depth interviews and additional literature reviews. The results from these surveys and interviews will hopefully act as an outcry to reconcile the contradictions between the Penal Code and Public Health law, leading to more humane practices that will benefit all of New York State.

"Stuck in the System," January 29, 2010

"Stuck in the System: Executive Summary," January 29, 2010

New York Daily News: "Murky laws endangering New York's syringe exchange programs: study," January 29, 2010

Food Fight: Expanding Access to Affordable and Healthy Food

Food Fight: Expanding Access to Affordable and Healthy Food in Downtown Brooklyn is a new report by the Urban Justice Center's Community Development Project, in partnership with Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE). The report, released on December 12, 2009, focuses on the limited access to affordable and healthy food in Downtown Brooklyn. In the summer of 2009, FUREE members surveyed over 150 Fort Greene/Downtown Brooklyn residents to learn how limited access to food impacts the community, particularly the low-income residents of the nearby Ingersoll and Whitman public housing developments. This report, Food Fight, outlines the major findings of the survey and includes several policy recommendations to improve access to healthy, affordable food in Downtown Brooklyn and across the city.

"Food Fight: Expanding Access to Affordable and Healthy Food," December 12, 2009

Executive summary

New York Post: "Grocery grumbles in Downtown Brooklyn," December 16, 2009

Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "Grocery Options Not Meeting needs in Downtown Brooklyn, Survey Says; Rally Planned," December 15, 2009

The Indypendent: "Activists Rally Againist 'Food Desert' in Downtown Brooklyn," December 23, 2009

Greenpoint Star: "Brooklyn's Food Desert," December 21, 2009

Thanks To All Who Attended the 25^th Anniversary Celebration!

Photos are available here.

Community Development Project Contributes to We Count! Report Detailing Lingering Health Effects of 9/11

In partnership with Beyond Ground Zero (BGZ), CDP developed a report highlighting the city and federal government's failure to satisfactorily care for thousands of residents of lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11. BGZ conducted a community health survey that showed that after the towers fell, many residents and workers' health has severely diminished and that the government's response has been adequate at best. CDP and BGZ worked together to develop recommendations for policymakers as important 9/11 health legislation is being debated in both the U.S. House and Senate.

"We Count! Documenting the 9/11 Health Crisis 8 Years Later," September 2009

NBC New York: "New Survey Shows More Illnesses Linked to 9/11," October 2009

NY1: "Group Urges Action in Wake of Latest WTC Health Report NY 1 News," October 21, 2009

Free Speech Radio News: "Coalition calls for expanded health care for Ground Zero resident," October 19, 2009

Epoch Times: "Eight Years on and 9/11 Clean-up Workers Still Coughing," October 21, 2009

A People's Plan for the East River Waterfront

This report, "A People's Plan for the East River Waterfront" lays out the results of a comprehensive community visioning process and highlights the differences between the community’s vision for the development of the waterfront and the plans of the NYC Economic Development Corporation. The People's Plan contains architectural renderings of the community's vision as well as a financial analysis, including operating and capital budgets, that offer a blueprint for turning the community's visioning into a reality. The People's Plan also includes various policy recommendations for the NYC EDC, the Mayor and the City Council to ensure that the new East River Waterfront remains a resource for the surrounding community.

"A People's Plan for the East River Waterfront," October 2009 (A report by the O.U.R. Waterfront Coalition)

Executive summary

Community Development Project and Human Rights Project Release Report and Rally with Willets Point Small Business Owners, Queens Electeds, and Call for Industry to be Relocated Together

Off Point: The destruction of immigrant-owned small businesses and low-wage jobs in the Willets Point section of Queens

This report details how, after decades of neglect, the city systematically targeted code violations at Willets Point businesses resisting the planned redevelopment, leading to the Buildings Department shutting down 11 businesses in one day; the closures coincided with a renewed effort by the City’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to buy private land for the redevelopment.
Press Release, Sept. 22, 2009

New York Daily News: "Small businesses at Willets Point demand to be moved en masse," September 23, 2009

NY1.com: "Report slams planning process at Willets Point," September 22, 2009

NY1 Noticias: "Empresarios latinos de Willets Point piden ayuda," September 22, 2009

El Diario: "Willets Point pide justicia," September 23, 2009

NY Al Dia: "Continua la lucha en Willets Point," September 23, 2009

Mental Health Project Helps Win ADA Victory for 4300 Adult Home Residents with Mental Illness

On September 8th, United States District Judge Nicholas Garaufis issued a 210-page decision in Disability Advocates, Inc. v. Paterson finding that New York State violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act by warehousing 4,300 people with mental illness in institutional adult homes. The court quoted one former State official who testified that adult homes were "institutional living at ... its worst," like "little ghettos" that "impede community integration," with "people sitting out front [of] the adult home, smoking, going back in ..." Now, the State will have to offer supported housing and services to adult home residents with mental illness in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.

The decision followed six years of litigation and a five-week trial. MHP assisted Disability Advocates, Inc., the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, MFY, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and pro bono counsel Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, and Wharton & Garrison.

New York Times Editorial: Despair's Profiteers, September 14, 2009
New York Times: "State Discriminated Against Mentally Ill, Judge Rules," September 9, 2009
New York Times: "A Cycle of Promises Not Kept," September 9, 2009
New York Law Journal: State's Homes for Mentally Ill Adults Violate ADA, Judge Rules, September 9, 2009