The need to share information and stay up-to-date on available resources for our organizations and the communities we serve is extremely imperative while NYS is on PAUSE. Below is a list of helpful resources:

• New York State COVID-19 Updates 
• New York City COVID-19 Updates
• CDC COVID-19 Updates

Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Resources:

• New York Academy of Medicine COVID-19 Information Hub
• NYC Resources for Individuals

COVID-19 Guidelines:

• CDC Resources for Community and Faith-based Leaders
• Guidance for Human Service Providers/Non-profits

Mary Bassett, who as New York City’s top doctor has navigated epidemics and outbreaks, tried to narrow health inequities and, most recently, fielded questions over the city’s handling of lead exposure in children, announced Thursday she is leaving the de Blasio administration at the end of the month for a job at Harvard. Click here to read full article.

We applaud the efforts of Valerie Grey, executive director of the nonprofit New York eHealth Collaborative, to promote participation in the SHIN-NY among hospitals, FQHCs and other medical institutions (“Participation in SHIN-NY is growing but challenges remain”).

As a data-driven community-based organization (CBO) addressing the social determinants of health, we want to draw your attention to an overlooked, underestimated resource in the strategy to improve patient and physician engagement in the SHIN-NY, and more problematically, in the larger quest to reduce avoidable hospitalizations, lower the cost of care and improve health outcomes in New York: CBOs! Click here to read the full article.

The South Asian Council for Social Services, a community-based nonprofit assisting the South Asian community, has received a $700,000 grant from the OneCity Health Innovation Fund to implement its project, Culturally Responsive Collaborative of Queens (CRCQ).

OneCity Health selected eight community partners to receive funding from its $5 million Innovation Fund to implement programs that will reduce avoidable hospitalizations, improve community health outcomes, and address food security, health literacy and other factors that impact people’s health.

“We are thrilled with this award that will ensure the health and well-being of our communities. We believe that this encouragement from OneCity Health will serve as a strong step towards the realization of the DSRIP [Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment] mission,” said executive director Sudha Acharya, in a statement after receiving the grant June 12.

Click here to read entire article.

The city's latest budget will allocate funds to form an Immigrant Affairs Unit at the Richmond County District Attorney's Office. District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, the borough's City Council delegation, and local immigration activists worked to bring the unit to the borough. "The Immigrant Affairs Unit will be a vital asset, allowing us to directly communicate with these communities, prevent them from being victimized and vigorously prosecute those who do them harm, as we continue our mission of building trust between law enforcement and all people of this borough," McMahon said in a statement. Council member Debi Rose said she fought for the resources, because it will protect public health and safety, and increase community outreach. "Staten Island is home to thousands of immigrants, and yet we have been the only borough without an immigration unit in the District Attorney's Office," she said. Click here to read the entire article.

A New York City limit on legal services for immigrants will do far more harm than the Mayor’s office claims and undercut the city’s larger push to bolster immigrant rights protections, Human Rights Watch said today. The policy, referred to as the criminal carveout, excludes immigrants with certain criminal convictions from city-funded immigrant legal services. It has been added to city contracts with organizations that provide immigrant legal services. Organizations that rely exclusively on city-funding will need to turn away clients with disqualifying felony convictions. Providers say this will increase the amount of misinformation and fear in immigrant communities and create a chilling effect on the immigrant communities that access their services. Mayor Bill de Blasio should reverse the new policy. “The so-called ‘criminal carveout’ will force attorneys to abandon clients they should be helping and create mistrust between immigrants and organizations that rely on city funding,” said Rebecca Chowdhury, senior legal coordinator at Human Rights Watch. “This policy seriously undermines the city’s own remarkable efforts to support local groups and ensure that low-income immigrants can fight to remain with their families and communities.”

Just when you thought it couldn't get much worse for immigrants, it could get much worse for immigrants. In late 2017, the Trump administration announced its intention to impose harsher rules for determining when immigrants are considered a "public charge" -- a legal determination that can block an individual's path to permanent residency (i.e., obtaining a green card). Under U.S. immigration law, a person seeking a green card through a family relationship must show that they "are not likely to become a public charge," which under current law is someone who is unable to support themselves and thus likely to depend on government benefits for income. Historically, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has only excluded applicants based on continuous receipt of cash benefits or long-term institutionalization at government expense, so as not to "inhibit access to non-cash benefits that serve important public interests." Click here to read the full article.

As an emergency physician at Kings County Hospital Center, Dr. Rob Gore has faced many traumatic situations that he'd rather forget. But some moments stick with him."Probably the worst thing that I've ever had to do is tell a 15-year-old's mother that her son was killed," Gore said. "If I can't keep somebody alive, I've failed."Gore, a Brooklyn native, finds violent injuries particularly hard to stomach -- a feeling compounded by the fact that many of the victims he treats are young men of color. "When I became an ER doc, my patients looked just like me," he said. "A lot of this stuff really hits home." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, homicide is the No. 1 cause of death for black men ages 15 to 34.  "Conflict's not avoidable. But violent conflict is," Gore said. "Seeing a lot of the traumas that take place at work, or in the neighborhood, you realize, 'I don't want this to happen anymore. What do we do about it?'" Click here to read the entire article.