Congress has approved nine out of ten funding requests for community projects put forward by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), the congresswoman’s office confirmed on July 30. The various requests for the 2022 fiscal year included additional funding for Jacobi Hospital’s anti gun-violence initiative which Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had highlighted as a priority in early July, as reported at the time by Norwood News. 

 

Late Thursday, July 29, the nine approved funding requests for various community projects in New York’s 14th congressional district, which encompasses parts of the Bronx and Queens, passed the House of Representatives. In the Bronx, these include mental health services for Jacobi Hospital’s “cure violence” program, funding to provide entry level training for high-wage earning jobs in the emerging, regional, offshore wind industry sector for New York State residents, and workforce training in green jobs and home healthcare.

 

The congresswoman initially requested funding for the various projects in early May. The funding requests now await a vote in the Senate. In June, Ocasio-Cortez traveled to Jacobi Hospital with Schumer to raise awareness about the need for the hospital’s funding request. The congresswoman said at the time, “When you actually open the door to a jail, and look at who’s inside, an enormous amount of people are dealing with untreated mental health issues. And it is not acceptable for us to use jails as garbage bins for human beings.”

 

She continued, “We need to treat people and see them as human. And so it is not a place for us to throw people for whom we don’t want to invest in the actual holistic issues of their lives. If we want to reduce violent crime, if we want to reduce the number of people in our jails, the answer is to stop building more of them. The answer is to make sure that we actually build more hospitals, we pay organizers, we get people mental health care, and overall health care, employment, etc. It’s to support communities, not throw them away.”

 

Funding of $393,839 was requested for Jacobi hospital, located at 1400 Pelham Pkwy S, The Bronx, NY 10461, and which is part of City’s Health + Hospitals public health system. The hospital requested the funding to add mental health services under the umbrella of its Stand Up to Violence (SUV) Program. Modeled after the Chicago-based “Cure Violence” program, SUV addresses youth violence in the Bronx by deploying outreach workers to respond to shootings, to prevent retaliation and to assist family members of those who have been injured or killed.

 

Additionally, program officials mentor at-risk youth on educational and job opportunities. The hospital proposed the addition of an emergency room social worker, a case worker, a part time psychiatrist and a creative arts or music therapist, who would each be experienced in treating trauma/violence. This was to allow the hospital to offer wraparound, therapeutic treatment to patients to help address the root causes of youth violence.

 

As reported, as of July 15, the NYPD reported 829 shootings citywide so far in 2021, and 968 shooting victims citywide during the same period. As of July 24, murder rates in the Bronx are up 40 percent compared to the same period last year, shooting incidents are up 62 percent and shooting victims are up 55 percent.

 

In keeping with the congresswoman’s longtime push for a Green New Deal, funding of $795,000 was also requested for offshore wind workforce development at the State University of New York Maritime College, based at 6 Pennyfield Ave., The Bronx, NY 10465.

 

SUNY Maritime requested funding to provide entry level training for high-wage earning jobs in the emerging, regional, offshore wind industry sector for New York State residents. Recognizing the growth in the offshore renewable energy sector, Maritime College established a center of excellence for offshore energy to focus on building a clean energy workforce and encouraging research in this growing area. It is hoped that offshore wind workforce training will be provided by the college’s professional mariner training department, which has more than 20 years of providing professional training and education.

 

According to New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), nearly 5,000 New York jobs could be created by the year 2035 through regional offshore wind deployment. If fully funded, for the first year, the college will have the capacity to provide 24 classes and train/certify nearly 300 workers. SUNY Maritime is a member of NYSERDA’s jobs and supply chain technical working group, along with unions and other labor groups, to ensure best labor practices within the emerging sector.

 

Funding of $55,000 was requested for the expansion of the workforce development program at the Emerald Isle Immigration Center, located at 4275 Katonah Ave, Bronx, NY 10470.  The center has been a service provider in Queens and in the Bronx for over 30 years. The expansion of the workforce development program would help register and assist 250 clients with job counseling and training. Advocates said that the project, if successfully funded, also leverages other investments already made to the community through the support of the USCIS Citizenship and Integration grant, and would have a measurable impact on the communities in both Queens and in the Bronx.

 

A representative for Ocasio-Cortez said that the one request that did not pass the House is linked to the criminal justice appropriations bill, which has not yet been brought up for a vote.