Mayors Public Engegement Unit

What's NEW at PEU!

March 4, 2022

WHAT'S NEW AT PEU!

PEU's Rent Freeze team tabling at the Brooklyn Public Library

TEAM WINS

Last month, PEU hosted a Public Speaking Brown Bag lunch with members from the HRA ToastMasters Club. This event was one of a new semi-monthly Brown Bag Lunch series organized by PEU Senior Leadership to create a space for staff to share skills, build connections, share knowledge, and improve morale and team collaboration. For our staff lead Brown Bag presentations, PEU’s Special Projects Director, Joel Maffei shared tips on entrepreneurship and stories from his many business endeavors, including Hearth Tonics - a Caribbean-inspired juice company! (Joel - Where is the PEU Juice Bar??)

PEU texted over 50,000 New Yorkers with children living in zip codes with large rates of non-filers to promote NYC Free Tax Prep and provide information about the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.

The Special Projects Team began training staff and partners in preparation for PEU’s non-partisan Student Voter Registration Drive (SVRD), held each year during Civics Week. Over 180 PEU staff will head out to hundreds of classrooms in 22 DOE schools across the City next week to register (and pre-register) students to vote. It’s democracy in action, PEU-style!!

IGA/Policy hosted a briefing for elected officials on February 28 on PEU’s programs and outlined referral pathways for constituents to PEU. Congrats to all of the PEU staff who participated in the presentation.

TSU’s RF-HTE team made over 3,000 calls to homeowners in advance of the March 15 homeowner tax exemption deadline to encourage them to renew their benefits. TSU also worked with HPD to resolve tenant issues in a building with 34 units flagged via the Tenant Helpline (see below for more details).

HSU kicked off a pilot with DHS to support Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) applications. In addition, HSU completed a rent reasonableness training with HSU staff and received a list of over 20k new potential landlord records for outreach.

The PEU Data continued to work on building an interim technology solution for PEU’s upcoming Benefits Access Campaign, and prepared outreach universes for TSU peer-to-peer texting and PEU’s tax credit and free tax prep outreach.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

STAFF SHOUT-OUTS

TSU

Specialists Hakim, Maria and Mike canvassed a priority building in the Bronx. The owner passed away two years ago and the building’s ownership is currently being debated in surrogate court. Given the uncertainty, tenants are concerned that utilities will be shut off and they will lose their SCRIE/DRIE benefits without new leases. TSU has coordinated a meeting with Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), HPD, public advocates office, and CAU to discuss next steps. The team is also working with HCR to get tenants their rent histories (so they are aware of the last registered rent), connect them to legal providers for additional guidance, and submit SCRIE/DRIE renewals on top of initial applications for those eligible.

HSU

Specialists Agnes, Chevonne, Rosie, Eunice, Glen, Goodnews and Joanna all had a move out, allowing families to have the opportunity to have a fresh new start!

Specialist Yvonne has been with HSU since 2015, back before it was HSU – even before there was a PEU! Over that time she has helped countless owners, brokers, agents, case workers, housing specialists, and provider staff to interface with the city’s rehousing process, ensuring that they are supported and continue to engage with the city. Most importantly, she has a unique bond with the families and individuals she assists in finding stable housing to get out of shelter. Recently, she crossed a massive milestone in HSU history – recording her 700th move out and placing over 2,500 individuals into homes to date! We’re inspired by the work Yvonne does every day and she continues to be the heart beat of HSU.

GCNYC

During a GCNYC health insurance enrollment phone bank, targeting a list of potentially uninsured New Yorkers sent to PEU from H+H, PEU Specialist Columbus spoke to a client who requested a Spanish speaker. Specialist Betsy called the client back right away and was able to help get her client enrolled in NYC Care. She even scheduled her for a doctor’s appointment on the spot! This appointment, and her new insurance, will save the client thousands of dollars she was prepared to pay for a specialized test,

Specialist Mansour worked with a deaf client for months, whose primary language is ASL. She had tried to get enrolled through the TTY hotline for New York State of Health but it wasn’t working for her. Last week, she mentioned to Mansour that she was going to the hospital. Mansour found out which hospital and connected her with a MetroPlus enroller located at the site so she could make use of the in-hospital ASL interpretation. She is now enrolled!

Data

Shout out to Ellen, PEU’s Director of Outreach Data, for joining the data team and continuing to support GetCovered. Any data questions you may have, you can ask Ellen!

And shout out to Oliver, PEU’s Senior Director of Data and Analytics, who is expecting a new baby this week!

Comms

Welcome to Annie and Xiomara, the new PEU Comms Interns! They are already off to an excellent start and working on projects including this newsletter, the website, scheduling social media posts, and much more.

Thank you Chris, Kristen and Shaquanna for hosting this informative presentation on Rent Freeze LIVE on the PEU’s facebook page with a live Q&A!

CLIENT SPOTLIGHT

Congrats to GetCoveredNYC Specialist Tania for helping a client get insured with Essential Plan with no monthly premiums! A client submitted an online request for a call back regarding assistance with health insurance. She began sharing her story. Only the day before she had called one health insurance company and paid $300 for health insurance. However, she never received a letter, card or other documentation confirming her enrollment. She couldn't afford it anymore and also felt the whole process to be suspicious so she called them to cancel. Tania educated the client about how the health insurance enrollment process works and offered to schedule an appointment with MetroPlus and provided her with her business card. After scheduling the appointment with MetroPlus, Tania called the company the client claimed she was enrolled with. When asking about the health care options, the person on the phone was really nervous about it and did not answer what was asked. Tania asked her for a transfer to the enrollment department or to someone who can help with insurance and the person was unable to do it.

The client was devastated to find out the same person she spoke to for the insurance was not able to provide any information regarding insurance. Tania informed the client of where to file a complaint by sharing the link. The next day, the client's case was updated and she was enrolled with an Essential Plan with no monthly premiums.

THE LOOK AHEAD

Civics Week is coming up this March 7-11

The deadline for homeowner tax exemptions for elderly and disabled New Yorkers is coming up on March 15

The deadline to file your taxes is April 18. Free tax prep is available to New Yorkers who have an income of $72,000 or less: nyc.gov/TaxPrep

IN THE NEWS

Relevant News Clips for What's Happening in NYC

NYC Care Reaches Major Milestone: 100,000th Member Enrolled in Health Care Access Program, a system’s health care access program that guarantees free and low-cost services to New Yorkers who do not qualify for or cannot afford health insurance.

https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/pressrelease/nyc-care-reaches-milestone-of-100000-members/

Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP): City expands summer youth employment program with 100,000 new jobs for NYC youth! The deadline to submit applications is 4/22/2022.

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dycd/services/jobs-internships/summer-youth-employment-program-syep.page

The Family Homelessness & Eviction Prevention Supplement

(FHEPS) rental subsidy changed on February 14: Prices now align with City FHEPS and NYCHA's Housing Choice Voucher (HCV, which is also known as section 8).

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/fheps.page

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