Mayors Public Engegement Unit

July 2022

What's NEW at PEU!

Public Engagement Unit (PEU)’s Tenant Support Unit (TSU) tabling with resources for tenants at a block party in the Bronx!

About the Public Engagement Unit (PEU)

The NYC Public Engagement Unit (PEU) uses community organizing principles to re-envision how the city provides services to its most vulnerable communities. Rather than expecting constituents to navigate a complex city bureaucracy to get the help they need, PEU adopts grassroots tactics to meet residents where they are — at their doors and on their phones, in their social media feeds and in their communities. PEU combines this proactive outreach with comprehensive case management, and in doing so, builds long-term relationships between New Yorkers and their government.

TEAM WINS

Canvassing with the Department for the Aging

For the last few months, PEU has supported the Department for the Aging (DFTA) by conducting outreach to thousands of older New Yorkers who are receiving meals through the City’s 60+ Recovery Meal program. The program, established during the height of the pandemic, ended on June 30th, and PEU’s outreach was critical to ensuring that DFTA clients who needed continued support were able to connect with additional services. In total, PEU made more than 15,000 calls and knocked on doors for more than 400 clients without phone numbers.

SCRIE/DRIE Renewal Campaign

PEU’s Rent Freeze team conducts in-person outreach to older New Yorkers and New Yorkers with disabilities to help them freeze their rent by tabling at libraries and sending peer-to-peer to text messages. This month, the Rent Freeze Team held multiple tabling events at libraries, sent text messages, made phone calls, and went to New Yorkers homes in advance of the Rent Freeze renewal deadline. As a result, PEU directly contacted nearly 1,000 New Yorkers who were identified as in jeopardy of losing their Rent Freeze status to ensure that they were able to renew in time to keep their benefit, potentially saving their families thousands of dollars a year.

If you or anyone you know is looking for assistance with a Rent Freeze application, please call PEU’s Rent Freeze Specialists at 929-252-7242.

Home Support Unit Field Outreach

Our Home Support Unit (HSU) works with rental owners, real estate agents, and property managers to lease vacant units to qualified New Yorkers receiving rental assistance, including voucher holders. HSU helps participating owners navigate the rental process by arranging viewings, assisting with leasing paperwork, and ensuring access to financial incentives for placing qualified tenants into stable housing. The HSU team continues to use phone calls and peer-to-peer text messaging to contact landlords and brokers in an effort to identify vacant units for Emergency Housing Voucher recipients. The team started canvassing on June 23rd and launched a texting campaign July 5th. With 21 empty units in the Bronx, our Specialists are currently in the process of coordinating with the owner of the building on matching and linking the empty units to voucher holders. Learn more about leasing your apartment to voucher holders at nyc.gov/hsu.

HSU Specialists tabling at Community Board 9’s Community Fair event.

Puerto Rican Heritage Celebration

The 116th Street Festival is the largest Latin street festival of its kind in the North East. It spans more than 25 blocks! The festival, which has been going strong since 1985, showcases the traditional Hispanic culture of Puerto Rico to its numerous visitors. PEU tabled at the festival to help people sign up for city benefits services in housing, health insurance, tenant issues, and much more.

PEU at the Puerto Rican Heritage Celebration.

GetCoveredNYC at Queens Borough Hall

This month, GetCoveredNYC started hosting office hours at Queens Borough Hall in collaboration with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. This collaboration is led by GetCoveredNYC Outreach Specialist, Emily Yuan, who will be offering GetCoveredNYC services in English and Mandarin at the Borough President’s new International Business Office at Queens Borough Hall (120-55 Queens Blvd, Queens, NY 11424). Emily will be there every Thursday from 9am to 5pm until the end of July. If you’re a Queens resident looking for help with health insurance, stop by the International Business Office and ask for Emily from GetCoveredNYC!

Bronxwood International Church of God Health and Wellness Health Fair

PEU’s GetCoveredNYC (GCNYC) team collaborated with Bronxwood International Church to bring insurance workshops to the community! This collaboration was led by GetCoveredNYC Outreach Specialist, Orville Berry. GCNYC offers free assistance for New Yorkers seeking to enroll in healthcare, regardless of immigration status or income. Our Specialists speak more than 20 languages and conduct outreach to proactively identify uninsured New Yorkers and help them get access to healthcare. An unprecedented healthcare open enrollment period began 2 years ago in response to COVID-19, and since then, nearly 25,000 New Yorkers have reached out to us for enrollment assistance through our GetCoveredNYC website. To contact GetCoveredNYC, call 311 and say “Get Covered,” text CoveredNYC to 877877, or visit nyc.gov/GetCoveredNYC.

SPECIALIST SPOTLIGHT

Our Rent Freeze Specialists work tirelessly to help eligible New Yorkers enroll in NYC’s Rent Freeze Program to stop their rent from increasing. One of these Specialists is Hakim. Hakim recently reconnected with one of his clients, Ms. Beridiana, who joined the Rent Freeze program in 2017. Since freezing the rent she pays for her Washington Heights apartment, she’s saved thousands of dollars. If she hadn’t enrolled in the Rent Freeze program, she wouldn’t be saving $900 per year — a number that will continue to grow as she keeps renewing her Rent Freeze status!

Ms. Beridiana was so appreciative of Hakim's help that she authored an op-ed to shed light on the benefits of the rent freeze program and urge other New Yorkers to apply. If you or anyone you know is looking for assistance with a SCRIE/DRIE application, please call PEU’s Rent Freeze Specialists directly at 929-252-7242.

The op-ed has been posted on more than a dozen community and ethnic media sites.

Check it out below:

Chelsea Community News

Harlem World

RUSA Radio posted to their Facebook

Bornomalonews

The South Asian Times

News India Times

TWEET OF THE MONTH

RESOURCES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mental health counselors are available 24 hours a day to provide free support in many languages. You can contact them directly by calling 1-888-NYC-WELL.

NYC Fair Fares: Eligible New York City residents can get a 50% discount on eligible transportation. Help us to spread the word by sharing this HRA toolkit or check your eligibility at nyc.gov/fairfares or call 311.

There is a new Affordable Connectivity Program to help you pay for broadband internet service! Qualifying individuals and families can receive up to $30 per month off their broadband costs. You can learn more about and sign up for the Affordable Connectivity Program here: GetInternet.gov.

Rent Freeze tabling event at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, NYPL

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