Columbia University’s Olivia McCourry covered the October 8th, 2021 protest by Harlem and East Harlem residents who are fed up with the oversaturation of substance abuse clinics in our community. A number of politicians came to voice their support for the de-concentration of OASAS licensed methadone mega-programs while the commander of the 28th Precinct promised a new task force to patrol the streets.
We had a fantastic turnout at Da Homeless Hero’s amazing rally and march at Gracie Mansion on Saturday, July 10th.
Our message that congregant shelters, poorly run shelters, and inadequate supportive housing are the root causes of many issues in both Harlem and New York City, was forcefully delivered by Madlyn. Additionally, her call to dismantle the horrific and horrifically expensive congregate shelter complex (and, in its place, to provide supportive housing instead), was clear and powerful.
In addition to thanking Madlyn for her powerful words, we want to acknowledge the incredible work and vision of Shams to pull this all together. The rainbow of passionate protesters, the news media, and the numerous NYC political leaders, candidates, and future leaders who attended, all highlight his incredible organizing skills and the justness of his advocacy.
Lastly, we want to spotlight Eva who has worked tirelessly on supporting Shams, organizing GHC around these issues, and being a clarion voice for housing justice. Eva has done an amazing job and her work for both GHC and CB11 is incredibly awe-inspiring.
So, thank you Madlyn, Shams, and Eva, and thank you to everyone else who came out, brought signs, chanted, marched, and is helping to spread the word.
Together we marched and are marching for a better Harlem, a better New York, and justice for all.
You likely have heard how some residents of the Upper West Side raised a significant amount of money to fund a legal campaign to force homeless New Yorkers out of the Lucerne Hotel which the DHS had contracted to house homeless New Yorkers so they wouldn’t be at risk of COVID in congregant shelters
Today members of HNBA and The Greater Harlem Coalition attended a protest and press conference to note that our community – East Harlem and Harlem – has had more than its fair share of shelters for decades, and that all communities in New York need to take their fair share of shelter residents in this pandemic until permanent residences can be built/found.
As the 2017 NY City Council Report on Fair Share noted:
Residential Beds in East Harlem
Manhattan Community District 11, with 52 beds per 1,000 residents, or 4% of all residential facility beds in the city, embodies the legacy of decades of poor planning by and coordination between City and State governments and the failures of Fair Share. A low-income community of color, it is third in the city’s beds-to-population ration.
Manhattan CD11, composed primarily of East Harlem and Wards/Randall’s Island, is home to 1,082 chemical dependency treatment beds, 1,312 mental health treatment beds, and 2,691 shelter and transitional housing beds. The community hosts 5% of all Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter beds, 19% of all State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS)-licensed beds, and 11% of all State Office of Mental Health (OMH)-licensed beds in the city.
Distributional equity does not only mean equity between community districts, though that is a reasonable unit of analysis, but also equity within community districts – as the Fair Share Criteria recognize in their directive to specifically consider facilities within one half-mile of a proposed facility as well as the total number of facilities within the community district. Yet Manhattan 11 fails this test of equity too, with one-third of the DHS, OASAS, and OMH beds in the district located between 116th St. and 126th St. between the East River and Park Avenue. If facilities were perfectly evenly distributed between the City’s 59 community districts, each district would host 1.7% of each facility type.
Come out and protest the over saturation of addiction services in greater Harlem!
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 10:30am – 11:00am Gale Brewer’s Office Manhattan Borough President 431 West 125th Street
A reminder that we need you to join us at The Greater Harlem Coalition’s protest from 10:30-11:00 in front of Gale Brewer’s office at 431 West 125th Street, on Tuesday, September 24th, 2019.
At 11:00 the Borough President will host a meeting with local politicians, their staff, representatives from our Coalition, representatives from MMPCIA, and representatives from Mount Sinai. We need you to join the 10:30 protest in front of the meeting location so all attendees have to pass by the community who will be most affected by Mount Sinai’s decision.
Please make every effort to attend. Spread the word. Our community is already oversaturated, and bringing in an additional 2,400 more mental health and substance abuse clients into the heart of Harlem will be devastating to the community.
The Greater Harlem Coalition will have an informational and organizational meeting on Thursday, April 25th at 7:00 PM at The Greater Calvary Baptist Church, 55 W 124th St, New York, NY 10027.
The Greater Harlem Coalition will have an informational and organizational meeting on Thursday, April 25th at 7:00 PM. We’ll meet at The Greater Calvary Baptist Church, 55 W 124th St, New York, NY 10027.
We want to update you on the latest regarding the new homeless shelter that has been proposed for Amsterdam Avenue, and the latest regarding Mount Sinai’s proposal to move 2,500 mental health and addiction services clients from Morningside Heights to West 124th Street.
We also will want to discuss two planned protests against the Mount Sinai project on Saturday, May 4th, and on Tuesday, May 14th.
Lastly, we want to encourage you to channel your skills and passion into helping The Greater Harlem Coalition fight oversaturation. If you have a suggestion, knowledge that could be useful, or are willing to assist with an aspect of our work, let us know.
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