Dear John,

We’re all affected by the COVID-19 crisis. We’re seeing suffering all around us. So many of us have lost loved ones or friends. People who never imagined they’d be unemployed find themselves forced to seek emergency food or other assistance.

But if the virus itself does not discriminate, the crisis most certainly does, as it highlights the deep inequalities already engrained in our society: from the increased infection rates in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color (where many service workers must continue to go to work), to the burden of juggling working from home and child care in many households falling even more heavily on the shoulders of women, especially single mothers.

One of those inequalities, of course, is systemic sexism and misogyny. For many, home is not a safe place. Calls to domestic violence hotlines are spiking around the world. The NYT reported this week that calls to hotlines are up 18% in Spain and 30% in France. In NYC, domestic violence organizations report the opposite: an alarming drop in calls that may indicate that people trapped at home with their abusers are not able to seek help. [If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or 911 if it is an emergency].

The disproportionate impact of this crisis on women hits in many directions. Not only are women overrepresented in essential industries like home health care, nursing, and grocery stores, but women also make up the majority of workers in industries that have totally shut down, like hotel housekeeping, retail, and service work. As NY Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul wrote last week, “this crisis has exacerbated the normal state of affairs for American women.” Many are working harder than ever, with dangerous exposure to the virus, while others are out of work entirely, compounding the financial insecurity already worsened by the gender pay gap.

Regardless of income level, the burden on women is likely to be higher. As Helen Lewis warns in The Atlantic, “one of the most striking effects of the coronavirus will be to send many couples back to the 1950s” as white collar dual income households struggle to figure out who does the childcare when everything is shut down.

But there are many remarkable organizations that offer a lifeline to women facing abuse, helping them to escape and build new lives. In this email, we will share updates, resources, and a list of my staff’s picks for places to support women, victims of domestic violence, domestic workers, and many others who are hardest hit by this crisis.

In this email:
City and State Updates
Resources
Take Action
CB6 Community Meeting Tonight

City and State Updates

The Governor has extended the stay-at-home order for all non-essential workers until April 29 and raised the maximum fine for violations of social distancing protocol has increased from $500 to up to $1,000. New York is expected to see the peak of this virus over the next two weeks, but continued social distancing is essential to shorten the amount of time that our hospitals will be at peak capacity. The City is currently reporting nearly 70,000 cases, over 15,000 people hospitalized, and has lost 2,738 people to this virus, devastating so many families and communities.
Schools are closed at least until the end of April, and likely longer. The Regents exam in June is cancelled (as are all state tests), and more details are coming soon about what this means for graduation requirements. Unfortunately, teachers and students are also losing their holidays for Passover and Good Friday, as well as next week’s Spring Break. While instructional time is important, teachers and students have worked so hard to get virtual learning to work that taking away their time to rest is really disappointing.
The Mayor’s very small safe streets program was cancelled, before it even really began. After opening just a few blocks in four boroughs to pedestrians, the Mayor decided it required too much NYPD presence to be worthwhile. The Council is continuing to push for closing select streets to pedestrians. As the weather gets warmer and playgrounds continue to be closed, people need more spaces to exercise and get fresh air with appropriate distance, not less.
The COVID-19 infection rate among staff and incarcerated people at Rikers Island continues to skyrocket, even as several hundred of the nearly 5,000 people detained there have been released. Over the weekend, the first incarcerated person at Rikers died of the virus, after being named as a plaintiff in a lawsuit to release vulnerable people. Michael Tyson was held on a technical parole violation because he missed a meeting with his parole officer. It would not matter if he had been jailed pending serious charges. No one deserves a death sentence. But it is telling of the injustice of our criminal punishment system that the first fatality among Rikers inmates was there on a technical parole violation. Governor Cuomo has the power to waive parole violations and release people, and some have been released, but the pace of release is not keeping up with the pace of infection.

Resources

The Brooklyn Women’s Business Center is hosting a webinar on Tuesday April 14 from 12-1 PM on how to apply for the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan for small businesses. Register here.
The National Immigration Law Center has a comprehensive resource explaining which federal public programs immigrants are eligible for, as well as the implications of each program for the public charge rule.
As the weeks of staying at home stretch on, they are taking their toll on many of us. The mindfulness app HeadSpace has teamed up with New York State to offer free guided meditations and other resources to support the mental wellbeing of New Yorkers during this crisis.
The Child Mind Institute, who joined our call for parents last week, has a great resource center here for parents to support their own and their children’s wellbeing.
Our regularly updated hub of resources is located on my website here.

Take Action

Protect Whistleblowing Health Care Workers

Doctors, nurses and other health care professionals have been sounding the alarm about critical shortages of safety equipment, and are facing retaliation from hospital networks warning them against speaking out. Health care workers are putting their lives on the line, the least we can do is protect their jobs so they can keep speaking out about critical conditions. Together with city council colleagues and unions representing nurses, doctors, and cleaning staff, I am introducing legislation to protect whistleblowing health care workers. Read about our proposal in the Daily News and join our campaign here.

Staff Picks for Coronavirus Relief:

For those who can give during this time, today we are sharing 9 picks from our staff for organizations and relief funds to support women in New York and around the country during this crisis and beyond.

Julia: National Domestic Violence Hotline. Learn more here, give here.
Shahana: Sakhi for South Asian Women supports survivors of gender-based violence. Learn more here, give here. (and find their safety planning tips on page 19 of this guide for care during coronavirus)
Megan: National Domestic Workers Alliance’s Coronavirus Care Fund for house cleaners, nannies, and other domestic workers. Learn more here, give here.
Nasra: Help buy meals for healthcare workers at Maimonedes and Elmhurst hospitals. Give for Maimonides here, and to Elmhurst healthcare workers here.
Stephanie: One Fair Wage fund for restaurant workers and other tipped service workers. Learn more here, give here.
Rachel: Let My People Go Passover campaign to bail out immigrants in detention centers, with the New York Immigrant Freedom Fund. More information and donate here.
Lara: Center for Family Life, which provides many services for families in Sunset Park, including an active food pantry. Learn more here, give here.
Naomi: Make the Road New York’s emergency food fund for immigrant families who are cut out of the federal stimulus checks and unemployment insurance. Learn more here, give here.
Brad: New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault which provides education, advocacy, counseling and legal support. Learn more here, give here.

Community Board 6 Check In

Tonight at 6:30 PM, join CB6 for a community check in call with elected officials. Register here.

There is some evidence to suggest, some reason to hope, that we are nearing the peak of the crisis. New hospitalizations appear to be slowing. We must keep up strong practice of social distancing, staying at home (if we’re lucky enough to be in safe ones), keeping 6 feet of distance and wearing masks when we go out. If we keep it up, we will continue to bend the curve, and that will save lives.

Even then, of course, domestic violence and all those other inequalities will continue to plague our city. As Arundhati Roy has written, this pandemic is a portal, “a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”

It’s not that hard to imagine a world without domestic violence. What will we do to build it?

Brad