About 200,000 New Yorkers are living with hepatitis C, but the state Department of Health (DOH)) estimates that 75% do not know their status. The hepatitis C virus is a leading cause of liver cancer and now kills more New Yorkers each year than HIV/AIDS,  even though a majority of people with hepatitis C can be [...]

Decriminalize small amounts of marijuana; end stop-and-frisks, say Black and Latino lawmakers By JESS STRING | May 22, 2013 Members of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, along with Vocal NY, rallied at the Million Dollar Staircase in the Capitol Wednesday to protest current stop-and-frisk practices and push for a [...]

By Alison Bowen | Published: May 19, 2013 HIV/AIDS patients in NYC forced to choose between paying for rent or basic needs Every month, Wanda Hernandez considers whether to use her cash for bills, rent or possibly medical care. Having lived for 15 years with HIV, Hernandez, 50, has chronic pain blocking her from work. But [...]

“A home is, you know, sort of like air and water; I think it’s just one of those things that you need to survive as a human being…the four walls that you can call your own that no one can take away from you…” State lawmakers could prevent homelessness for thousands of people living with [...]

Rally Calls For Passage of Community Safety Act to Protect Condom Promotion & Syringe Exchange Efforts  Tell the NYPD to End the War on Public Health – Condoms & Clean Needles Aren’t Crimes! The NYPD’s stop and frisk practices are putting New Yorkers at risk for HIV and other health problems, according to a coalition [...]

Over 200,000 New Yorkers are living with the hepatitis C virus and most do not know their status even though new medications can cure most people with chronic infection. In response to this neglected and urgent health issue, the largest hepatitis C legislative awareness day yet was held in Albany on March 13th with participation from [...]

March 5th, 2013 Sequester Backlash Begins: Vulnerable NYers Protest Outside Verizon HQ NYC Residents Soon to be Hardest Hit By Cuts Demand Wealthy, Corporations Pay Their Fair Share  New York, NY: The backlash against Sequester cuts has begun in NYC, with dozens of vulnerable New Yorkers protesting upcoming cuts in the early afternoon of Tuesday, [...]

Join us Tuesday, March 5th to demand corporate tax dodger Verizon pay their fair share and help stop devastating budget cuts. Automatic across-the-board budget cuts called sequestration are about to take effect because Speaker Boehner and the Tea Party decided to protect Wall Street and the wealthiest 1% instead of poor and working families. Some of the loudest [...]

Bloomberg seeks to halt pot jail time By BREANNA EDWARDS | 2/14/13 New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today in his State of the City Address that marijuana possession will no longer lead to a night in jail. The policy, proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his State of the State address early last [...]

Fix The Debt Protest Draws Activists, Inflatable Pig WASHINGTON — More than 100 union members and progressive activists marched to a Capitol Hill hotel Wednesday to protest a meeting of corporate chiefs, lobbyists and former elected officials involved in the Campaign to Fix the Debt. “Today we’re here to protest against the Fix the Debt committee,” said Bobby Tolbert, a board member [...]

January 31, 2013 VOCAL-NY HIV/AIDS Housing Network Analysis Of Mayor Bloomberg’s Preliminary FY14 Budget Contact: Jason Walker, HIV/AIDS Housing Network Coordinator, jason at vocal-ny.org (Read the full budget analysis here.) On January 29th, Mayor Bloomberg released a preliminary $70.1 billion budget for fiscal year 2014, which starts on July 1st.  This is the start of what’s [...]

February 6, 2013 Contact: Ilana Berger (347) 645-4255 Response to Mayor Bloomberg’s Announcement of Federal Grants for Sandy Relief Joint Statement from: Members of the Alliance for a Just Rebuilding (ALIGN-NY, The Coalition for the Homeless, Community Voices Heard, Good Jobs New York, Hunger Action Network of New York State, New York Communities for Change, Make the [...]