FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, April 23, 2021

CONTACT

Mariah McGough, 203 470 9979, mariah@vocal-ny.org 

Paulette Soltani, 775-340-2359, paulette@vocal-ny.org 

VOCAL-NY UNVEILS BUDGET DEMANDS, CALLS FOR DOWN PAYMENT ON A CARING AND COMPASSIONATE NEW DEAL FOR NYC
VOCAL-NY Will Urge the New York City Council to Make A Down Payment Toward A Caring & Compassionate New Deal For New York City by Adopting a Set of Priorities During Budget Negotiations for the 2021/22 Fiscal Year. 

NEW YORK — VOCAL-NY today unveiled “Down Payment for a Caring and Compassionate New York” — a list of priorities for the New York City budget. They called on council members to make a down payment toward a Caring & Compassionate New Deal (CCND) for New York City. Read the full outline of down payments here, as covered first by Politico’s New York Playbook. 

“The City’s $14 billion budget for policing, courts, and jails has only exacerbated the crisis for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, struggling with substance use, or unmet mental health needs,” said Paulette Soltani, Political Director at VOCAL-NY. “In this year’s budget, our leaders must acknowledge the scale of the crisis in our communities and begin the radical political and financial shift that’s necessary to address these long-standing issues by divesting from policing and incarceration, and investing in what people actually need—housing, social services, and care. The City Council must make a downpayment toward a Caring and Compassionate New Deal for New York City.”

BACKGROUND:

The platform comes after the release of the Caring and Compassionate New Deal report — our long-term vision to address poverty and public health concerns by providing people the housing, social services and care they actually need — not by relying on policing and incarceration. 

During last year’s budget fight VOCAL-NY helped launch an occupation outside of City Hall to defund the NYPD by at least $1 billion and reinvest in communities. Despite mass uprising across the country and in New York City, the Mayor and City Council failed to defund the police or make meaningful investments in our communities.

This year VOCAL-NY’s budget priorities build on last year’s demands: Defund $4 billion from the NYPD, District Attorneys, Corrections, and the total elimination of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor — the only office of its kind in the United States, created in 1972 following Nixon’s declaration of the War on Drugs and Invest $4 billion in what communities need: housing, social services, and care.

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