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Queens leaders call on Hochul to restore Excluded Workers Fund
BY SKYE OSTREICHER
New Yorkers 50-plus helped build our city and
make it the great place that it is: and city leaders
must be dedicated to addressing the challenges this
population experiences.
Visit PoliticsNY.com and learn how Mayor-elect
Adams will raise the issue of ageism and make sure
his administration confronts it head on. As a leader
in Age Friendly policies, how will Mayor-elect Adams
broaden this work throughout NYC?
Beth Finkel, State Director of AARP New York,
shared with Mayor-elect Adams, “one of our thoughts
is actually renaming NYC’s Dept of the Aging – not a
very forward-thinking name – and I’m thinking it’d
be right up your alley to come up with a stronger, better
name.”
To which Adams replied, “we’re looking for Seniors
to come up with the best name for it… We are
open. The name should be more active than the Department
of Aging. I say it’s the Department of Living.
Whatever name our seniors come up with, we’re
gonna put it out to you.”
Adams is known for making Brooklyn the first
age-friendly borough, and now will be able to orchestrate
an age-friendly NYC. Part of this plan will offer
restaurant, theater and transportation discounts for
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.18 COM | DEC. 17 - DEC. 23, 2021
seniors, he shared.
Adams will be rolling out his 100-day plan and at
the heart of it is how NYC becomes more inclusive,
especially of its seniors. AARP New York will also
be delivering a plan to the new administration with
some ideas from its membership.
This video interview is sponsored by AARP New
York, which represents 750,000 members in New
York City.
Watch the full video at PoliticsNY.com.
BY JULIA MORO
Elected officials and community
organizers are calling
on Gov. Kathy Hochul to immediately
invest an additional
$3 billion to the New York State
Excluded Workers Fund to aid
countless immigrant families
previously left out of crucial
financial support.
Queens Borough President
Donovan Richards sent a letter
to Hochul on Wednesday, Dec. 8,
urging the governor to replenish
the fund that quickly ran out
of funds to dispense.
“There is no doubt that our
excluded workers still face
severe economic hardship,”
Richards said. “Even after this
week’s announcement that the
$2 billion fund has been fully exhausted,
it is clear that a pressing
need for additional financial
assistance still exists here in
Queens.”
After over a year of civil disobedience
in hunger strikes and
marches, activists were able to
secure $2.1 billion from the state
for excluded workers. Since
online applications opened in
early August, over $2 billion has
gone out the door to families in
need.
Now that there is no money
left in the fund, activists have
taken to the streets once again
to make sure all excluded workers
who needed this aid can still
get it.
Workers chanted, “Who
feeds us while we feed you” and
“All I want for Christmas is
to not get left behind,” as they
marched down the streets near
Bryant Park on Friday, Dec. 10.
Jackson Heights state Senator
Jessica Ramos, the original
sponsor of the bill that established
the fund, joined activists
groups, including Make
the Road New York and others,
to call for additional funding
before the holidays.
Ramos said the excluded
workers fund has been a tremendous
success, and it desperately
needs to be extended.
“We saw how this fund
pumped important money into
our small business,” Ramos
said. “We helped our immigrants
catch up on their bills,
pay their rent, buy school supplies
for their kids, put food on
the table. We didn’t just hold this
city down during the pandemic;
we built this city. It is the immigrant
workforce that has always
made this city happen.”
Advocates have estimated
that around 50,000 applicants
were left out of aid due to a lack
of funds. However, that number
doesn’t include the hundreds of
thousands they say face barriers
to applying on time.
Guillermo Campos, a vendor
at Corona Plaza, said when
he got laid off during the pandemic,
he wasn’t able to receive
unemployment.
“When I found out about
the first round of the Excluded
Workers Fund, I was too ill to
apply,” Campos said. “I wasn’t
physically capable of applying.
I’m here because I’m asking
Governor Hochul to earmark
$3 billion this coming year
because $2.1 billion wasn’t
enough. There were many like
me who weren’t able to apply to
the Excluded Workers Fund the
first time around. But we’re going
to win this time and we’re
going to win $3 billion dollars.”
More than 350,000 New
Yorkers applied for aid, nearly
all receiving the highest tier of
benefits — a one-time payment
of $15,600.
Ramos pointed out how excluded
workers could not receive
unemployment or other
government benefits during the
height of the pandemic, yet still
paid and pay taxes.
“Ninety-nine percent of the
applications approved all paid
their taxes the last three years.
What does that tell you?” Ramos
said. “It tells you that the excluded
fund is our money, we put that
money in there, and we deserve
it back. We’re simply asking
Hochul to give us what’s ours.
Recognize our labor and bring
justice to our communities.”
Hundreds marched in Manhattan on Dec. 10 to call on Gov. Kathy
Hochul to invest in the Excluded Workers Fund.
Photo courtesy of Make the Road New York
NYC’S MAN IN DEMAND: MAYOR-ELECT ERIC ADAMS
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