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Exceptional Quality and Service
Affordable Costs and Personalized Attention
• Offering No-Contact Virtual Appointments
• Ample Parking
• Specializing in Advance Funeral Planning
• Catered Receptions
2005 West 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11223
718-372-1348
www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
Michael G. Rizzotto, Manager
COURIER L 20 IFE, SEPTEMBER 3-9, 2021
Paying it back!
East Flatbush nonprofi t set to get city
windfall for vaccine outreach efforts
BY BEN BRACHFELD
East Flatbush Village is set to receive
a considerable cash infusion
from the city after referring hundreds
of neighborhood residents to get vaccinated
against COVID-19.
The nonprofi t has referred nearly
500 Brooklynites to get vaccinated
since June as part of the city’s Vaccine
Referral Bonus program, wherein organizations
and businesses can get a
$100 incentive for every person they
refer to get a vaccine at a city-run site.
The person getting the vaccine is also
eligible for the $100 incentive.
East Flatbush Village — a wideranging
community organization
mainly concentrated in Caribbean
sections of Brooklyn whose work includes
things like mentorship programs
for local kids, after-school programs,
and anti-violence initiatives
— has referred 491 people to get vaccinated,
executive director Eric Waterman
told Brooklyn Paper. The group
is now eligible for the city’s maximum
$20,000 reward under the program.
Waterman said the group simply
asked folks they interacted with at
their other events if they had been
vaccinated, and helped sign up those
who hadn’t but were open to the jab.
When the signee arrives at a city vax
site, members of the city’s Test and
Trace Corps ask if they were referred
by anyone, to which the person can
say East Flatbush Village or whatever
other group made the referral.
As such, Waterman said that the
group didn’t pay particularly close
attention to how much money the
city would be providing, but moreso
to how many people they were signing
up, and kept going well after they
passed the number where they would
stop earning more money per sign-up.
“The whole premise wasn’t necessarily
the incentive, it was about getting
people vaccinated,” Waterman
told Brooklyn Paper.
Speaking at Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
daily press briefi ng Tuesday morning,
Waterman said that signing people
up for vaccines at other events provided
comfort and a sense of safety for
people who otherwise may feel hesitant
towards the shot.
“Our vaccination success has
come solely on the fact that we have
been doing work in all those other areas,”
Waterman said. “They allowed
us to be in spaces where people trust
that when we say this is an opportunity
to, of course, be safe, make sure
your families are safe, and also get access
to something that may be not as
accessible to you.”
Hizzoner said that the effort can
have a multiplier effect as more people
hear that the vaccine works.
“I’m particularly happy that we
have over 400 more New Yorkers who
are vaccinated,” the mayor said. “And
that means more people will hear the
story that it works, that it was easy,
there’s going to be a huge multiplier
effect here.”
The $20,000 reward will be disbursed
by the city “after the conclusion
of the program,” a spokesperson
for the mayor said, though they
did not clarify when that would be.
For a charity like East Flatbush Village,
Waterman said that every dollar
counts, and $20,000 will go a long
way toward funding their initiatives,
or free up dollars that otherwise
would have gone towards wages, rent,
utilities, or other administrative expenses.
“It means we can have more popup
events, it means we can get more
resources for back-to-school giveaways,”
Waterman said. “Maybe turkey
giveaways, or a Halloween harvest
where we do activities for the
kids, holiday giveaways things of that
nature.”
Cusimano & Russo Funeral Home
SERVING THE COMMUNITY OF BROOKLYN FOR OVER 90 YEARS
This firm is owned by a subsidiary of Service Corp. International, 1929 Allen Pkwy, Houston, TX 77019, 713-522-5141. New York state law mandates that all contracts for
prearranged funeral agreements executed by applicants for or recipients of supplemental social security income or medical assistance be irrevocable.
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