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May 1-7, 2020
ALSO SERVING PROSPECT HEIGHTS, WINDSOR TERRACE, KENSINGTON, AND GOWANUS
A mural outside of the Mixteca Organization Inc’s Greenwood Heights headquarters. Mixteca Organization Inc
PAPERLESS AND POWERLESS
Brooklyn’s undocumented immigrant communities
see little relief amid high exposure rates
BY JESSICA PARKS
Brooklyn’s undocumented
immigrants are facing high
rates of exposure to the novel
coronavirus and few options
for fi nancial relief as their conditions
grow bleaker amid the
ongoing pandemic, according
to advocates.
“This is already a very
vulnerable, disenfranchised
population,” said Janet Perez,
program director at the Mixteca
Organization Inc, which
works with immigrant families.
“With the coronavirus
and the spread, especially for
folks who have been deemed
essential workers, I think a lot
of the conditions have been exacerbated.”
The Greenwood Heights
community-based organization
has been supporting undocumented
immigrants in the
area for years — but they’ve
since expanded their coverage
area to service families from
as far as Connecticut and New
Jersey because of the increasingly
dire situation brought on
by the pandemic.
Undocumented immigrants
make up an estimated 6.3 percent
of Brooklyn’s population,
according to immigration research
group Partnership for a
New American Economy, and
many are employed in industries
that have been deemed
essential, such as delivery
workers, food service, and construction
— subjecting them to
increased risk of contracting
the virus.
“Many of the community
members do work in delivery,”
Perez said. “For businesses
that are open, they are having
to work through the new conditions
as it is their only means
Continued on page 10
Jehovah’s
Witnesses
tower to house
the homeless
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The City Council voted
unanimously on April 22 to allow
a non-profi t developer to
convert a Downtown Brooklyn
tower previously owned by the
Jehovah’s Witnesses into housing
for the formerly homeless.
The Council’s approval of
the tower’s rezoning paves the
way for a renovation that would
add more than 500 affordable
apartment units to the 29-story
tower at 90 Sands St, said the
building’s developer.
“We’re on our way to bringing
approximately 500 muchneeded
affordable units to
DUMBO, one of the most expensive
neighborhoods in the
borough,” said Brenda Rosen,
the chief executive of Breaking
Ground. “We are especially
grateful for the leadership
of Speaker Corey Johnson
and Council Members Stephen
Levin and Rafael Salamanca in
championing the development
of new supportive housing for
the most vulnerable New Yorkers.”
The Council’s vote is the last
step in the land use review process
before the rezoning application
moves to Mayor Bill de
Blasio, who is expected to back
the Council’s approval.
Breaking Ground — a nonprofi
t that already hosts some
Continued on page 10
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