FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 28, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19
Queens-based immigrant group
launches platform for 2020 elections
BY ALEX MITCHELL
A coalition for immigrant rights in
Queens unveiled a campaign on Tuesday
aimed at supporting state lawmakers next
year who will work to protect foreign-born
residents and help them achieve success.
Make Th e Road New York launched its
“Respect and Dignity” platform, which
calls on the state to pass legislation that
fully removes ICE from courthouses,
requires good cause for evictions, ends
discriminatory school discipline practices,
decriminalizes sex work, restores
worker protections and taxes the rich in
order to fund vital health, education and
housing services.
One mother in attendance for the
launch, Patricia Rivera, spoke about how
her landlord in East Elmhurst raised her
rent $1,000 while she was pregnant and
refused to negotiate to allow her to stay in
the apartment until aft er having the child.
“He kept bringing up any little excuse to
try to get us out of the apartment before
that,” Rivera said through a translator,
noting that she felt powerless to protect
her rights as a tenant.
Since moving out, she now shares a
crowded space with friends, family and
her three daughters — but is also facing
constant rent increases, Rivera explained.
“Even now, the rent was pushed up $150
a month ago,” she said.
Rivera charged that having a “good
cause” law for property evictions would
help her and other residents stand up to
any landlord who tries to push them out
of their homes.
Kathy Garcia, a transgender resident of
Queens, also called for greater protection
for the trans community.
“We should be able to express ourselves
and walk in our neighborhoods without
being targeted simply because we are
trans,” she said in a statement following
the rally.
Make Th e Road New York Deputy
Director Th eo Oshiro said many immigrant
communities live in fear of being
captured by ICE offi cials, who have
increased their presence at local courthouses.
Th e “Respect and Dignity” platform,
Oshiro explained, would empower community
members and catalyze lawmakers
into advancing these desired reforms into
state law next year.
“Strength in numbers,” he said, specifically
noting that the communities that
Make Th e Road New York allies with have
the leverage to compel local politicians
Photo via Twitter/MaketheRoadNY
into acting on behalf of New York’s immigrant
population.
One of the coalition’s largest victories
for immigration rights this year was
the state passing laws to allow drivers
licenses to undocumented people, Oshiro
explained, saying “2019 was a successful
year.”
“We still have a lot of work to do, we
have to keep pushing,” he said.
Cuomo invests $60 million for the 2020 Census
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e state will spend as much as $60 million
Photo via Shutterstock
New York State will invest $60 million in an
unprecedented campaign to ensure all New
Yorkers are counted in the 2020 Census.
to make sure that every New Yorker
is counted in the upcoming 2020 U.S.
Census, announced Governor Andrew
Cuomo.
Resources will be leveraged across dozens
of state agencies, public authorities,
CUNY and SUNY which will launch a
wide-reaching campaign valued at $40
million that will inform the public about
the need for a full count.
Additionally, $20 million from the 2020
budget will be made available to support
eff orts to reach out to immigrant communities
across the state.
“Counting every New Yorker in the
2020 Census is critical to ensuring we are
accurately represented in Congress and
receive the federal funding we deserve,”
Cuomo said. “While the federal government
has thrown up roadblock aft er
roadblock, spreading fear among immigrant
communities in the process, in New
York we will break through and make
sure that even our most diffi cult to reach
communities are counted.”
Th e state support builds on the fi ndings
and recommendations released in
October by the state’s Complete Count
Commission, which held 10 public hearings
and reviewed hundreds of comments,
expert testimonies and in-depth
analysis of previous census results. Th e
commission found that the 2020 Census
faces unprecedented challenges.
For the fi rst time, it will be conducted
online, and while the Trump administration
failed in its eff orts to include a citizenship
question, its attempts to do so
spread fear among immigrant communities.
Census data helps to determine the
distribution of federal funds, including
$73 billion to New York state. Th is funding
supports programs such as Medicare
and Medicaid, school lunch vouchers, the
children’s health insurance program and
heating assistance in winter.
“Th e 2020 Census determines critical
funding and representation for New
York state, and we cannot aff ord to get
it wrong,” Congresswoman Carolyn
Maloney said. “I thank Governor Cuomo,
CUNY, SUNY and the state agencies
who are using their resources to launch
a statewide census awareness campaign
to ensure an accurate count of all New
Yorkers.”
States and cities like New York also
use Census data for nearly every planning
decision they make such as projecting
student populations and designing
transportation routes. Businesses of
every size in every sector rely on census
data for strategic planning, whether to
open a new store and where, whether to
launch a new product, or how to advertise
their business.
Our communities must have the tools
and resources they need to combat the
Trump administration’s attempts to
undercount New Yorkers and spread fear
among immigrants,” Maloney said. “Th is
critical and unprecedented $60 million
investment brings us one step closer to
a full and accurate count. Protecting the
2020 Census protects New York and our
future.”
Theo Oshiro speaks at the Make The Road rally in Queens.
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