Join Wednesday’s City Hall 11am Rally to Save NYC Clubhouses!
Alliance Note: When NYC Mayor Eric Adams took office in 2021, our Alliance for Rights and Recovery (formerly NYAPRS) lauded NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ commitment to address the needs of unengaged New Yorkers who live with major mental health, addiction and trauma-related challenges….challenges that are greatly magnified by the horrors of houselessness, hunger, poverty, social isolation and discrimination. While we went on to strongly oppose his proposals to expand the wholly unacceptable use of coercion, we were heartened by his proposal to triple the capacity of clubhouse communities that have had long histories of success in engaging our brothers and sisters who are regularly and unjustly facing the trauma and indignity of life and loneliness on the streets and of ongoing but avoidable stays in emergency rooms, hospitals, jails, prisons and homeless shelters.
But flawed proposals to expand the use of clubhouses were crafted without input from the community and are unintentionally threatening the very existence of smaller club programs whose irreplaceable value lies in their intimate knowledge of the people and resources that exist in their surrounding communities.
A clubhouse is truly like a family to so many and, by extension, offers a bridge beyond to the broader community in which people live.
I know this because I served as director of Albany’s club program for over a decade and remain close to a good number of members to this day.
Harvey Rosenthal
A large and diverse community of advocates has taken a strong series of actions to see the postponement and revision of the existing design of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s proposal that have included a petition with 2,500 signatures, an e-mail campaign, letters and videos by members, media coverage, a meeting with NYC Council Mental Health Chair Linda Lee who enlisted the support of 21 NY City Council members and a pending detailed written set of recommendations to make this proposal work for all.
Now it’s our turn to support the campaign by joining countless advocates
including the Alliance at an
‘All Hands On Deck’ RALLY NEXT WEDNESDAY AT 11:00 am at NY CITY HALL!
SEE ATTATCHED FLYER AND DETAILS BELOW!
SIGN THE PETITION at https://www.change.org/p/stop-closure-of-essential-mental-health-clubhouses-in-nyc
SEE THE GOTHAMIST ARTICLE at https://gothamist.com/news/mayor-adams-funding-plan-for-mental-health-clubhouses-might-force-some-to-close
SEE YOU AT THIS WEDNESDAY’S 11:00 am RALLY
at NY CITY HALL PARK on Broadway and Park Place!
Questions? Call the Alliance’s Public Policy Director Luke Sikinyi at 518-703-0264
Happy New Year all!