Chair Salaam questions OPHC on underserved areas and five-borough coverage
Chair Salaam asks which Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan areas were targeted and whether Staten Island and the Bronx are covered. Ramjatin reports programming in all five boroughs, including Community Project Grants of $10,000 each and seed grants for rapid response, such as Central Queens Against Hate for Forest Hills and Rego Park.
In fiscal year 2025, OPHC worked towards reaching communities that are typically underserved by prevention services.
For example, through the PATH program in 2025, OPHC reported engaging with five grassroots organizations in underserved areas of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.
Which areas in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan were targeted?
How does OPHC determine whether an area is underserved?
And are there plans to target areas in Staten Island and the Bronx?
So I'm happy to report that we do have programming in all five boroughs across New York City.
So aside from the PATH program, OPSC has what's called, in partnership with the City Commission on Human Rights, we have a program called the Community Project Grants that we sought to fund
10 organizations across New York City or individuals, anyone 14 years or older, with $10,000 each year to meet those needs that you mentioned before, the pockets that we feel like is missing out in the community grassroots work.
But also, too, if we see an escalation, just this year, this past two months, we work with a group called Central Queens Against Hate because of the rise in hate crimes in Queens, specifically in the Forest Hills area, Regal Park
area, Kew Gardens area, and we pivot to make sure we give out seed grants as well.
So this past year and in 2025, we funded approximately...
12 different seed grant opportunities.
And this year, we gave out 14 seed grants to different community members across the city to meet their needs as hate crimes happen.