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Q&A

CM Krishnan questions Hispanic Federation on underreporting of hate crimes

New York City Council · Jun 23, 2026 · starts 1:34:17 · 3 min 6 sec

CM Krishnan asks about HF's experience reducing underreporting. Herrera describes a multi-pronged approach including CBO-led anti-bias education, bilingual PSA campaigns, and radio mentions. A 2023 survey of 10,000 New Yorkers found 31% didn't know what legally constituted a hate crime and 78% who had experienced one never reported it.

Shekar Krishnan

Thank you.

Shekar Krishnan

And also, I just have a question for the Hispanic Federation.

Shekar Krishnan

Your work to reduce on the reporting of hate crimes,

Shekar Krishnan

What has your experience been?

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

In terms of, I'm sorry, if you could elaborate a little further.

Shekar Krishnan

So the work, specifically your work to reduce underreporting of the hate crimes that have been happening.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

Right.

Shekar Krishnan

I just wanted to know what your experience has been.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

So there are two approaches to that.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

The first is through our CBOs who intimately pack a lot of anti-bias work into a lot of the...

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

already ongoing curriculum that they employ in their communities.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

Of course, even as an institution such as ours, everyone has blinders on, so we refer best to the organizations that are already based in the communities that we're looking to serve.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

And from HF's standpoint, we've also reached out on several outreach campaigns,

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

bilingual PSA campaigns, both in English and Spanish, in key population junctions, as well as had several mentions of anti-bias, anti-discriminatory campaigns over the radio.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

And over, just to reference from 2023,

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

I apologize.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

So in 2023, when we deployed 10 community canvassers and surveyed more than 10,000 New Yorkers, we saw that 31% didn't know what legally constituted a hate crime.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

And then after identifying which 78% already experienced that, they had experienced one and never reported it.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

So with that, a lot of...

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

I apologize.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

I'm just trying to get my words together because it's a multi, so it's a multi-pronged approach.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

With that, we've seen that in the communities and the different populations that we affect, be that from different sexuality, race, creed,

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

a lot of them start to realize the fact that they had already experienced a hate crime, that they never really understood because of the banality of it,

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

how profound and how pervasive it can be on a day-to-day interaction.

Member of the Public - Julio Cesar Herrera

So that was something that, from our experience, is something that's far too prevalent, if that better answers your question.

Shekar Krishnan

It definitely does, and thank you for describing it, because I know oftentimes those have been close to the pain.

Shekar Krishnan

You know, if they have a seat at the table, they can, you know, really, really do the best work, especially when it comes to fixing this issue.

Shekar Krishnan

Just have one more.