Chair Stevens on inadequate street outreach team coverage
Stevens criticizes that only two street outreach teams with about eight total people cover all five boroughs, calling it ridiculous and demanding at least one team per borough. Haskell says each team has 4-5 people and is flexible, but Stevens insists more funding is needed and says she will advocate for a new need in the budget.
and talk about street outreach teams.
DYCD currently funds two street outreach teams serving all five boroughs.
One team covers the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan above 59th Street, while the other covers Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Manhattan below 59th Street.
First of all, if I got to take a boat,
To go do outreach sounds crazy.
Like, what?
Come on.
Y'all know what I'm going to say here.
What does outreach look like?
Are they swimming back and forth?
Like, what are we talking about here?
Does ZYC believe that two street outreach teams are sufficient to identify runaway and homeless youth across the city?
And listen, I know you guys are going to say street homelessness for kids look different.
They're not on the streets.
They're couch surfing, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I already know that's the spill.
We already know.
I've heard this before.
But, like, what?
Like, this doesn't even make sense.
Like, even if they're not sleeping on the street, we still need to have people out there making the effort.
So I'm going to ask the question, and then I'm going to answer it.
Do you guys need more funding for street outreach?
Yes.
Thank you.
Is there going to be a new needs in the budget?
You're going to say no.
I'm going to say, well, maybe we should have a new need in the budget so we can have more outreach for these young people.
All right.
So we did that part.
So are there particular boroughs or neighborhoods where DYCD has identified demand for street outreach services?
Have you even thought about this?
Absolutely.
Our street outreach team, like you said, it's broken up into two, the northern and the southern.
And in those areas, they have a whole list of places that they go, and they're very flexible, so they're all over the place.
How many people are on those teams?
Around four?
Four or five people on each team?
Is that not enough?
We got eight people covering the whole city.
How much?
They got to be making a million dollars because that just sounds crazy.
The drop-in center is also for outreach.
I know.
And we got one in each borough.
And if they out there doing the outreach, then who will dance?
Come on.
Come on.
I'm just saying there's clearly a place where we need to be looking and there needs to be more investment.
So you can go ahead.
I'm sorry.
Sorry for interrupting.
I should be trying to get y'all money because this don't make sense.
This don't make sense.
I don't like stuff that don't make sense.
And, like, this theory that they only need eight people to cover the entire city sounds crazy to me.
Like, I just can't.
And also understanding that, like, to have folks covering the Bronx and Queens and Manhattan, those are different communities with different people and different communities and different things.
And, like, you need specific people for those things.
So the fact that we don't have a minimum of...
Having a street outreach team in each borough is weird.
So full stop.
I got to have that on the record.
That's ridiculous.
And it's clearly a blind spot.
So we just need to start there.
We need to have an outreach team in each borough.
And let's just move on because I don't even have time for these questions.
So I hope that in the budget hearing, one of the new needs is funding for more money for the outreach.
So I'll add it to my list of things that I would like money for.
Thank you.