David Kelly shares personal story and outreach work

All right.

So, sorry, brother.

So I've never done this before.

That's okay.

And there's a pretty good chance I might be the youngest veteran in here, so I hope everyone bears with me.

First things first, it's been like a lot of heavy adult energy today, so I'm going to say let's go Knicks and get that out.

There you go.

You know what I mean?

And even before the let's go Knicks, tell us your name so everybody knows for the record.

Ooh, I'm supposed to say good afternoon, chair, members of the veteran and general welfare committees.

My name is David Kelly.

I'm a transplant from Wichita, Kansas.

I moved here about, it's going to be four years in about January.

Super happy to be here.

Super happy to be engaging with everyone.

I'm super happy to be a part of this process today.

I'll take you guys back.

I'm going to share a little bit of story.

I was going to just talk.

2019, my mom, and trigger warning, no profanity, but I'm just going to open up to you guys from Kansas.

We're really straightforward out there.

My mom, she passed away from cancer in 2019, or she got diagnosed in 2019.

I went to boot camp in March of 2020, and she passed away in April of 2020.

My mom was the main catalyst behind me joining the Marine Corps.

I got out a couple years ago.

Because of COVID, I couldn't go home for her funeral.

My mom passed in April.

I didn't get back home to Kansas until October.

So I finished my commitment, and I reset.

I'm 28 years old.

I was about, it's going to be four years next year.

So, you know, I was in, I'm out.

And the entire time that I've been in New York, I've had the immense pleasure and privilege of.

Figuring it out in my mid-20s.

It's been great.

As far as working for, I don't know if I'm allowed to say my organization because I'm not really high up on the totem pole like that, but I am an enhanced harm reduction specialist turned veteran outreach specialist as of this past February.

And being a veteran myself, an infantry veteran,

Peacetime vet.

I didn't do anything, but I got trained to do that.

I'm able to build rapport with people on the streets.

I feel like I offer a unique perspective to everyone here as far as what outreach specialists go through on a day-to-day basis.

The impact that I've been personally like a part of meeting clients where they're at, the work that we all do, I believe.

You guys said it was something 187.

Sorry, I was listening, but I got one of those young attention spans.

We had a code blue sometime in February, right, of this year.

I was working when that happened.

It was an overtime opportunity for me, and I was personally able to see the impact that it had on getting people off the streets when it was too cold to be out on the streets.

Everything that's going on with, like, the housing stuff.

I feel like because I'm not from New York, I might be misspeaking as well.

But I feel like there's a lot of intersectionality between harm reduction and the homelessness stuff going on.

When it comes to interlinking and correlating like certain services together, right?

Like we haven't from what I've heard so far today.

I don't know if it happens at a different time, but the harm reduction.

sphere, we do a really good job of meeting veterans.

And I want to say the one thing I will quote is the contract that I work under for my nonprofit is RFA 20620, priority population specifically for veterans.

I didn't hear that get mentioned at all today as far as like a modality for helping veterans.

Also, if anyone wants, like, you know, I don't know where my time is, but we got 118.

So, you know, I'll open it up for questions.

You guys can ask, like, you know, a nice-looking young man anything that you want.

First of all, sorry about your mom's passing.

Thank you for your service and thank you for being here today.

And I'm assuming since you moved here from somewhere else that you probably live in Chair Hudson's district, right?

So my first apartment was actually, I don't know the districts, I'm not going to lie to you.

Well, what borough do you live in?

Manhattan.

Okay.

All right.

But I live up in Harlem, and I work in Harlem in the Bronx.

Again, I don't know what I'm allowed to say and not say, so I'm not going to name it.

Drop my place of employment.

Yeah, give us your apartment number.

The social right after that.

I got you.

Thank you for everything you're doing in the nonprofit sector.

Thank you for being here.

You did great.

Every first-time person testifying should do as well as you've done.

And I appreciate the guidance for the committee as well and your perspective.

Thank you very much.