REMARKS
Council Member Alexa Avilés Opens Joint Hearing on Older Immigrant Adult Needs in NYC
0:05:58
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5 min
Council Member Alexa Avilés leads a comprehensive review on the vital needs and challenges of older immigrant adults in New York City,
- Avilés highlights the significant growth of the older immigrant population and their increasing difficulties.
- She draws attention to financial hardships, insufficient access to social benefits for undocumented immigrants, and obstacles due to language and cultural disparities.
- Significant issues such as poverty, homelessness, social isolation, and mental health struggles of this group are underscored.
- Avilés advocates for improved programming, funding, and services to support older immigrants in their communities.
- Contributions from Speaker Adrian Adams, and council members Crystal Hudson, Hanif, Shulman, as well as committee and personal staff are acknowledged.
Alexa Avilés
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Good morning, and welcome to today's joint hearing of the committees on aging and immigration regarding the needs of older immigrant adults in New York City.
0:06:07
I am council member, Alexa Abiles, and thank you, council member Hudson for pronouncing my last name beautifully, chair of the committee on immigration.
0:06:17
And this is our first hearing of this on this critically important issue for this committee.
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And so I'd like to begin by thanking speaker Adrian Adams for asking me to be chair during this critical time in New York City's history for our immigrant community neighbors.
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I would also like to thank my cochair council member Crystal Hudson for chair co chairing this hearing and for her leadership on addressing the needs of older immigrant adults.
0:06:44
I would also like to thank everyone joining us today and especially council member Hanif for being here with us and council member Shulman.
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I'd like to thank representatives of the administration and the public, including all of those attending remotely.
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Today, the committee will be conducting oversight on city program services and outreach tailored to older immigrant New Yorkers And as you've heard, the statistics, the council member Hudson, they do bear repeating.
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According to the Center for Urban Future, the older adult population age sixty five and older is the fastest growing segment of New York State's population.
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In the city, the older immigrant population, it's also the fastest growing.
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Across the 5 boroughs, the older immigrant population increased by 49%.
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In fact, immigrants are a majority of New York City's 65 and older popular Reporting shows that many older immigrants in New York City are struggling.
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Despite toiling, in our restaurants, construction sites, laundromats, and other workplaces for years and even decades.
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Many have no nest egg to ease them.
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Into what should be their retirement years.
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Instead, those with no savings simply continue to work to survive.
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Older immigrants also tend to receive less in Social Security income than US born residents.
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Those who are undocumented are not eligible to collect any amount, and some older immigrants also receive limited help because of language and cultural barriers.
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Public reporting has shown that some older immigrants have already slipped into poverty and homelessness.
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And that more will continue to follow unless city leaders find ways to help them.
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Moreover, many older immigrants older immigrant New Yorkers are coping with social isolation and grappling with the deleterious effects on their mental health.
0:08:59
These unique challenges facing a rapidly growing population demand compensatory programming, funding and services to help older immigrants not just to survive, but to thrive in their communities.
0:09:14
So today, we are eager to hear how the administration is meaningfully resourcing and scaling these programs like we speak New York City, Action NYC, New York City Care, to reach and serve this population.
0:09:31
We will ask DifTA and Moi on how they collaborate to serve older immigrant New Yorkers and hear from the agencies about their advocacy to serve related to legal services, food security and housing access.
0:09:44
We are interested in learning about tangible action items for which council members can advocate and ensure that we are effectively serving the older immigrant community members.
0:09:55
So we look forward to learning more from the administration, from advocates, providers, impacted immigrants, about current efforts to ensure that our older immigrant New Yorkers are not forgotten and that they are treated with dignity and honor.
0:10:11
More than more than ever, we must prioritize resources for these New Yorkers who have raised families in our neighborhoods who have led our communities and enriched our great city.
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New York City is a city of immigrants.
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And we look forward to sustaining that reality for generations to come.
0:10:32
And so I would like to thank committee staff for their work on this hearing, including Nicole Qatar, Legislative Council, Rebecca Barilla, policy analyst, Nia Hayate, finance analyst, Florentine Kabore, unit head, and a also like to thank my staff, chief of staff, Edward Serna, my legislative budget director, Christina Bottego, legislative fellow Amarachi Nangadi, and our communications director, Emmett Turin, and everyone working honestly in the background to make these hearings work and to make our city run.
0:11:03
Now, we'll turn it over to my cochair council member, Crystal Hudson.