TESTIMONY
Joslyn Carter, Administrator of the NYC Department of Homeless Services, on Efforts to Address the Needs of Homeless Families
1:33:08
·
173 sec
Carter discusses the NYC Department of Homeless Services' initiatives to improve services for homeless families.
- She talks about focusing on improving food quality by working with nutritionists and medical staff.
- Carter emphasizes providing legal services to asylum seekers to help them find employment.
- She states families will not be moved or transferred within the DHS system per the 60-day rule.
- Carter underscores the goal of helping families find stable housing and exit the shelter system.
Joslyn Carter
1:33:08
I I, you know, I I think there's I mean, one of the things that's important to me, and I I like you was was very poor, and was this short.
1:33:16
I lived tripled up with my mom with with DV and was, you know, on the the ledge of of coming into shoulder with my my aunt saved us.
1:33:23
So what I, you know, I I feel that I do this work because I connect with the humans that we work for.
1:33:30
So I, you know, I understand where you're coming from and understand that piece of it, understand how hard it is to work in this space.
1:33:37
And so we and and onto my leadership, but I've been here for a long time.
1:33:40
Right?
1:33:41
So this is my 28 years sitting in DHS.
1:33:43
Right?
1:33:43
So when I stay because I love the work that I do, and wanna work, you know, my folks hear me talk about raising the bar and services.
1:33:51
And so one of the things important to know is that we're really and and the food issue really focused and how do we how do we what do we need to do about food and really focused on that?
1:34:01
We have nutritionists and my medical director.
1:34:03
Who we're really paying attention to, you know, looking at that food and the food service and what we need to do that.
1:34:08
So that's something that we're working on.
1:34:10
I'm aware of that, and we had a whole meeting yesterday and thinking about that.
1:34:13
So We're working on that.
1:34:14
In terms of, you know, the DHS and the 60 day rule, that is not we evaluated.
1:34:19
That's not something that's happening here.
1:34:21
And so his families were not going to be moved or transferred within DHS.
1:34:26
We want on the beginning where there's DHS systems or asylum system within DHS to be thinking about exits, exit strategy.
1:34:35
We wanted to be thinking about our asylum because how do we get them, their legal services so they can actually get to work and not depend on, you know, the system.
1:34:43
I heard the moms say we just wanna work.
1:34:45
Right?
1:34:45
I'm an immigrant.
1:34:46
My mom came, you know, illegally.
1:34:48
Right?
1:34:49
Then she just wanted to work.
1:34:50
So I understand that.
1:34:51
She just wanted to work.
1:34:53
So for me, it's trying to figure out how do we just get them to work and how do we get the services, not to sit in a tier 2 for a year and a half and not to get those services met.
1:35:01
But how do we really help people when they come here?
1:35:04
Children who come through not no fault of their own.
1:35:06
Me who was saved do not fall on my own because domestic violence Right?
1:35:10
And I will save, nobody save those children.
1:35:12
Right?
1:35:12
That's that's our job to do that.
1:35:14
And I wanna make sure we get, you know, get get those services.
1:35:17
So children can be saved too.
1:35:19
So we're on the same page.
1:35:21
And so, you know, we are systematically you know, there's like I said earlier, there's more workforce to do what we're striving to get there.
1:35:27
Right?
1:35:28
So with it may seem that, you know, we're taking a little steps.
1:35:31
So we are taking a little steps, and we're thinking about ways to make it a little bit better every single day.
1:35:36
And Right?
1:35:37
So I I will, you know, look at what happened notices need to be, right, in the language that people speaking.
1:35:43
I mean, I I speak English clearly sometimes.
1:35:45
People highly understand because of my accent.
1:35:47
So I know people who don't speak English, it's even harder.
1:35:50
Right?
1:35:51
So I understand that we need to make sure that we are sharing information in a way people speaking that they understand what we're saying to them and that we get their needs met.
1:35:58
So you are not on the same page, and so we'll do some wonderful things.
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What coordination is happening between the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and the Department of Education (DOE) regarding students transferring schools due to shelter transfers or closures?
