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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Norma Gines, Member of the Public
5:45:04
ยท
87 sec
Norma Gines, a single mother of three, shared her personal connection to the issues surrounding Rikers Island and advocated for increased funding for rehabilitation programs. She emphasized the need to defund Rikers and allocate more resources to organizations that support formerly incarcerated individuals.
- Gines's children's father was formerly incarcerated and shared "horrific stories" about his time at Rikers Island 15 years ago.
- She highlighted the success of programs like the Osborne Association, which helped her children's father obtain construction licenses and housing.
- Gines called for more funding for organizations that provide support and opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals, citing their potential for creating success stories.
Norma Gines
5:45:04
Oh, sorry about that.
5:45:05
My name is Norma Gines.
5:45:06
I'm a single mother.
5:45:07
I have three children.
5:45:09
Two of them are witch of the spectrum.
5:45:12
And my children's father is a formerly incarcerated individual.
5:45:17
He told me about the horrific stories that he shared with me fifteen years ago about how his time in Rikers was.
5:45:24
And just hearing the young man's story right now to get me a little bit emotional because of the fact that, you know, living in The Bronx, I used to live in Long Island, I never had experienced or known of anybody that experienced Rikers or just injustice that are generally done in the five boroughs of of, you know, of this New York City.
5:45:46
And so I just wanted to express that, you know, I wanted to say that to defund Rikers right now, we need more funding for organizations like, for example, what my baby's father was involved in, which was Osborne Association.
5:46:06
And he took advantage of that program.
5:46:08
He was part of like, he was able to get his construction license and all this OSHA testing, and it helped him.
5:46:16
You know, they provided him with home housing and I feel that there's more success stories out there through this particular organizations and more organizations like that and I would really appreciate it if we can try to have more funding for that.
5:46:30
Again, thank you so much for your time.