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Q&A
Council Member Brewer inquires about follow-up support for individuals assisted by social service organizations
7:14:50
ยท
164 sec
Council Member Gale A. Brewer asks District Attorney Alvin Bragg about the availability of follow-up support, including housing and psychiatric assistance, for individuals helped by organizations like the Fortune Society and the Bridge. DA Bragg responds by explaining the funding structure for these programs and acknowledging the need for more front-end funding to address mental health and housing shortages.
- Bragg mentions that the Navigator program is funded through asset forfeiture funds and is showing positive metrics.
- He suggests the possibility of seeking baseline funding for the Navigator program in future budgets.
- The discussion highlights the ongoing challenges in providing comprehensive support for individuals in need of social services and mental health care.
Gale A. Brewer
7:14:50
Oh, thank you very much.
7:14:52
I just wanna let you know Manhattan is in the house.
7:14:54
I wanna make that clear.
7:14:56
And second, I'm the one that's really got the, veterans court in Manhattan off the ground many years ago.
7:15:02
I think, somebody knows that.
7:15:04
And, my husband's a vet, so those are my bona fides just so we're clear.
7:15:09
I have a question from Manhattan and our wonderful DA.
7:15:12
So the hub, the Fortune Society, and the bridge are all doing great jobs.
7:15:17
My concern budget wise is when the individuals whom they are working with are identified, supported in some way, is there enough opportunity for follow-up?
7:15:30
Is there housing?
7:15:31
Is there a place for them to go that gets the psychiatric assistance and so on?
7:15:36
Because when I go out with BeHeard, I went out in Queens.
7:15:39
I snuck to Queens and I went out with the BeHard group.
7:15:42
And they really do not have places to put people after they are addressed in the, by the, EMS and by, social workers.
7:15:53
So that's my question.
7:15:54
Follow-up.
Alvin Bragg
7:15:55
Thank you, council member Brewer.
7:16:00
For the Navigators, so for Fortune and Bridge, they are procurements funded out of our asset forfeiture funds, and I think you'll hear from Fortune later.
7:16:11
I'm sure more funding would welcome, but it is a funded initiative, and it's going very well when we look at the touch points, the metrics that that we're looking at, connections, whether it's connections to other other providers, hygiene kits, food, and and particularly, and and Fortune can address this when they testified, housing.
7:16:34
I think the hubs, which are more, you know, basically coordination of mayoral agencies, suffer from the same shortages that you and I have talked about and you know well because you're so on the on the on the ground looking at these issues.
7:16:49
And so, yeah, a lot of the When I mentioned that if you go to criminal court in the morning, you can see the brokenness of our system, a lot of that, if we had front end funding addressing mental health and housing shortages, we would avoid those cases.
7:17:07
That's true.
7:17:08
So we certainly need it, I think, within the four corners of the Navigators program.
7:17:11
This was not for this year, but maybe for a future year as we have the body of work presented to baseline that in the budget.
7:17:21
I think it's important work that's advancing public safety.
7:17:24
We're happy to fund it out of forfeiture, and then come to the council at a later date showing the metrics and the success and ask for baseline funding.
Gale A. Brewer
7:17:34
Thank you.