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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Mark Papish, Supervisor of Government and Community Affairs at Center for Family Representation
4:07:25
·
125 sec
Mark Papish from the Center for Family Representation (CFR) testified about their services and funding needs. He highlighted CFR's role as an indigent defense provider for families facing ACS investigations and prosecutions, and emphasized the importance of their Home for Good program which provides holistic support to clients.
- CFR serves thousands of clients annually, with over 90% being people of color and all facing poverty.
- The Home for Good program acts as a one-stop shop for clients, addressing multiple issues including ACS investigations, landlord-tenant disputes, and immigration concerns.
- CFR is requesting $425,000 for the Home for Good program and $150,000 for Dove services to support victims of domestic violence.
Mark Papish
4:07:25
Thank you Deputy Speaker Ayala and Chair Brannan for the opportunity to speak today, as well as Councilmember Brewer.
4:07:31
My name is Mark Papish, I'm the supervisor of Government and Community Affairs at the Center for Family Representation, also known as CFR.
4:07:38
CFR is the assigned county wide indigent defense provider providing interdisciplinary legal services to families facing ACS and investigations and prosecutions in Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, and parts of The Bronx.
4:07:52
In the last fiscal year alone, we served thousands of clients, many of whom could have been your constituents, particularly yours, Deputy Speaker Ayala.
4:08:01
Over 90% of our clients are black, brown, or people of color.
4:08:04
All of our clients are victims of poverty, as we would say.
4:08:09
We also provide youth representation in parts of Manhattan, Queens, and The Bronx.
4:08:14
But I'm actually not here today to speak about our family defense model, but rather our complimentary services which are in desperate need of support from legal services for the working poor and legal services for low income New Yorkers.
4:08:25
As many of you know, coordination of services is a critical aspect of any functioning social safety net.
4:08:31
In particular, when that coordinates, causes coordination between various legal service and social service organizations.
4:08:37
At CFR, we are thrilled to have the Home for Good unit.
4:08:41
What this means is that when clients come to us facing ACS investigations, they're coming to us with usually a number of other issues including landlord tenant issues, including immigration issues, including issues navigating the social safety net.
4:08:53
What Home for Good allows us to do is just be a one stop shop for all those issues.
4:08:58
You come in with an ACS issue but you also have a non payment case, we'll take care of it.
4:09:04
And we're incredibly proud of this.
4:09:06
My apologies on being a little nervous.
4:09:08
It's very wet outside and it kinda ruined my notes.
4:09:11
But all that to say, getting to the ask, we're asking for 425,000 for our Home for Good program, which offers holistic support for parents and youth, in addition to 150,000 in Dove services to continue our deep support for victims of DV.
4:09:27
Thank you for your time, and hope you better next time.