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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Miral Abbas, Health Partnerships Coordinator at Coalition for Asian American Children and Families
4:43:27
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129 sec
Miral Abbas from the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) urges the council to increase funding for the Access Health NYC initiative to $4,500,000 in the FY 2026 budget. This increase is crucial for supporting community organizations that provide health education and outreach to New York City's most vulnerable communities.
- Access Health supports 37 community-based organizations, led by four key agencies including CACF.
- CACF's 2019 study found over 80% of organizations reported clients opting out of government benefits due to immigration concerns.
- Community organizations are responding to decreasing healthcare enrollment and in-person visits by increasing culturally and linguistically accessible outreach.
Miral Abbas
4:43:27
Thank you Chairs Brennan and Schillman for the opportunity to testify.
4:43:31
My name is Marala Bass and I'm the Health Partnerships Coordinator at the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families or CACF.
4:43:37
I'm here to urge the council to increase funding to $4,500,000 for our Access Health NYC initiative in the fiscal year twenty twenty six budget.
4:43:45
This will help Access Health's community organizations increase its critical health education outreach to New York City's most hard to reach communities.
4:43:52
An enhancement right now is critical as those who are immigrant, undocumented, limited English proficient, and struggling with poverty are feeling increasingly disconnected from and fearful of the approaching public health system and are having their health care threatened.
4:44:05
Access Health is a citywide initiative that supports 37 community based organizations and is led by four key agencies, one of which is CACF which advocates every day for equity and opportunity for marginalized AAPI children and families.
4:44:17
Access Health supports many organizations who are being threatened with cuts critical health services by the federal administration and who are conducting necessary health outreach to dispel misinformation, fear and current chilling effects.
4:44:28
A CACF study done in partnership with DOHMH in 2019 found that over 80% of organizations reported that they had clients who had opted out of multiple government benefits during the first Trump administration as immigrants were worried that utilization of health benefits would have disqualified them from a family member.
4:44:45
We are already seeing this today as our organizations are reporting decreasing health care enrollment numbers and decreasing in person visits to their centers for necessary health resources and connections while increasing legal consults regarding immigration statuses.
4:44:58
Recent reporting also finds that immigrants prefer these community based clinics and centers for their healthcare and Access Health community organizations are accordingly responding by increasing their direct outreach and methods that are culturally and linguistically accessible and accurate.
4:45:12
Organizations also expended their efforts during the COVID-nineteen pandemic to meet that increasing community demand and even then Access Health didn't receive any fiscal enhancement.
4:45:21
We are currently in fearful times and our basic healthcare rights are being threatened and community organizations such as those in Access Health are deeply rooted in the communities they serve and therefore possess unique insights on how to engage and maintain connections with individuals who are hard to reach.
4:45:35
Thank you.