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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Donna Hylton, Founder and President of A Little Piece of Light
7:04:20
·
123 sec
Donna Hylton, founder of A Little Piece of Light, testified about the need for more support for marginalized communities, particularly women, trans people, and veterans. She criticized the allocation of $1.5 billion to the Department of Corrections and requested 10% of that budget for community organizations.
- Highlighted the lack of services for women and the closure of their housing initiative due to lack of support
- Mentioned their involvement in Rikers Island closure efforts and passing parole legislation
- Called for stronger focus on "boots on the ground" organizations doing daily work in communities
Donna Hylton
7:04:20
Good afternoon.
7:04:21
Can does can everyone hear me?
Justin Brannan
7:04:23
Yes.
7:04:24
Go ahead.
Donna Hylton
7:04:25
Alright.
7:04:25
Thank you.
7:04:26
Thank you, counsel, for having this hearing and having me present at this hearing.
7:04:31
My apologies for not being in person.
7:04:33
But I'm out here boots on the ground.
7:04:35
I'm Donna Hilton.
7:04:36
I am the founder and president of A Little Piece of Light.
7:04:40
We are woman led organizations that focuses on the gaps that continue to exist with people that have been traumatized.
7:04:46
And that includes, which I've not really heard so much about right now at this hearing today, trans, people, black, women, black girls, people who have been in our military, who continue to, face obstacles and and and issues.
7:05:02
And I just wanna focus really quickly, like my colleague said earlier, the 1,500,000,000 that's being allocated to the Department of Corrections to continue a climate of violence and just lack of, support and and services that people who have I've I've identified really need.
7:05:23
And so we've been fighting for a few years now just to get 10%, allocated 10% of that budget so we can continue to support the most marginalized of communities that that permeate our city.
7:05:35
We deal with people that are in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, The Bronx, and all over New York, and we continue to have the least amount of services, especially for women.
7:05:47
Right now, we have a housing initiative that's being shut down as I speak.
7:05:51
I have to close them down because we don't have that support.
7:05:54
We have been instrumental with the closure of Rikers in getting, receivership.
7:05:59
We've also been instrumental in passing the largest parole legislation in the country to shut down six prisons and to release those people from out from custody who do not need to be incarcerated.
7:06:11
And so I'm saying here today that we need to focus there needs to be a stronger focus on boots on the ground organizations that are out there in the streets doing this work daily, responding,