image_50446337

March: Advocacy Day in Albany

by Family and Community SupportNews and Events
image_50779905

On March 14th, a group of Center for Family Life staff and program participants in our Community Study Circles ventured to Albany to present their advocacy priorities to elected officials!

Through funding provided by the Thriving Families, Safer Children Youth, Family, and Community initiative, we offered a series of Chinese and Spanish Community Study Circle (CSC) workshops, which were co-created and led by program staff with lived experience. These eight-week workshops used a popular education methodology to introduce community participants to community-specific and citywide data on education, housing, economic development, environmental issues, public sanitation, food access and child welfare participation. Group members explored the “story” that data tells about community experiences, contextualizing this data “story” in their own immediate and personal life experiences. Workshops culminated in final presentations to policy makers and elected officials, where participants shared their personal experiences and ideas for community strengthening!

CSC Chinese Group 1 (2)

A significant highlight of our Community Study Circle program was our advocacy trip this March. CFL staff, including CSC group leaders, and Spanish and Chinese program participants travelled to Albany where they engaged directly with state officials to discuss policy recommendations and to elevate community priorities. Our team was incredibly grateful to meet with the offices of Senators Iwen Chu, John C. Liu, and Roxanne Persaud. Together, our team presented the collective concerns of the Chinese and Spanish communities in Sunset Park.

image_67198209

After their day of advocacy, we asked participants to share their reflections. Here is what they chose to share:

“Having participated in study circles at CFL gave me the opportunity to develop my leadership skills and proudly represent our Latino community in Albany. It was an experience that will be unforgettable for me. Our voice was heard, we carried a message and we were heard. Now it is up to the senators to work for our needs so that our community’s goals can be met!”

“For me, it was a wonderful trip and a great learning experience. It was my first time going to Albany, I am satisfied with my small contribution to our community. It is a phenomenal experience because of La Union Hace la Fuerza (strength in unity). God willing, the official electors can commit themselves to work for us and provide us with support for each topic and solution that we have presented.”

“It was great working with the Spanish speaking group, which allowed two marginalized groups to unite for such special cause. Thank you for inviting me!” 

image_50743297

This trip truly emphasizes the power of diverse communities coming together to expand their reach and impact. We are so proud of our CFL staff and program participants for voicing their concerns and advocating for changes in our community and throughout NYC!

Study Circle participants at the library preparing proposals to share with official electors

September: Thriving Families Safer Children

by News and Events

Thriving Families Safer Children is a project designed to promote solidarity between community members and to build their capacity to use available community level data to support advocacy and to demand the dismantling of unjust social policies.

This project engages Community Study Circles comprised of diverse groups of Sunset Park residents. These groups, which meet weekly, engage a popular education methodology and are facilitated by community member Zenayda Bonilla, who serves as the Peer Advocate. Participants in Study Circles begin with an exploration of their own migration and settlement stories. In this way, Study Circles become a safe and welcoming place for community members where they can be introduced to and become conversant in publicly available data. The group uses the data to identify the ways that immigrant and BIPOC residents are disparately impacted by economic and social challenges. Specific attention is given to data on economic and social factors which result in disproportionate involvement in the child welfare system. Attention is paid to interpreting data on child welfare investigations and child removals with a goal of uncovering “the story” that data can tell us about human experience.

Participants consider how racial disparities contribute to the involvement of the child welfare system and how to promote a more equitable future
Participants consider how racial disparities contribute to the involvement of the child welfare system and how to promote a more equitable future

Participants in these groups look at data on socioeconomic status of members within their neighborhood alongside comparative data showing the socioeconomic status of people in adjacent communities. They also review data on the number of people living in poverty, relying on public assistance, receiving Medicaid, as well as the level of education reached by members of their communities. This data is personal to those reviewing it as it represents their own and their neighbors’ situations and experiences.

 

 

Participants consider data on poverty, unemployment, and those experiencing rent burden to understand how these challenges connect to broader issues
Participants consider data on poverty, unemployment, and those experiencing rent burden to understand how these challenges connect to broader issues

Participants share what they learn with others in their neighborhood and present their observations and proposals for positive change to elected officials and advocacy groups in New York City. Further, Study Circles give those impacted the most by the child welfare system the resources and understanding necessary to challenge the system’s policies. Zenayda Bonilla and Julia Jean-Francois have discussed the problems associated with the current child welfare system in their recently published article “Reflections on our Work in Community- Troubling the Frame,” which is part of the Summer 2022 edition of the journal Family Integrity & Justice Quarterly. Julia Jean-Francois has also written about this issue in her chapter, “Community Based Organizations and Public Child Welfare Authorities: The Challenge of Partnerships,” in the recently published book Leadership Reflections: How to Create and Sustain Reforms in Children and Family Services.

Zenayda Bonilla
Zenayda Bonilla

In their article in the Family Integrity & Justice Quarterly Bonilla and Jean-Francois write about reform efforts in the child welfare system in New York City and how these have impacted Black and Brown communities. They bring attention to the long history of community surveillance and family separation and investigate the current and historical conditions which perpetuate disproportionate participation in the child welfare system. They suggest that the solution to this is to support community driven advocacy that focuses on the wellbeing of communities as a whole. To read more about this, click the link here.

Cover of Family Integrity & Justice Quarterly Summer 2022 Edition
Cover of Family Integrity & Justice Quarterly Summer 2022 Edition

Thriving Families Safer Children supports community members to dismantle barriers that perpetuate inequity in their neighborhoods through data driven advocacy that is framed and carried out by the community itself and that can promote a just and inclusive New York City. 

Â