Advocacy Talking Points
Homelessness
Contacts:
Senator Chuck Schumer
Staff: Lane Bodian – [email protected]
Tel: (202) 224-9533
Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand
Staff: Margaret Franklin – [email protected]
Tel: (202) 224-4451
Congressman Brian Higgins
Staff: Carol Burns – [email protected]
Tel: (202) 225-3306
Congressman Chris Collins
Staff: Jeff Freeland – [email protected]
Tel (202)-225-5265
Encourage Congress to enact the President’s federal budget increase for homelessness
Points to Include:
- Ask them to support the President’s recommended allocation of $2.48 billion for homeless programs.
- Niagara County loses $1 million per year and Erie County loses $4 million per year as a result of funding cuts and restraints
- If federal funding is restored, this money could be brought back locally to serve those most in need.
- Increased funding would help us achieve the goals of ending Veteran’s homelessness by the end of 2015 and ending chronic homelessness by the end of 2017.
Community Policing
Contact:
Council Member David Rivera
1504 City Hall
Buffalo NY 14202
[email protected]
Points to include:
- Thank you for your leadership on the Police Oversight Committee
- The City should not approve a new contract for public housing policing unless it includes true community policing.
- The police should work closely with residents to make and implement a community policing plan that makes public housing safer while reducing the use of stop and frisk stops and trespass arrests.
- The best crime prevention will be better education, employment, arts, and recreation for public housing residents.
Language Access
Contact:
Mayor Byron Brown
201 City Hall
Buffalo NY 14202
[email protected]
Points to Include:
- Thank you for your great leadership in doing the New American study and in creating the Office of New Americans.
- I hope that your staff will work with the community to create a language access plan for the city.
- Good, well organized language policies help city staff do their jobs more efficiently and help residents get better services from the city.
- Please make sure that the police will move quickly on improvements in how they serve people with limited English proficiency.
Transportation
Contacts:
Senator Robert Ortt
[email protected]
716-434-0680
Temporary President and Senate Majority Leader – Dean Skelos
[email protected]
(516) 766-8383
State Assembly Speaker – Carl Heastie
[email protected]
Encourage New York State to honor $10 million funding request for NFTA to increase affordability and accessibility of transportation
Points to include:
- As the location of employment has dispersed throughout the region, transportation has become a basic need similar to food, clothing, and shelter.
- In Western New York, transportation issues cause people with low incomes to miss appointments, job interviews, and forego work altogether.
- There are two ways to achieve better access through public transit. We can enhance the existing fixed route services by increasing the number of routes and frequency of buses, and we can provide para-transit services like those already used to help seniors. HOWEVER, this requires more funding such as the $10 million being requested by NFTA; greater funding for public transportation has been a request of urban planners and environmentalists for decades but generally has been ignored.
