“The arts are a form of embodied play that surpasses verbal processing and allows us to explore, connect with ourselves and others, and ultimately build or rebuild the muscles of imagination when life circumstances or the experience of trauma has taken them away.”
When COVID-19 hit, policymakers saw an opportunity: The city had interconnected affordable housing and homelessness crises; the city also had hundreds of empty hotels hemorrhaging cash. But a year after the state passed a law funding the conversion of hotels to affordable housing, not a single one has happened. The experience of the Paramount Hotel on West 46th Street illustrates why.
After two pandemic years that wrought havoc on all education but particularly on arts classes, advocates and educators have mounted a drive to win more—and more permanent—funding for visual art, music, dance and theater in the city’s public schools.
“Two years into the pandemic, the city is moving ahead with a return to ‘normal,’ but the pre-pandemic real estate market’s ‘normal’ is not something to which we should aspire to.”
More than 700 people staying on trains or at end-of-line stations accepted placement in a temporary shelter in the first two months of Adams’ so-called “Subway Safety Plan,” according to Homeless Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins. But he would not say how many stick around.
Black, Hispanic and Asian children in the city are around three times more likely to have lost a parent or caregiver compared to their white peers, a new analysis reveals.
Un nuevo análisis revela que los niños negros, hispanos y asiáticos en la ciudad tienen una probabilidad alrededor de tres veces mayor de haber perdido un padre o cuidador, en comparación con sus pares blancos.
The reality is that many older adults have already survived trauma—and those experiences carry so much wisdom, perspective, and resilience to share as a result. Investments to increase access to mental health support for seniors would go a long way.
“Coming out of this pandemic, addressing our affordable housing and homeless crisis is something that the mayor should be meeting with some urgency and a major expansion of resources,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of New York Housing Conference.
Brooklyn Councilmember Chi Ossé wants to commit 1 percent of New York City’s budget to the arts sector, which shed more than 208,000 jobs during the early months of the pandemic.
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