Tune in to a free NYC Open Data Week presentation on misleading maps from NYC’s Department of Homeless Services – Monday, March 7th, at 7:00 PM
On Monday (March 7th) at 7:00 PM, join HNBA’s Vice President – Shawn Hill – in a presentation exploring how the Department of Homeless Services produced and distributed misleading maps that purposefully distorted the distribution of homeless shelters in New York City.
With the release of the report “Turning the Tide on Homelessness in New York City” the Mayor and NYC’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) proposed a new approach to address the homeless crisis. Near the end of this landmark report was the map: “Cluster Sites and Hotels Used for Shelter by Community District” which served as evidence of shelter distribution in 2017 and as the baseline the administration intended to change.
This NYC Open Data Week presentation will examine the polemical subtext of this map by comparing it to contemporaneous maps produced by the New York City Council, a subsequent 2021 DHS map, as well as other maps created from New York City’s Open Data portal. By questioning and comparing the cartographic choices that shaped the “Cluster Sites and Hotels” map, this map can be better understood not only in terms of what it visualized but also what it obscured, and serve as a case study of how interrogating maps and cartographic choices should be part of the toolkit an informed citizenry brings to all received data visualizations.
The event is free and you are welcome to join. Click HERE to learn more and register.
Be The Change – Join The County Committee
You and your block neighbors are invited to run for County Committee in Assembly District 68 and 70. We recommend 4 members of each building or block associations to run together, as you only need to submit one form with ~30-60 signatures.
Click Here to learn more and get started.
● There are ~70 Election Districts (ED) in each Assembly District (AD). Each ED has 4 country member seats. There are ~500 country committee members in AE 68 and 70, Central and East Harlem
● There are 12 Assembly Districts in Manhattan.
● Each Assembly District are divided into 4 parts, A, B, C, D. Each of them have a male and female district leader. For example the district leader of district 68 part D are Sharese Debouse and William Smith
● Only people who live in the election district can vote for the candidate of a specific election district, BUT, anyone registered as a democrat who lives in Assembly District (AD) can be a county committee member of any Election Districts inside the Assembly District (AD). For example, if I live on 125th Street and Park Avenue, I can run for the county committee seat on 110th street and Park Avenue
What is the responsibility of a county committee member? Very simple, when ask, come out to vote in special elections. You can do more if you like to help turnout voters, but there is no obligation. Many existing member do little work. Do you know Brian Benjamin, Cordell Cleare and Eddie Gibbs first became Democratic Party Nominee by votes at the county committee and not the primary election? About ⅓ of current NYC legislators are selected by the county committee!!
How to get elected? By end of March, on a petition form, produce 30 +signatures of residents of registered democratic party who live in the election district you want to join. Note, all 4 candidates can be on one petition form, so you and your block association or building neighbors can just collect one set of signature. You can collect signature right at your building’s lobby!
Filming: The Wedding Factory
Earlier this week, a Dominican film crew was on Madison Avenue filming a production titled The Wedding Factory.
$18/Hour Jobs for Harlem Teens
We are thrilled to be bringing back our tremendously popular Harlem Youth Gardener program
Please help us spread the word to our local teens about this great paid learning opportunity
Here is the link to the application.