ALBANY — New York is partnering with the federal government to open mass COVID vaccination sites in “socially vulnerable communities” to address racial health disparities, Gov. Cuomo announced Wednesday. The new sites, scheduled to open Feb. 24, will include one at York College in Jamaica, Queens and another at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, and will use additional allotments of doses from .
619 S White St.
The new District Attorney’s Office transition team held a virtual forum on Saturday (Jan. 23) for the public to discuss their concerns and priorities with the DA’s office, now led by the newly elected Jason Williams.
The theme of Saturday’s zoom meeting was “Protect Vulnerable Communities.” This is also one of the working groups in his transition team. Attendees brought up a wide range of concerns: police treatment of sexual assault survivors, policing in schools, racism in policing and the treatment of homeless people.
The working group led by Madeleine Landrieu, the Loyola Law School dean and a former judge, and Mary Claire Landry, the director of the New Orleans Family Justice Center aims to enhance witness and victim support, address threats to vulnerable communities, increase connection to community and care, and addressing child abuse and intimate partner violence.
2020 was a year many of us would like to forget, but its effects are likely to be felt well into the new year.
From the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, to a string of horrifying incidents involving racism and police violence that have fueled a massive new social justice movement and calls for anti-racist reform, to the historic wildfire season that seems to signal our ever-changing climate, to a turbulent presidential election that reflected our deeply divided nation, there are plenty of stories still playing out or waiting to happen as the new year unfolds.
Here are some of the stories we ll be following closely:
By Craig Lewis Ven. Pomnyun Sunim, center, with JTS volunteers. Image courtesy of JTS Korea
The Buddhist humanitarian relief organization Join Together Society Korea (JTS Korea), founded by the renowned Korean Seon (Zen) monk Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, is spreading the warmth of compassion through a US$10,000 project to distribute coal briquettes to vulnerable households across South Korea as the country settles into another cold winter season, when temperatures can sometimes drop as low as –20ºC.
As recently as 30 years ago, lignite coal briquettes were the main fuel for heating and cooking in Korean households, and are still relied upon by some impoverished communities. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, donations of briquettes for underprivileged families nationwide have dropped to a third of levels recorded a year earlier.