MEETING DATE CHANGE/ELECTION ASSEMBLY

To accommodate changes in various meetings by the DCM (12/2) and CVD (12/4) committees we changed our General Assembly Meeting to Tuesday, December 9th. Information about the January election meeting will be handed out then. If you want to vote at our Election Assembly, please fill out this MOU and email it to brooklynltrgroup@gmail.com One vote per organization.

FEMA Recoupment Letters

Tips from our FEMA VAL re: Recoupment Letters. This is the beginning of a conversation with FEMA.  See their website or consult with your DCM for more details. If you have any questions about the recoupment process, please contact FEMA’s Recoupment Helpline at 1-800-816-1122 (TTY 1-800-462-7585 for persons who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or those with speech disabilities) between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday.

Client must: Respond to the Notice of Debt in a timely manner.

Client may: 1. Request the FEMA records pertaining to the recoupment if they are in doubt. 2. Appeal the recoupment if they think it is unwarranted. 3. Request a payment plan, a hardship waiver, or other modification.

Sandy Anniversary Reports

This report from LES Ready  and The Urban Justice Project contains findings about Lower East Side Sandy response. There are suggestions that may also apply to Brooklyn, particularly in the areas of communication, interaction with community based organizations,  NYCHA community centers and evacuations.

Read ANHD’s Sandy Recovery Report Card, which illuminates several areas of concern shared by our group: the length of time projected for the years it will take for Build It Back to complete its mission, the need for funding of temporary housing for those displaced during BIB repairs,  the looming insurance issues for those living in the 100 year flood zone,  and the still not quite visible free resources available to survivors. The board, our member organizations, city-wide long term recovery groups and various housing and legal service agencies have been working on understanding and strategizing on these concerns for the last year and a half.

New FEMA Flood Maps and Insurance

Be sure to check out The Center for NYC Neighborhood’s website for changes in the city’s flood maps.

Rebuild Updates

BREAKING: We are thrilled that All Hands Volunteers, through a generous grant from the American Red Cross, will be coming to Brooklyn to assist with voluntary rebuild. NB: there are job openings for skilled construction managers. Please share.

Holiday Volunteer Opportunities

World Cares Center is hosting Project Elf to serve Sandy survivors and their children this holiday season. One of the sites is in Brooklyn at St. Paul’s Church in Coney Island. Click here for more details or to sign up to volunteer.

Holiday Health Mental Health Resources 

VNSNY – Disaster Distress Response Program. This program will come to you in your home or community for Cognitive Behavior Therapy – Post Disaster Distress (CBT-PD). For information about VNSNY’s Disaster Distress Response Program, call 1-718-888-6955 – See more at the VNSNY website.

Disaster Distress Helpline: Call  1-800-985-5990, press “1” for Sandy specific counselor OR Text: 66746: “TalkWithUs” or “Hablanos”. You can also check out their website, facebook page or follow them on twitter.

MHA – NYC has a new online comprehensive internet-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ciCBT) program in English and Spanish. To access iHelp, visit mha.cobaltcbt.com or call 1-866-793-27665.  Cognitive behavioral therapy with telephone, text, and chat supports will be made available online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week free of charge.

CONEY ISLAND – Two new programs are now active. Coney Island Connections provides case management and mental health services out of 1205 Surf Ave., 2nd floor, contact Laura Joseph, ljoseph@lmcmc.com. NYC Department of Health at Coney Island Hospital has a youth program, free of charge for those who qualify. Contact Jeffrey Mathias at jmathias@health.nyc.gov for more information.

Urban Growth

A fascinating exhibit is now at MoMA.  Uneven Growth studies illegal apartments as an urban coping mechanism for the lack of affordable housing, with New York being one of the featured cities. FastCoDesign highlights the work of Situ Studio (Gowanus) in creating a heat map to log complaint calls to 311 that got forwarded to the Department of Buildings. They acknowledge that though this is “not a comprehensive sample” but “the only real indicators” that appear in public record.

Like the concept of negative space in art, the calls that never happened are the margins in which we work. Most, if not all of the undocumented population in Zone A, are not making those complaints. Nonetheless, the exhibit is notable for its relevance to our Hurricane Sandy work insofar as it describes similar apartment sharing situations seen in our coastal neighborhoods.

Board Updates

On November 14, the Board was notified that Rev. Dr. Cheryl Anthony resigned her board member position because of conflicts with current and future positions with the City of New York. We are grateful for her service as a public leader and behind the scenes during the first year of recovery after Superstorm Sandy.

Are you or your organization the next #Brooklyn Superhero(es)? We need help to finish our last five days of our phone banking campaign for #Sandy needs. It can be done at the office or at home w/ a desktop computer or laptop, cell phone or landline. All you need is an email address. A script will be provided. Your phone number will be blocked. Please email WilliamF@CAMBA.ORG if you’re available. Many thanks to FEMA’s Seth Golbey for assigning the Femacorps workers who have assisted us for the last three weeks. They have been diligent and compassionate callers.

EVENTS

Events below and others can be found on our calendar. Please bookmark and check regularly for updates.

*MEETING DAY CHANGE Our next meeting will be this Monday 11/3 at 9:30 am. Shorefront Y 3300 Coney Island Ave. Special guest is Joyce Kwon from the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, speaking on floodhelpny.org

CANARSIE:  Mytime, Inc. and the CDRC are hosting a press conference at City Hall “Cut the Red Tap: Fix our Homes” 12PM, Monday, 11/3.

Special Training for Brooklyn Long Term Recovery Group “Seamless Long Term Recovery” 11/4, by UMCOR’S experienced trainers.  Click here for more info.

Disaster Supervisor Resiliency Training with World Cares Center on Thursday, November 6.

Please send us events you’d like listed on our calendar with the subject: “Event Listing”.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

BIG NEWS Inspired by our colleagues at the Staten Island Long Term Recovery Organization, we have undertaken a canvassing campaign to all FEMA registrants in Brooklyn through November 7th. Our generous sponsor is CAMBA, who provided the calling software and office space. Volunteer support  for calling comes from FEMA’s Americorp, NHS of East Flatbush, the Center for NYC Neighborhoods, CAMBA and BLTRG board members.   We’d love more volunteers: all that is needed is a phone and a computer. Contact Will Fairhurst at WilliamF@CAMBA.ORG if you can donate time before 11/7.

Governor Cuomo’s NYS Storm Recovery Office announced Local Workforce Opportunities. All who are interested in employment opportunities associated with NY Rising programs can register by completing these forms and submitting your resume to McKissack and McKissack at NYStormrecoveryOpps@mckissack.com. For additional information on Section 3 Requirements please click here. This is in addition to the NYC resources  mentioned in the Sandy Money Trail newsletter earlier this week.

Be sure to check our blog posts for two press releases related to the last 10 months of the new board, DCM and CVD committees. Kudos to the hard work of these two committees to help restore residents to safe housing.

Ya Destiny Treasure Chest created a video titled “Dear Sandy”. Young journalists from the Uncommon Collegiate Charter High School interviewed residents from different Brooklyn neighborhoods. The beginning of the video is an eloquent testimony to the collaborative nature of post-disaster recovery for survivors. Ms. Venka acknowledges volunteers, NYC Department of Sanitation, The Salvation Army, FEMA, and Good Shepherd Services in getting her home. Don’t miss: the powerful testimony of the King Henry at 6:17.

Our friends at Good Jobs New York have a special section that follows the Sandy money trail. New York City will soon release the third and final amendment ($639,056,000) of  NYC’s  CDBG grant allotted to our city for Sandy recovery. You can track it by following them here. Plans for a storm resilient park in Greenpoint were highlighted in their report this week.

NYC Mayor’s Office at the Sandy Recovery and Opportunity Fair announced two initiatives for Sandy survivors for job development in Sandy-affected neighborhoods.

Proof of Loss deadline is this Wednesday 10/29, but we recommend that you get it in by Tuesday if you haven’t already filed your claims.

Floodhelpny.org has everything you want to know about flood insurance and your flood risk. It’s an easy to use resource from The Center for New York City Neighborhoods who have also published  Rising Tides, Rising Costs reveals how rising flood insurance costs and increased flood risk threaten both the housing affordability and safety of the over 400,000 New Yorkers who live in neighborhoods at high risk of flooding along and around New York City’s 520 miles of coastline.

Once again the Sandy Neighborhood Design Help Desk is reaching out in specific Brooklyn neighborhoods and begins in Canarsie on 10/28. The flyer is below. Appointments are recommended.

Red Hook observes the anniversary of Sandy’s landfall with a Barnacle Parade, Potluck supper and theater performance on Wednesday 10/29. Red Hook Initiative, Fifth Ave Committee, NYCHA and their partners are also hosting a job fair  on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

From artistic expressions to faith events, Brooklyn communities are observing the 2nd anniversary of Superstorm Sandy in their individual neighborhoods. Email brooklynltrgroup@gmail.com with “Sandy anniversary event” in the subject title if you’d like your event listed. Red Hook events can be accessed by following this link to RedHookWire. They are also listed on the Brooklyn Recovers calendar of events.  Additional events and neighborhood specific newsletters will be coming out over the next week.

ALL NYC

VNSNY – Disaster Distress Response Program. This program will come to you in your home or community for Cognitive Behavior Therapy – Post Disaster Distress (CBT-PD). For information about VNSNY’s Disaster Distress Response Program, call 1-718-888-6955 – See more at the VNSNY website.

Disaster Distress Helpline: Call  1-800-985-5990, press “1” for Sandy specific counselor OR Text: 66746: “TalkWithUs” or “Hablanos”. You can also check out their website, facebook page or follow them on twitter.

MHA – NYC has a new online comprehensive internet-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ciCBT) program in English and Spanish. To access iHelp, visit mha.cobaltcbt.com or call 1-866-793-27665.  Cognitive behavioral therapy with telephone, text, and chat supports will be made available online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week free of charge.

CONEY ISLAND – Two new programs are now active. Coney Island Connections provides case management and mental health services out of 1205 Surf Ave., 2nd floor, contact Laura Joseph, ljoseph@lmcmc.com. NYC Department of Health at Coney Island Hospital, Jeffrey Mathias, email: jmathias@health.nyc.gov

The Mental Health and Spiritual Care Committee of the Brooklyn Long Term Recovery Group is currently compiling a referral list for mental health and social service providers working in Sandy-affected areas of Brooklyn. With this in mind, we are asking mental health, emotional care, and social service providers to fill out this survey about their organizations and services (if you would like to be included on the referral list): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/175LOSburBhox-CHiLA2fCk8cpCU3GEc-aNc-nMf6Ijc/viewform

Once compiled, this referral list will be distributed among Disaster Case Managers and other front line service providers. We will also be putting together a flyer for the public from this information.

If you have questions or comments, please contact Jeff Mathias at jmathias@health.nyc.gov

Hope all is well,

The Mental Health and Spiritual Committee

FREE Disaster Case Management (DCMP)

Referrals to DCMP for disaster case management can be made  to (855) 258-0483.

Lastly, be sure to check our events page for all the Brooklyn and citywide 2nd year observances. There will be a separate newsletter detailing events later this week.

Volunteer one or two days this week  to help this Sandy survivor organization. See flyer for details. Call Vadim 718-648-7703 ext. 260 if you have any questions  or email info@kingsbayy.org for more details.