Skip to content
Know Your Rights
Category: COVID-19

NEW REPORT: Excluded in the Epicenter

  • Deborah L. Axt Board Member

We surveyed nearly 250 working-class immigrant, Black, and Brown New Yorkers about their experiences of this crisis. The results in our new report with our partners at Hester Street, “Excluded in the Epicenter,” reveal a dire situation.

Our communities are facing immense economic hardship. Nine out of ten respondents reported job and/or income loss in their household. And nine out of ten were worried about being able to pay rent.

They have been sick and they are grieving lost loved ones. While four out of ten respondents had a family member with COVID-19, less than half felt confident they received the medical attention they needed. One out of six have lost a family member.

Despite the concentrated impact of the crisis in our communities, residents have been overwhelmingly excluded from government solutions. While 84% of survey respondents over 18 reported being out of work (88% due to COVID-19), only 5% had received unemployment insurance in the past month, and only 15% of respondents reported receiving any government support at all during the crisis.
The report also illustrates the experiences of our members through their stories.

Members like José, an immigrant tenant in Elmhurst, Queens who has lived in the country since 2004. He works in construction and interior design but since the crisis, he says, “So many of us are without work, without any way to earn money. I’m alone, and it’s hard for me. And many more are supporting their children.” José has received neither cash assistance nor Unemployment Insurance from the government. He adds, “The Governor needs to take action to help tenants and cancel rent.”

Download the full report here to read more stories from our members and the policy demands that we are pushing forward to ensure that our communities survive this.

This report makes even clearer the need to tax billionaires in New York and create an Excluded Workers Fund to support people like José. Join us to demand action from Governor Cuomo today.

Thank you,