Opinions

Housing is the Next Step to Mitigating Coronavirus

     “I am so worried about the potential impact of the corona-virus on people experiencing homelessness—not just because of the harm to people who are especially vulnerable, but also because of the very real potential for even more stigma and criminalization,” said Maria Foscarinis, Executive Director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. “This crisis makes crystal clear that ensuring stable housing not helps the people most directly affected, it also benefits entire communities,” she added. […]

Opinions

We Count Too

     The last time the census happened in 2010, I was a 16-year-old high school student and I made sure that we definitely did a better job of filling out the census that year. I remember actually filling it out together with my mom and what caught my eye about the census that year was the questions they asked about race. […]

Opinions

Dear Black People: Coronavirus Will Kill You

     Melanin is not Vibranium and America isn’t Wakanda even in the Marvel Universe, so  why some Black people, who are often disproportionately impacted by medical conditions for a myriad of reasons, believe they are immune to coronavirus is beyond me? For those who think Idris Elba isn’t “Black, Black,” the British-born brother’s parents are from Sierra-Leone and Ghana meaning he is African in addition to be a Black Brit which makes him unequivocably “Black, Black.” […]

Opinions

New York City is Moving on Up

     In December 2020, Mayor DeBlasio and the New York City Council announced more than 150 awardees of the Complete Count Fund. Each awardee received from $15,000 to $250,000 to engage in direct mobilization around the Census in their neighborhoods. The awardees and volunteers are known as Neighborhood Organizing Census Committees (NOCC). The organizations were strategically chosen to serve the most hard-to-count neighborhoods in the five boroughs. […]

Opinions

Panic buying adds additional stress in COVID-19 pandemic

     In some ways, the trend of panic buying is a way for people to take back control in uncertain times. Many psychologists have suggested that panic buying can be understood as playing to our three fundamental psychology needs in (1) autonomy—as in the need for control; (2) relatedness—better defined as “we shopping,” rather than “me shopping,” and (3) competence—whereby a level of accomplishment is achieved and making a purchase gives people a sense that they are “smart shoppers.” […]