Governor Kathy Hochul visits Life of Hope

Brooklyn, New York:  On Tuesday, September 21, 2021, Governor Kathy Hochul visits Cristo Rey Brooklyn & Life of Hope “The People’s Center” to announce her “Vax to School” initiative.  We want our children to be in a safe and healthy school environment. Life of Hope is one of the 120 pop-up mobile sites as part of its Community Action Program. 

 We also thank community leaders who joined us: Mr. Bill Ford, President of CRB and Deanna Philippe, Principal of CRB, Fr. Juan Luxama, Chair of LOH, Dr. Christina Pardo, Deputy Director of LOH, CM Mathieu Eugene, CM Farah Louis,  Office of Public Advocate, NYS Department of Health & NYC Department of Education to discuss the importance of this vax initiative.  

 The Community Action Program, which was organized in partnership with the NYC Public Advocates Office, was developed in response to the urgent needs of the people of Central Brooklyn.  This community has been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the social as well as financial impact.  This is further compounded by the fact that almost 50% of the population are immigrants and may not be eligible or have access to information and services.  Central Brooklyn is also home to the largest Haitian population in New York which has experienced an unprecedented traumatic event including human crisis, an Earthquake of following public health crisis, violence and now migrant crisis. 

Life of Hope, being the ‘Bridge to Equity’ for our community has witnessed firsthand the health, financial and social impacts.  We understand the barriers that our community faces and have organized the Community Action Program to bring all the services and information our community needs.  The program includes COVID-19 vaccine and testing, food box distribution, mental health support, emergency rental assistance counseling, excluded workers fund, social needs assessment, health screenings and more.  The program will take place every Thursday for 6 weeks.