Voices Of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY)

Voices Of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY) Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Voices Of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY), 300 Douglass Street, New York, NY.

VOCAL New York is a statewide grassroots membership organization building power among low-income people who are living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, drug use and incarceration working to create healthy and just communities.

This is the last week of the State Legislative Session, and our Homelessness Union member-leaders are still making calls...
06/02/2026

This is the last week of the State Legislative Session, and our Homelessness Union member-leaders are still making calls to legislators demanding that they pass our bill. In 2026, internet access should be a human right!

We cannot continue to allow homeless New Yorkers to be left out of NY State's effort to bridge the digital divide. We need the connectivity to find permanent housing, jobs, to access benefits, seeking medical care, and to be in communication with family and friends.

We will continue our fight until this bill is passed and the Governor signs this legislation into law.

06/02/2026

Joining allies at Freedom Agenda ahead of NYC Council budget hearing to call on the City to cut the DOC budget for deadly jails and invest in our communities

đź“Ł Access, Access, Access to the WiFi! đź“Ł Password, Password, Password to the WiFi! Our Homelessness Union alongside Coali...
05/27/2026

đź“Ł Access, Access, Access to the WiFi!
đź“Ł Password, Password, Password to the WiFi!

Our Homelessness Union alongside Coalition for the Homeless rallied with our bill sponsors & demanding passage of our bill before the end of the legislative session on June 4th.

The Empire State Development Corporation allocated $20 million to support installation of WiFi in shelters statewide. Our legislation will require the following:

1. Data protections so that no one monitors your Internet usage.
2. Establish broadband requirements so that residents aren't stuck with crappy Internet speed.
3. Mandates WiFi in shelters

Yesterday we hit the Capital building in Albany to push for the passage of the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act. For...
05/20/2026

Yesterday we hit the Capital building in Albany to push for the passage of the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act. Formerly incarcerated New Yorkers, wrongful convictions attorneys and law makers came together to call on the legislature to act. After 6 years of drafting, rallying and building public support it’s time for Albany to pass this bill.
The challenging wrongful convictions act would create a legitimate path for wrongfully convicted New Yorkers to get back into court to make their case for exoneration. It would provide access to counsel, a right to a hearing, discovery and appeals, the removal of procedural bars and the guilty plea bar, and would require data collection and transparency. New Yorkers are being failed! It’s time to act.

CityFHEPS is the second largest rental voucher program in the country — and it works. Record numbers of New Yorkers have...
05/18/2026

CityFHEPS is the second largest rental voucher program in the country — and it works. Record numbers of New Yorkers have moved out of shelter and into stable housing because of it.

Mayor Mamdani’s executive budget, released this week, doesn’t include funding to expand the program — despite the City Council passing expansion into law in 2023 and Mamdani promising to implement it as a candidate.

The administration is working on reforms to make CityFHEPS run more efficiently. We support that. But reforms and expansion aren’t either/or. New Yorkers experiencing homelessness deserve both.

VOCAL-NY member Milton Perez said it best: the program exists to fight homelessness AND prevent eviction. Right now, only half of that promise is being kept.

đź“° Full story: (link in stories)

New Yorkers rallied across the state today — from Buffalo to Long Island — in honor of incarcerated mothers and their lo...
05/08/2026

New Yorkers rallied across the state today — from Buffalo to Long Island — in honor of incarcerated mothers and their loved ones, calling on the state to pass Elder Parole and Fair & Timely Parole to give people a chance to make their case to the parole board.
We are fighting for hope, not despair!
Women inside deserve to have a future!
❤️

In 2021, VOCAL-NY members who had lived through homelessness went to Albany and fought for the Housing Our Neighbors wit...
05/06/2026

In 2021, VOCAL-NY members who had lived through homelessness went to Albany and fought for the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act (HONDA) — a law to convert vacant buildings into permanently affordable homes. It took years of organizing and grassroots persistence. And it won.

This week, Governor Hochul announced that Gateway Apartments in Rochester is breaking ground — 129 affordable homes in a building that sat empty for 20 years. It’s the first HONDA office-to-residential conversion outside NYC.

Organizing is slow work. But it moves us toward the world we want.

Today, with the leadership of Council Member Pierina Sanchez, Speaker Julie Menin, members of the Progressive Caucus & B...
04/30/2026

Today, with the leadership of Council Member Pierina Sanchez, Speaker Julie Menin, members of the Progressive Caucus & Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus stood with our Homelessness Union to reiterate our two-fold demand:

1. Mayor Mamdani must drop the CityFHEPS lawsuit
2. And expansion funding must be included in the FY27 budget

42,000 families have been evicted from their homes since July 2023, when the Council first overrode then Mayor Adams' veto—and 25,000 of these evictions could have been prevented.

More than 100,000 people are now sleeping in NYC’s shelter system each night, many of whom remain ineligible for CityFHEPS while the lawsuit drags on. The most marginalized New Yorkers need CityFHEPS to access stabilized housing and prevent eviction.

No more waiting, no more delays, expand !

04/24/2026

It has been 445 days since promised to drop the CityFHEPS lawsuit and expand access to housing vouchers for people living in shelters and rent-burdened tenants in housing court. It has been ONE month since the Mayor filed an appeal blocking this expansion and delaying families’ access to stable housing.

There are over 100,000 people sleeping in shelters on average each night.

It is critical for the Mamdani administration to honor its commitments and follow through on this expansion. The time for promises is over—New Yorkers deserve action now.

We are joining our coalition partners to call on the Mayor to honor his promise, drop the legal challenge, and ensure CityFHEPS expansion moves forward. Families in New York City cannot wait any longer.

04/22/2026

keep your word and . There's still time for you to fulfill your promise and provide relief and assistance to homeless and rent burdened households. The more we drag on this fight, shelter stays will increase and evictions will continue to rise. Drop the lawsuit and expand CityFHEPS.

Address

300 Douglass Street
New York, NY
11217

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm

Telephone

+17188029540

Website

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