For press inquiries: Sophie Ellman-Golan | sophie@jfrej.org

Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ) Respond to Budget Deal Increasing Funding for the NYPD

The 2017-2021 City Council’s Final Budget Betrays New Yorkers, Continues To Invest In a Broken System While Underfunding Social Services

New York, NY -- Following the passage of the New York City budget for the Fiscal Year 2022, Sophie Ellman-Golan, the Jews For Racial & Economic Justice Director of Strategic Communications issued the following statement:

“After weeks of dodging their constituents and waiting until the eleventh hour to meet the deadline, the New York City Council and the Mayor finally passed a city budget for 2022. The deal they landed on was a gift to police unions — and a stab in the back of every New Yorker who has been victimized by the NYPD or lost a loved one to police violence, everyone who marched last summer after George Floyd was murdered and in the year since, and every New Yorker who wants our city to invest in real solutions to end violence and deliver safety.”

“This is the legacy the outgoing City Council leaves behind: pouring our tax dollars into a failed public safety paradigm while slashing the budgets of after-school programs; handing the NYPD a blank check while refusing to adequately fund community-based anti-violence organizations that have real plans to stop hate violence; responding to incidents of hate violence with calls for more policing, when we know we can’t arrest our way out of antisemitism or anti-Asian violence; failing to invest in real, long-term solutions for people in crisis.”

“Luckily, this is the last budget this unproductive and cowardly City Council will pass. In 2022, we will swear in a new City Council with numerous bold leaders who believe in governing in partnership with the communities most impacted by policy changes; progressive and socialist champions who prioritize funding care and communities, not cops and developers.”

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Jews for Racial & Economic Justice is a 32-year-old grassroots, membership-based organization for Jewish New Yorkers to organize alongside our neighbors and allies to fight for a New York where every community has the freedom, opportunity, and resources to thrive.