Make Calls to the Mayor & City Council to Fund Community-Based Hate Violence Prevention Programs!

There’s no time to lose! We need to let the NYC Mayor and City Council Members know how important these programs are to their constituents.

The New York City budget process will end sometime this June, and the choices our Council Members make will define New York’s approach to community safety for the next fiscal year. While the NYPD has been unsuccessful at preventing and addressing hate violence, we and our partners are advocating for funding to community-based hate violence prevention programs that will make our communities safer.

Instructions

Thanks for taking the time to call your City Council Member and/or the Speaker and Mayor in support of our Freedom to Thrive campaign demands for safety for ALL. If you don't know who your Council Member is, you can enter your home address and identify them here. The widget will take you to the Council Member's website, where you'll be able to find the phone number to reach their office!

We ask that you prioritize your calls as follows:

  • First, call your council member;

  • Second, call Council Speaker Adrienne Adams;

  • Third, send a message to Mayor Eric Adams using this form;

  • Last, if you have time, call other Democratic city council members

We’ve drafted a detailed script below, which you can follow word-for-word! Take a deep breath, smile, and relax your shoulders :)

CALL SCRIPT

  • Hi, this is [YOUR NAME]. I live in [Council Member]’s district and am a member of Jews For Racial & Economic Justice. I hope you’re doing well.


Pause, take a breath, and wait for them to answer/consent to talking!

  • I am calling to voice my support for increased hate violence prevention funding in this year’s City budget. Hate violence is on the rise in NYC, and I want to make sure the Council Member knows that their constituents support community-driven programs and initiatives to prevent and address hate violence, including PATH Forward, Hope Against Hate, and the Hate Crimes Prevention Initiative. Does [Council Member] support increased funding to these programs in this year’s City budget?


  • [IF YES] That’s great to hear! I am so happy to support public officials like [Council Member] who advocate to keep our community safe, and I will continue to do so. Take care.


  • [IF NO OR I DON’T KNOW] I’m living in your district and I’m concerned about the rise in hate violence. I want to support a city council representative who advocates to keep our community safe, and I urge this council member to support investment in hate violence prevention programs like PATH Forward, Hope Against Hate, and the Hate Crimes Prevention Initiative. Thanks so much for your time. Take care.

IF VOICEMAIL:

Hi, this is [YOUR NAME]. I live in [Council Member]’s district and am a member of Jews For Racial & Economic Justice. I am calling to voice my support for increased hate violence prevention funding in this year’s City budget. Hate violence is on the rise in NYC, and I want to make sure the Council Member knows that their constituents support community-driven programs and initiatives to prevent and address hate violence, including PATH Forward, Hope Against Hate, and the Hate Crimes Prevention Initiative. I urge [Council Member] to support increased funding to these programs in this year’s city budget to keep all vulnerable communities safe. Thank you so much for your time; take care.

What are we fighting for?

  • New York City’s current hate violence prevention strategy has been a failure.

  • In 2017, 325 hate crimes were reported to the NYPD; in 2019 there were 420; last year there were 565, and coming out of Q1 of 2022, complaints are up 75%. We are four years into the city’s hate violence crisis and the numbers continue to climb.

  • The city’s response to date has centered almost exclusively on law enforcement, but policing and prosecution have been the wrong strategies from the beginning. Research shows that hate crimes laws have no deterrent effect, and many of the communities targeted by hate violence are also the least likely to report to the police.

  • The bottom line is that the NYPD has not been able to stop hate violence from increasing year after year.

  • If we are serious about preventing violence, it’s past time for a new approach.

  • This approach includes culturally competent and socially responsive diversity education for all ages; building robust, active ties between communities to cultivate shared interests and responsibility; bystander intervention training; community-based reporting of hate violence incidents; and community care, including community-led transformative justice processes as well as counseling and peer support services for survivors of violence.

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