We supported the viral hepatitis initiative. It's vital to the health and well structure. We need more funding to expand these services. Please help us ensure that all New York residents have access to hepatitis C education, testing, treatment, and care regardless of race, gender, or economic status. Let's make New York City the first city to eliminate hepatitis. Thank you. Janine, go ahead. To Chairperson Schulman and members of the Committee on Health, my name is Janine Garriga, and I work with the Hepatitis C Mentoring and Support Group, where I focus on Hepatitis C education, training, and community Nearly 330,000 New Yorkers are living with chronic hepatitis B or C, and without care and treatment, many will progress to serious liver disease, liver cancer, or even death. These infections disproportionately impact communities already facing barriers to care, including immigrants, people with low incomes, people who use drugs, men who have sex with men, and those with histories of homelessness or involvement with the criminal justice system. Every day this initiative reaches people who are often left out of traditional health care systems. Through education and community-based support, we help people understand hepatitis, get treated for hepatitis B, and 8,029 people 188 people were newly reported with an 88 people were newly reported with a chronic hepatitis C, the lowest level in a decade, showing that our efforts are working. But we cannot stop here. People are still becoming infected, and too many remain undiagnosed or untreated. If we are serious about eliminating hepatitis B and C in New York City, we must continue to invest in the programs that make treatment and cure possible. The Viral Hepatitis Prevention Initiative meets people where they are and does not leave them there. We respectfully ask the Council to sustain funding and approve an additional $2.76 million for a total investment of $5 million. This investment will ensure more New Yorkers are tested, treated, and cured. Thank you for your continued commitment to eliminating hepatitis B and C in New York City. Thank you. Wynn? What? Yes. All right. Hello, members of City Council. My name is Charles D. San Pedro Jr., and I have been a member of TOP Clubhouse for 7 years and 3 months. Thank you for having myself and one of TOP staff members, Hadley, along with our director, Bianca, and Wynn here to testify about our need for funding to keep TOP Clubhouse open. Council Member Cabán, congratulations on your appointment as chair of the Committee of on Mental Health and Substance Use. We have a thrilling invitation for you. We would like you to come to our Clubhouse for an excellent lunch and meet some of our members. Please stop by any weekday around 12:30. I have prepared a poem for you and hope that it shows you the love that I have for TOP Clubhouse and proves that I am here for the right reasons. I love TOP. It means so much. And the funding from City Council adds an amazing touch. It allows us to work on the goals we have set, and on us, our members have made a safe bet. We're happy we're still open. Us being closed would be sad. When thinking about our members, we know it it would make them so mad. Please baseline our funding so we don't have more stress, and help us make TOP Clubhouse a phenomenal success. Thank you very much. >> just say I'm in so long as we get to eat lunch together? Yes, definitely. >> Excellent. Eight. Next guy. Hello, Council members, and thank you for the opportunity to testify this afternoon. My name is Hadley Weiss, and I'm the program coordinator for TOP Clubhouse, a small clubhouse located on the Upper West Side. I've worked at TOP Clubhouse for a little over a year and a half, and in that short period of time, I've become a staunch believer in the Clubhouse model. I've seen members come out of their shell through time at the Clubhouse, start to smile and laugh, begin to build relationships, and gain confidence in themselves and their abilities. These transformations are stunning to watch and are a testament to the vitality of the work that Clubhouses do. On the other hand, I have spoken to multiple members who expressed reservations about fully engaging with the Clubhouse because they are deeply afraid that the Clubhouse will be taken from them. These members report loneliness and isolation, which negatively impacts the state of their mental health. They have told me that they want to participate in the Clubhouse, but that it is frightening to allow themselves to rely on a community that might disappear. Clubhouses provide support, purpose, and structure to vulnerable New Yorkers, but we cannot do this to the best of our abilities without stability. We are so grateful for the funding City Council has provided to small clubhouses and ask that our funding be baselined so that we might extend that stability to our community. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Next. Uh good afternoon, chair and members of City Council. My name is Bianca Simmons. I'm the program director of TOP Clubhouse uh at Goddard Riverside on the Upper West Side. Thank you for your for the opportunity to speak today. You already heard from Charles, a dedicated member over 7 years, who shared through his poem just how much TOP Clubhouse means to him. His words reflect something we see every day. This is not just a program, it's a community that members deeply rely on. You've also heard from my colleague, Hadley, who spoke to the powerful transformations that happen within our Clubhouse. Members building confidence, forming relationships, and rediscovering a sense of purpose. I want to build on both of those perspectives. Clubhouse, we serve individuals living with mental health challenges who come to us for structure, connection, and opportunity. Each day members show up not just to receive support, but to actively participate in a working community where they gain skills, build confidence, and move toward employment and independence. But we are but what we are hearing more and more, and what Hadley referenced, is uncertainty. Members are hesitant to fully engage not because they don't want to, but because they are unsure if the Clubhouse will continue to exist. And that uncertainty has real consequences. For individuals in recovery, consistency is critical. The progress our members make is built on trust, routine, and daily connection. When that stability is threatened, it can lead to isolation, anxiety, setbacks, and setbacks in mental health. Members should not have to question whether their community will remain open. They should not have to decide how to invest in their own recovery based on whether funding will be there tomorrow. Stable support ensures that our doors remain open, our services remain consistent, and our members can continue to grow without disruption. TOP Clubhouse, like all other small other small clubhouses across the city, play vital plays a vital role in supporting some of our most vulnerable residents, not only improving quality of life, but strengthening communities as a whole. Thank you for allowing us to share our voices today and our experiences from our members. Thank you very much. Next. Wynn? >> [laughter] >> Hi, my name's Wynn, no last name needed, and I'm the director of External Affairs at Goddard Riverside, a multi-service settlement house serving over 22,000 New Yorkers who come to us from across the city, across ages, incomes, health statuses, and more. Grateful to all four committees committee chairs, congrats on the new Committee on Disabilities, um and the staff for their work to make a more accessible, more healthy city for all of us. Goddard has appreciated the leadership of the Council in creating and enhancing the Mental Health Clubhouses Initiative, and we urge the Council to restore and enhance this funding to $3.79 million to cover the true costs of Clubhouse work in the face of the needs from community members seeking to join and stay in these communities. We are also just one Clubhouse um across the wider Clubhouse movement across New York City, and I urge the Admin and the Council to work together with clubhouses of all sizes to invest in this model so that it can stay and grow. Um we are grateful, in addition, to the Council for allocating $4.5 million for the new citywide initiative Jordan spoke about earlier, called currently called the Peer Specialist Support Initiative, which funds peer workers across a number of community-based settings, including our TOP Clubhouse. We're in support of the calls to expand this to $6 million to emphasize the how this criteria works, and into really to continue to invest and grow with the peers the peer workforce more broadly. Um finally, we have a number of other behavioral health um programs. All of you are welcome to join us at any time. I'm pretty sure most of you have my contact information, um including IMT ACT and Young Adult ACT teams. We join other providers in calling on the city to fully fund the number of mobile response teams necessary to eliminate the wait lists for these truly important community resources, including $11 million for IMT. I'm available for questions. Thank you so much. Thank you. We're all set. Thanks. All right, on our next panel, we will have Michael Petty, Darren Greenwood, Camilla Samuelson, Christina Sparac, Jonathan Chung, and Chantel Bodero. Here you go. >> All right. Free to start? Yeah, go for it. Good afternoon chair and committee on mental health and substance use disabilities and the committee members. My name is Christina Sparacino. >> I'm I'm so sorry. I just want to make sure you get your full 2 minutes. Can you reset that? They're trying to rob you of 10 seconds. >> As always, thank you. My name is Christina Sparacino and I'm a African I'm sorry, African-American woman with a head scarf, glasses, and wearing black and a colorful scarf. Um, I'm an alternative crisis response researcher at Disability Justice Program at NILP, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. And we're greatly concerned about the New York City's responding to mental health crisis by sending police. We strongly oppose the current program as police involvement remains too frequent contributing to the criminalization of individuals in crisis. As a peer with mental health lived experience, I say no to police. No to police. The city must wholly transform its response to mental health crisis by eliminating police and replacing them with a peer led peer led health response. During my crisis response, which I mentioned before, you heard, um, I had um police come on unannounced and I didn't know it was police. I wasn't in crisis. I had a wellness check and they banged on my door and I didn't know who it was. In response, because I was afraid, I grabbed a a knife in my own apartment because I thought it was an intruder trying to kill me or harm me. If my door was unlocked, the police would have came in with their body cam footage and would have said, "This allegedly mentally ill person, the EDP, tried to kill us," which would have been false. I would have been the one that would have been killed because I was in danger in my own house house and I was only protecting myself. Um, so, with that said, the scores of countless people who are dying in New York City from police response to mental health calls, we must stop the BeHear program and we must change it into a way where we dispatch peers and emergency responders, EMTs. We must use 988. The response time must be a reasonable um it needs to be culturally responsive and trauma informed and establish peer run oversight mechanism and establish mental health services, including respite centers, 24/7 mental health clinics to minimize first place and serve those who are in crisis to de-escalate the situation and SB 24 hours. NILP urges the City Council to ensure that money previously allocated to BeHear to be utilized solely for truly non-police responses, which includes includes critical competence competency. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Darren Greenwood and I've been a member of Shelton Loaf Clubhouse for 7 years. Before Shelton Loaf, I attended a larger clubhouse. But I prefer a smaller clubhouse because of the close relationships with staff and members. It feels like a family. It's easy to talk with the staff and get to know people. That one-on-one connection makes a big difference. The clubhouse atmosphere helps me stable and active. They also help with everyday challenges, both emotional and physical. 3 years ago, I experienced a very difficult time when my father passed away. I was hospitalized during that period. But with the support of the clubhouse community, I was able to bounce back. Being part of Shelton Loaf helped me return to activities that give my life structure and purpose. I work at the reception desk, do data entry, and computer work. I also help in the clubhouse kitchen. One of my favorite things to do is make coffee for breakfast. It may sound simple, but it feels good to contribute and help start the day for everyone. I also participate in nutrition workshops and Monday moves, which are chair exercises. I even co-hosted a workshop series teaching others how to use technical devices. In 2020, I even tried working. That job didn't turn out to be the right fit for me, but the encouragement from the clubhouse helped me feel confident enough to The clubhouse continues to help me improve my life. Shelton Loaf has made a big difference in my life. Even today, I continue to attend the clubhouse because it keeps me active, connected, and supported. I I hope to continue being part of this community and see what the future bring. Thanks for listening. Thank you. Good afternoon, chair and members of the committee. My name is Shantel Badero and I am a member of Lantern House Clubhouse in the Bronx. Before I came to the clubhouse, I struggled with my mental health in ways that made everyday life feel overwhelming. I experienced isolation and it was hard to find stability or a sense of purpose. The clubhouse changed that for me. It gave me a place where I felt welcome, not judged. A place where I could rebuild my confidence, connect with others, and start to believe in myself again. Through the clubhouse, I've been able to develop skills and build relationships and take steps toward employment. It's not just a program, it's a community that supports my recovery everyday. Programs like PROS and clubhouses are important because they provide ongoing support, not just during a crisis, but throughout recovery. They help people like me stay out of hospitals, stay connected, and start forward with our lives. >> [snorts] >> Without ser- Without these services, many of us would struggle to find stability and support. I am here today to ask you to continue investing in programs like these so more people can have the same opportunities that I had. Recovery is possible and I am living proof of that. Thank you for listening to my story. Good afternoon, council members. My name is Michael Petty. I am a member of Lifelinks Clubhouse, which is located in Elmhurst Hospital. Um, I came to Elmhurst I came to the Lifelinks as a su- a suicide survivor. I tried to take my life after having uh enduring ab- abuse from my parents and my father is an alcoholic. I come, like everyone else, to get funding not only for mine, but for all clubhouses. The model was started in back in 1948. There's a reason why they've been following the same model for almost 80 years cuz it works. It is a place for people to have a safe haven. Mental illness is not easy to talk about. And it's so much easier when you're around members who have gone through similar or understand where you're from. A lot of people cannot get it from family or friends cuz simply they do not understand the illness. Also, people get mistook when they hear the word club. They think it's a place to go play games or cook or just have a free meal. No, I have seen people work and train to go back to the workforce. Three members of my of Lifelinks are right now peer counselors at Elmhurst Hospital because of the training. I am a retired chef. I have done it for 38 years. I've been able to teach people how to cook who have gone back to the workforce cooking. So is if something's working, you don't bro- you don't break it. You don't take it apart. It's working for people. And like I said, uh uh mental illness is not easy to talk about. Thank you. Good evening, Chairs Caban and Nieves, Shulman, uh members and staff of the committee. My name is Jonathan Chung. I'm the director of public policy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York City, or NAMI-NYC. We are the only nonprofit providing extensive direct support programs for mental health peers and for New Yorkers caring for a loved one living with mental illness. Our free programs are evidence-based and led both for and by people with lived experience, reflecting the diversity of the communities across the city that we serve. We appreciate that the City Council and the new mayoral administration are engaging seriously with the urgent need to strengthen New York City's mental health system. We are grateful to be part of these conversations. However, significant gaps still remain in the continuum of care. One critical concern is the lack of baseline funding for the mental health continuum initiative itself. The preliminary budget proposes only 5 million for this effort, which is an amount that is truly insufficient to meet the scale of need across the city. New Yorkers also urgently need greater access to mobile crisis response services. We urge the city to expand the number of intensive mobile treatment teams available to reach individuals with the highest needs. The city must also rapidly scale the BeHear program to meet current needs with the goal of citywide coverage and 24/7 availability. Mental health crisis can arise at any hour of the day and individuals in crisis deserve to be met with empathy from professionals who are trained in de-escalation and trauma informed care. Finally, we respectfully ask the council to restore and invest in critical peer led supports for NAMI-NYC's programming that we offer free of charge to the community. This includes $250,000 under the youth peer support initiative, uh $500,000 under the newly um created peer support specialist initiative, of which we also support an increase overall in that funding. And $150,000 in speaker initiative funding for NAMI NYC's family support services. These investments will allow us to expand the reach and capacity of our mental health helpline, education classes, more than 30 monthly support groups, outreach presentations, and our family management spring program. We really appreciate the council, and thank you so much for your partnership. Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you to Chair Cabán, Chair Schulman, and Chair Hanif, and the members of the committees for holding this public hearing. My name is Camilla Samuelson, and I'm a health justice legal fellow at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. Thank you for your continued support of the immigrant health initiative and immigrant opportunity initiative, which saves lives and improve health across the city. Immigrant New Yorkers are overburdened by mental health conditions, including from past traumas. Yet, in the last year, we have seen a substantial increase in the detention of New Yorkers. In 2025 through October, over 3,000 individuals were arrested by ICE in New York City. These detentions place our immigrant neighbors at risk of heightened harm. We urge the committee to think about the need for trauma-informed pre- and post-detention care, as well as programs that help to quickly reconnect released New Yorkers to healthcare. In the last year, NILP provided comprehensive immigration medical support screenings to 85 New Yorkers, and direct representation to 60 community members with complex medical and immigration needs. With your With your support, NILP Health Justice fought for our community by bringing to light the equal breaches of health conditions at Orange County Jail, where many New Yorkers are held. A report, Denied Care, Denied Dignity, which we have shared with you today, documents the pervasive and life-threatening deficiencies in medical Our medical providers network is seeing an increased need, as well, for psychological evaluations for New Yorkers in immigration detention. Mental health support also is also critical for non-citizens detained by ICE upon their release from detention. We recently secured the release of two New Yorkers facing severe medical harm in detention. Back in community, both required urgent access to medical care. These individuals received this critical care through H&H, and one through the program for survivors of torture at Bellevue. Outside of detention, confusion with healthcare navigation and fears of ICE enforcement are barriers to care. As healthcare advocates, we have worked tirelessly to establish access to healthcare and health insurance. We have also seen an uptick in people who are wrongly denied medical benefits, or believe they no longer qualify for services. Thanks to NYC Care, many of these people are able to fill these gaps at H&H. As you continue to consider your funding allocations, we hope you'll consider the important connection between immigration status and health for all New Yorkers. Thank you for supporting our work and our clients. We look forward to continuing continuing to work with you. Thank you. Before we dismiss this panel, I just want to thank the folks that talked about their experiences and community. I'm somebody who lives with a mental health diagnosis. I'm also somebody with a disability. I know how important it is for me to have a tight-knit community of other people um with mental health diagnoses, with disabilities, who are neurodivergent, whatever it might be, cuz often times other folks don't don't get it. And also, often times, we're the ones that take care of each other um because we get it. So, I just I think it's a beautiful thing that there are these spaces where you can go to feel cared for, nurtured, get the services that you're seeking. So, I just want to thank you again for for coming out and testifying. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. The next panel is Hector Garcia. I think I think it says Garcia. Christina Abatista. Shalmeet Libby. Sophina Tanny. Tony Smith. And this just say oh, X Nodge. Is that right? From Act Up New York. Okay. All right. And sorry if I butchered any of your names. Yeah. Sorry, I mixed them all up. All right. Um Feel free to start. Okay. Sure. Hello. Good afternoon, Chair and members of the committee. My name is Hector Garcia. >> [clears throat] >> Excuse me. And I am the program director for Lantern House Clubhouse. But I'm here also on behalf of Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey. Each year, Goodwill serves more than 30,000 New Yorkers, helping individuals overcome barriers to employment through workforce and behavioral health programs, including PROS and our mental health clubhouses. Today, I want to emphasize the importance of investing in community-based mental health services that support long-term recovery, not just crisis response. We serve individuals living with serious mental illness, who often face homelessness, repeated hospitalization, and long-term unemployment. PROS and clubhouses work together to change that. PROS provides critical clinical and rehabilitative support, especially after hospitalization. Clubhouses provide a community-based environment where individuals build relationships, develop skills, and access employment opportunities. Together, they create a pathway from stabilization to independence. At Goodwill, our programs in Harlem, Astoria, and the Bronx serve hundreds of New Yorkers each year, helping individuals move from isolation toward connection, purpose, and work. But demand is growing, and current funding does not fully cover the cost of these services. Without ad- Without adequate investment, more individuals will cycle through emergency rooms, hospitals, and shelters, driving higher costs for the city. With the right investment, these programs reduce system strain and help New Yorkers achieve stability and workforce participation. We urge continued investment in PROS and clubhouse models as part of a comprehensive community-based mental health system. Chairperson Cabán, we would also welcome the opportunity to host you and your team at our Astoria PROS program in Queens, so you can see firsthand the impact these services have in your district. Thank you for your time and leadership. Good evening. Thank you for being here, Chairs Cabán, Schulman, Hanif. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Tony Smith. I'm the New York State Director at the Drug Policy Alliance. As we've heard today, overdose deaths are on the decline. And while our investments in care are working, we need to pay particular attention to where the crisis is still most acute. Overdose deaths among black and Latino New Yorkers remain twice as high as white New Yorkers. The leading cause of pregnancy-associated death in the city is mental health conditions, which includes substance use disorder. And a concentration of these deaths occurred postpartum, when um when parents are experiencing trauma related to separation from their infant. In recent years, New York City has embraced some practices that chip away at drug war conventions that create these types of harms. In 2020, Health and Hospitals began requiring providers to obtain informed consent before drug testing pregnant people and their newborns. This has contributed to a 37% drop in newborns removed by ACS, while keeping parents with their newborns without negative impacts on child safety. In 2021, the city authorized the opening of two overdose prevention centers, operated by OnPoint NYC, one of the city's 15 syringe service programs. To date, these centers have provided a safe, non-stigmatizing space to individuals nearly 250,000 times. And this winter, these sites provided 24-hour shelter and safety to hundreds of people during the city's weather emergencies. These are powerful demonstrations of providing care instead of punishment. And the city is building on these successes. Last year, the city committed $4 million to site a drop-in space in the South Bronx. It's critical that this investment is fulfilled. In addition, the city should scale up harm reduction services in other geographic hotspots and other parts of the city where there is not service. Recently, the city launched an early childhood partnership between ACS and DOHMH. To keep families together, this program must not create a pipeline to ACS surveillance. Finally, DOHMH must be a key part of the city's coordination on issues related to substance use, including 911 and 311 calls, linkage to housing, and weather and other emergencies. We will provide more detail in our testimony, and we look forward to being in conversation with you all. Thank you. Good evening, and thank you, Chairs Cabán, Schulman, and Hanif, as well as members of the committees, for the opportunity to testify today. My name's Christina Abatista, and I'm the policy analyst at Urban Pathways. We are a homeless services and supportive housing provider, serving over 2,500 single adults annually. Since 2015, over 20 individuals have been killed by police officers while experiencing a mental health crisis in New York City. Traumatic encounters between police and people in crisis are not isolated incidents. They're the consequence of a failing public health system. Transforming our mental health crisis response system is essential to enhance community safety and reform I appreciate the city's attempts to shift crisis response to a more person-centered approach through the B-HEARD program. There is much more that needs to be done for B-HEARD to be a true public health response to mental health crises. Enacting the following changes will make that possible. Mandate that peers, people with lived mental health experience, be added to B-HEARD teams. Peers bring indispensable first-hand knowledge, insights, and trust in the community that cannot be replicated. Expand the number of B-HEARD teams to ensure citywide 24/7 coverage and to match the call volume. Establish 988 as the number to be dialed for mental health and substance use crises in place of 911 while ensuring coordination among 911, 988, and 311. And lastly, renew and expand the speaker budget initiative for the peer behavioral workforce from 4.5 to 6 million in fiscal year 2027, emphasizing peer positions in community-based mental health crisis response systems in the funding eligibility criteria. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. There's more details in my written testimony. Good evening, Chairs Cabán, Hanif, and Schulman, and esteemed members of the committees. My name is Shlomeet Levy, and I'm the project director for the Center for Justice Innovations Brooklyn Mental Health Court and Felony ATI. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I will be speaking very quickly about CJI's court-based programs and community-based programs for adults and young people. Brooklyn Mental Health Court addresses both treatment needs and public safety concerns. Program success has been well documented with a reduction in re-arrest for active participants. The court-involved youth mental health program provides specialized support for youth ages 18 to 24. The Strong Starts Court Initiative provides specialized support to infants, toddlers, and their families. This program has helped family preservation and reduce likelihood of future abuse or neglect petitions. Funding [snorts] will reach more families with improved outcomes for uh some of the most city's vulnerable children. The Midtown Community Justice Center's Community First program utilizes community navigators who offer peer support for clients to help clients achieve their identified goals. MCJC will seek to expand Community First to partner with NYPD and the city's new Department of Community Safety. The Empower Her Pathways to Justice program is a gender-responsive program for female ATI participants at the Staten Island Justice Center and Queens Community Justice Center. With funding, both centers will hire a case manager who will deliver trauma-informed and gender-specific programming. Bronx Community Solutions is seeking funding to cover the cost of DWI treatment and assessments for BCS participants and to fund the staffing of a DWI treatment coordinator so BCS may continue to rapidly connect mandated participants to treatment. The Queens Community Justice Center piloted Uplift in 2022, a program that provides trauma and healing services to justice-involved youth young men of color. The Justice Center was able to fully implement and sustain the program thanks to the ongoing support of City Council.