| FROM OUR CEO: June is my favorite month. It’s the start of summer, Pride Month, and, at ICL, it's the kick off to our artists’ show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. I recently had the opportunity to attend our art show opening. It made clear how important our arts program is in people’s healing process and how transformative this program is for clients. You can read more below and I encourage you to go see the show—it is moving. As we continue to help people heal and get better, I’m struck by how much urgent work we have left to do, especially with youth who identify as LGBTQ, particularly transgender and nonbinary youth of color. Our staff is here to provide support and I’ve seen many of our staff members in action—showing up with empathy and compassion and bringing their whole self to make sure the young people we serve know that they are not alone. And, because the need for support and services is great and growing, our goal this year is to double the number of youth we serve. This June we also saw, thanks to the Mayor and City Council, the passage of a City budget that included a four percent Cost Of Living Adjustment. Since our staff deserve more, I’m thrilled to say we were able to give them a bonus, the second in the past year. We need to find ways to further support them financially, and I’ll be focusing on that in the year ahead. Onward, Jody | | | | | | Gerardo (Jerry) Ramos, Senior Vice President for Integrated Care and Family and Youth Services, runs—and is growing—the East New York Health HUB. | | | | Health HUB Hero Gerardo (Jerry) Ramos, Senior Vice President for Integrated Care and Family and Youth Services, runs our East New York Health HUB. The HUB serves almost 4,000 individuals with the support of 220 staff members. It’s a big operation and an important one: the care people get via HUB services are critical in helping them get better and lead the lives of their choosing. The HUB opened in October of 2018. Once the pandemic hit, the entire operation needed to be adjusted from mostly in-person, to mostly remote. Jerry showed up every day to support staff in the transition and to ensure clients continued to receive the support they needed. Now, as the HUB resumes in-person services and programming, it’s doing so on a bigger scale: in the last several months five new programs have been added to its roster. | | | | | | | We serve 250 individuals each week at our HUB food pantry. | | | Crain's Honors Jody Rudin as an LBGTQ Notable Leader | | | | | | | | Whole Health at Nevins Street Apartments “A permanent home provides an opportunity to deliver whole health services that have an enormous impact on health. It’s something we’re beginning to see across our housing programs and it’s something we’re expanding to our newest housing development,” writes Jody Rudin in our latest op-ed published in Crain’s New York Business. Read about what we are doing and the promise it holds in getting people better. | | | | | | | | Attorney General Tish James Invites ICL to Testify on Mental Health Crisis On June 22, 2022 our Chief Medical Officer, Victoria Pham, testified at a hearing hosted by the New York State Attorney General, saying, in part, “If you spend the day at ICL – and I invite you to visit, we’re in your backyard in Brooklyn – you’ll clearly see the impacts of the inadequate mental health system we face when working to support our clients, specifically those with the most serious challenges. When our clients need a greater level of care than we can provide, we find capacity shortfalls in programs and a lack of inpatient beds. We also come up against inadequate technology and fragmented communication and coordination with other systems.” | | | | | Brooklyn Art Museum’s ICL Artist Exhibition Opens | | | One of Olga Lara's pieces featured at the Brooklyn Museum. | | | | | | | On June 15th, we celebrated the opening of Creating a Lifeline at the Brooklyn Museum. The show features artwork by artists participating in ICL programs. At the opening artists talked about the value of the program and the dedication of Dylan Stanfield, ICL teaching artist. Family members of the artists were joined by ICL staff and friends to enjoy the exhibit in-person for the first time in three years. The exhibition partnership between ICL and the Brooklyn Museum is in its 12th year. | | | Art means a lot to participants like Olga, who has always seen herself as an artist. It wasn’t until the pandemic that Olga started attending ICL art classes on a regular basis. In the ICL Hub studio, she not only developed her creative skills, but also built a community with other artists, giving her a sense of belonging and support. “Thank you for letting me be myself and not judging me,” Olga said at the show opening. “And thank you for encouraging me when I was upset.” Creating a Lifeline is open through July 16, 2022. We encourage you to visit the Brooklyn Museum Education Gallery to view artwork by: Victor Alicea, Diane Beslanovit, Zenalia Brown, Francesca Delacruz, Mildred Dominguez, Nathaniel Holmes, Olga Lara, Alex Ocasio, Bryan Ovieda, Javon Potter, Raphael Rodriguez, James Wilson, and a collaborative project by Jesus Boskey, Crystal Lundy, Nicholas Ramos, Karen Sumpter, Joseph Dubose, and Gary Ridley. | | | | | Institute for Community Living ICL helps New Yorkers of all backgrounds and ages living with serious mental illness, substance use disorder, and developmental disabilities achieve greater health and independence. From housing to care coordination to office- and school-based support, our innovative whole health approach addresses behavioral and physical health as well as the social determinants of health such as housing and food security. | | | | | Call 844-ICL-HOPE (844-425-4673) to connect to resources. Visit iclinc.org to learn more about ICL programs and services. | | | | | | | | | | Contact Us Institute for Community Living (ICL) 125 Broad Street, Third Floor New York, New York 10004 212-385-3030 info@iclinc.net | | | | | | | | |