Photo credit: Mathew Hayward
The Street Vendor Project (SVP) at the Urban Justice Center is creating a fund to help the hundreds of thousands of workers in New York State that have been excluded from any sort of emergency income relief support during the pandemic — no unemployment benefits, no federal stimulus checks. This includes undocumented workers, the recently incarcerated, and immigrant families who have lost their breadwinner to COVID.
People in those communities most devastated by the COVID pandemic — immigrants and communities of color — are now facing hunger and impending evictions.
Over 90 organizations in New York, including SVP, have joined in a commitment to win financial relief at the state level for workers excluded from Unemployment and federal relief packages. The Fund for Excluded Workers would provide:
- Flat rate monthly cash payments direct to families — based on what a typical low wage worker eligible for Unemployment Insurance receives at this moment.
- Monthly payments retroactive to the start of the COVID-impacted unemployment crisis, and continuing through the end of 2020, like Unemployment Insurance, with triggers to continue the program thereafter. The CARES ACT payments of $330-$600 weekly are scheduled to end on July 26th in New York.
- Flexible application and proof requirements given the urgent crisis situation. Include self-attestation and information that even off the books workers are able to provide — documents for proving identity can be the same as those for getting drivers licenses under Green Light.
For more information, call 646–602-5679 or visit, https://fundexcludedworkers.org/
Related Images:
