Video and Rush Transcript: Congressman Dan Goldman Credits Community-Based Organizations for Critical Work Connecting New Yorkers with Covid-19 Pandemic Relief

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) last week spoke at a Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing about the work community-based organizations like the Chinese-American Planning Council did during the COVID-19 pandemic to connect New Yorkers with financial assistance and relief. 

VIDEO of the event is available here.

A rush transcript of the Congressman’s remarks is available below: 

I’m from New York. New York State experienced its first COVID-19 case on March 1, 2020 and I actually got COVID myself on March 10, very early on. 

New York was at the epicenter of the pandemic at the beginning and more than 78,000 New Yorkers have died as a result of COVID.

As families in New York endured record unemployment throughout the pandemic, the unemployment insurance system became a lifeline to nearly 5 million New Yorkers. 

In my district, organizations like the Chinese-American Planning Council connected at least 740 households with unemployment insurance, nearly 2,000 families with housing assistance, and 1,300 people, who were excluded from federal relief programs, got aid through New York City’s innovative immigrant emergency relief program. And that’s just one outstanding organization of many.

When COVID surged and 22 million people lost their job, it fell to our unemployment insurance system to take on the immense volume of new claims. New York’s Department of Labor distributed more than $105 billion dollars, which is the equivalent of 50 years worth of benefits, in the two years from the start of the pandemic.

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