New York City Commission on Human Rights

HIV Prison Project:
Now in its 13th year and funded with $250,000 from the Ryan White C.A.R.E. Act, the HIV Prison Project serves HIV positive prisoners, former prisoners and their families. Services include: information on the NYC Human Rights Law; a Spanish/English hotline; crisis intervention; referrals and short-term counseling.

Post 9/11 Discrimination Survey:
With a $7,500 grant from NY Community Trust, CCHR has joined with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Arab-American Family Support Center, Chhaya CDC, Coney Island Avenue Project, Council of Pakistan Organization, South Asian Council for Social Services and South Asian Youth Action with the goal of documenting discrimination against Arabs, South Asians, and Muslims since 9/11. The questionnaires, in Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, and English, are aimed at recording unreported discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and bias related harassment and educating the public on how the Human Rights Law protects people.

Capstone Program:
CCHR Community Relations’ proposal was selected by the NYU Wagner School of Public Service to participate in their prestigious Capstone Program. A Capstone team of graduate students is working with CCHR to explore the extent of discriminatory practice and fair housing violations in home lending. The team is looking for discriminatory predatory lending, which includes: systemic targeting of vulnerable populations or protected classes for high cost financing; the withdrawal of less costly lending alternatives; and whether certain seemingly neutral policies within the home finance sector and the secondary mortgage market are causing adverse impacts primarily on Black, Hispanic, Asian or elderly communities.

Isaac Lieberman Public Service Awards:
CCHR Human Rights Specialists Kathleen Bracken and Isaac Parsee were among sixteen New York City career civil service employees who were honored with the Isaac Lieberman Public Service Award, sponsored by The Hundred Year Association of New York. Both were recognized for their outstanding achievements during a ceremony hosted by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Ms. Bracken, Director of CCHR’s Queens Community Service Center, oversees the borough’s numerous outreach programs. Mr. Parsee is the agency’s supervising foreclosure and default mortgage counselor, working with homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes because they have fallen victim to predatory lending practices.