City Council Candidate Responses
District 2
Candidate: Carlina Rivera
1. Please briefly share your background and note any experiences you may have in engaging older adults, whether professionally or personally, and in connecting with the non-profit sector.
I have experience both professionally and personally working and engaging with older adults. I began my career as a community organizer supporting seniors in my community, and also worked as director of programs and services at Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), a local nonprofit organization in the Lower East Side that provides direct services to seniors. I am proud of my office's outreach efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic to our seniors through wellness calls, food deliveries, and more. Now, we are focused on equitable vaccine outreach to the seniors in our community, specifically NYCHA residents. We are knocking on doors, calling , and doing outreach to our seniors to make sure they know how and where to get vaccines and to help answer any questions they may have. I am committed to protecting seniors in my district and in communities across New York City.
2. As we live longer and healthier lives, what are your priorities with respect to promoting equity across all ages in our City?
We need to have a healthcare system that works for all of us. Seniors need and deserve care that is culturally and linguistically appropriate for them. As Chair of the Hospitals Committee, I am proud of the work I have done to address language access in our hospitals. I am also sponsoring legislation to create the Office of the Patient Advocate so that no New Yorker is without resources when navigating our healthcare system, and I will continue to fight for a more equitable healthcare system in our city.
3. Do you support increasing the budget for the Department for the Aging (DFTA), which funds programs such as Senior Centers, NORCs, home-delivered meals, and more? Please give rationale for your response and specify any specific funding changes you are most committed to achieving.
I support increasing the budget for DFTA. During COVID, we saw just how essential these programs are to our seniors, and I believe that they will continue to need increased services for food programs, community centers, mental health services, and more.
4. Do you support implementing a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase for city-contracted human service workers and the full implementation of the Indirect Cost Rate (ICR) initiative for non-profits? Please explain your response.
I support COLA and ICR for non-profits providing this essential work. As a former organizer and director of a local community-based organization, I know firsthand all the indirect costs that our non-profits incur to provide services to our most vulnerable. Whether it's little things like stamps and paper to paying for shared facilities and supporting our human service workers, New York's non-profits give everything they have to successfully deliver for this city, and they deserve to be wholly supported both with ICR for the organizations and COLA for its workers.
5. Given that many older New Yorkers rely on limited fixed incomes and would prefer to age in community, rather than entering costly nursing homes, how will you address the need for affordable senior housing with services for a growing older population? How will you evaluate/respond to affordable senior housing proposals during ULURP?
We must do everything we can to prevent seniors from being priced out of their communities, and I support expanding access to SCRIE and DRIE so that more vulnerable New Yorkers can utilize these key programs. I am open to all affordable housing proposals, and especially interested in affordable housing for our seniors. I will work to ensure an open dialogue between community members and the developers so that our neighborhoods have their needs met and all development is truly affordable.
6. While many older adults wish to be connected, many lack the financial resources or training necessary to fully access technology, exacerbating the digital divide. How would you encourage the City to address this?
We need to expand and advance technology programs for older adults and continue to connect seniors to CBOs for technology training. Especially during the pandemic, we have seen just how important access to technology is during times of isolation. I will continue to fight for technology access for older adults in New York City.
7. During COVID-19, Senior Centers continued to work remotely, offering services in new ways to ensure their clients’ needs were met. To date, providers have not been authorized to operate in-person, despite restaurants, movies, and other entities, which older adults could also attend, being open. Further, community-based organizations, in many cases, have not been leveraged in the new meal delivery system. What are ways that you feel the City should work with nonprofits and engage older adults in the event of a future emergency?
At the height of the pandemic, I saw firsthand in my community just how crucial and helpful community-based organizations were to my constituents during such a difficult time. The CBOs in my community provided invaluable services to my district, from food pantries and meal deliveries to social + emotional support. They know the community, and they are best prepared to serve it. The city needs to not only invest in these CBOs, but give them a seat at the table so that they can guide us in community-led coordination for future disaster preparedness.
8. With 1 in 5 New Yorkers over the age of 60, what are the changes you would seek to make to create a more age-friendly district? Please consider addressing the physical infrastructure of your district (walkability, accessibility, etc.), health care access, safety net resources, and other district specific items of note.
I believe it is important for older adults to have access to more open space outdoors across our city. Which is why during COVID I led the fight for Open Streets, so community members could have more space to walk, exercise and gather. I will continue to fight for more open spaces and improved accessibility across my district for our community members. As Chair of the Hospitals Committee, I will also continue to fight for a more equitable hospital system that works for and protects older adults.
9. In the event of a budget shortfall, how would you push for the City to close the gap? Are there agencies or programs you feel should or should not absorb cuts? Please be specific.
We are facing the worst fiscal crisis in decades, and since our last budget, we saw cuts to programs like geriatric mental health programs and homelessness prevention that I believe should be restored, especially in light of the mental and economic toll taken by the pandemic. Tough choices lie ahead, but I have worked diligently for the past three years to visit and review many local programs, looking at both data and anecdotal evidence of their success. As a leader in the Council, I am prepared to fight for those programs. I have approached every budget even pre-pandemic with priorities that start with the basic human rights of access to food, housing, healthcare and education. This includes taking care of our seniors, LGBTQ community and people with disabilities.
10. How should your constituents look to measure your success in achieving your responses outlined above?
Constituents should measure my success in my action: in legislation I introduce or cosponsor, hearings I hold, and in events, outreach efforts, and resources that my office is able to deliver. If my constituents have any questions, ideas or concerns they should feel comfortable contacting me at my office or writing to me so that we can work together. Every day, I work hard to improve the lives of everyone who lives in our community and our city.