Support Jericho Families is not affiliated with Community Housing Innovations
The Jericho Family Support Center will provide homeless families services and support to transition into permanent housing.
While some in our community are spreading false narratives and spearheading personal attacks on our district personnel and dedicated board members, the REALITY is this: Jericho Schools has the fiduciary, moral, and ethical responsibility to care for ALL its students, regardless of family income or housing status. The district does NOT have a say in what the county decides regarding housing displaced families, nor is the district obligated to anyone in the community to provide information regarding students' income or housing status. There are privacy laws in place to protect families and students.
We thank our dedicated Jericho staff and board members for standing up for ALL their students!
You are what make this district #1.
We urge you to become informed about this facility, including the legal right for its existence under NYS Constitution Article XVII.
Do not base your judgements on fear or hearsay.
Do not spread misinformation.
Educate yourselves and your families.
CHOOSE KINDNESS
Let me be clear about what the facts support. The Long Island reality of homeless shelters, regulated by the counties and New York State, bears no resemblance to the nightmare in our imaginations or the camps on the West Coast. The majority of shelter residents are mothers and children who simply need help, and the proper response from rational humans should be the same as Jericho school board President Bill Ferro and Nassau County Executive Laura Curran: “How can we ease their suffering? How may we ensure that these children get the education they need with as little disruption as possible? And how do we remove the four “welfare motels” in Jericho where the homeless languish without help for an average of two years, and replace them with a service-rich, secure shelter that moves them to permanent housing in an average of six to nine months?” That is why Nassau County has supported our plan to create the Jericho Family Support Center, which will remove three welfare hotels and replace them with a New York State certified shelter.
The opposition is strong and it is fierce, fueled by their fear, lies, and hate; they call themselves "Concerned Jericho Parents" They have raised thousands and convinced the Town of Oyster Bay's Supervisor Saladino to file a frivolous lawsuit with our taxpayer money. We need to stand up to their NIMBYism and classism. We need to do what is right for the homeless women and children currently residing in the dilapidated motels of Jericho. We need to do what is right simply because we are human.
Oyster Bay Town officials...have embarked on a politically motivated campaign notable for its embrace of fear mongering, misinformation, shameless self-promotion and wasteful lawsuits - all bankrolled by you, the taxpayer.
They...have consistently failed to apply town code and its enforcement mechanisms to compel the owners of the squalid motels to clean up their act. CHI's facility is likely to do more to ameliorate any level of perceived blight than Town of Oyster Bay officials have in many years.
IT IS THE HEiGHT OF CALLOUS, HEARTLESS HYPOCRISY.
Concerned Jericho Parents leaders Jennifer Vartanov and Marc Albert said in an interview that the $86,595 they’ve raised via a GoFundMe will go towards legal fees. They’ve asked the court to let them join an existing lawsuit filed by the Town of Oyster Bay. The group is represented by former state senator Jack Martins, a partner at Harris Beach and a former Republican candidate for Nassau County executive.
Vartanov and Albert told The Point their goal is to stop the facility altogether.
CHI executive director Alexander Roberts said, "in a perfect world, municipalities themselves should approach the county with proposed locations that would be acceptable for homeless and affordable housing."
However, " ... communities will always find a reason why it shouldn’t be located wherever it is proposed, denying vital services to families in crisis, which cannot happen," Roberts said.
Meanwhile, a group called Concerned Jericho Parents created a petition seeking to stop the facility to "help preserve the safety and well being of our families and neighborhood." What some are saying in other forums is ugly, betraying upsetting views that discriminate based on race and class.
If the town is really interested in protecting its "suburban quality of life," it would embrace such transitional housing. Homeless families are our neighbors, and part of our suburban landscape. This program can help primarily mothers with children spend about nine months getting back on their feet and, ultimately, achieving their suburban dream of stability and success. This is critical as the coronavirus pandemic has left many Long Islanders economically vulnerable.
This opportunity to respond as a compassionate community shouldn't be stopped.
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