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FINAL SOCIAL MEDIA PUSH FOR 2021-22
STATE BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS!
With only a few days left in 2021-22 state budget negotiations, we’re asking all Bring It Home Campaign supporters to use the social media messages below targeting state legislative leaders to ensure that everything the #BringItHomeNYS campaign has advocated for is included in the final budget.
With the Bring It Home Campaign’s advocacy and your support, this year’s budget could be one of the most successful since the campaign was started back in Fall 2017!
We have fought hard for every dollar since the summer of 2020, when withholds were announced due to the state’s fiscal uncertainty, and now it’s time to Bring Home better funding for better care.
Copy and paste the messages below to your social media accounts and feel free to download the graphic below in your messages as well.
And if you don’t already do so, please follow @BringItHomeNYS on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Please contact ACL/Bring It Home Social Media Coordinator Justin at justin@aclnys.org if you have any questions.
Sample Bring It Home Social Media Messages:
@AndreaSCousins & @CarlEHeastie – We support keeping the 1% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) in the 2021-22 state budget that our mental health workers overwhelmingly deserve after the past year. #BringItHomeNYS @BringItHomeNYS
As a supporter of the @BringItHomeNYS campaign, we support @AndreaSCousins & @CarlEHeastie keeping the $20 million in the NYS budget for reimbursement rate increases for community-based mental health housing programs. 40K vulnerable NYers depend on stable housing! #BringItHomeNYS
@AndreaSCousins & @CarlEHeastie can assist the @BringItHomeNYS campaign by restoring the 5% to Non-Residential Mental Health Programs. NYS mental health providers desperately need this funding to make up for decades of underfunding! #BringItHomeNYS
A sincere thank you goes out to NYS Legislative Mental Hygiene Committee Chairs @SenatorBrouk & @AileenMGunther for including & advocating for additional funding for mental health housing programs in the 2021-22 state budget! #BringItHomeNYS
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#BringItHomeChallenge - March 2021
It was one year ago this month that home became so much more than shelter to every New Yorker due to COVID-19. Home is where we work, learn, heal, celebrate holidays, and mark milestones such as birthdays and anniversaries.
Imagine for a moment what this past year would have been like if you didn’t have a home? No New Yorker should be without a roof over one’s head, especially the more than 40,000 New Yorkers living with severe mental illness who call mental health housing home.
But we need Better Funding for Better Care—help us Bring It Home by taking the #BringItHomeChallenge, and show us what HOME means to YOU.
Post photos or images on your social media of something that reminds you of home. Take a selfie or use one of the provided images below as a prop.
And if you are on Facebook, search Bring It Home Challenge on the profile frames section and use our frame on your personal profile picture! Feel free to save the framed pic and use it as your profile or in a post on other social networks. Make sure you use the #BringItHomeChallenge hashtag!
Below are some example messages to make it easy for you to participate in our Challenge. Feel free to edit any of the suggestions below to describe what home means to you:
#COVID19 changed the way we view home. I see home as a place to heal and feel safe. #BringItHomeChallenge #BringItHomeNYS @BringItHomeNYS
Home to me is sanctuary. 40K vulnerable NYers are at risk of losing their home due to underfunding by the state. #BringItHomeChallenge #BringItHomeNYS @BringItHomeNYS
Home is where NYers living with serious mental illness should feel safe and secure. Join me & take the #BringItHomeChallenge! #BringItHomeNYS @BringItHomeNYS
Providing NYers living w/mental illness a home gives them stability & protects their health. A stable home should be a right. & NYS must fairly fund mental health housing programs. #BringItHomeChallenge #BringItHomeNYS @BringItHomeNYS
Having a home is a comfort not shared by all NYers living with serious mental illness must be provided this essential necessity. #BringItHomeChallenge #BringItHomeNYS @BringItHomeNYS
POST FOR HOUSING PROVIDER STAFF: Many mental health housing staff like myself have worked hard through #COVID19 to provide a stable home for NYers living w/psychiatric disabilities. I see home as an essential tool to spread healing. #BringItHomeChallenge #BringItHomeNYS @BringItHomeNYS
As we mark one year since the pandemic quarantine began, we want to flood social media throughout the month of March with #BringItHomeNYS, reminding policy makers that Mental Health Housing IS Healthcare, and that it saves money and lives.
Thank you for helping us Bring It Home!
Download the #BringItHomeChallenge graphics by right clicking/holding your finger down on the images below:
Virtual Mental Health Housing Forum
More than 230 attendees tuned in live to hear the stories and experiences shared by speakers, which amplified the importance of community-based mental health housing and the urgent need for additional funding to stabilize these life-changing programs.
If you missed the virtual Bring It Home Mental Health Housing Forum ACL hosted on February 9th, you can view it here.
Thanks to everyone who spoke at the Forum and showed their support for the Campaign.
#MentalHealthHousingIs
The Bring It Home Campaign is asking all of our supporters to share what mental health housing means to them by joining our #MentalHealthHousingIs social media campaign!
Instructions:
• Download the graphic below.
• Then write or type a word or statement that shows what Mental Health Housing means to you.
• Then take a selfie and/or screenshot of the graphic and post it on your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
• Make sure to tag @BringItHomeNYS on any of Bring It Home’s accounts & use the hashtag #MentalHealthHousingIs
Download/Screenshot the blank graphic below:
#BIHTHANKFUL
Join Bring It Home in Thanking the Thousands of Essential Mental Health Housing Workers Across NY!
The Bring It Home Campaign is asking all of our supporters to share their praise of the NYS mental health housing workforce by joining our #BIHThankful social media event!
Instructions:
Download the graphic below.
Then write or type the provider/organization, program, or residence that you would like to thank in the blank space in the graphic.
Then take a selfie or screenshot and post it on your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
Make sure to tag @BringItHomeNYS and use the hashtag #BIHThankful!
This way we can show our sincere thanks to all essential mental health and support workers enough for continuing to provide high quality & life changing services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Download the #BIHThankful graphic below:
Bring It Home Teams Up with
The New York Islanders to
Spread Mental Health Awareness!
January 11, 2020 - Brooklyn, NY - The New York Islanders NHL hockey organization graciously selected the Bring it Home Campaign to be one of three mental health organizations to attend & advocate at their Mental Health Awareness Night against the Boston Bruins at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn! Bring it Home had several opportunities at the game to gain exposure, educate attendees, and raise funds for the Campaign. Thanks to the Islanders & everybody who attended the game, and a special thanks goes out to everyone who volunteered to sell raffle tickets for fans to win a VIP game suite for 16 or a hockey stick signed by the team!
Bring It Home Forum
November 15th, 2018 - Manhattan, NY - Although mother nature threw us a curveball, the Bring It Home Mental Health Housing Forum on November 15, 2018 in New York City was a great success. Nearly 100 hearty New Yorkers gathered to learn about the Bring It Home campaign and how they can help the over 40,000 individuals living in community-based NYS mental health housing programs who are at risk of losing their stability due to a lack of funding for the programs that aids them in their recovery.
We first heard from Ralph Fasano, Executive Director of housing provider Concern for Independent Living, who spoke about the history of community-based mental health housing programs in NYS & some of the issues facing housing providers due to limited funding. “NYS has such a rich history of providing this type of (mental health) housing. We’ve built some of the best models in the country, but unfortunately the state hasn’t recognized that when you create housing, you need to fund it adequately to keep up with the constantly rising costs of utilities, maintenance, staff fringe benefits, etc. Because of inadequate reimbursement from New York State, we have had to reduce the number of staff in these essential programs, which then affects the services of the residents.”
Jim Mutton, Director of NYC Operations at Concern for Independent Living, highlighted the direct impact of underfunding on NYC housing programs and outlined the need for adequate funding. “The needs for (mental health) housing programs greater more than ever. We have more homeless individuals living in NYC than we have ever had. However, (mental health) housing programs are now about 40% behind the cost of inflation. The challenge that we have today is that we need to show NYS voters and legislators that our programs are in dire need of additional funding & they must increase the reimbursement rates to match today’s costs.”
Attendees were lucky to hear from two individuals who were former residents in housing programs who now work as Tenant Leaders at NYC provider Community Access. Eugene Smith told his story about how mental health housing turned his life around. “I was living with trauma, had no place to go, and was living out of my backpack. I’ve been living in Community Access’ supportive housing program for over 10 years and have not been back in jail since I found their program. I have found independence while living in my beautiful apartment and I’ve also been training to become a Peer Specialist so I can help my fellow residents in their recovery.”
Attendees were also briefed about how they can assist the campaign in both traditional and social media. Melissa Mansfield, Vice-President of SKDKnickerbocker, spoke about Bring It Home’s new project “Humans of Mental Health Housing (HOMHH)” which will highlight the numerous stories of current & former residents and their families, as well as staff who work in mental health housing programs. “HOMHH was created to increase awareness of the human impact of NYS mental health housing programs to both the public and elected officials because unless someone or someone’s family member has lived or worked in the field, most people wouldn’t’ know about how these programs change lives. These people aren’t just lines in a budget. They are New Yorkers who need help in their recovery & their jobs.”
Lastly, Marc Greenberg, Executive Director of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness & Housing spoke to attendees about the importance of mental health housing programs to the NYS faith community and also introduced Wook Choi, founder of Oogie Art Studio, and some students of hers who created beautiful art pieces based on the importance of mental health care. The art was displayed at the event and some of the pieces will be loaned to mental health housing facilities to enhance the homes for their residents.
Thanks to Carla Rabinowitz, Advocacy Coordinator at Community Access, for promoting and gathering volunteers for the event. Other thanks goes out to Reverend Chris Mietlowski for graciously allowing the campaign to use the Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church as a venue, and to everyone who spoke and attended that evening.
Keep an eye out for future events and let’s continue to gather to urge New York State to Bring It Home!