Queens Center Mall: A Poverty Wage Center in Elmhurst

A report prepared by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and Make the Road New York detailing the Queens Center Mall\u27s impact on wages, the mall\u27s tax abatement status, and lack of community commitment

Make the Road New York: Fifteen Years Fighting for Respect and Dignity, 1997-2012

[Excerpt] For 15 years, Make the Road New York (MRNY) has fought to ensure respect and dignity for immigrant, poor, and working class New Yorkers. From our early years working to combine legal services, education, and community organizing in Jackson Heights and Bushwick, we had big dreams about what kind of city and state New York can be. And we had the audacity to believe we could build an organization with the sophistication and muscle to deliver on those dreams

Transgender Need Not Apply: A Report on Gender Identity Job Discrimination

[Excerpt] Make the Road New York investigated possible employment discrimination against transgender job-seekers in Manhattan’s retail sector using the research tool of matched pair testing. We sent out carefully matched pairs of job applicants, one transgender and one not, to apply for the same jobs. Each pair was equivalent in age and ethnicity and equipped with fictionalized resumes that were evenly matched. Both testing pairs underwent extensive training on how to adopt similar interview styles and how to document their job-seeking interactions objectively. Transgender testers were instructed to explicitly inform store managers and interviewers of their transgender status whenever feasible

Unmet Needs: Superstorm Sandy and Immigrant Communities in the Metro New York Area

[Excerpt] More than a month after Superstorm Sandy, many New Yorkers continue to struggle with the devastation of their homes, neighborhoods and livelihoods. One group that has faced particular challenges, but has received little attention are the region’s thousands of immigrants. Some of the areas hardest hit by Sandy--such as Staten Island and Long Island--are home to large populations of recent immigrants. Long Island’s immigrant population has more than doubled in the past three decades, with nearly one in fi ve residents now born outside of the US. Overall, Latinos represent a third of all immigrants on Long Island. Tens of thousands of immigrants from El Salvador have established vibrant communities in the area, and are now the largest immigrant group on Long Island. On Staten Island, foreign born residents now make up 20% of the population, with Mexicans representing the largest group. The Latino population has grown 51 percent since 2000, now numbering more than 81,000. In particular, the Mexican population on Staten Island has greatly increased, more than doubling since 2000

Time for a Change: The Case for LGBT-Inclusive Workplace Leave Laws and Nondiscrimination Protections

When Americans need time off work to recover from illness, bond with a new child, or care for a seriously ill family member, they often discover that their jobs provide little or no support. These important life moments can be especially difficult for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) workers to navigate. LGBT workers who need time off for personal health or family caregiving reasons often find themselves lost in a maze of legal questions:Am I entitled to any leave from work, and if so, is it job-protected and/or paid?Do any federal, state, or local laws provide protection or guarantee paid leave?Are my family relationships recognized under the law or my employer's personnel policies?Can I be fired from my job for disclosing that I am in a same-sex relationship or have an LGBT family?In April 2013, A Better Balance issued a comprehensive report to address these critical questions. Given significant developments in the law regarding LGBT Americans, as well as passage of several new state and local workplace leave laws, A Better Balance released this updated version of the report in November 2013

Discrimination at the Workplace, From Application to Termination

[Excerpt] In the spring and summer of 2013, Make the Road New York surveyed over 250 LGBTQ and gender non-conforming identified individuals about their experiences with gender identity/expression employment discrimination. The individuals surveyed had applied for jobs in a variety of di!erent industries, including retail, finance, and education. We also surveyed more than 100 non-LGBTQ identified individuals. Surveys were conducted at local community organizations, LGBTQ support groups, and public events. Finally, we collected in-depth testimonies from transgender and gender non-conforming identified individuals about their experiences with employment discrimination. Those testimonies are included in this report

Restaurant Workers in Crisis: A Report on the Unsafe, Discriminatory and Unfair Labor Practices that New York City’s Workers Face Every Day

[Excerpt] This report highlights the illegal and unfair practices of New York City’s restaurant industry by reviewing recently published reports and sharing examples of the frequently illegal employment practices that New York’s restaurant workers face every day. This report concludes that the Responsible Restaurant Act (Intro 569), currently under consideration by the City Council, would help to improve restaurant practices by encouraging the city to license only responsible employers when issuing or renewing operating licenses. The Act is an important step for the City Council to take to ensure that our restaurants act responsibly and better protect workers

Dignidad, Comunidad y Poder: Make the Road New York 2010 Victories

Brochure listing Make the Road New York’s victories during 2010

A Bad Deal: The Proposal for a Mega-Mall on Parkland and the Willets Point Redevelopment

[Excerpt] The site for the proposed development of “Willets West” is public mapped parkland that forms a portion of Flushing Meadows Corona Park (FMCP). “Willets West” is one of three development pro- posals for the park that the Bloomberg administration has announced in its last eighteen months. The name “Willets West” is misleading; the proposal seeks to develop a 1.4 million square foot mall on public land that is located completely outside the actual Willets Point, on the other side of CitiField. Proposed to be developed by the Queens Development Group (QDG), a partnership between the Wil- pon family’s Sterling Equities and the Related Companies, many have dubbed the proposal the “Mets MegaMall” as a more accurate descriptor. This report summarizes the results of a community opinion survey of more than 1,200 residents, compares and contrasts the “Mets MegaMall” proposal to the original plan for Willets Point and makes recommendations about what would make development that consumes public resources and public land appropriately accountable to neighborhood needs. These recommendations are informed both by the original process for considering the future of Willets Point as well as recent experiences with the proposal for the U.S. Tennis Association to expand its footprint within FMCP and the proposal for Major League Soccer to site a new, private stadium within FMCP. Prepared by the Fairness Coalition of Queens, it represents the input of member organizations and individuals from the Corona, Flushing, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Elmhurst communities

Biocompatibility Between Flora and Fauna Under Simulated Outdoor and Indoor Biopark

The biocompatibility between flora and fauna in BioPark was evaluated. A group of 20 heads of Cervus timorensis (Timorensis), 5 heads respectively of Axis axis (Axis), Cervus unicolor brookei (Sambar) and Muntiacus atherodes (Muntjac) were studied in Outdoor BioPark. In Indoor BioPark, 16 heads of Callosciurus prevostii borneansis (prevost's squirrel), 10 heads of Tragulus javanicus (Kancil) and 6 heads of Tragulus napo (Pelandok) were used for the purpose of study. In Outdoor BioPark, the biocompatibility between the deer species with Acacia mangium and its natural vegetation were studied. Meanwhile in Indoor BioPark, introduced flora species were used The study found that the undergrowth vegetation of A. mangium plantation was biocompatible with the tested deer species. With monthly forage yield of 183.28 kg (DM) per ha or 1392.93 MJ ME per ha with 75% total available forage grazed, the A. mangium undergrowth could be stocked with 5 to 9 heads of Muntjac, or 1 to 3 heads of Timorensis, or 2 to 7 heads of Axis, or 1 to 2 heads of Sambar deer. Based on captive feeding habit and requirements of the Mousedeer species, the area also could be stocked with Kancil and Pelandok with allowable carrying capacity of 18 to 42 heads of Pelandok and 44 to 132 heads of Kandl, respectively. It was found that some of the deer was not biocompatible with A. mangium stands. Of all the deer species tested, it was found that only Sambar and Muntjac were biocompatible and did not cause any significant debarking damage on the matured stands of A. mangium. Biocompatibility between deer species and A . mangium was influenced by tree bark architecture (bark surface coarseness) and taxonomy (thickness), deer species, number of individual stags stocked and the animal's feed management. The biocompatibility between Prevost's squirrel, Pelandok and Kancil with introduced flora in Indoor BioPark had found that feed factor in terms of quantity and availability together with the availability of juvenile individuals were the most associated factors with the animal's herbivory. Other factors were includes the animal's stocking rate and plant's species used