Author: Barrier Free Living
Denim Day 2015
http://youtu.be/KwmdsXY8iP8
Denim Day was sparked by a 1998 Italian Supreme Court decision that overturned a rape conviction on the grounds that the victim was wearing tight jeans. Jeans are now donned worldwide on the third Wednesday of April in solidarity with Sexual Assualt Awareness Month in protest against injustice and rape culture. Denim Day intends to raise awareness concerning the prevalence of sexual violence and victim blaming in our society.
Read more.… read more
BFL Team Member Attends FPWA Fundraising Executive Program at Baruch College.
Barrier Free Living Organizational Development Manager Scott Hess (pictured at right with Lead Faculty Marti Fischer) is attending the 2015 FPWA Fundraising Executive Program at Baruch College.
The program is in line with Barrier Free Living's recent organizational assessment conducted with the Support Center, and its ongoing work on development as it relates to mission. The experience culminates with each participant's Capstone Project on a topic related to Fundraising.… read more
Comcast Voice Guidance Technology For People With Visual Disabilities
Comcast announced it is partnering with organizations dedicated to serving people with visual disabilities to bring the company’s new voice guidance technology to more people. The “talking guide” is a feature on the X1 platform that reads aloud selections like program titles, network names and time slots as well as DVR and On Demand settings, giving users the freedom to independently explore and navigate thousands of shows and movies.
Read more.… read more
One Billion Rising Rising For Revolution
One Billion Rising Activists Around the World Escalate Their Actions - Calling for Revolution - to Decisively Demand an End to Violence Against Women and Girls Everywhere
In over 200 countries, from between 14 February and 8 March (International Women's Day) and continuing throughout the year, activists are Rising for Revolution - using art as a powerful form of protest - calling for a radical shift in consciousness to demand CHANGE and decisively end the abuse one in every three women… read more
Art Is Power Event At DL Benefits Barrier Free Living
The Art is Power event on March 10 at 7pm at DL (95 Delancey St.) in NYC will benefit Barrier Free Living.
"We are so grateful that Art Is Power chose our agency to donate to," says Scott Hess, BFL Organizational Development Manager. "Groups like this, their generosity really matters to us, supporting the work we do with people with disabilities and survivors of domestic violence."… read more
NY Fashion Week Show Features Models With Disabilities
The Washington Post Reports: Jamie Brewer made fashion history last Thursday when she became the first model with Down syndrome to walk the runway at New York’s Fashion Week.
And on Sunday FTL Moda’s show offered another first: 25-year-old Jack Eyers, reportedly the first amputee male model to walk the runway.
The show was created by Antonio Urzi, whose work has been worn by Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.… read more
Tu-Lu’s Gluten Free Bakery Donates Valentine’s Day Cookies To BFL Shelter
Tu-Lu’s Gluten Free Bakery continues its weekly donations to the Barrier Free Living (BFL) Transitional Housing shelter delivering Valentine's Day cookies to residents.
The BFL program feeds 48 formerly homeless residents with disabilities daily. The kitchen staff welcomes the donations which range from desserts to Honey Oat or Whole Grain Sunflower breads… read more
Thomas Obrzut Named Program Director Of BFL New Supportive Housing
Thomas Obrzut has joined the BFL Team as Program Director for the agency's new Supportive Housing project.
"We are beginning to screen potential residents who have submitted the necessary 2010E documents, which is the first step for application," says Obrzut. "We are really happy to be opening this new program and filling our building with residents that need our services."
The new Director of Social Services joins the team March 2, 2015.
For more… read more
Tu-Lu’s Gluten Free Bakery Donates Bread To Transitional Housing Shelter
Tu-Lu's Glutten Free Bakery is donating bread weekly to the Barrier Free Living Transitional Housing shelter.
The program feeds 48 formerly homeless residents with disabilities daily. The kitchen staff welcomed the donation of breads ranging from Honey Oat to Whole Grain Sunflower expressing gratitude for the generosity to the program and its residents.… read more
ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival announces its 2015 line-up
The official line-up of The 7th Annual ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival was announced today, marking the largest edition of the festival to date in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Presented by JCC Manhattan, the 2015 festival will launch in New York City at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and will take place in over 35 venues across New York from March 12-18, featuring U.S. and New York premieres of acclaimed… read more
Miscrosoft Super Bowl Ad Empowering
http://youtu.be/wLXRt-qRBfU
One of Microsoft’s 2015 Super Bowl spots focused on Empowering people with a disability. Microsoft’s description on YouTube shares, “Born missing the tibia and fibula bones in both of his legs, six year old Braylon O’Neill is now thriving and playing sports with the help of Microsoft technology.”… read more
Summer Fun & More Fair For Kids With Disabilities
For NYC children & Youth with disabilities and their families. Summer Fun & More has expanded to offer a face-to-face opportunity to explore an incredible range of year-round programs, afterschool supports, arts, travel, sports, and health resources.
Exciting newcomers to the fair include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, Brooklyn Robot Foundry, NY Transit Museum, NYC Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Easter Seals, Sparkidz, Reel Abilities, the 92nd Street… read more
NAP0-NY Takes On Freedom House Pantry Project
NAPO-NY choose Freedom House emergency shelter for its Go Month Project, tackling the overflowing donation clothes pantry area. Check out the amazing Before and After pictures.
NAPO-NY is a chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers, founded in 1985, the only non-profit national association of and for organizers, with over 4,500 members worldwide.… read more
Power Thru The Clutter Takes On Freedom House For Go Month Project
Power Thru The Clutter choose Freedom House emergency shelter for its Go Month Project, tackling the overflowing donation clothes pantry area. Check out the amazing Before and After pictures.
Power Thru The Clutter, LLC was established by Lydia Thomas as a result of helping friends and family through the years as they moved, downsized, reorganized or just cleaned out.… read more
Mayor Launches IDNYC Program Aimed at Integrating Homeless, Disconnected Young Adults
Mayor Bill de Blasio launched IDNYC -- the municipal ID program aimed at better integrating the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including undocumented immigrants, homeless individuals, and disconnected young adults into communities.
A comprehensive list of enrollment centers may be found here: http://www1.nyc.gov/site/idnyc/card/locations.page.
More information, including the full list of documents required to apply, is available at www.nyc.gov/idnyc. Attached is a set of FAQs about the IDNYC program. Please find additional information below.
Available to all. The IDNYC card will be accessible to all… read more
Helping People With Disabilities Get The Healthcare Coverage They Need
The American Association on Health and Disability is pleased to announce that it is hosting a webinar which will feature a representative from the White House Office of Public Engagement on healthcare coverage outreach and enrollment for people with disabilities. The presentation will serve as a re-introduction to the National Disability Navigator Resource Collaborative (NDNRC) and help you think about what questions a person with a disability needs to think about when they are considering their health care options in… read more
Arethusa Speaks Performance About Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence
Arethusa Speaks, a theatre company with a social justice mission focusing on survivors of intimate partner violence, makes their New York City debut with their solo performance piece They Call Me Arethusa, after critically acclaimed runs in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC and the FringeArts Festival in Philadelphia, PA. This spokenwordstyle docudrama exposes the devastation laid by intimate partner violence through the voices of modern… read more
Charity Basketball Celebrity Game At Baruch Jan. 24
H2O Basketball presents Ballin' 4 Peace Charity Basketball Celebrity Game, at Baruch College on Saturday, January 24, 2015. The goal of this event is to raise awareness to the senseless acts of violence and examine approaches to make our community safer.
Ballin' 4 Peace will close off a weeklong series of events at New York Peace Week, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's legacy of non-violence, from January 15 – 22nd.
Learn more.… read more
Athletes Gear Up For 2016 Rio Paralympic Games
Although the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games are not until next year, the race to qualify well and truly started in 2014 with places in 10 Paralympic sports up for grabs.
In total 271 Paralympic places have been filled and come 2016 there will be 4,350 Paralympic athletes competing for medals in South America’s first Paralympic Games.
Read more.… read more
Peace Of Heart Choir Brings Music & Joy To Freedom House Shelter
The Peace Of Heart Choir performed for the families residing at BFL's Freedom House domestic violence shelter this past holiday season, raising their voices in joyful song.
Read the Peace Of Heart Choir story here.… read more
Clinton-Based Salon Raises $1,000 For Domestic Violence Agency
The Hunterdon County Democrat reports: Mirror Images Salon in Clinton opened its doors on Sunday, Dec. 7, for a Cuts for Compassion event to benefit The Domestic Abuse & Sexual Assault Crisis Center (DASACC) of Warren County, based in Washington.
Read the story.… read more
Homeless Shelter Protests: How It Feels On the Other Side Of the Door
An article in The Brooklyn Ink featured BFL CEO Paul Feuerstein:
Not all shelter openings are protested. Barrier Free Living, a homeless shelter for mentally ill homeless people in the Lower East Side opened in 1990 and renovated an old, burnt-down building. In essence, the shelter helped the neighborhood look better while helping the homeless, said Paul Feuerstein, the shelter’s CEO. “There was a certain level of sympathy in terms of what we are doing. We so far have been in… read more
Donated Toys Bring Cheer & Hope To BFL Children
Toys donated to Barrier Free Living during the holiday season bring joy and hope to the children at programs like the Secret Garden (pictured here with toys from the FPWA) and Freedom House Emergency Shelter… read more
Powerful Contenders Emerge As Para-Athletics Season Heats Up
IPC Athletics Reports:
Although the para-athletics season does not get underway fully until February’s IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai, UAE, here are 10 athletes who could make a name for themselves in 2015.
Felix Streng (Germany)
In 2014 Streng won the 200m T44 European title and won silver in the 100m. He set multiple personal bests over 100m and finished in the top six of the… read more
Support Pours In For LinkNYC
LinkNYC, a proposal to leverage old payphone infrastructure to build the world’s largest, fastest free municipal Wi-Fi network was announced by Mayor de Blasio last month. LinkNYC would dramatically increase broadband speeds in neighborhoods across all five boroughs, provide free domestic calling at all times, and generate millions of dollars annually to reinvest into additional programs aimed at bridging the digital divide for New Yorkers who need it most.
Positive feedback on the LinkNYC proposal has poured in from leaders of… read more
Purge4Peace Donates Toys and Holiday Items To Freedom House Shelter
Purge4Peace, a family fair collection drive organized by Heather Borstein and held at the Barrow Street School this December, donated toys, piggy banks and holiday items to the children and families at Freedom House Emergency Shelter this holiday season.
"It is through the generosity of groups like Purge4Peace that we can brighten the holiday season for the residents and children at our shelters," said Scott Hess, Organizational Development Manager at Barrier Free Living.
Learn more about Purge4Peace.
Donate to BFL… read more
BFL Breaking Barriers Newsletter Dare To Dream Issue
For Barrier Free Living this past year has been all about dreams.
We have encouraged the dreams of residents at our shelters, ignited dream projects like our new Supportive Housing Program, and applauded dreamers who support our cause, like the reigning Miss America Kira Kazantsev.
Read more in our Breaking Barriers Newsletter, here.… read more