I just wanted to correct one thing: The question of where people in prison are counted for Census purposes is a critical question of political representation; but there is very little impact on federal funding. Most federal funding is block grants to states (and most people in prison do not cross state lines), and the bulk of the remainder is calculated in ways that directly or indirectly exclude the prison population. Of the affected funds, the amount is very very small, but the impact on the home communities of incarcerated people is about zero.

Participation in the Census is important for funding and representation reasons, but it turns out that most federal funding programs are too sophisticated to be fooled by counting prisoners in the wrong place.

Unfortunately, our system of electoral representation is not quite so resilient in the face of counting incarcerated people in the wrong part of the state.

For more info about funding and prison counts, see: http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/factsheets/ny/political_power_not_money.pdf

Rocky Robinson has been putting out some conflicting reports himself.

BSVAC WebSite;

BSVAC has sent its first group of volunteers to Haiti. They arrived on Sunday, 1/17/10. A group of over 100 EMTs and a dozen doctors — including 44 BSVAC volunteers –have been sent to Haiti; 90 of these trained medical personnel are originally from Haiti — they speak the language, are familiar with the culture/geography, and have hit the ground running. Already they have provided emergency medical care to countless patients; they have also set hundreds of fractures and delivered 10 babies (at last count).

Fact: The actual number was of EMT’s was 44 not 100’s of EMT’s. Here is an excerpt from the NY Daily News Story.

When news of last week’s catastrophic earthquake in Haiti reached Commander James (Rocky) Robinson and his group of Bedford-Stuyvesant emergency medical technicians, they knew they had to go.
“We’ve got (44) members down there now,” said Robinson, 69, co-founder and president of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps (BSVAC). Noting that BSVAC spent its last $20,000 equipping the volunteers who flew to Port-au-Prince this weekend, Robinson said: “We’re probably the poorest volunteer corps in the nation.” The group of BSVAC nurses, doctors and EMTs took off in a chartered plane that left Kennedy Airport Saturday afternoon. They landed just over four hours later, going straight to General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, where they have been working nonstop since

Mr. Robinson claims on his website over 100 EMT’s arrived Sunday January 17, 2010. But in the NY Daily News story above he claims they left Saturday and four hours later they went straight to work. Which one is it?

FACT: The 44 EMT’s didn’t arrive in Haiti in four hours. They flew to Miami spent the night there and continued on to Haiti the following day. They didn’t go straight to General Hospital in Port-au-Prince four hours after the flight left.

Robinson Claims he spent Bedford-Stuyvesant’s last $20,000 to equip the volunteers that flew to Haiti.

NY Daily News Story;
“We’ve got (44) members down there now,” said Robinson, 69, co-founder and president of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps (BSVAC). Noting that BSVAC spent its last $20,000 equipping the volunteers who flew to Port-au-Prince this weekend, Robinson said: “We’re probably the poorest volunteer corps in the nation.”

FACT: Robinson hasn’t spent a dollar and has been taking in tens of thousands in donations since the earthquake. In addition Robinson has been charging his current members and all thoughs who have come to volunteer at BSVAC in response to the earthquake membership fees to volunteer. These fees include ID card and uniform. Most of the EMT’s that went to Haiti took thier own equipment with them

The members of BSVAC should be commended for their service in Haiti and to the residents of our community. Robinson on the other hand should be ashamed of himself for using this tragity to line his pockets with donations meant for the Haitian relief.

OPEN THE BOOKS ROBINSON. SHOW THE PEOPLE OF THE COMMUNITY HOW BSVAC’S LAST $20,000 WAS SPENT TO EQUIP VOLUNTEERS GOING TO HAITI. FULL DISCLOSER AND ACCOUNTABLITY!