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Milestone and More: Child and Family Mental Health “Transformational” Leader is City’s New Mental Health Executive Deputy Commissioner

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Milestone and More: Child and Family Mental Health “Transformational” Leader is City’s New Mental Health Executive Deputy Commissioner

by Bernice Elizabeth Green
There may be some relief for New York straphangers who are holding on to hope for solutions to the dramas played out every day in the underground.


Dr. H. Jean Wright II, PsyD, MDiv, described as a “transformational leader”, says he is personally committed to bringing more to his role as New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s new Executive Deputy Commissioner of the Division of Mental Hygiene. He is charged with working with families, youth and children. Dr. Wright began work on Monday, April 22.


Dr. Wright joins the agency from the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual DisAbility Services (DBHIDS), where he served as Deputy Commissioner. Wright is a clinical and forensic psychologist who brings two decades of transformational leadership experience in behavioral health in government, private practice, rehabilitation, and academia to his new role at the Health Department.


According to the NYC press release, “Wright steps into the (Mental Health Commissioner) role as New York City builds on Care, Community, Action, an ambitious mental health agenda focused on child and family mental health, the overdose crisis, and support for New Yorkers living with serious mental illness.”


“Mental health is health and to promote a healthier city and achieve longer, healthier, more equitable lives for New Yorkers, we must have leaders who engage across communities, sectors and specialties to improve wellbeing” said Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan.

“Dr. Wright brings a track record of successful collaboration, clinical and programmatic development and institutional excellence in city government, that will lead to stronger prevention, and more access to care, toward better mental health for all in New York City.”


“Coming out of the pandemic, we all may have been touched by mental health issues in some way,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom in a statement about the appointment. “We also know many individuals and families face everyday stressors resulting from housing, economic, or other concerns.

That’s why we have prioritized mental health care since the start of our administration from launching a comprehensive blueprint including areas such as youth and family mental health and severe mental illness.

I look forward to working together in the coming months and years to tackle these critical issues.”
During his time in Philadelphia, Dr. Wright helped develop and oversee behavioral health and justice programs. He developed initiatives to support people returning from state psychiatric hospitalization and county jails.

This work involved alliance-building across sectors, implementing trauma-focused practices to deliver behavioral health care to target populations, as well as trainings of service providers, according to the NYC press announcement.


Dr. Wright, the author of Find Your Strength in Your Struggle: Discover the Miracle in You, is an Adjunct Professor at Temple University in the Department of Psychology and has served on a variety of boards, including The Mayor of Philadelphia’s Task Force on Reintegration and The Philadelphia Board of Mental Health.

Dr. Wright earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, English literature, and cultural studies from The Ohio State University and a doctorate in psychology with focus in clinical and forensic psychology from Wright State University.

He continued with post-doctoral work at Wilberforce University and Cincinnati VA Medical Center.


Dr. Wright’s website notes that his story “is more than a chronicle of professional milestones; it’s a narrative of a man who seamlessly integrates psychology with faith and spirituality, and who dedicates his life to the betterment of public health education.”


In a statement about his appointment, Dr. Wright said, “Mental health and mental wellness are the foundation for achieving overall health. I am excited to join the DOHMH team to improve access and outcomes for everyone in NYC regardless of their station in life.”


New York City’s Division of Mental Hygiene works on a range of programs and services for New Yorkers focused on mental health, substance abuse, developmental disabilities, and health promotion for legal system-impacted people.


Our Time Press has requested an interview with Dr. Wright to lead into the upcoming June Men’s Month issue.

The Need for a “Pro African Policy and Purpose” from our Community & Elected Officials

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By Jeffery Kazembe Batts
Policy and purpose can change. “Now is the time” Rev. Jesse Jackson famously said to mobilize the Black community during 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns. The slogan is just as appropriate now in 2024 as President Biden, former President Trump and others campaign for the presidency of the USA.

Policies, by elected officials, that encourage growth and the development of African people, here in the USA, in Haiti and in Africa must be implemented with intention and purpose to overcome the exploitation that is the norm over the last 400 years and is continuing.


Led by Black people, I suggest that “now is the time” to make American elected officials implement “pro African policy and purpose” across all domains including foreign policy and immigration. It is imperative that we make our voices heard by decision makers regarding the allocation of billions in tax dollars abroad.


A fair proportion of resources and diplomatic focus must be allocated to people of African ancestry without compromising their sovereignty. As the only group of people who were forcibly brought to these shores during the transatlantic slave trade, Black people have suffered and earned the right to be at the forefront of the formation of uplifting foreign and immigration policy.

We must get busy creating a welcoming atmosphere for Black migrants from African nations, Haiti or anyplace else they migrate from. America needs more Black people! Let us celebrate the arrival of African migrants to the tapestry of Bed-Stuy at the intersection of Fulton St and Bedford Ave.


Africa’s population is the youngest of all the continents. Resources in Africa are needed as inputs for technology, while land is abundant for food cultivation to feed the planet. How goes Africa and the people is how the world will be in the near future. Historically, when committed leadership has emerged that wanted to uplift the people and create a better quality of life they have been assassinated or sidelined.

Western countries, often led by the USA, have encouraged this tragic reality. Think about Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Jean-Bertrand Aristide around the world. What would the state of Africa or Haiti be like if there was no intervention to disrupt their visions?


Within the USA, Marcus Garvey, Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King to name a few were killed before they could fully make their mark on improving this nation for Black and thereby all people. Not only males but women like Ida B. Wells, Angela Davis, Winnie Mandela, Daisy Bates, Assata Shakur and Queen Mother Moore have been marginalized and not able to do all they could do for the people.

As an African-American I’ve wondered “how this society and the world be, if America embraced the potential of African people by letting their leaders live and flourish.” What if the various alphabet institutions the, DEA, NATO, IMF, CIA, FBI, etc., had plans that empowered and facilitated an uplifting Black agenda?


Over the centuries and decades, the official policy of the USA government has moved from chattel slavery, to Jim Crow, to segregation, to partial recognition of equal humanity of Black people. The condition of Black people changed because of struggle, sacrifice and the building of movements.


Similarly, now we can work for a change in the historical nature of American foreign policy from calling Nelson Mandela a terrorist, supporting Mobutu and overthrowing Aristide to respecting new leadership like Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and recognizing South Africa’s sovereign right to set their own foreign policy based on their own national interests, among other action items that could benefit the masses of African people.

African activists in America and people of good will in general need to support the right for African people to be assertive and independent in policy decisions when seeking to develop their nations.


It is time that we all embrace a “Pro African Policy and Purpose” and work to make it a reality, both here in NYC and everywhere around the world. Let us organize to get tens of billions of dollars of development assistance for places like Sudan and Haiti since other places are getting that much financial assistance for armaments and Black people pay taxes also. Let us push for more Black migrants in Bed-Stuy, NYC and the entire USA.

On Saturday afternoon, May 18th, a week before African Liberation Day and the day before Malcolm X birthday, all roads lead to Bed-Stuy as we continue the movement for Black power and African development along Marcus Garvey Blvd and Fulton St. in gentrified but still powerful, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn with a Pro African Policy and Purpose march. Policy and purpose can change.

Doula Delays

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Doula Delays

By Jordan Allbrooks

Two months ago, Melissa Bryant gave birth to her first child Noah, at Mount Sinai West Hospital. “He’s beautiful, he’s perfect, I’m obsessed with him,” said Bryant.


Early on in Bryant’s pregnancy she experienced a negative interaction with her OBGYN when learning that she was carrying the sickle cell trait. “It was my first time hearing the news and she glanced right over it, as if it wasn’t a big deal,” said Bryant. This interaction pushed Bryant to find a more holistic birth plan using a doula and midwife.


“It’s more so towards just using your own body and breathing techniques and using the natural processes of just your own self. And I really like that, with current times, the maternal mortality rate is really high, especially for the minority you can call- population. So, I wanted to make sure to at least go with trying what my body could do first,” said Bryant.


In the United States Black women have a maternal mortality rate of 69.9 per 100,000 live births according to the Center for Disease Control Prevention (CDC). These statistics make Black women three times more likely to die compared to white women.

In New York City the statistics are significantly worse, making Black women nine times more likely to face maternal complications. In order to decrease maternal complications families can look to birth workers like doulas for help.


Doulas are trained individuals who can provide non-medical, emotional, and physical support to an expecting family. According to the Washington Post only six percent of expecting mothers seek doula support.


The support of a doula can look like helping the expecting family through any fears or questions that have about pregnancy, delivery or port postpartum. The support of a doula can look like guiding a mother during labor, creating a space for families to ask questions to providers, or even teaching an expecting mother new stretches to help during delivery.

Alyse Hamlin Bertram at home with her four children – from left to right, Kyndall, 1, Logan, 5, Noelle, 16, and Khai, 11 – on March 10, 2023, in Houston, TX. After two difficult pregnancies, Alyse Hamlin Bertram had much smoother experiences with the births of her third and fourth children, which were aided by childbirth doulas and midwives. Of her first two hospital births, she said, “There was so much drama. I didn’t feel nurtured. I didn’t feel seen.” Bertram was aided by doula Mimi Bingham for the pregnancy and birth of her youngest daughter, Kyndall. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)


New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist is the only hospital out of all eight NYP campuses to offer doula services to patients. Vanessa Petgrave is the Director of Nursing for Maternal Health at Brooklyn Methodist. Petgrave is an advocate for doulas and the support they give.
“I suggest doula support to every birthing person that comes in,” said Petgrave. Currently the hospital has seven doulas on staff working full-time offering care.


“Doulas are great because they go in, they sit down, they listen about their birthing experience. They offer them tips for swaddling. They help with the feeding. They help with different positions and show you how to latch a baby in different ways,” said Petgrave.
Last March the department of Health partnered up with nonprofit doula centers throughout the city to launch the Citywide Doula Initiative (CDI).

The goal of the Initiative is to reduce birth inequalities by training 50 community members as doulas. For the next nine years the city intends on training 50 new doulas through local classes in hopes of helping 500 families by June of 2022 in 33 neighborhoods in the TRIE area.

TRIE neighborhoods are classified as areas that were heavily affected by the coronavirus and have a high percent of socioeconomic disparities. The city has granted the CDI a budget of 18 million dollars for this program.


The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene chose not to respond about the payment delays or on the impact the program has made on the city. According to Mary Powel-Thomas the director of the doula initiative as of June 30, 2023 the CDI has served 1,050 clients throughout the city.

Powel- Thomas would not answer any questions regarding delayed payments or anything regarding the future of the program.

The annual report last year stated that as of June 2022 the CDI has trained over 300 doulas. Assistant Press Secretary of DOHMH Shari Logan also avoided the questions about the delayed payment and instead shared links to information about the program and the statement that Mayor Adams made when announcing the launch of the program back in 2022.


“If we want to acknowledge it or not, the reality is Black women are treated different when they go for healthcare, they are treated different, they [health care providers] believe they [Black women] have a higher tolerance of pain,” said Mayor Eric Adams.


As doulas are becoming more popular, many workers find it difficult to work full-time because of the low wages and delayed payment from the city. A newly trained dual makes between $500 to $1600 per client. With wages that low many birth workers have second jobs to sustain themselves and only work part time.


Simone Renee is a doula with the CDI and works in Central Brooklyn serving Black families for over 4 years. In order to receive payment for her work Renee must submit a claim to the city. The process to approve a claim can range in time length. At one point Renee had to wait nine months to a year to receive payment from the city. “We deserve equitable pay. We deserve on time pay because this can be a thankless job. It’s nothing like being able to know that all of my needs are met, said Renee.

Snanobia Pack, is a doula at Ancient Song Doula Services, one of the partners with the CDI. Pack claims that when she originally agreed to be a CDI doula, she was under the impression that the city would pay her within 3-4 weeks after submitting her payment claims, but that was not the truth. “I don’t think I can be a CDI doula for much longer,” said Pack “The city is good for getting people’s hopes up and then turning around and just doing all types of foolishness,” said Pack.

In the annual report for 2022 sustainability was listed as one of the challenges for doulas “Many individuals provide doula support as a secondary occupation, relying on other jobs or family members for stable income,” stated the report. The pay delays are putting the program at risk of losing doula participants. Currently, Pack has one client due in December then she plans on leaving the CDI program. For doulas like Pack the long waiting period for payment forces her to find a more reliable source of income.


Renee is one of the many doulas who have to work a second job to sustain herself.
Working as a community doula has always been Renee’s second job, recently Renee has started working as a NICU doula at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.


“A lot of us have a 9 to 5. I know doulas that drive Uber, I know doulas that baby sit or that are bartenders on the side because it can be tough to sustain yourself,” said Renee
As the maternal mortality rate of Black women continues to rise, so will the demand for doulas.

Many doulas chose to only take one 2-3 clients per year because of the pay delays and to make time to work a second job. With birth workers being selective of the clients they take on; many families are forced to go without the additional support that the city intended for.
Reprinted from August 2023

Innovative Youth Offshore Wind Training Program Comes to Brownsville

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Innovative Youth Offshore Wind Training Program Comes to Brownsville

By Mary Alice Miller
Brownsville hosted partners in a new green job workforce development program focusing on the offshore wind industry. The first-of-its-kind initiative will provide marginalized Brooklyn youth with training and support to pursue careers in the emerging offshore wind industry.


The Brooklyn Youth Offshore Wind Training Program will enable 72 traditionally underserved Brownsville youth, ages 15-24, to gain certification and hands-on experience that will help them build America’s green energy future and catapult them to well-paying middle-class careers. The program is actively recruiting students and working closely with local schools to spread awareness and identify potential participants.


“We want the local community to have a seat at the table and be the first in the door,” said La’Shawn Muhammad, Executive Director of Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation. “Usually, minority communities only get access to new industries after the fact. The goal of this program is to address the opportunity gap and give these young people the experience and training they need so they’re prepared for good-paying jobs in New York City’s burgeoning offshore wind industry.”


“This initiative will allow us to make a transition to a just renewable energy industry,” said Marjaneh Issapour, Founder and CEO of National Wind Service Corp. “Offshore wind, unlike other industries, offers an opportunity to unskilled workers. All they need is a little skill gap program to get up to speed and take advantage of these jobs.”


Funders include Citizens Philanthropic Foundation, Citizens Bank, and LISC New York. Citizens Philanthropic Foundation is contributing $300,000 for each of two years, a total of $600,000 overall.


“We are here to celebrate our commitment to Brooklyn and to those who call Brownsville their home,” said Rebecca O’Connell, Executive Vice President Citizen’s Bank. “It is remarkable to see how different entities – private, public, not-for profit – come together to create meaningful impact.”

“This program reflects Citizens’ continued commitment to drive positive climate impact, build the workforce of the future, and foster the economic vitality of New York neighborhoods,” said Rachel Mattes Greenberg, Head of Sustainability at Citizens.

“We are excited to partner with LISC and CBEDC to launch this one-of-a-kind program to address the clean energy labor needs of tomorrow and ensure that Brownsville youth have access to careers that will lead to greater economic prosperity for the local community.”

CBEDC and NWS will administer the program by developing the curriculum, hiring instructors, and providing counselors and other support services to students. The program will start with a 15-week after-school preparatory program before students advance into an intensive 7-week paid summer internship.

During the summer internship, participants will receive hands-on experience with various offshore wind industry occupations including project management, construction, technician-related jobs, computer numerical control machinists, welders, and wind turbine technicians. The summer program will also include swimming lessons, which are crucial as these wind farms are in the open ocean, and many BIPOC youth do not have access to pools or swimming lessons.


“Environmental and climate justice is a huge passion of mine,” said City Council member Sandy Nurse. “It is so important that our communities – Brownsville, East New York – are at the front of the line to receive the benefits of the clean, green economy that is coming to New York City and that is finally arriving after so many of us have been asking for it.”


Dasia Jenkins, Community Engagement Coordinator at Pitkin Ave BID and youth ambassador said “In the face of the escalating climate crisis, this Youth Offshore Wind Program presents a significant opportunity for the youth here in Brownsville and neighboring communities. It offers a future where historically underserved communities will not just be equipped to address climate change, this program offers a beacon of hope, bridging opportunity and gaps to entrust our youth to lead the way in NYC’s burgeoning offshore wind industry.”


Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman said the State has laid the foundation for clean energy and environmental jobs by getting the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act signed into law, enacting the Environmental Bond Act, and allocating $2.1 million for young people to go to Medgar Evers College to train every summer in the Adirondacks to make sure we still have clean water.
Zinerman added, “In Bed Stuy we have 9 schools that focus on the environment or wind farms.”


Leading offshore wind, infrastructure, and compliance companies, including Equinor, that is developing the Empire Wind farming project off the coast of Brooklyn, as well as Crowley, Helberg Electrical Supply, JetEx Mechanical, Genesus Construction Training Center, and LocalContent.com have committed to working closely with program participants to prepare them for full-time employment pathways within the offshore wind industry.

Upon completion of the training program, participants will be prepared for jobs leading to average salaries between $75,000 – $120,000 in various offshore wind industry careers.


Aaron Siegel Long Island Community Liaison at Vineyard Offshore spoke of one lease area from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Vineyard Wind 1 off the coast of Massachusetts, that is not fully operational but is currently putting power into the grid, with another off the coast of Nassau in the development.


“On the East coast we are putting turbines in the continental shelf. The monopile (the stilt that the turbine stands on) gets pile driven into the ocean floor in a very delicate, environmentally friendly way,” said Siegel. “Off the West coast and further out east there is no continental shelf so floating wind turbines are being developed.”


Ana Fisyk said Equinor has a contract for an offshore wind project with the State of New York. Currently under development is Empire Wind 1, a project that will be located 15-20 miles off the shore of Long Island and based out of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. “Our projects at South Brooklyn Marine Terminal are going to be built with union labor,” said Fisyk. “It is critical for young people to get into the apprenticeship programs to get into unions.” The project will also include a learning center for the public and a museum.

Monica St. Claire, CEO of U.S. Offshore, a specialty marine service provider to offshore wind, renewable energy and telecommunications said her company is partnering with Danish company Kanda to provide virtual reality and digital offshore wind training. “The training is Global Wind Organization (GWO) standard. “If they stay on this path and go for the GWO certification they will be well prepared,” said St . Claire.

Art + Business = Cultural Awareness and Economics

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Art + Business = Cultural Awareness and Economics

The Cooperative Culture Collective is a Brooklyn based collaboration between African American artists and African American small businesses in the evolving Brooklyn, New York cultural districts of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford- Stuyvesant and Prospect Heights. Our Mission is to present, develop and produce African American influenced celebrations and festivals, to enhance cultural and educational awareness, foster economic growth for business in the communities and provide a local and national platform for established and emerging artists.

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