ABC7 NY | MAY 2023

Ruth Lowenkron, NYLPI’s director of Disability Justice, was featured on ABC7 NY’s new segment about mental health in New York City and Mayor Eric Adams’ latest policies, “City in Crisis: Mental Health Emergency.”

The segment noted that 1 in 5 New Yorkers identified as having a mental illness and that there had been a 21% increase in calls to the city about “emotionally disturbed” people. Ruth was interviewed about B-HEARD, the city’s non-police mental health crisis response pilot program, which is only available at certain times in certain areas:

“And unfortunately, predictably, it is not the answer. What they [California and Oregon] do fundamentally is they remove the police from the equation.” – Ruth Lowenkron

Watch the full segment on ABC7 NY here.

Learn more about NYLPI’s campaign to Transform New York’s Mental Health Crisis Response here.

Read coverage about Baerga v. City of New York here.

Photo: NYLPI staff and coalition partners at a Peers Not Police rally.