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The place where you can stay up to date with the latest events, stories, news, and opportunities for our City Relief community.

When Summer Heat Turns Deadly
Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti

When Summer Heat Turns Deadly

The summer heat has officially arrived. Last week, our team was out in Chelsea Park where hundreds of guests crowded around our drink stations and Guest Services tent, grateful for something cold to drink and a chance to talk with someone who could help create an action plan for their most urgent needs.

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Week 7: We Heal in Community
Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti

Week 7: We Heal in Community

Let's talk about the kind of healing that can't be prescribed.

When we think about recovery, we tend to focus on professional care—therapy, medication, treatment plans. And yes, those things matter. A lot. But for many people experiencing homelessness and mental illness, recovery doesn't begin in a clinic. It begins with connection. It begins when someone looks you in the eye and says, "I see you. You matter."

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Week 6: An Invisible Crisis that Requires a Visible Response
Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti

Week 6: An Invisible Crisis that Requires a Visible Response

Mental health is something I don't fully understand. Serious mental illness runs in my family, and chances are, it touches yours too. Maybe you've lived through a difficult season—depression, anxiety, or something harder—or walked with someone else through it. Mental illness is more common than we admit, and more complex than it appears.

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Week 5: What We See, What We Judge: Substance Use Disorder, Homelessness, and Compassion
Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti

Week 5: What We See, What We Judge: Substance Use Disorder, Homelessness, and Compassion

I've seen more track marks than I'd care to admit. I've poured bottles of liquor down storm drains handed to me by guests on their way to rehab. I've also lost dear friends to overdose, and it's heartbreaking when someone is finally ready for help, but can't access it due to insurance issues or restrictive Medicaid coverage.

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Week 4: Mental Healthcare on the Streets
Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti

Week 4: Mental Healthcare on the Streets

I met Maria in Harlem on a brisk April day in 2020. The city had come to a standstill. The world was telling everyone to "stay home," but Maria didn't have one. We were standing under the Metro-North tracks on Park Avenue, handing out meals in a city that had shuttered itself. As an organization, we didn't know what the consequences would be if we kept showing up. But we knew what would happen if we didn't.

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Week 2: A System Designed to Fail — How Deinstitutionalization Fueled Homelessness
Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti

Week 2: A System Designed to Fail — How Deinstitutionalization Fueled Homelessness

When we look at the intersection of mental health and homelessness, we have to start with a critical turning point in U.S. history: the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric hospitals. Beginning in the 1960s and accelerating through the 1980s, states across the country closed large-scale mental health institutions with the promise of replacing them with community-based care.

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A Call to Generosity in Times of Crisis
Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti

A Call to Generosity in Times of Crisis

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, but the topic is way too big to cover in just five Fridays, so I will start next week and dive deeper into the connection between mental health and homelessness through June. For now, I'm pressing pause on the usual themes to talk briefly—and honestly—about something sensitive: money.

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The Overlooked Crisis of Period Poverty
Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti

The Overlooked Crisis of Period Poverty

At outreach in New York City, it is not uncommon for women who are experiencing homelessness to approach me and ask if I can help them access menstrual products. These requests are often whispered, almost as if they're ashamed to ask. But there's nothing shameful about needing basic hygiene—it’s a human necessity.

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Women & Homelessness: Breaking the Cycle of “Stuckness”
Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti Weekly Newsletters Elizabeth Fischetti

Women & Homelessness: Breaking the Cycle of “Stuckness”

One of the first women I met doing outreach in New York City was Tricia (not her real name). She was in her mid-forties, trying to escape a cycle of trauma, addiction, and violence. Taking methadone for opioid recovery, she also needed anxiety medication for PTSD, but the combination left her drowsy and vulnerable on the streets. Shelter rules forced her outside during the day, leaving her exposed to dangers she couldn't fend off. She couldn't work, couldn't stop treatment without unbearable withdrawal, and most of all—she couldn't find a way out. She was stuck.

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