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Former HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson joins ‘The Story’ to react to funding boost for hotels sheltering homeless<\/p>\n
A Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City who has called for slashing the NYPD\u2019s budget in half bragged Tuesday that nearly a third of her campaign\u2019s donors are unemployed.<\/p>\n
“We are building a people powered movement that is making history,” Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit CEO, tweeted Monday night. “Our most frequent donation is just $10, the average donation is $52 and 30% of our donors are UNEMPLOYED. We don’t have to be beholden to special interests or big money. We don’t have to go \u2018back to normal.\u2019”<\/p>\n
More than 500,000 New York City workers lost their jobs between December 2019 and December 2020, according to the state\u2019s Department of Labor. Even amid the coronavirus, that accounts for roughly twice the national rate.<\/p>\n
NEW YORK LOST 1 MILLION JOBS IN 2020 DUE TO COVID-19<\/strong><\/p>\n Small businesses in the city are reeling \u2013 with even some of its most prominent restaurants shutting down and many others forced to lay off workers due to coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n Morales\u2019 campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.<\/p>\n Residents have also been fleeing the city in droves amid the pandemic and due to rising crime, according to the New York Post. Roughly 300,000 households packed up and left between March and October 2020.<\/p>\n Morales has nevertheless called for cutting a whopping $3 billion from the city\u2019s police department.<\/p>\n CORONAVIRUS SHUTTERS PROHIBITION-ERA 21 CLUB IN NYC AFTER 90 YEARS<\/strong><\/p>\n “We know defunding the police doesn\u2019t mean giving up on public safety; in fact, it means the opposite,” her campaign wrote in an email seeking donations Tuesday night. “Removing funding from an overly militarized, abusive agency founded on White supremacy and upheld by the status quo \u2014 and then investing in things like mental healthcare, housing, education, green spaces and public transit \u2014 makes us more safe, not less.”<\/p>\n She has proposed a separate “Community First Responders Department” to respond to 911 calls about homelessness, mental health, substance abuse, emotional distress and other behavioral health issues \u2013 rather than the NYPD.<\/p>\n