Public Services

Accessible and affordable public services that meet the needs of residents. Public services can provide essential support to communities who are economically insecure, allowing them to build towards longer-term security.

Areas within Public Services that residents found to be most important for safety and thriving.

The following indicators are meant reflect the conditions underlying community safety and thriving.

Mental Health

Residents indicated that mental health was a major challenge in their communities, given the effects of intergenerational poverty, violence, and incarceration. Mental illness was commonly cited as a cause of violent crime making access to quality and affordable mental health services essential to individual and community safety.

Presence of mental health services

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: MOCMH

Description: Number of subsidized mental health programs

Public Data Available? No.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation:

Public data should should be released on subsidized mental health programs.

Adult mental health status

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: DOHMH

Description: % of respondents who cite “current depression” or “serious psychological distress”

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation:

Public data should allow for more geographic precision and should be updated more frequently.

Youth mental health status

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: DOHMH & CDC

Description: % of respondents who cite “current depression” or “serious psychological distress”

Public Data Available? No.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation:

Public data should allow for more geographic precision and should be updated more frequently.

Psychiatric hospitalization rate

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: DOHMH/SPARCS

Description: Adult Psychiatric Hospitalization Rate

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation: Datasets with calculations should be made public on NYC open data.

Healthcare

Residents struggle with the high incarceration rates of family and community members and over-policing of their neighborhoods and schools. Decreased policing of small offenses and decreased incarceration overall are important measures of physical security.

Health insurance access

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: ACS Table S2701

Description: Percentage of residents with health insurance

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation: NYPD and NYS should release data publicly by monthly rate of criminal summons by age, race, gender, and geography.

Medically underserved index

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: HRSA

Description: The IMU is calculated from four variables, including ratio of primary care physicians per 1,000 population, infant mortality rate, percentage of the population with incomes below the poverty level, and percentage of the population age 65 or over

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation:

Connectivity

Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, where remote schooling and working were the only options, many residents struggled to participate due to a lack of reliable broadband internet and access to computers. Access to broadband and appropriate technology is essential to the economic security that comes with engaging in the modern workforce and education system.

Broadband Access

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: NYC MOCTO & ACS Table DP02

Description: Percentage of households with broadband

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: Yes.

Data Concern/Recommendation: NYC should expand data collection efforts around the digital divide.

Computer access

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: ACS Table DP02

Description: Percentage of households with a computer of any kind (desktops, laptops, tablets, or smartphones)

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation: NYC should expand data collection efforts around the digital divide.

Transit

Access to adequate transportation has major implications for people’s quality of life. Many residents struggled to access reliable transportation, which served as a barrier to employment, education, and other essential services. This is particularly true for senior residents and those with disabilities, who struggled to come by ADA accessible transit stations. Transit access is a key driver of access to employment and education opportunities, which are essential to economic security.

Transit availability

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: MTA

Description: Per capita subway entrances, bus stops

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: Yes.

Data Concern/Recommendation:

Transit accessibility

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: MTA

Description: Per capita number of “fully accessible” subway stations

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: Yes.

Data Concern/Recommendation: Further data around other public-related transit such as Citi Bikes should be made more readily available.

Public Assistance

Support for basic income, food, housing, and child care needs enables people to sustain themselves, providing short-term physical and economic safety while enabling them to seek to establish longer-term economic security.

Utilization of public assistance

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: HRA for SNAP & ACS for public assistance data

Description: Percentage of eligible households who receive SNAP or cash public assistance

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation: HRA public data should be made more readily available and allow for geographical precision.

Emergency food recipients

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: HRA

Description: Number of people receiving emergency food

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation: HRA public data should be made more readily available and allow for geographical precision.

Subsidized housing utilization

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: NYCHA

Description: Ratio of population who are enrolled to ratio of population who are eligible

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation: NYCHA should make demographic and geographic level information public.

Access to child care

Responsible NYC/Gov Agency: DOHMH

Description: Number of subsidized licensed center/family child care slots per 100 low-income children

Public Data Available? Yes.

Included in ONS Neighborhood Navigator: No.

Data Concern/Recommendation: Public data should be updated more frequently with geographic-level information.

NIS Measuring Community Safety in NYC

How residents talk about Public Services…

We also have to provide. There's lack of community centers, recreation centers, and we need to provide families with mental health services. Kids are waking up everyday living in trauma.

...I always feel when it comes to government, it's always a pulse response to the action. The affliction is coming from within the community, based on the systemic issues and the oppressions and just personal trauma that people deal with. This goes back to mental health. The access to many different resources, food in particular. Just for an individual to have the right vitamins levels and nutrition levels, those things, again, has a direct correlation with crime, which the government can control as far as just the resources that are poured into the communities. I think it's full circle with all those things. They have to be connected together. Once you understand that aspect of it, I think the government can play a better role in just assisting the community from the inside out, not the out going inside.

How do residents feel about Public Services?

[SAFE Lab Charts]

SAFElab Social Media Tool

FAQ

Q: Is this data available?
A: All the data provided in the data explorer can be downloaded from the NYC Open Data Portal. All of the other data included as samples or recommended for data collection can be sourced from the NIS report but is not readily available.

Q: What are some actionable steps as a NYC resident?
A: First, we encourage you to review the NIS Safety and Metrics report. Second, encourage the relevant NYC agencies to improve data collection efforts, quality, frequency, and granularity. Third, hold government accountable around safety by pushing accountability across all agencies – every agency discussed has some role to play in co-producing safe and thriving communities.

Q: Who should I contact if I see errors or concerns in the data explorer?
A: Please email map@cityhall.nyc.gov with the subject “ONS Neighborhood Navigator Issue.” Someone from our team will get back to you 🙂

Q: When will the social media data be made available?
A: The SAFE Lab Social media tool is currently under research and development but will be made available in 2022. To keep up to date, please revisit this site for more information.

Feedback

Have questions? Want to get involved? Reach out to us via the following:

Email us at map@cityhall.nyc.gov

For press inquiries: contact our Press Officer at 646.343.6740

Visit the Department of Youth and Community Development

Public Services

Areas within Public Services that residents found to be most important for safety and thriving.

Look beyond Crime. Explore Community Safety Within 15 NYC Neighborhoods.

How residents talk about Public Services…

How do residents feel about Public Services?

FAQ

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