Mercy & Justice Round-Up: August Edition

What does it look like to work inside NYC's public housing system? How much of the subway system is inaccessible to New Yorkers with mobility impairments? Where can I find a biblical response to the complex issue of immigration? You’ll find articles, podcasts, and resources that speak to these questions and more in this month’s Mercy & Justice Round-Up.

As always, this is a collection of content that got us thinking lately and includes a range of perspectives— some we agree with, others we might not. We hope you’ll read, listen, learn and love better with us.

• World Relief put together a curriculum, A Guide to Welcoming the Stranger, meant to take Christians through the biblical perspective on the complex issue of immigration. It guide includes written content, videos, and simulations that both encourage discussions and intend to move participants toward toward action as an expression of their faith.
   
• Follow a day in the life of John Sotomayor, a superintendent in a Harlem public housing complex, in this New York Times article for a glimpse into what the system really looks like. One sobering take away: "A resident with a damaged wall, for example, will wait an average of about 100 days for a plasterer and three months more for a painter to finish the job.”
   
• In eight episodes, Aftereffect tells the story of Arnaldo Rios Soto, a 26-year-old man with autism whose life changed after police shot his behavioral technician, an unarmed black man, in front of him. The podcast explores the effects of the world of group homes, hospital psych wards, physical abuse, and chemical restraints on adults with autism and developmental disabilities.
   
• Only 24 percent of the 472 subway stations in NYC have elevator access, and half of the neighborhoods the subway serves have no accessible station. A CityLab article citing a recent City Comptroller report suggests inaccessibility to the subway contributes to the discrepancy in labor force participation rates between individuals with mobility impairments (23 percent) and those without disabilities (74 percent).
   
• “Black households of all income groups and classes are more isolated and limited in where and how they move around cities, and rarely enter middle-class white areas.” In “The Segregation of Our Everyday Lives,” the author breaks down a study by leading poverty researchers that shows New Yorkers are racially divided not only with regards to where they live, but also in how they travel around the city.