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Election Season Westchester vs. Governing Season Westchester

Larnez Kinsey
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Election Season Westchester vs. Governing Season Westchester

There’s a version of Westchester that shows up like clockwork every few years.

It’s the version where your phone rings back.

Where elected officials are suddenly at the same block parties, fish fries, and Sunday services you’ve been attending for years.

Where familiar faces remember your name, ask about your family, and promise to follow up this week.

It feels warm.

It feels close.

It feels like access.

And then the votes are counted.

That version of Westchester quietly clocks out.

What replaces it isn’t hostility, it’s distance. Emails that once got same-day replies now take weeks, if they get answered at all. Conversations that used to happen standing on the sidewalk now require calendars, gatekeepers, and agendas. Presence becomes scheduled. Visibility becomes selective.

If you’ve noticed that shift, you’re not being ungrateful.

You’re being observant.

Election season, Westchester is built on proximity.

Governing season Westchester is built on distance.

And the space between those two realities is where trust begins to thin.

During campaigns, access feels abundant. The same faces appear repeatedly. Hands are shaken. Photos are taken. Notes are written. The word “we” is used generously. Community feels centered. Alignment feels mutual.

After elections, that closeness recalibrates.

Meetings move behind closed doors.

Appearances become seasonal.

Language shifts from “we’re working on it” to “there’s a process.”

Access that once felt relational becomes procedural.

This isn’t a character flaw.

It’s a system feature.

Political culture rewards visibility before power is secured and caution afterward. Once a seat is held, the risk calculus changes. Advocacy becomes something to manage instead of something to embody. Courage doesn’t vanish, it becomes conditional.

Communities feel this shift immediately, often in their bodies before their minds can articulate it.

You feel it when emails go unanswered longer.

When familiar faces stop showing up in the spaces they once shared with you.

When presence feels borrowed, not sustained.

When engagement becomes transactional instead of relational.

And here’s what often goes unspoken:

Trust moves at the speed of light. So does distrust.

The difference is how long each one is allowed to go unacknowledged.

No one announces the change.

It just happens.

This is how disillusionment grows quietly, not through dramatic betrayal, but through absence. Through redirection instead of engagement. Through the slow realization that participation does not always lead to power-sharing.

Across Westchester, public engagement has increased over the years, more listening sessions, more forums, more town halls, yet voter turnout in many local elections still hovers around 20–30%, and confidence in institutional responsiveness continues to lag. People are showing up. They are speaking clearly. They are naming the same concerns year after year.

What’s missing isn’t feedback.

It’s follow-through.

For communities that are already under-resourced and over-consulted, this pattern lands hard. It teaches people to expect visibility without accountability. To brace for alignment that expires once ballots are cast.

If you felt that shift before you could explain it, that wasn’t negativity or cynicism.

That was recognition.

And witnessing, especially when it’s shared, is medicine.

This is not a crisis of perception.

It’s a reckoning with patterns long felt and rarely named.

Elections are moments.

Governance is a relationship.

And relationships don’t survive on appearances alone.

If you’re tracking the difference between who shows up when power is being sought and who remains present once power is secured, you’re not wrong.

You’re paying attention.

And in Westchester, attention that is steady, shared, and unexhausted remains one of the most effective forms of power we have.

If You Felt That…

Black Westchester readers, we want to hear from you.

  1. Have you noticed a difference between how accessible leaders feel during election season versus after they’re in office?
  2. What shifts in presence, communication, or engagement have stood out to you the most?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Let’s see what patterns Black Westchester Magazine readers are noticing across our communities.

Local Churches Offer Solace to 30 Cottage Ave Fire Victims

AJ Woodson
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Local Churches Offer Solace to 30 Cottage Ave Fire Victims

Christ Tabernacle Church and Oneness Rehoboth Church each stepped forward to provide vital support to the victims of the 30 Cottage Fire, delivering over 200 hot meals to those affected. The victims are currently being sheltered at Holmes School, where they are in a warm and safe environment.

Both churches reached out to Judy Williams-Davis with a desire to get involved and help.

Sade Ritter, the project coordinator and nutritionist, expressed her gratitude, noting that weekends are especially challenging for the displaced population. 

“Two weekend deliveries of hot meals were arranged. Their meals were delivered and served, and they were most appreciated,” she said.

 A 5-alarm fire tore through the Mount Vernon apartment complex, displacing all 250 residents, on Sunday, November 23, 2025.

Although the community has responded with overwhelming generosity, a warm meal when you have no way of preparing food for your family is always welcome. The efforts of CHRIST Tabernacle Church and Oneness Rehoboth Church have brought comfort and relief to those who need it most.

Pastor Rev. Michael Basedo of Christ Tabernacle Church and Rev. Arthur Thomas of Oneness Rehoboth Church are to be commended for their generosity and commitment to their community. By extending themselves to serve wherever needed, they exemplify the mission of their churches: to uplift, care for, and provide for those in need.

For those interested in offering additional support, please contact Sade Ritter at 914-665-2446 for more information.

Why Mount Vernon’s ARPA Spending Requires a Federal Audit

DAMON K JONES
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Why Mount Vernon’s ARPA Spending Requires a Federal Audit

A City That Received $41 Million Allowed a COVID-Stricken Police Officer to Go Unprotected

The City of Mount Vernon received approximately $41 million in federal funding under the American Rescue Plan Act. Those funds were explicitly intended to address the public health harms of COVID-19, including protecting frontline workers and stabilizing essential services. Yet Mount Vernon’s own actions demonstrate that the Mayor failed to use ARPA funds to secure COVID-related healthcare and benefits for police officers. The case of Derek Williams—a 19-year veteran who contracted COVID-19 on duty and later suffered catastrophic long-term illness—stands as direct evidence of that failure. When a city receives historic pandemic relief yet allows a COVID-stricken officer to lose access to healthcare, the issue is not administrative oversight. It is misallocation. That misallocation now warrants a federal audit of Mount Vernon’s ARPA spending.

That funding was not discretionary stimulus money. It was governed by ARPA §9901 and implemented through the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Final Rule, codified at 31 C.F.R. Part 35, with a defined purpose: to address the public health harms of COVID-19 and stabilize governments facing extraordinary pandemic-related costs.

Treasury’s rule is explicit. ARPA funds may be used to “respond to the public health emergency or its negative economic impacts.” The rule defines eligible workers as those who perform essential, in-person work and explicitly includes public safety employees.

Most critically, Treasury recognizes that COVID-19 does not end with initial infection. Covered public health expenditures include medical expenses for COVID-19 treatment, including long-term care, rehabilitation, and therapy for post-COVID conditions.

This language is regulatory, not optional.

At the state level, New York General Municipal Law §207-c imposes a mandatory obligation on municipalities to maintain pay and medical coverage for police officers injured or taken ill in the performance of duty. A police officer who contracts COVID-19 while actively serving during a declared public health emergency meets that standard.

These two frameworks were designed to work together. ARPA exists to reinforce existing obligations when extraordinary events strain municipal systems—not to excuse failure.

The Derek Williams case is a contradiction.

Officer Williams served throughout the height of the COVID-19 pandemic while much of the municipal government operated remotely. He contracted COVID-19 in the line of duty. He later developed severe, long-term medical complications, including kidney failure requiring dialysis—precisely the type of post-COVID condition Treasury explicitly recognizes as an eligible public-health expense.

Yet despite the existence of both federal relief funding and a clear state-law duty to maintain medical coverage, Officer Williams was placed in a position where his healthcare, employment status, and financial stability were put at risk rather than automatically protected.

The City’s own public statements make several facts unavoidable. Healthcare protection was not automatic. Coverage was restored only temporarily and only after public pressure intervened. Relief was framed as an act of grace rather than the fulfillment of a legal obligation. Responsibility was shifted from exposure and duty status to paperwork. And throughout the City’s explanation, ARPA funds—specifically designed to address COVID-related public health harms—were never mentioned, cited, or explained.

This outcome cannot be reconciled with the governing law.

Other Cities Used ARPA to Address COVID-Related Illness Among First Responders

Mount Vernon’s handling of a COVID-injured officer is not representative of how ARPA was applied nationwide.

In San Francisco, ARPA funds were used to offset COVID-related personnel costs tied to public safety employees, including medical leave, health-related absences, and continuity of benefits for first responders affected by the virus. COVID exposure and illness among police and firefighters were treated as compensable public-health impacts of the pandemic.

In the Greater Cleveland region surrounding Cleveland, counties and municipalities used ARPA funds to cover COVID-related payroll and benefits for police officers who became ill or were quarantined due to exposure, citing pandemic-related workforce disruption and medical impacts.

In Cumberland, ARPA allocations were used to address COVID-related health impacts on public-safety personnel, including accommodations tied to illness, isolation, and recovery, to maintain continuity of essential services during the public-health emergency.

Across several municipalities in Connecticut, ARPA spending plans included provisions addressing COVID-related illness among first responders, including medical leave, exposure response, and workforce stabilization resulting directly from COVID infections.

National surveys conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors further show that cities such as Austin, Charlotte, Oakland, and Arlington identified COVID-related illness, medical leave, and benefit continuity for first responders as eligible ARPA uses under the public health response and essential worker protection categories.

These examples demonstrate a consistent national understanding: ARPA was a tool to address COVID-related illness among first responders, including long-term health impacts and benefit continuity.

Against that backdrop, Mount Vernon’s failure to use ARPA funds to secure healthcare and benefits for a police officer who contracted COVID-19 on duty is not the result of unclear law or limited authority.

It is a deviation from established practice.

Why a Federal Audit Is Warranted

When law, funding, and outcomes point in opposite directions, accountability is no longer optional.

A federal audit is warranted to determine how ARPA funds were allocated in Mount Vernon, what portion—if any—was directed toward COVID-related healthcare protection for first responders, why existing §207-c obligations were not reinforced with federal relief, and who made the decisions that allowed pandemic risk to be borne by an individual officer instead of the institution.

Statutes do not enforce themselves. Institutions choose whether to honor them. When a city can receive $41 million in emergency public-health funding while a frontline officer who caught COVID-19 on duty is left unprotected, the question is no longer rhetorical.

It is evidentiary.

Where did the ARPA money go—and why wasn’t it used where the law most clearly required it to go?

References

  1. United States Congress.
    American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Pub. L. No. 117-2, §9901, 135 Stat. 4 (2021).
    — Establishes the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) and defines the statutory purpose of ARPA funds as responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency and its negative economic impacts.
  2. U.S. Department of the Treasury.
    State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Final Rule, 31 C.F.R. Part 35.
    — Treasury’s binding interpretation of ARPA, defining eligible uses of funds, eligible workers (including first responders), healthcare-related expenditures, and compliance requirements.
  3. Federal Register.
    Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds; Final Rule, published January 27, 2022.
    — Official publication giving legal force to Treasury’s ARPA rules and interpretive guidance.
  4. U.S. Department of the Treasury.
    SLFRF Compliance and Reporting Guidance.
    — Defines how municipalities must document, justify, and report ARPA expenditures, including public health and workforce-related costs.
  5. U.S. Department of the Treasury.
    SLFRF Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
    — Clarifies eligible uses of ARPA funds, including public safety payroll, healthcare continuity, and COVID-related workforce impacts.
  6. New York State Legislature.
    New York General Municipal Law §207-c.
    — Requires municipalities to provide salary and medical coverage to police officers injured or taken ill in the performance of duty.
  7. New York State Comptroller.
    Local Government Management Guides and Opinions on §207-c.
    — Interprets municipal obligations regarding line-of-duty injury and illness benefits.
  8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
    COVID-19: Long-Term Health Effects.
    — Documents long-term and organ-related health impacts following COVID-19 infection.
  9. U.S. Department of Labor.
    COVID-19 and Worker Safety Guidance for First Responders.
    — Federal recognition of heightened exposure risks for public safety workers during the pandemic.
  10. Treasury Office of Inspector General.
    Oversight of State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds.
    — Provides audit and enforcement standards for ARPA compliance and misus

WCPR Statement On DA Susan Cacace’s Decision Not To Pursue Charges On Peekskill Police For Beating Damar Fields

AJ Woodson
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WCPR Statement On DA Susan Cacace’s Decision Not To Pursue Charges On Peekskill Police For Beating Damar Fields

Westchester County District Attorney Susan Cacace has chosen not to prosecute a police officer involved in a contentious arrest in Peekskill after examining video and eyewitness testimony for several weeks.

The decision has caused much outrage, with many, including The Westchester Coalition for Police Reform (WCPR), who released a strongly-worded statement condemning the decision, on Tuesday.

The WCPR strongly condemns District Attorney Susan Cacace’s decision not to file criminal charges against the police officers involved in the violent assault of Damar Fields on December 3, 2025, at Waterfront Park in Peekskill.

Damar Fields, an unarmed man with emotional disabilities who was known by Peekskill Police, was beaten and tased three times by armed officers. The decision not to pursue charges sends a dangerous message that excessive force against vulnerable people will go unpunished.

This outcome is deeply troubling, not only for Damar Fields and his family, but for every resident who participated in good faith in Westchester’s police reform process following the murder of George Floyd. That year-long effort, required by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order, was meant to center on de-escalation, accountability, and respect for human dignity. The District Attorney’s decision undermines that work and erodes public trust.

Serious questions remain unanswered:

  • Why was the Project Alliance Mobile Crisis Response Team, designed to respond to mental health crises, not activated?
  • Why did no officer intervene, despite a clear duty-to-intervene policy intended to prevent excessive force?

We reiterate our call for the charges against Damar Fields to be dropped immediately. A person experiencing a mental health crisis should not be criminalized.

When prosecutors decline to act, calls for accountability must not end. We call for independent review, legislative oversight, and systemic reforms to ensure that no one, especially armed government officials, is above the law.

This is not how our communities choose to be policed. We reject policing rooted in violence and impunity, particularly toward people with emotional disabilities.

Accountability is not anti-police. Transparency creates trust. Damar Fields deserves justice.

Our communities deserve better.

The DA’s office has referred the matter back to the Peekskill police chief for an internal investigation. Stay Tuned to Black Westchester for more on this developing story!

DA Declines To Prosecute Peekskill Police Officers Involved In Disturbing Arrest Of Damar Fields

AJ Woodson
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DA Declines To Prosecute Peekskill Police Officers Involved In Disturbing Arrest Of Damar Fields

The cops involved in a contentious arrest at a Peekskill waterfront park will not be prosecuted by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. A spokesperson for the DA’s office wrote in a statement, “After reviewing all of the evidence in this case, our office has determined that there is an insufficient basis to pursue criminal charges against any Peekskill police officer involved in the incident.”

42-year-old Damar Fields was tased, kicked, and cursed at during an arrest by the gazebo at the Peekskill Riverfront Green Park, on Wednesday, December 3rd. The Peekskill Police Officer has been placed on administrative leave after a viral cellphone video shows the officer repeatedly tasing a man on the ground, as well as punching and kicking him while cursing at him to get on his face and stomach. Several other officers joined the officer in holding the man down. The video begins after the incident was already in progress.

On Dec. 4th, the Peekskill Police Department referred the use-of-force incident involving several police officers to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office for review. The incident involved the arrest of a person known to the department at the Riverfront Green Park, according to the DA.

The Public and Law Enforcement Integrity Bureau of the office then began what was called a thorough investigation of the incident. The entire body-worn camera footage of the incident was examined by investigators and assistant district attorneys from various perspectives; an eyewitness was interviewed; incident police reports were examined; social media footage of a portion of the incident was examined; the Peekskill Police Department’s Standard Operating Procedure Manual was examined; and the Peekskill community was contacted directly for any further information.

“Last Tuesday, Dec 16th, I agreed to talk to investigators from Westchester County District Attorney Susan Cacace’s office. I told them respectfully I have no faith in their boss. They have a video of clear police brutality, and they were still investigating. I told them it looked to me that they are investigating a way to charge the Black victim and exonerate the white attackers,” said Community Activist Darrell Davis, shared with Black Westchester.

The DA’s Office also “recommended to the Peekskill Police Department that it consider additional training on how to deal with mentally ill or emotionally disturbed persons and on the use of de-escalation techniques.” The DA’s Office published all body-worn camera footage collected as part of the review, which can be viewed here.

“The City of Peekskill and its Police Department recognize that this event has the potential to damage community trust,” the city said in the official statement in the days that followed the incident. “It is important to examine all factors surrounding this incident, including those not visible in the video, to fully understand the actions of both the officer and the individual involved. For that reason, the City is committed to a comprehensive investigation.”

Priscilla Augustin, president of the Peekskill chapter of the NAACP, condemned the misuse of power by the police officers directly involved in the incident.

“After reviewing the video that was posted, it is clear that the officers used excessive force, employed derogatory language, and engaged in racial name-calling toward the man in their custody,” Augustin said on December 7th. “This is unacceptable. We acknowledge the decision to suspend the officer; however, we firmly believe the suspension should be without pay pending the outcome of a full and transparent investigation. Moreover, the consequences imposed in this case will speak volumes about whether law enforcement is truly committed to serving the community’s best interests—or whether some officers believe they are above the law.”

The DA’s office findings were sent to Peekskill Police Chief Adam Renwick, and the matter was referred back to the department for an internal investigation.

At the December 8th Council meeting, five members of the City of Peekskill’s Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) were reappointed and will be reviewing the incident. They are Dennis Adams, Jay Buckiewicz, Antonio Knott, Lisa McClain, and Harriet Ray.

Davis tells Black Westchester he will continue to seek justice for Fields. “They know Damar, they know him. Peekskill is a small city. They should have treated him from the beginning,” he said.

PBP Radio Dec 21, 2025 – MVPD Cop’s Healthcare on the Line, Poverty Rising, Police Reform Debated

AJ Woodson
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PBP Radio Dec 21, 2025 – MVPD Cop’s Healthcare on the Line, Poverty Rising, Police Reform Debated

Black Westchester presents the People Before Politics Radio Show with Damon K. Jones, AJ Woodson & Larnez Kinsey. Tonight, we’re bringing you a powerful and necessary conversation with two important voices shaping our community’s present and future.

This conversation is about justice, reform, healing, and truth — and the work that still remains.
Join Damon K. Jones, AJ Woodson, and Larnez Kinsey tonight as we bring you not just news, but context, accountability, and community-centered analysis you can’t get anywhere else.

LIVE from 6 PM to 8 PM on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X, powered by Black Westchester Magazine.

As always, you can follow Black Westchester on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn 

Follow People Before Politics Radio on Instagram and Twitter

If you want to support Black Westchester Magazine and People Before Politics Radio, you can always donate https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=9DT5P8R82NAHW

A Disabled Father Explained How New York’s Justice System Can Acknowledge Misconduct and Still Do Nothing

Larnez Kinsey
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A Disabled Father Explained How New York’s Justice System Can Acknowledge Misconduct and Still Do Nothing

There are interviews that feel like commentary.

There are interviews that feel like a performance.

And then there are interviews where the truth lands quietly and sits there.

That’s what happened when Marc Fishman and James Christopher joined People Before Politics Radio, Sunday, December 21st.

No shouting. No grandstanding. Just a father and an advocate explaining, step by step, how New York’s justice system officially recognized misconduct in a police officer’s record, yet never required prosecutors to revisit the damage that misconduct may have caused.

“This Isn’t About One Officer”

Marc Fishman is a disabled father with hearing and neurological impairments. During the interview, he spoke carefully and deliberately, not to dramatize his story, but because disabled people learn early that rushing their words often means being ignored or misunderstood by institutions.

What Marc described was not chaos. It was a process.

He explained that police video exists in his case, a video in which the arresting officer states plainly that Marc had no intent to commit a crime. That footage was never shown to a judge or jury. It surfaced years later.

As Marc explained on the show, the system did not grind to a halt when that evidence emerged. Court dates continued. Motions were denied. The case moved forward as if nothing new had been learned.

“This isn’t about one bad cop,” Marc said. “It’s about what happens after misconduct is known.”

The Officer Was Flagged. The Case Was Not.

James Christopher provided the broader context listeners needed to understand why Marc’s case didn’t automatically trigger review.

The officer involved in Marc’s arrest later accumulated 25 civilian misconduct complaints and was ultimately fired. The officer was flagged by the state’s oversight body, the Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office (LEMIO), an office within the Attorney General’s authority tasked with identifying and reporting patterns of law enforcement misconduct.

But as James explained during the interview, LEMIO’s power stops short of enforcement.

LEMIO can investigate.

LEMIO can designate officers as engaging in pattern misconduct.

LEMIO can publish findings and make recommendations.

What it cannot do under current law is require District Attorneys to reopen or review cases tied to those officers.

So even after an officer is formally identified as having a pattern of misconduct, people arrested, charged, or convicted based on that officer’s actions may never receive a mandatory review of their case.

Marc’s case did not.

The Quiet Harm of Procedure

One of the most striking moments in the interview wasn’t about legal doctrine, it was about time.

Marc spoke about years passing without seeing his children. About continuing court proceedings even after new evidence surfaced. About being denied even a brief stay to bring that evidence before federal court.

No one interrupted him.

Because what Marc was describing wasn’t a spectacle. It was the slow, procedural erosion that happens when accountability depends on discretion instead of obligation.

James framed it clearly: when misconduct findings don’t trigger required legal review, accountability becomes optional. And optional accountability depends on bandwidth, politics, and priorities, none of which defendants control.

Why They’re Pushing for a Law Change

Marc and James didn’t come on People Before Politics just to tell a personal story. They came to explain why they are advocating for a targeted amendment to New York State law known as the Pattern Misconduct Conviction Review Act.

As James explained, the proposal does not presume innocence or guilt. It does not mandate outcomes. It mandates review.

The amendment would require District Attorneys to:

  • Review cases involving officers officially designated for pattern misconduct
  • Make determinations within defined timeframes
  • Provide transparency when deciding whether convictions were materially affected

It would also ensure access to legal counsel and timely bail hearings for impacted defendants.

In short, it closes the gap between identifying misconduct and addressing its consequences.

Marc said something during the interview that stayed with listeners:

“If this can happen when the evidence is on tape, imagine how often it happens when it isn’t.”

Why This Matters Beyond One Case

New York ranks third in the nation for wrongful convictions. New York City alone also ranks third. Those rankings are not driven by isolated incidents, they reflect systemic failures to reassess cases once misconduct is formally acknowledged.

The interview made clear that Marc’s case is not an exception. It is an example of how the system currently functions.

The law allows the state to say, “Yes, misconduct occurred,” without ever asking, “Who was affected and should their case be reviewed?”

Where Listeners Can Learn More

For listeners who want to review the evidence discussed on People Before Politics Radio, follow the proposed reform effort, or support the push to close this accountability gap in New York law, more information is available at Protect New Yorkers and NewRochellePoliceAbuse.com

The site provides case documentation, video evidence, and details about the proposed legislative fix being advanced by Marc Fishman and his supporters.

A Question the Law Hasn’t Answered Yet

Marc Fishman didn’t ask for sympathy on People Before Politics.

James Christopher didn’t ask for blind allegiance.

They asked a narrower, harder question:

If the state confirms misconduct, doesn’t it also owe the public a review of the harm that misconduct may have caused?

Right now, New York law says: not necessarily.

This amendment says otherwise.

And after hearing Marc and James explain the reality, calmly, carefully, without theatrics, it’s a question lawmakers can no longer claim they haven’t heard.

What Stayed the Same After the Listening Sessions Ended

Larnez Kinsey
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What Stayed the Same After the Listening Sessions Ended

Before we go any further, let me ask you something quietly, honestly.

Have you ever sat in a folding chair at a community meeting, waited your turn at the microphone, chosen your words carefully, and walked back to your seat knowing nothing would change?

Not because you didn’t speak clearly.

Not because your concern wasn’t valid.

But because you’ve been here before.

If that feeling is familiar, you’re not being cynical.

You’re remembering.

In Westchester, we are very good at listening sessions. We are good at sign-in sheets, two-minute time limits, and thank-you statements that sound sincere in the moment. We are good at naming concerns publicly and resolving them privately, if at all.

And here’s the part that doesn’t get said out loud: when the same issues resurface year after year, that repetition is data.

Consider this. Across Westchester County, disparities in housing stability, school funding, environmental exposure, and policing outcomes have been documented repeatedly over the last decade. Reports are issued. Task forces are formed. Community feedback is collected. Yet many of the same neighborhoods, often Black, Brown, immigrant, and working-class, continue to experience higher rates of housing insecurity, lower per-pupil school investment, and more frequent police contact than their wealthier counterparts just miles away.

That’s not because no one spoke up.

It’s because speaking up wasn’t enough.

We’re often told to be patient. To trust the process. To understand that systems move slowly. But patience becomes something else when it’s consistently requested from the same communities, while relief arrives quickly elsewhere.

In some Westchester municipalities, infrastructure complaints are addressed within weeks. In others, residents wait years for basic repairs, traffic calming, or environmental remediation. That difference isn’t accidental. It reflects prioritization.

And prioritization always tells the truth.

When you leave a meeting, and nothing shifts, no timeline, no follow-up, no visible change, that non-movement is not neutral. It is information. It tells you what the system is willing to tolerate. It tells you whose discomfort is urgent and whose is manageable.

There’s a specific kind of exhaustion that comes from realizing you’re being asked to keep explaining harm instead of witnessing its correction. That exhaustion shows up in the body first: shallow breathing, tight shoulders, the decision not to attend the next meeting.

That’s not apathy.

That’s discernment developing in real time.

People begin to adjust. Not loudly. Not dramatically. They start watching more closely. They notice which issues get resolved quickly and which ones get “taken under advisement.” They remember who follows up after the meeting and who disappears once the room empties.

This is how trust erodes quietly.

Because trust doesn’t require perfection.

It requires movement.

When nothing changes after something is clearly named, the message received isn’t neutrality, it’s acceptability. And what remains uncorrected becomes part of the culture, whether anyone intends it to or not.

This is why attention matters. Not the viral kind. The steady kind.

Pay attention to what actually shifts after feedback is offered.

Pay attention to how long it takes for correction to occur.

Pay attention to which voices prompt action and which are thanked for their patience.

Those patterns will tell you more than any year-end report ever could.

This column isn’t here to shame people for showing up. Showing up matters. But it’s also here to name the moment when showing up stops being enough and when noticing becomes the next form of power.

If you walked out of a room knowing you did your part and the system didn’t do its own, you’re not being negative.

You’re paying attention.

And attention, when sustained, shared, and trusted, is how accountability eventually finds its way into spaces that once resisted it.

If you felt that, you’re not wrong.

You were paying attention.

Legislator Ben Boykin Honored At Union Baptist Church Senior Luncheon

AJ Woodson
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Legislator Ben Boykin Honored At Union Baptist Church Senior Luncheon

Union Baptist Church recognized and honored County Legislator Ben Boykin at the UBC Senior Luncheon after service, Sunday, December 21st, at Garibaldi Restaurant, located at 1 N Broadway in White Plains.

“It has been a labor of love for me to work at the church and also to work on behalf of the church as a member of the County Legislature…” Leg. Boykin expressed to Black Westchester at the luncheon.

Union Baptist Church Pastor Reverend Dr. Verlin D. Williams, who has pastored UBC for the past 30 years, celebrated Boykins’ “unwavering dedication” to both the church and the community.

“Today, we celebrated Ben Boykin at our annual senior Christmas party to honor his unwavering dedication and service to our church and community. Ben has been a faithful member of the Union Baptist Church for over 36 years. During that time, he has played a critical role in securing Grant money for our food service ministry, which provides essential food and meals to those in the White Plains Greenburgh community. His commitment to both our church and the broader community exemplifies true service and leadership, and we are deeply grateful for his continued contributions,” Union Baptist Church Pastor Reverend Dr. Verlin D. Williams shared with Black Westchester.

Hon. Ben Boykin, who has been a member of UBC since 1989, was re-elected to his sixth term to the Westchester County Board of Legislators in November 2023 for District 5 (representing most of White Plains, all of Scarsdale, and West Harrison). He is currently Chair of the Economic Development Committee and serves on both the Legislation and Public Safety Committees.

In September 2024, Ben was named President of the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) for a one-year term. As NYSAC President, Boykin will lead the association during its centennial anniversary, which will include celebrations at the 2025 Legislative Conference in Albany and the Fall Seminar in Niagara Falls. NYSAC is the only association representing the interests of New York’s 62 counties at the state and federal levels.

Ben was honored in January 2018 and 2020 to be elected Chairman of the Board of Legislators (BOL) by his peers. By every measure, his four years as Board Chairman were historic and consequential for this Board, the most diverse in Westchester County history, with more people of color among Legislators than ever before and with a female majority for the first time. During his tenure as Board Chairman, Boykin led the Board through transformative years, passing more progressive legislation than ever before. He oversaw the Board’s 50th anniversary celebrations and successfully navigated the BOL through the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most severe health crises in over a century. His leadership also included significant investments in technology, helping to enhance the accessibility and transparency of Westchester County government. He is currently serving as Chairman of the Economic Development where he works to assist constituents with various issues as well as to provide a better quality of life for all Westchester County residents.

Collaborating with the Latimer Administration, under Ben’s leadership, the Board stabilized the County’s finances, rebuilt reserve funds, cut property taxes, and made crucial investments in infrastructure and affordable housing. The Board also advanced public health protections, supported working families, and enacted legislation to safeguard reproductive rights and enhance public safety.

Mr. Boykin was a member of the White Plains Common Council for fourteen years, from 2000 – 2013, and elected Council President three times. Prior to the Common Council, he served seven years as a member of the White Plains School Board.

In addition to his governmental service, Boykin has had a distinguished career in financial executive roles with Fortune 500 companies and has been a prominent figure in education and not-for-profit organizations. His extensive contributions have earned him numerous awards, including leadership awards from the AFL-CIO Labor Council and Northeast STEM Academy, the Ted Benjamin Award for community service from the White Plains Democratic Party, the Harvey E. Beech Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Omega Citizen of the Year Award from Beta Alpha Alpha Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, the Harold Fitzpatrick Community Service Award, Visionary Award from the African American Men of Westchester (AAMW), the Trailblazer Award from the White Plains YWCA and the Civic Champion Award from League of Women Voters of White Plains.

Ben is a Phi Beta Kappa accounting graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his MBA with honors from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. Ben has been a CPA for 51 years and is currently President of Ben Boykin & Associates, a financial consulting firm.

On Monday, December 8th, the Board of Legislators honored Legislator Ben Boykin, District 5 (representing most of White Plains, all of Scarsdale, and West Harrison), and Legislator Catherine F. Parker, District 7 (representing Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Rye, and part of Harrison), with the Westchester County Distinguished Service Award, the highest level of recognition the Board can bestow.

Outgoing County Legislators Ben Boykin and Catherine Parker receive the Distinguished Service Award, the highest level of recognition the Board can bestow [Facebook]

The medals are awarded to individuals who have significantly benefited the general welfare and common good of the County through dedicated public service. Both Legislators will leave office at the end of the month, having reached term limits.

He is married to Carsandra Boykin, and they have two daughters, LaSandra Boykin and Dr. Nicole Boykin. We celebrate County Legislator Ben Boykin, a true Black Westchester Legend!

Poverty in Westchester County Is Not Hidden — It Is Structured

DAMON K JONES
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Poverty in Westchester County Is Not Hidden — It Is Structured

According to reports from the Westchester Children’s Association, poverty and economic insecurity among children and families in Westchester County are more widespread than traditional statistics suggest. The organization’s research shows that a majority of children in the county live in households that are either low-income or struggling to meet basic needs, particularly in high-cost cities and communities of color. Using real-time data collected from frontline service providers, the Association reports rising demand for food assistance, housing support, and emergency services, even as employment levels remain relatively high. The findings highlight a structural gap between wages and the true cost of living in Westchester, indicating that many working families are financially fragile despite being officially classified as above the poverty line

Westchester County is routinely ranked among the wealthiest counties in America. Median income figures, property values, and corporate presence reinforce that narrative. But averages conceal reality. Beneath the statistics is a growing and undeniable truth: poverty in Westchester is rising, persistent, and increasingly institutionalized — particularly in Black and Brown communities.

This crisis is no longer anecdotal. It is measurable, visible, and sustained. And its causes are not mysterious.

When Work Is Not Enough

A growing share of Westchester residents experiencing hardship is not unemployed. They are working — often full-time, sometimes multiple jobs — yet still unable to meet basic needs. Housing, food, utilities, childcare, transportation, and healthcare costs have far outpaced wage growth.

Federal poverty thresholds fail to capture this reality in a high-cost county like Westchester. Families earning “above poverty” are still one emergency away from eviction, food insecurity, or homelessness. This is not a moral failure on the part of individuals. It is a structural failure of policy and priorities.

The Skills Gap No One Wants to Confront

One of the most overlooked contributors to poverty is the failure to train young people for real, available jobs.

Westchester continues to push college as the primary pathway to success while neglecting skills-based workforce development. Trades, infrastructure, logistics, advanced manufacturing, technology, cybersecurity, utilities, and construction offer stable, middle-income careers — yet these pathways are underfunded, undervalued, and inconsistently promoted.

An economy does not reward intentions or credentials alone. It rewards usefulness.

When young people are not equipped with marketable skills aligned with labor demand, poverty becomes predictable. Workforce development in Westchester has too often been treated as branding instead of strategy.

Affordable Housing That Weakens Cities

Affordable housing is frequently presented as the solution to poverty. In theory, it should stabilize families and reduce cost burdens. In practice, the way it has been implemented in Westchester often produces the opposite result.

Developer-driven projects routinely rely on long-term tax abatements, PILOT agreements, and public subsidies that erode municipal tax bases. Cities are left with increased service demands — schools, sanitation, policing, infrastructure — but fewer resources to fund them.

The result is higher taxes on existing residents, declining services, and deeper poverty concentration.

Affordable housing does not work when it destabilizes the municipalities expected to absorb it. Housing policy that ignores fiscal reality does not solve poverty — it institutionalizes it.

The Nonprofit Industry Problem

Westchester has one of the largest nonprofit ecosystems in New York State. Over the decades, billions of dollars have flowed through nonprofit organizations to address poverty, food insecurity, housing instability, and inequity.

Yet the problem remains — and in many areas, worsens.

This is not an indictment of individual nonprofit workers. Many are dedicated and overwhelmed. It is a critique of incentives. When poverty persists indefinitely despite massive funding, outcomes must be questioned.

If poverty were being meaningfully reduced, emergency programs would shrink. Funding would decline. Organizations would sunset.

Instead, poverty has become a permanent operating model.

The uncomfortable truth is this: poverty is now a billion-dollar business.

Entire careers, budgets, grant cycles, conferences, and political narratives depend on managing the problem rather than eliminating it. Success is measured by program growth, not by the number of people exiting poverty.

Children and the Cost of Inaction

Children bear the highest cost. A majority of children in Westchester live in households struggling to meet basic needs. Food insecurity, housing instability, and chronic financial stress undermine educational outcomes, mental health, and long-term economic mobility.

For Black families, these effects are compounded by existing disparities in wealth, homeownership, and access to capital. The consequences of ignoring this crisis will not be abstract. They will surface in classrooms, emergency rooms, and future incarceration rates.

Poverty Is Not Inevitable — It Is a Choice

Westchester does not lack money, data, or expertise. What it lacks is alignment between incentives and outcomes.

Real solutions would require:

  • Skills-based workforce training aligned with actual labor demand
  • Career pipelines tied to infrastructure, trades, technology, and local industry
  • Housing policy that strengthens municipal tax bases instead of eroding them
  • Honest audits of nonprofit effectiveness based on outcomes, not activity
  • A shift from poverty management to economic mobility

None of this is radical. It is practical.

Poverty in Westchester persists not because the problem is too complex, but because too many institutions benefit from managing it rather than solving it.

Until incentives change, outcomes will not.

And until we are willing to say that plainly, poverty will remain precisely where it is: well funded, well studied, and unresolved.

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