Support Your Colleagues by Addressing Hate and Violence

This page has been created to acknowledge and address the many systems of oppression (including but not limited to racism, religious oppression, homophobia) that cause harm to our work community every day.

Many of us experience trauma stemming from violence, hate crimes, and harm across New York City and beyond. While targeted incidents are not new, the recent proliferation of violence and hate has created a heightened sense of fear, anxiety, and upset for many of us. As a community, we must stand together and practice active solidarity. It is through our actions that we can create safer and more supportive work environments and communities for everyone.

The following resources are provided for informational purposes and to support your work. The DOE is not responsible for the content of non-DOE resources nor does it endorse such content. Any recommended practices contained in these resources must be implemented in a manner consistent with DOE policies, practices, and procedures.

This is not an exhaustive list--this page list will be updated continuously.

What To Do if You are Targeted or Witness a Crime

If you are the victim of, or witness, a violent or non-violent crime you suspect to be motivated by hate, NYC has numerous resources available.

  • New York City residents are protected against bias, discrimination, and harassment in housing, at work, or in public places under NYC Human Rights Law and should contact the City Commission on Human Rights, call 311 and say “human rights” or fill out this Report Discrimination Form.
  • The NYC Commission on Human Rights relaunched its Bias Response Team due to the rise of bias incidents and discriminatory harassment seen throughout the country and here in NYC in late 2016. The Bias Response Team, which works to support and stabilize communities after incidents of bias have occurred, can be reached at 212-416-0197.
  • City employees are also protected under the City’s EEO policy. If you believe you have experienced discrimination between another individual at work, please reach out to the Office of Equal Opportunity to report your experience.
  • What is a Hate Crime? The Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes has created a guide that provides information on the difference between non-criminal bias incidents and hate crimes, and how to report them.

  • Call NYC 311 If you are in danger of physical violence or witness a violent incident.

DOE Supports and Resources

If, as a DOE staff member, you have questions or concerns you should reach out to your office’s Human Resources liaison. Your correspondence can be kept confidential.

Other links to supports and resources for staff and families from the DOE websites:

  • Chancellor Porter's Message to Families
  • Together for Justice, a page for families with links to share for teaching children about current events.
  • The new Interrogating Systemic Inequities InfoHub page, part of the Race and Equity page, offers guidance to foster ongoing dialogue and action about race and equity.
  • The Striving for Justice InfoHub page offers sources for addressing systemic inequalities and building a strong, supportive, just anti-racist educational system.
  • The Office of Equity and Access and the Office of Organizational Development, Talent, and Culture facilitate foundational Implicit Bias Awareness Workshops for all DOE employees. Employees have access to register for a workshop and/or review the post-session resources that define essential terms and outline strategies and protocols for minimizing the impact of implicit bias throughout the school system.
  • The Employee Resource Groups (ERG) InfoHub page has information on how to join a group, including the Advancing Asians Through emPowerment & Identity ERG.
  • The New York City Employee Assistance Program (EAP) facilitates a safe and confidential space to express concerns, explore needs and offers referrals to assist employees with personal/social challenges. All services are free to New Yorkers and City employees, regardless of insurance coverage or immigration status.
  • EAP offers ongoing weekly support groups with the following focus areas: relaxation techniques, support for people of color, grief, and loss, and resiliency.
    • Every Tuesday at 8PM, the EAP also offers weekly support groups for all NYC employees and their family members who identify as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI); and for those who identify as people of color.
    • All EAP services are available Monday through Friday, 8AM – 11PM.
    • To contact EAP please email eap@olr.nyc.gov, call (212-306-7660), or visit nyc.gov/eap to schedule a phone/video/text appointment.
  • For mental health resources, visit the Mental Health Resources InfoHub page.

Additional Community-Based Resources

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)-Focused Resources 

  • Stop AAPI Hate: Reporting center that “tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.” Their 5-pronged approach is to:
    • Serve as the leading aggregator of anti-Asian and anti-Pacific Islander hate incidents
    • Offer multilingual resources for impacted community members
    • Provide technical assistance from rapid response to preventative measures
    • Support community-based safety measures and restorative justice efforts
  • Asian Americans Advancing Justice: Civil rights-focused organization that offers hate crime reporting services and community resources such as bystander intervention training.

  • Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: litigates cases that have major impacts on the Asian American community; provides legal resources for community-based organizations and facilitates grassroots community organizing efforts; conducts free, multilingual legal advice clinics for low-income Asian Americans and new immigrants; educates Asian Americans about their legal rights; comments on proposed legislation and governmental policies, and trains students in public interest law and encourages them to use their legal skills to serve the community.

Black-Focused Resources

  • Call BlackLine: The purpose of the BlackLine is to provide people with an anonymous and confidential avenue to report negative, physical, and inappropriate contact with police and vigilantes. BlackLine is also a 24/7 national crisis support hotline and texting service. Support offered: peer support and counseling, reporting of mistreatment, affirming listening services for Black, Brown, and Indigenous folks. This organization is run with a Black LGBTQ and Black Femme lens.
  • PBS Learning’s Confronting Anti-Black Racism Resources: Materials for educators and students to help understand the long history of anti-Black racism in the United States and think about ways to address it in their own communities.
  • African Services Committee: “Our programs address the needs of newcomers affected by war, persecution, poverty, and global health inequalities. We provide health, housing, legal, educational, and social services to more than 6,500 people each year. Staff representing more than 20 countries and speaking over 25 languages provide culturally and linguistically relevant support to this diverse and growing community.”
  • Project NIA: founded and directed by Mariame Kaba, Project NIA supports incarcerated youth as well as those victimized by violence and crime through community-based alternatives to the criminal legal process.

Hispanic/Latino/Latinx-Focused Resources

  • Make the Road/Se Hace Camino NY: program offerings include Adult Literacy, Civic Engagement, Community Organizing, Health Access, Leadership Development, Legal Services, and Youth/School Programs.
  • UnidosUs Resources for Navigating Your Public Schools: Includes general resources on welcoming immigrant students and families, student and family resources, supporting undocumented students, and educator resources with a focus on supporting Hispanic/Latino/Latinx communities.
  • United We Dream Toolkits and Resources: United We Dream resources include supports that include tools for combating Hispanic/Latino/Latinx dissemination and driving local impact in communities to ensure protections and inclusivity for immigrant communities.
  • ImmSchools Educator Hub: ImmSchools is an immigrant-led nonprofit organization that partners with K-12 educators to transform schools into safe and welcoming spaces for undocumented students and families. Additional resources are available for students and families.

Indigenous, American Indian, and Alaskan Native-focused Resources

  • American Indian Community House: American Indian Community House (AICH) was founded in 1969, by Native American volunteers as a community-based organization, mandated to improve the status of Native Americans, and to foster intercultural understanding.
  • National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian’s Honoring Original Indigenous Inhabitants: Land Acknowledgement: Resources and guides to help support the practice of land acknowledgment, a traditional custom that dates back centuries in many Native nations and communities to recognize Indigenous Peoples who are the original stewards of the lands on which we now live.
  • Native Women's Wilderness: A hiking and outdoor adventure group that brings "Native women together to share our stories, support each other, and learn from one another as we endeavor to explore and celebrate the wilderness and our native lands."
  • New York Indian Council: Promotes the well-being of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people by providing health services that are in tune with AI/AN history, traditions, and philosophies.

  • Urban Indigenous Collective (UIC): UIC devotes its advocacy and support of quality accessible and affordable health and wellness services grounded in cultural humility for federal and state-recognized tribal members along with self-identified Urban natives living in the tri-state area.

Jewish-Focused Resources

LGBTQIA+ Focused Resources

  • The Anti-Violence Project (AVP): AVP empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV-affected communities and allies to end all forms of violence through organizing and education, and supports survivors through counseling and advocacy. AVP also has violence reporting services.
  • Audre Lorde Project: The Audre Lorde Project is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans, and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color center for community organizing, focusing on the New York City area. Through mobilization, education, and capacity-building, they work for community wellness and progressive social and economic justice.
  • Marsha P Johnson Institute: The Marsha P. Johnson Institute (MPJI) protects and defends the human rights of BLACK transgender people. They do this by organizing, advocating, creating an intentional community to heal, developing transformative leadership, and promoting our collective power.
  • Intersex Justice Project: An organization that works to #EndIntersexJustice for Intersex liberation

Middle Eastern North African (MENA)-Focused Resources

  • Tarab NYC: Community organization providing support for people who are MENA (Middle Eastern/North African) and LGBTQIA+.
  • Arab-American Family Support Center: AAFSC is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization established in 1994 to provide culturally and linguistically competent, trauma-informed, multigenerational social services to immigrants and refugees.
  • Arab American Association of New York: To empower the Arab immigrant and Arab American communities by providing free educational, social, mental health, and immigration support services to help immigrants adjust to their new home and to become active, independent, and productive members of society.

Muslim-Focused Resources

  • Countering Islamophobia Guide: Created by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, this comprehensive guide serves as a resource to fight the rise of islamophobia.
  • Muslim Advocates: Provides reporting services against anti-Muslim discrimination.
  • CAIR-New York (Council on American-Islamic Relations): Protects the civil liberties of and empowers American Muslims. CAIR-NY serves Muslim New Yorkers through legal advocacy, education, media relations, civic engagement, and grassroots mobilization.
  • #IAMMUSLIM Muslim Rights in NYC: Discrimination Protections: Web page from the city with Human Rights Law protections in a variety of languages.

Training to End Harassment

To learn about actions you can take if you witness someone being harassed or you yourself are being harassed, attend the upstander and bystander training/workshops below.

  • Center for Anti-Violence Education: Helps prevent hate violence in communities by centering experiences of the people most marginalized. Educational programs combine awareness-raising, physical empowerment, leadership development, and activism. Offerings include self-defense classes, “Upstander” intervention workshops, and youth empowerment programming, and other resources.
  • Hollaback! Together We Have the Power to End Harassment: Collects stories of harassment while also offering training in the areas of bystander intervention, conflict de-escalation, harassment prevention, and resilience.

Transportation and Commuter Safety

We encourage staff to consider joining with one or more colleagues in an informal carpool or travel buddy arrangement to help promote safety during the commute. Please reach out to your office HR liaison if you have concerns about commuting safely to your workplace.

  • SafeWalks NYC: A volunteering presence to walk with you if you are feeling unsafe.
  • Cafe Maddy Cab: Transport for Asian women, Asian LGBTQ, and Asian elderly.

  • Protect Chinatown: Community-led collaboration, cooperation, and kinship to provide a sense of security.

Resources for Educators

Education can create an environment that is safer for everyone.