Dear neighbor,

I hope you’re enjoying summer! Our NY-16 community deserves to be celebrated every day, so my office and I are sharing some of their stories with you. Team Bowman is here to serve you! So we also want to highlight some of the amazing work our constituent services team has been up to. Check it out! 

Last month was Disability Pride Month, so I want to give a big shoutout to Daniel Nash. Daniel is a server administrator and technical consultant who is blind and on the Autism spectrum. He also has a degree in Computer Science and Information Security from John Jay College. In his free time, Daniel volunteers as an IT Technician at the Center for Career Freedom in White Plains, hoping to make technology and cyber security more accessible to students and instructors alike. I’m glad there are people like him who continuously give back to our community.

 

We’re also proud to have the incredible Joanne Dunn in our NY-16 community! Joanne is the first woman to lead the Youth Shelter Program of Westchester, an alternative to incarceration program for young people. She was instrumental in launching YouthCRED, a program to develop justice-involved youth into community leaders who mediate conflict and prevent gun violence in their communities. Joanne also leads the Mount Vernon Community Call to Action taskforce and participates in the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Project RISE steering committee. I’m so thankful for all her efforts to combat gun violence in NY-16.

Looking out for the incredible people of NY-16 is my number one priority, so my office and I take casework very seriously. Did you know that Members of Congress and their staff provide information and services to constituents? Congressional inquiries can include letters of support, information on government benefits and inquiries to federal governmental agencies. We’ve recently had a bunch of successes advocating for people, here are just a few of them!

One of our constituent’s student loan payments were hiked from $50 to $500 per month without any explanation. After the loan servicer ignored the constituent for months, our office submitted a Congressional inquiry and got them to admit it was a mistake, issue a formal apology, and lower his payments back to $50. Another constituent faced more than two years of unexplained delays after applying for disability payments. During that time, she was unable to work and was forced to use up her savings. Advocacy from our office led the agency to dispense more than $60,000 that she was entitled to and continued monthly payments going forward. 

Similarly, an elderly military surviving spouse was petitioning Veterans Affairs (VA) for access to her pension, but her case had been pending for seven months. Our constituent services team contacted the VA Pension Management Center, and within a week, she received her pension and retroactive benefits. We were also contacted by several Larchmont constituents who needed help recovering money that the IRS owed them. A family wanted to settle their mother’s estate taxes, which had been unresolved for two years due to pending tax refunds. After our office advocated for them for six months, the IRS processed their 2020 tax return and issued them a refund check of $15,000.

Later in the month, an active-duty service member got in touch with us because he was worried that his request to cancel his change of station due to his wife’s mental health conditions wouldn’t be reviewed on time. We submitted a request for consideration of his case and his move was canceled in less than a month. In another military-related call to our office, a New Rochelle constituent was trying to locate his deceased father’s service records to apply for survivor benefits, but his National Archives Records Administration (NARA) request had gone unanswered for over a year. After we got in touch with them, NARA located the records and now our constituent has everything he needs to file for benefits. 

Our office is always hard at work for the NY-16 community. Here are some other ways we can help: 

• If you are in the DC area and you are interested in a tour, our office can help! Click here for more information. 

• Our office provides certificates and proclamations honoring individuals or organizations throughout the district. If you would like our office to provide one, complete the form here.

• Members of Congress are authorized by law to nominate candidates for appointment to four U.S. service academies. If you are interested in applying, applications are due November 1, 2023. Check out our website for more information. 

If you need assistance with any federal agency, you can find us at one of our upcoming Mobile Constituent Services, email us at Bowman.Casework@mail.house.gov, or call our office at the numbers below.

Peace and Love, 

Congressman Jamaal Bowman Ed.D.