VOCAL-NY

Background

VOCAL-NY was founded in 1999 by Joe Bostic, Joe Capestany, and Jennifer Flynn as “NYC AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN).” Its first campaigns involved housing and welfare advocacy for people infected with HIV/AIDS. It voiced support for the Expanded Syringe Access Program (ESAP) legislation as well as the Parolee Human Rights Project. ¹

Founder Joe Capestany died of AIDS in 2003 at the age of 48. Founder Joe Bostic died of AIDS and hepatitis C in 2004 at the age of 51. ¹

In 2008, former head of staff for NYCAHN Louie Jones started the VOCAL-NY Users Union. In 2009, NYCAHN became an officially recognized Syringe Exchange Program. ¹

In 2010, NYCAHN was renamed “Voices of Community Activists and Leaders-NY (VOCAL-NY).” It launched the 501(c)(4) VOCAL Action Fund in 2014 to advocate at the state and local levels. It launched its Homeless Union in 2016 to treat people with Hepatitis C in collaboration with the Mount Sinai medical system. In 2017, it brought on a campaign organizer for upstate New York to organize chapters in Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester. In 2022, it launched VOCAL-KY, bringing its operations to Louisville, Kentucky. This was followed by the launch of VOCAL-TX in 2023, opening a center in Austin, Texas in collaboration with Texas Harm Reduction Alliance. ¹

Activism

Policing Policy

VOCAL-NY was a leader in protests against police in the summer and fall of 2020, organizing anti-police marches throughout several boroughs of New York City. ² In June 2020, VOCAL-NY led protests at New York’s City Hall as the City Council was finalizing the budget for fiscal year 2021. Protestors calling their group “Occupy City Hall” demanded that the council cut one-sixth of the New York Police Department’s $6 billion budget and redistribute the money to housing and other social services agencies. VOCAL-NY’s leadership criticized then-New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) opposition to the plan as “unconscionable” and the city council’s support for the proposal as amounting to no more than “a vague press release.” ³ The city later cut the NYPD budget by about $282 million. ⁴

In July 2020, staff members of VOCAL-NY participated in protests calling for cuts to the police budget that included demonstrations outside the apartment of city council speaker Corey Johnson’s (D-Manhattan) boyfriend. The protests caused some damage to the building. Shortly thereafter, Johnson zeroed out a planned $2.5 million appropriation in the city’s budget that would have permitted VOCAL-NY to buy its Brooklyn headquarters building. Though Johnson’s office denied that the move was retaliatory, VOCAL-NY’s co-executive director Jeremy Saunders accused Johnson of removing the appropriation after “getting angry on a whim.” ⁵

Drug Rehab and Housing Advocacy

In 2020, VOCAL-NY Drug Policy Coordinator Jasmine Budnella sharply criticized then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) for comments he made advocating arresting persons injecting drugs on public streets and for the homeless to be “off the streets, like they should’ve never been in the subways.” Budnella called the comments “inflammatory” and “reminiscent of the … rhetoric that Nixon and the Reagan administration, as well as many afterward, used to address substance use,” which she claimed led to mass incarceration and the opioid crisis. ⁶

In 2020, the organization also called for increased funding for drug rehabilitation programs and needle exchange programs, pointing to increases in overdose deaths during the pandemic. The state budget cut funding for drug treatment services by 20 percent in fiscal year 2021 and retained a requirement that doctors receive “prior authorization” before prescribing certain medicines used to treat opioid addiction.  ⁷ Budnella said that the prior authorization requirement is “both deadly and bogs down providers when they could be serving more people.” ⁸

In 2020, VOCAL-NY organized protests in Albany and New York City, advocating for a moratorium on evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic and for other renters’ protections, such as “good cause” eviction laws. ⁹ Then-Gov. Cuomo extended the moratorium on evictions in the state through January 2021, but VOCAL-NY advocated for additional protections, claiming that the moratorium did not go far enough to protect renters from “frivolous” lawsuits by landlords. ¹⁰

Financials

In 2023, VOCAL-NY reported revenue of $9,667,433, total expenses of $8,290,188, and net assets of $7,141,811. ¹¹

Grantmaking

In 2023, VOCAL-NY gave $45,000 to New York Communities Organizing Fund Incorporated (NYCOFI). ¹² NYCOFI runs Climate Defenders, which planned and participated in the Spring 2025 New York-based #TeslaTakedown protests directed against Tesla owner Elon Musk for his involvement in the second Trump administration. ¹³

That year, VOCAL-NY also provided grants to Appalshop Inc. ($50,000), Community Service Society of NY ($95,000), Community Voices Heard ($95,000), Kentucky Center for Economic Policy ($25,000), Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition ($25,000), Metropolitan New York Coordinating Council on Jewish Poverty ($18,000), Public Policy and Education Fund of New York ($95,000), St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality ($35,000), and the Legal Aid Society ($50,000). ¹²

Funding

In 2012, VOCAL-NY received $20,000 from New York Communities for Change for “community police reform for fair and just policing.” ¹⁴

In 2015, New York Communities for Change gave VOCAL-NY $27,160 for “community police reform.” ¹⁵

In 2019, People’s Action gave VOCAL-NY $54,775 for its role as an affiliate in a state program. ¹⁶

In 2020, Public Policy and Education Fund of New York gave VOCAL-NY $110,000. ¹⁷ That year, VOCAL-NY also received $215,000 from Borealis Philanthropy. ¹⁸

In 2022, NYCOFI gave VOCAL-NY $10,000 for “climate and housing justice.” ¹⁹ That year, VOCAL-NY also received $200,000 from New Venture Fund. ²⁰

In 2023, Public Policy and Education Fund of New York gave VOCAL-NY $60,000. ²¹ That year, the Ford Foundation also sent VOCAL-NY a direct grant worth $250,000, another grant worth $200,000 to support VOCAL-KY, and another worth $100,000 to support VOCAL-TX. ²²

In 2023, VOCAL-NY reportedly received $1,696,352 in government grants. ²³

In 2020, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) terminated $2.25 million worth of scheduled city funding for VOCAL-NY following a disagreement with then-Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) over the annual budget. VOCAL-NY claimed it would have used the funds to purchase a new headquarters in Brooklyn, stating it had already signed a 15-year lease on the planned building after finishing a $1.5 million renovation. Co-executive director of VOCAL-NY Jeremy Saunders claimed the cut city funding was due to a series of demonstrations the group had held to protest the city budget earlier that year. ²⁴

Leadership

As of 2025, VOCAL-NY was led by co-executive directors Alyssa Aguilera and Jeremy Saunders. ¹ Aguilera previously worked as a community organizer for “health justice” at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. ²⁵ Saunders began his career in activism with ACORN, Community Voices Heard, and the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. ²⁶

As of 2025, its board was chaired by Reginald Brown. Other board members included Hiawatha Collins, Wayne Starks, Jovada Senhouse, Marilyn Reyes, and Pedro Benitez. ¹