“PATH was built to manage crisis, not prevent it. Its role is to decide who qualifies for shelter, not who needs housing. As a result, families are forced to fall far enough to be deemed eligible.”

Department of Homeless Services’ Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) intake center in the Bronx, located at the intersection of East 151 Street and Walton Avenue. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

New York City’s shelter intake system for families with children—known as Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing, or PATH—is the single point of entry for parents seeking emergency shelter when they have nowhere else to go.

Each year, thousands of infants in New York City are born into homelessness or enter the shelter system within their first year of life. According to the city’s own Department of Homeless Services, once a family reaches PATH, the crisis has already begun. By the time parents arrive there with babies in their arms, instability has hardened into trauma.

PATH is not concerned with housing—it is an intake system designed to determine shelter eligibility, but eligibility only comes after families have fallen far enough to prove crisis. PATH is a system that waits for collapse. That is not a safety net, and it does not safeguard the most vulnerable among us.

Babies do not experience instability the way adults do. Stress, displacement, and uncertainty in the earliest stages of life are not easily undone. So what is shaping these children—their nature, or the environment we place them in? When intervention comes only after eviction or displacement—after a collapse, a breakdown in the family—the damage has already been done. Timing matters. Prevention matters.

We repeat slogans like “children are the future” and “it takes a village,” yet our systems respond only after families are in crisis. How can children imagine a future without a stable home? And where is the village when parents must enter shelter intake—after collapse—just to qualify for help?

PATH was built to manage crisis, not prevent it. Its role is to decide who qualifies for shelter, not who needs housing. As a result, families are forced to fall far enough to be deemed eligible.

PATH could become a more direct road to housing by prioritizing pathways like Pathway Home and, as an upstream measure, partnering with housing initiatives such as Anthos Homes to support immediate housing stabilization and placement—especially for families with infants.

James Baldwin once said we must go the way our blood beats. For too many babies born into shelter, that beat is survival. When instability becomes normal, crisis becomes the body’s language. PATH should be the road to housing, not a test of endurance. Babies deserve a life they can live—not one they must survive.

Rhonda Jackson is a lived-experience community engagement consultant and a leader with the Family Action Board of the Family Homelessness Coalition.*

*Editor’s note: Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York, a member of the Family Homelessness Coalition, is among City Limits’ funders.

The post Opinion: Shelter Intake Should Be the Road to Housing appeared first on City Limits.

Según la alcaldía, en los últimos años miles de personas en busca de empleo, en particular aquellas con bajos ingresos y que no son hablantes nativos de inglés, han pagado comisiones ilegales por adelantado a agencias de empleo o solo han recibido reembolsos parciales por lo que pagaron a pesar de no haber conseguido trabajo.

Personas esperando dentro de la agencia de empleo Eleny’s en Midtown Manhattan. La empresa es una de las tres que el Departamento de Protección al Consumidor y al Trabajador de la ciudad investigó recientemente como parte de una revisión de cumplimiento de leyes.(Adi Talwar/City Limits)

Este artículo se publicó originalmente en inglés el 5 de febrero. Traducido por Daniel Parra. Read the English version here.

Es habitual que algunos neoyorquinos desempleados busquen trabajo en una agencia de empleo.

Sin embargo, según la alcaldía, en los últimos cuatro años miles de personas en busca de empleo, en particular aquellas con bajos ingresos y que no hablan inglés fluidamente, han pagado por adelantado a estas agencias o han recibido solo reembolsos parciales, lo cual es ilegal, a pesar de no haber conseguido trabajo.

En 2023, cuando decenas de miles de inmigrantes y solicitantes de asilo llegaron a la ciudad de Nueva York, City Limits informó sobre aquellos que habían recurrido a las agencias de empleo en busca de ayuda y habían pagado comisiones por trabajos que nunca se materializaron. “Esta es la tormenta perfecta para los empleadores sin escrúpulos y las agencias de empleo sin escrúpulos”, dijo en ese momento Hildalyn Colon-Hernandez, directora de operaciones y estrategia en New Immigrant Community Empowerment.

Tras la investigación de City Limits, el Departamento de Protección al Consumidor y al Trabajador (DCWP por sus siglas en inglés), que regula y concede licencias a las agencias de empleo, llevó a cabo una revisión de cumplimiento, examinando las prácticas de las agencias que habían recibido más quejas. 

“Enviamos una solicitud de documentos más amplia a varias agencias de empleo”, explicó Melissa Iachan, abogada general adjunta del DCWP. “Lo que descubrimos en nuestra revisión fue que muchas de las agencias de empleo parecen estar incurriendo en numerosas conductas ilegales similares, y que estas no están siendo denunciadas, en gran parte porque su engaño es tal que incluso privan a los consumidores de conocer que tienen ciertos derechos”.

Como resultado, el DCWP ha litigado contra tres empresas —incluidas dos sobre las que City Limits informó en 2023— ante la Oficina de Juicios y Audiencias Administrativas (OATH por sus siglas en inglés), un tribunal administrativo independiente que resuelve disputas y violaciones de la ciudad. Hasta ahora, esto ha dado lugar a la imposición de multas civiles por millones de dólares, así como a la restitución de indemnizaciones a los solicitantes de empleo afectados, dijeron los funcionarios.

“Con el boom-boom-boom —1-2-3— de presentar tres casos en menos de un año, esperamos poner en aviso a la industria”, dijo Iachan. 

Según la Ley de Agencias de Empleo del estado, que aplica en la ciudad, las agencias no deben exigir un depósito o pago por adelantado a los solicitantes que buscan trabajo. Si el solicitante finalmente no consigue un empleo, puede exigir un reembolso en un plazo de siete días. El DCWP también exige a las agencias de empleo que proporcionen recibos que incluyan esta información en negrilla, para que los solicitantes de empleo conozcan sus derechos.

Las tres empresas investigadas por el DCWP infringieron esta norma, según las autoridades. Entre ellas se encuentra Golden Rose, una empresa de empleo con sede en Crown Heights, Brooklyn, que, según las autoridades, cobraba anticipadamente entre $50 y $150 dólares y no siempre los reembolsaba.

Golden Rose, que según el DCWP recibió a 2.553 clientes en un periodo de un año, compareció ante la OATH en octubre de 2025. En diciembre, el DCWP envió su informe posterior al juicio y ha solicitado sanciones civiles por un total de $883.200 dólares y $426.324 dólares en indemnización para compensar a las personas afectadas.

Un inspector del DCWP documenta los anuncios obligatorios en la agencia de empleo Eleny’s Employment Agency, situada en Midtown Manhattan, durante una inspección realizada el mes pasado. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

Golden Rose solicitó la oportunidad de responder al informe del DCWP, y se espera que lo haga en las próximas semanas. Un abogado que representa a la empresa se negó a hacer comentarios, alegando que el proceso aún está en curso.

En Midtown Manhattan, otra agencia, Eleny’s Employment Agency, que, según la demanda presentada por el DCWP ante la OATH, es “la agencia de empleo contra la que el Departamento ha recibido más quejas en los últimos cinco años”, está acusada de cobrar tarifas ilegales que oscilan entre $100 y $200 dólares por solicitante, utilizar documentos engañosos y no proporcionar a las personas la información a la que tienen derecho según las leyes locales.

La abogada que representa a la propietaria, Eleny Asevedo, ha negado las infracciones. “Su tasa de contratación laboral es extremadamente alta, y todos los que no consiguen un puesto reciben un reembolso completo”, afirmó la abogada Rebecca Szewczuk en un comunicado. “Lleva registros perfectos, coopera con todas las inspecciones y se esfuerza por cumplir con las leyes en constante cambio de la ciudad de Nueva York, incluso cuando el gobierno municipal no se molesta en notificarle las nuevas normas”. 

“Eleny dirige su negocio sola y ha ayudado a muchas personas a encontrar trabajo”, dijo Szewczuk, añadiendo que la propietaria está “entristecida porque la ciudad está tratando de sacarla a ella y a otros como ella del negocio para ganar dinero rápido”. 

La tercera agencia con un caso ante la OATH, llamada CMP, también cobró por adelantado y no devolvió el dinero cuando se le solicitó, lo que es contrario a la ley, y no incluyó la información requerida en los recibos entregados a los clientes, por lo que estos no sabían que podían recuperar su dinero.

Las autoridades solicitaron sanciones civiles por valor de $2.266.500 dólares y una indemnización de $979.610 dólares, basándose en las estimaciones del DCWP sobre el número de clientes afectados por CMP, calculado en 6.818 personas, entre 2022 y 2024. En septiembre, la OATH se puso del lado del DCWP.

“Ganamos”, dijo Iachan. “Tuvimos un éxito total y nos concedieron $2 millones de dólares”.

El abogado que representó a CMP no respondió a una solicitud de comentarios. Sin embargo, la agencia, que tenía dos sedes, una en Astoria y otra en Kingsbridge Heights, renunció a su licencia y dejó de operar en 2024, alegando dificultades financieras, lo que dificulta mucho el cobro tanto para la ciudad como para los consumidores afectados.

Iachan, junto con Lindsay DeCicco, la abogada del DCWP que representó al departamento ante la OATH, explicó que la ciudad tiene un proceso para cobrar esos fondos: primero lo intenta el DCWP y, luego, se dirige al Departamento Jurídico de la ciudad de Nueva York, que contrata a bufetes de abogados externos para cobrar el dinero que se le debe a la ciudad.

Sin embargo, “dado lo que sabemos sobre esa empresa y el hecho de que no ha estado operando, es muy probable que no veamos el dinero”, admitió Iachan, decepcionado.

Un inspector del DCWP revisando la documentación de la agencia de empleo Eleny’s durante una inspección reciente. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

“Aunque no todos los casos dan lugar a una restitución directa, el DCWP trata de obtener una restitución para todos los demandantes, tanto a través de la mediación individual como de medidas de ejecución a mayor escala, que son una parte importante de la protección de los trabajadores y de la rendición de cuentas de las agencias de empleo”, dijo un portavoz de la agencia en un comunicado.

Además, la semana pasada el DCWP comenzó a enviar cartas de notificación a todas las agencias de empleo de la ciudad como parte de una campaña de cumplimiento antes de que las empresas soliciten la renovación de sus licencias. 

“Antes de presentar los documentos de renovación, las agencias deben revisar sus prácticas y registros para garantizar el pleno cumplimiento de todos los requisitos aplicables”, señala una versión de la carta revisada por City Limits.

Para ponerse en contacto con el reportero de esta noticia, escriba a Daniel@citylimits.org. Para ponerse en contacto con la editora, escriba a Jeanmarie@citylimits.org.

The post Alcaldía toma medidas contra infracciones de agencias de empleo tras investigación de City Limits appeared first on City Limits.

An Iowa man admitted in court Tuesday to sexually assaulting a western Wisconsin high school student-athlete in 2018 in Woodbury after meeting the teen while employed as a strength and conditioning coach at a training center contracted by the Hudson school district.

Chase Wayne Madison (Courtesy of the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office)

A three-state investigation began in May after a 23-year-old woman told her doctor and then police that her former sports trainer, Chase Wayne Madison, assaulted her several times at his Woodbury apartment, starting when she was a 16-year-old sophomore at Hudson High School, according to charges filed in July.

When the allegations were raised, Madison was a University of Iowa assistant strength and conditioning coach. The college cut ties with him on Aug. 4.

Madison, 40, was arrested in late July in Iowa on a nationwide warrant on charges out of Washington and St. Croix counties. He’s been free on bond since early August, and entered guilty pleas in both counties Tuesday.

‘I had to be careful’

According to court documents, Madison was the head strength and conditioning coach for Catalyst Sports Medicine in Hudson from mid-September 2017 through late May 2019. At the time, the business had a contract with Hudson schools to provide its services for athletes in the high school’s Raider Elite training program.

The woman told investigators she injured herself while training and that Madison connected her with Catalyst to help her rehab. She said she went to Catalyst for rehab sessions with Madison every day or every other day.

At Catalyst, Madison kissed her in a supply closet on more than one occasion, she told police.

While alone at the high school, Madison kissed and fondled her in a shed near the outdoor training field, she said, and also took her hand and forced her to touch him while he was training with her.

“(Madison) told her it was ‘hot’ and that they can’t get caught,” the St. Croix County complaint said.

She said Madison gave her his personal phone number and the two began to communicate through text, calls and FaceTime. She reported Madison asked her to send him photos and videos of her that were sexual in nature, and she complied.

Eventually, Madison invited the teen to his home, where he sexually assaulted her on six or seven different days, she told police.

“(Madison) would tell her not to tell anyone about their relationship,” the complaint said.

In an interview with police in June, Madison said he groped the teen and went no further with his assault. He said she sent him nude photos of herself unsolicited and that he deleted them.

Madison left Catalyst in 2019 and became an assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of Illinois. He took the same job at the University of Iowa in August 2022 and worked with the volleyball and men’s and women’s track programs, according to a bio on the college’s website.

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A police analysis of Madison’s phone last year uncovered nude photos of the woman when she was a teen, and an Instagram screenshot of her in a bikini that he sent to a friend in 2018.

“The conversation between (Madison) and the friend were sexual in nature discussing the athletes’ bodies, personalities and sexual preferences,” the Washington County complaint read.

Sexually explicit text messages that Madison sent the woman in 2023 and 2024 were also found on his cellphone.

“I still remember you kissing me in the room with the supplies and stereo,” the woman texted Madison in July 2024, to which he replied: “That was hot in the storage room. We should have done that more often,” according to the complaint. He later added, “I had to be careful.”

Two guilty pleas

Madison was once a student-athlete himself. He won state titles in shot put and discus while at Newton High School, located about 30 miles east of Des Moines, and was a member of the track and field teams at Iowa State University and later the University of Kentucky, according to his online college bios.

On Tuesday morning, with his victim looking on from the gallery of a St. Croix County Circuit courtroom, Madison pleaded guilty to felony child enticement with sexual contact.

A plea deal he reached with the prosecution includes the dismissal of two other felonies — sexual assault of a child by a person who works with children and exposing a child to harmful material — and cap a prison sentence at five years. He remains out of custody on bond ahead of his scheduled April 27 sentencing.

Madison then appeared in Washington County District Court via Zoom in the afternoon for what was scheduled as a pre-trial hearing. Instead, he pleaded guilty to the sole count of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct while holding a position of authority. Sentencing is set for June 1.

Other school cases

The charges against Madison surfaced amid two highly publicized school cases out of St. Croix County.

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In May 2024, prosecutors filed charges against Madison Bergmann alleging she pursued a then-11-year-old student throughout much of the 2023-24 school year through daily texts and eventually kissed him on the mouth on several occasions in her classroom at Rivercrest Elementary School in Hudson, Wis.

Bergman, 26, of Lake Elmo, pleaded guilty to child enticement with sexual contact and was sentenced to six years in prison in December.

Abigail Michelle Faust, 25, also allegedly kissed a fifth-grade boy in 2024 in her classroom at Rivercrest Elementary. She also failed to report Bergmann’s sexual misconduct of her student, according to a criminal complaint charging her with three felonies.

Faust was also charged in August with various felonies in both St. Croix and Washington counties for allegedly sexually assaulting a Washington County 15-year-old boy while working as his family’s nanny.

Her cases are ongoing.

By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to withhold some public health and transportation money from a group of Democratic-led states.

Full details have not been released, including whether the states could take any steps to avoid losing the funding. The federal government cited concerns over fraud and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars, but has not presented evidence beyond remarks from Trump and others in his administration.

The approach has become a familiar one for the administration, and this time focuses on frequent targets: California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota.

Courts have so far temporarily blocked other similar efforts by this administration to restrict funds.

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The latest effort targets some public health and transportation funds

An Office of Management and Budget official confirmed to The Associated Press that the office is telling the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to cancel grants totaling more than $1.5 billion, as first reported last week by the New York Post. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the cuts on the record.

The official did provide a partial list of programs facing cuts; some appeared to be targeted because they are not in line with the administration’s policies opposing protections for transgender people and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Among the transportation funds targeted are money for electric vehicle chargers in all four states, funds to research translating the test for Illinois commercial driver’s licenses into Spanish, and money for California to adapt to climate change.

The health research money includes projects aimed at studying the health impact of specific populations. Among them is one studying groups in Chicago disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections: “adolescents, racial and ethnic minorities, and men who have sex with men;” and a grant for California universities focused on ”reducing social isolation among older LGBTQ adults.”

A $7.2 million grant for the American Medical Association, which is based in Chicago, was also on the list, noting its support for gender-affirming care for minors, which a Trump executive order opposes.

States say they haven’t received notice

The offices of the governors of all four states said Tuesday that they had not received any communication from the Trump administration about the plans.

“Time and time again, the Trump Administration has attempted to politicize and punish certain states President Trump does not like,” Jillian Kaehler, a spokesperson for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, said in a statement. “It’s wrong and often illegal, so Illinois will always fight for the resources and services our taxpayers are owed.”

The administration has targeted funding in Democratic states before

The same states — all of which have Democratic governors — have been targeted by other federal cuts.

A judge last week ruled that the Trump administration cannot stop child care subsidies and other social service programs aimed at lower-income people in those states, plus New York, for now. The states said the federal programs in that effort provide them more than $10 billion a year collectively.

There’s also a legal challenge over the administration’s effort to withhold administrative money for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP food aid, from 22 states that have not provided information on recipients, including their immigration status. Those states include nearly all with Democratic governors. A judge has been asked to decide whether cutting off funding would violate an existing court order that bars the government from collecting the data for now.

Trump has also threatened to halt federal money to sanctuary cities and their states, and followed that up with an order for government agencies to compile data on 14 mostly Democratic-controlled states and the District of Columbia. All four of the states in the latest effort were on that list, too.

Other federal money for Minnesota and Minneapolis has also been targeted.

Associated Press writers Sophie Austin, Fatima Hussein, John O’Connor and Colleen Slevin contributed to this article.