I’m Jie Jenny Zou and I’ll be covering Social Services for New York Focus. 

As a Brooklyn native, I’m super excited to dig into the wide array of programs and services that New Yorkers rely on daily. I’ve spent the past decade reporting on a variety of topics from environmental health and climate change to worker safety and immigration detention. My work has centered on accountability using the power of public records and data analysis.

What exactly do we mean when we say “social services”? New York State currently lists over 100 different social programs including SNAP food benefits, worker’s compensation, childcare initiatives, domestic violence outreach programs and more. Access and funding to these critical programs are impacted by both state and federal policy.

We want to know what social services means to you. Which programs and sectors are you most interested in seeing us cover? Are there any people I should connect with to get a better handle on what is and isn’t working in our state? Any datasets worth crunching or research papers I should bookmark?

Drop me a line at jenny@nysfocus.com with tips and suggestions for how to get started.

—Jenny