I Lead a Troop of Girl Scouts Living in NYC Shelters Heidi Schmidt On 4/24/21 at 5:00 AM EDT
In January 2017, I was working at the New York City Department of Homeless Services when I got a call from the Girl Scouts of Greater New York, asking about the possibility of setting up a Girl Scout troop at a hotel-turned-homeless shelter in Queens. The caller, Giselle Burgess, was a community engagement specialist at Girl Scouts of Greater New York, a mother of five who had recently been displaced from her home because her building was being converted to condominiums a very common reason families go from housed to homeless in New York City.
National Mall closed for Inauguration Day
Updated January 14, 2021, 5:44 p.m.
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The entire National Mall will be closed for Inauguration Day, accessible only by media and security personnel, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues.
The extraordinary closure is the latest in a series of security measures to harden the city against the type of violence that rocked the Capitol on Jan. 6. Local and federal officials had already established a downtown security zone and called up more than 20,000 National Guard troops to protect the presidential swearing in on Jan. 20.
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The plans were first reported by Business Insider.
The scouts join a wave of companies and organizations that are publicly distancing themselves from Trump after last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol.
New York City said Wednesday that it’s canceling more than $17 million in contracts with the Trump Organization. Real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield Plc also said it would no longer work with the president’s business.
Representatives for the Trump Organization didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
For Donald Trump, the cost of an incendiary presidential career started adding up on Day One: Macy’s department stores stopped selling his menswear collection after he called Mexican immigrants “rapists” during his first campaign event.
A few months later, after Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States, he lost another partner, a Dubai company that had a license to sell Trump furniture in the Middle East, Africa and India.
Since then, his outrageous comments and controversial presidential actions have lost his business empire a slate of lucrative partners and investors.
In the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 riots by Trump supporters that led to a second impeachment, a fresh wave of businesses have canceled partnerships and contracts with Trump, tarnishing a once-lucrative brand so badly that hospitality experts and brand reputation consultants say it may never recover.