Program Areas

Advocacy

NYDIS works to ensure that the concerns of faith communities and the needs of present and future disaster survivors are addressed on a governmental and legislative level.

Communications

Communication plays a central role during all parts of the disaster lifecycle. Providing timely and relevant information before, during, and after a disaster can help to save and enhance the lives within an affected community.

Planning

Through faith-based, community, and government partnerships, NYDIS and its members provide preparedness planning, facilitate service coordination, and equip faith communities and their leaders for readiness, response, and recovery.

Recovery

NYDIS and its members work to increase community resilience and promote the development and coordination of effective recovery programs.

Response

NYDIS employs our connections, knowledge, and resources in faith communities and emergency management agencies to alleviate human suffering during disasters

Stories

Con Edison

December 11, 2024

PRESS RELEASE: At a ceremony today (12/11) at the SAGE Center Bronx at Crotona Pride House, Con Edison announced it is awarding $4 million in grants to NYDIS and five other nonprofits for their creative approaches to combatting the effects of extreme heat and other climate-related weather events on disadvantaged and marginalized communities across the five boroughs and Westchester County.

“Con Edison is proud to invest in these partners who are committed to resiliency and confronting the impacts of climate change in our communities,” said Jen Hensley, senior vice president Corporate Affairs. “These organizations are doing the important work of developing New York’s climate leaders and preparing communities for extreme weather.”

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City & State New York

August 12, 2024

To consider City & State’s inaugural Above & Beyond: Social Services list is to gain new appreciation for the breadth of talent and dedication powering New York’s human-centered agencies.

The altruistic backbone of the sector is a front line of social workers and counselors nimbly responding to the twin exigencies of America’s mental health crisis and New York’s influx of high-needs asylum-seekers. But these practitioners could not do their work without the support of management consultants; attorneys who specialize in the nonprofit space; fundraisers, insurers and financing experts to secure ever-more-costly initiatives; and the lobbyists and advocates who ensure that Albany and Washington invest in our most vulnerable communities.

Housing is a secondary theme of this list, reflecting the skyrocketing need for emergency shelter, transitional housing and supportive residences for people struggling with the fallout of homelessness, substance use, chronic illness and other complex needs.

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Above & Beyind

Peter B. Gudaitis

October 27, 2020

New York, October 27, 2020: In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and unprecedented hurricane and wildfire seasons, a new app will help first responders, disaster response professionals and voluntary organizations better serve America’s diverse religious communities and build partnerships with religious leaders.

The Disasters & Religions App presents easily accessible religious literacy and competency information on 27 unique religions, from Baha’i to Zoroastrianism, including 12 Christian denominations.

“Three quarters of U.S. residents are people of faith. Yet, as a country, we often struggle to understand the unique religious beliefs, practices and day-to-day needs of each person,” said Peter B. Gudaitis, M.Div., Executive Director & CEO of New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS) and President of the National Disaster Interfaiths Network (NDIN). “In times of crisis, this app will equip responders with resources to feed, shelter, counsel, bury or provide emotional and spiritual care to the diversity of people of faith, among many other unmet needs, during disasters and public health emergencies that face our country.”

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NYDIS in the News

Con Ed Gives $500Gs to Group That Helps Insulate Manhattan Houses of Worship From Climate Disasters
Above & Beyond: Social Services - Recognizing exemplary leaders dedicated to serving vulnerable New Yorkers.
More beds for migrants: faith leaders and NY SANE Coalition call on City to approve plan to house 5,000 asylum seekers at houses of worship, save over $547 million per year
Mayor Adams, NYC Faith Leaders Launch Faith-Based Shelter Program for Houses of Worship to Support Asylum Seeker Response
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves New York Disaster Declaration | The White House
Village Voice Article from 2018
Displaced Puerto Ricans Face Dire Situations As FEMA Housing Aid Nears Its End

Member Spotlight

Chabad Lubavitch

Chabad Lubavitch

The origins of today’s Chabad-Lubavitch organization can be traced to the early 1940’s when the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of righteous memory (1880-1950), appointed his son-in-law and later successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, to head the newly-founded educational and social service arms of the movement.

With a global structure of emissaries located throughout the world, Chabad-Lubavitch has the ability to be one of the first organizations able to lend crisis support to devastated communities regardless of the race, religion or nationality. When disasters strike, Chabad is there providing emergency services to victims and communities, including:

  • Life-saving rescue and evacuation
  • Burial assistance
  • Temporary shelter and nutrition
  • Medical care
  • Counseling for the alleviation of emotional suffering
  • Foster care for orphaned children
  • Advocacy for victims
  • Resettlement and rebuilding efforts
  • Coordination of volunteers

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