Project Hope receives $39 million

Last month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an additional $39 million in funding for Project Hope, a free, confidential, crisis counseling program for survivors of Hurricane Sandy.

The New York State Office of Mental Health created Project Hope in October, a program funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which helps people cope with the aftermath of the storm through counseling services.

“Following Superstorm Sandy, the damage to New York was not only the devastation left behind but also the emotional and mental health toll it took on many individuals,” Cuomo said in a statement. “Project Hope was there to meet the vital need of over 170,000 people who needed help and with this additional funding, we will continue our deep commitment to help New Yorkers cope with the tragedy that is still fresh in their minds.”

Project Hope operates across the nine counties most severely affected by the storm — Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan and the Bronx. There are 32 Project Hope agencies statewide, 11 of which are based in Nassau County, with two of those in Long Beach.

“There are well over 200,000 people that have been directly impacted from the storm,” said Project Hope Program Director Ken Gnirke. “And they can benefit from primary counseling services.”

Gnirke says the additional $39 million in funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency — bringing the program’s total federal funding to $59 million — will allow Project Hope to continue their services through Feb. 2014. “We’re in it for the long haul,” he said.

The funding pays for counselor salaries, said Gnirke. Approximately $11 million of this new funding is allocated to Nassau County, to support the 166 crisis counselors working there.

Even though eight months have passed since Sandy struck, Gnirke said there are still many people who are not functioning at “pre-disaster level.” As of the end of May, approximately 27,000 people in Nassau have participated in individual and family counseling sessions with Project Hope.

“What we emphasize is for the vast majority of the public, they are having a very natural reaction to an unnatural event,” said Gnirke.