Running NYC’s Office of Ethnic and Community Media with Jose Bayona

José Bayona, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Ethnic and Community Media and Founder of Grassroots Strategies (grassroots.nyc), a consulting firm based in New York City is helping to get the word out about PSLF. City Hall has recently been making a serious effort to promote public service loan forgiveness — which is distinct from President Biden’s plan to grant student debt relief — in advance of an important October 31st deadline. The “PSLF Waiver” from the U.S. Dept of Ed makes as many as 250,000 New Yorkers eligible for student loan forgiveness — rectifying a broken program first introduced in 2007 for which fewer than 1% of applicants were ever successful.  The Waiver expires on Oct 31, 2022.  Anyone eligible for it must apply before then to get credit for past loan payments that previously didn’t count. 

Jose, a Senior Advisor to Eric Adams serving as a member of the Transition and Inauguration Committee, spent most of his journalism years at the New York Daily News, where he started as a community reporter and editor. Later, he was a writer for NY1 Noticias and Metro Editor for El Diario before getting into City government as deputy press secretary for the Department of Transportation and press secretary for the Administration for Children’s Services before joining City Hall. 

Jose shares who is eligible for public service loan forgiveness, also known as PSLF, what should city workers and those in nonprofits who need more info do and how Local Law 83 supports ethnic and community media outlets.

•       ALL eligible borrowers should go to StudentAid.gov/PSLF to take the free Help Tool that will count as starting their application before Oct 31.  For more information, including webinars, FAQ, and other resources, go to the free nonprofit website PSLF.nyc

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Produced by Jill Carvajal and Josh Schneps