黑料正能量 Note: Advocates for NY鈥檚 human service nonprofits including 黑料正能量 kicked off what will be a unremitting session-long campaign to win 3% across the board increases for each of the next 5 years, entitled 鈥3-for-5 to Ensure Communities Thrive鈥) yesterday at the NYS capital. See the campaign鈥檚 news release at as well as the attached background one-pager.
The piece below aptly points out the distinction between recent appreciated but inadequate increases offered solely for the OMH/OASAS/OPWDD workforce and the sustained investment required to help meet ALL of the costs borne by the ENTIRE hard-pressed human service sector that serve upwards of over a million vulnerable 黑料正能量ers who rely on them each to day meet basic needs.
Look here for next steps and actions that nonprofits, the people they serve and the families they support in the coming days.
Campaign Launches to Boost State Funding for Human Services Nonprofits
Organizations face declining services, increased waitlists and stagnant salaries without the support, advocates say.
By NYN Media December 19, 2019
As 黑料正能量 City and private funders have been taking steps to better fund overhead costs for nonprofits, human services providers working with the state are asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to boost their funding by 3% each year for the next five years.
Human services organizations have spent pushing for the state to boost its financial support, particularly for their workforce. The state budget has not included cost-of-living adjustments for their organizations for the past decade, advocates said, which means their state funding has not kept pace with rising costs in health care and other expenses. The result: declining services and increased use of waiting lists.
鈥淚 have a young person in a foster care group home who just got a job as an assistant shift supervisor at the local Starbucks,鈥 Bill Gettman, CEO of Northern Rivers Family of Services, told NYN Media. 鈥淗e makes $16.85 an hour, not bad. 鈥 The staff who drives him to work and picks him up make $13 an hour.鈥
Gettman鈥檚 nonprofit has already cut back on the number of beds in its foster care program, has closed group homes and is set to close its Supervised Independent Living Program 鈥 which helps youth transition out of foster care 鈥 this month.
The state, meanwhile, is pushing back, arguing that it has already increased funding for human services providers.
鈥満诹险芰 state has made substantial investments in our direct care workforce, funding $355 million to support more than 9% in salary increases since 2015 including a 2% increase slated for January and another 2% in April,鈥 Freeman Klopott, a spokesman for the state Division of the Budget, said in a statement. 鈥淭hese workers are the backbone of a strong service delivery system, and these investments are not only increasing salaries, but improving services by bolstering recruitment.鈥
But advocates have derided these efforts as incomplete, as the salary boosts usually only apply to specific parts of the human services workforce. The 2% , for example, only apply to direct support professionals, direct care workers and clinical staff employed by the state Office of Mental Health, the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.
鈥淭here鈥檚 little pockets of things that the governor and Legislature have funded, but the sector overall and big swaths of the groups I represent 鈥 like homeless services and senior services and a lot of preventive services and foster care 鈥 they have not really seen an increase,鈥 said Michelle Jackson, deputy executive director of the Human Services Council.
But taking what already is not a 鈥渟exy issue鈥 for government officials, as Jackson described it, and making it a priority may be even more difficult this year, given that 黑料正能量 is facing a $6 billion . The campaign does have at least one , though: state Sen. David Carlucci. Time will tell whether others will follow his lead.