We are dismayed that New
York State has once again failed to include in the FY’ 18 budget
critical investments in the human services nonprofit sector, despite the
sector being woefully underfunded to the detriment of agency staff and
the clients they serve. While the Governor determined to fund $55
million in minimum wage increases and salary adjustments for nonprofit
direct care workers, no such funding was provided for the remainder of
State contracted human services providers. Like
direct care workers, the providers of childcare, afterschool, senior
services, and other critical human services are deeply committed to the
people and communities they serve, yet they are undervalued, underpaid
and, again, overlooked. The continued lack of
adequate State funding to cover the minimum wage increase at a cost of
just $12 million has serious consequences for human services workers,
for the millions of people in need of their support, and for the State
of New York.
The continuing disregard
for the needs of human services agencies and their workers suggests a
lack of true appreciation for them. Human services agencies and workers
play a most critical role in helping poor and low income children
and families become stable and upwardly mobile, and yet the State once
again has minimized the value of many of them. FPWA will continue to
raise up the urgent and dire needs of the sector until our state’s
leaders stand with us in support of the agencies
and workers who care for our most vulnerable neighbors.
FPWA is an anti-poverty, policy and advocacy
organization whose mission is to promote the social and economic
well-being of greater New York’s most vulnerable by advocating for just
public policies and strengthening human service organizations.
FPWA has a membership network of nearly 180 human service organizations
and churches that operate over 1,200 programs throughout the New York
City metro area. Together we serve over 1.5 million low-income New
Yorkers of all ages, ethnicities and denominations
each year.
Source: Mercury
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