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HSC thanks the New York City Council for recognizing and highlighting the pressing needs of the human services sector in the City Council’s Preliminary Budget response. In a budget cycle that has been dominated by discussions of mandated budget cuts, Speaker Johnson and the City Council have made a clear commitment to work to ensure PEGs do not impact vital human services programs. In addition, the Council has included key budget priorities of the sector including:

• $106 million investment to help fill in the gap between provider’s indirect costs and the contract reimbursement rates from the City to increase indirect rates for nonprofit contracts to 12%. This proposed investment is an important step in recognizing provider’s real cost and is the direct result of the Human Services Council, HSC members, and coalition partners testifying in support of our $250 million to fund provider’s indirect rates with the implementation of the new indirect cost manual.
• $89 million for early childhood pay parity to address the wage gap for teachers, staff, and directors in community based programs. Nonprofit human services workers are drastically underpaid for the work they do and we appreciate the Council for recognizing this issue and including pay parity for early childhood education. This is one portion of the human services workforce, but the precedent this sets creates an important opportunity to highlight the need for fair pay for all human services workers.
• $40 million (on top of the $20 million in State funding already allocated) to ensure an accurate census count in 2020. An accurate count is crucial for New York’s representation and funding. Nonprofits will play a key role in census outreach by educating communities and promoting participation.
• An increase in the per-child rate in COMPASS after-school programs for elementary school students to reflect the increasing cost to providers. This is a reflection of the advocacy of HSC and our partners pushing back on underfunded and otherwise risky RFPs.

We greatly value the City Council’s partnership with the human services sector and look forward to continuing to work together to fight for these priorities as we enter the next stage of budget negotiations.

Tweet your support:

• Thank you @NYCSpeakerCoJo and the @NYCCouncil for fighting for the human services sector by including a vital investment for indirect funding for providers in the Council Budget response!
• Human Services providers should not be forced to make impossible choices, including scaling back existing services, to make ends meet. Thank you @NYCCouncil for working to address this crisis in your budget response.
• The @NYCCouncil have stepped up where @NYCMayor fell short in his preliminary budget and are advocating for key investments in human services contracts & money to accurately implement the NYC census.
• Where the @NYCMayor’s preliminary budget failed to address fair pay for early childhood educators the @NYCCouncil are pushing back in their budget response with a crucial ask of $89 million for pay parity!