March Edition 2011 - New York Nonprofit Press

12 New York Nonprofit Press www.nynp.biz March 2011
WHO CARES? I DO
“Who Cares? You Do!”
Human Services Council Launches New Advocacy Campaign
It’s not about us! It’s
not about the agencies or
the staff! It’s about the
people who need government-funded,
nonprofitprovided
services – as
well as their families, their
friends, their neighbors…
all New Yorkers who actually
rely on human services…
even if they don’t
realize it. And, if we don’t
fight for them --and help
them fight for themselves
-- who will?
That, in a nutshell,
is the message of the new
“Who Cares? I Do!” advocacy
campaign launched
last month by the Human Services Council of
New York.
“People across New York State don’t always
understand what we mean when we talk
about human services and how important they
are,” says Michael Stoller, HSC’s Executive Director.
“We want people to make the connection
to their own lives. We want them to realize that
human services means the senior center where
their mother goes every day and the afterschool
programs their children attend. It’s the child care
they rely on, the residence where a relative with
developmental disabilities lives, the employment
program that is helping a neighbor find work.
It’s substance abuse prevention and treatment
or a community mental health program where
someone they know and love is getting the assistance
they need.”
Right now, all of these services are under
serious threat from cutbacks in government
spending. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive
Budget proposal calls for $9 billion in spending
reductions and service cuts with significant impacts
on human services. Mayor Michael Bloomberg
has just announced more than $370 million
in cuts to human services as part of his preliminary
budget submission for the coming year.
“Who Cares? I Do!” is intended to mobilize
opposition to these cuts by strengthening support
for the human service sector as a whole.
During the coming month, “Who Cares? I
Specializing in Not-for-Profit
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Do!” will focus attention on the critical budget
decisions being made in Albany – and
highlight the impact which loss of these services
will have for all New Yorkers, including
our most vulnerable citizens.
On February 14th, HSC launched the
www.whocares-ido.org website which has
information about the overall campaign,
stories of how human services have changed
the lives of individual New Yorkers, and
details on proposed budget cuts and what
they would mean for people who rely on
those services. There’s a regular campaign
blog, links to a Facebook page where supporters
can post their own stories about the
importance of human services, and a steady
Twitter feed (@WhoCares_IDo). And, of
course, there is a sign-on petition for individuals
and organizations to express their
support for human services.
To ensure a sense of urgency, there is a
digital clock counting down the days, hours,
minutes and seconds to the April 1st start of
New York’s new fiscal year.
“We will be leveraging social media
as we never have previously,” said Allison
Sesso, Deputy Executive Director at HSC.
“We’ll be asking supporters to spread the
word by posting their own stories, tweeting
and re-tweeting campaign news. We’ll be
holding a series of ‘virtual rallies’ in which
people on-line all send out campaign messages
to their networks at the
same time.”
In line with the campaign’s
graphic theme – individual’s
holding up hand-written
signs supporting various
human services – supporters
will be invited to craft their
own hand-written message,
take a picture and post it online.
HSC will also be counting
on its own membership
-- 200 individual human service
agencies and virtually
all of the leading New York
City-based sector-specific
coalitions, e.g. UNH, FPWA,
UJA-Federation, Catholic
Charities, COFCCA, CSCS,
SHNNY, Coalition of Behavioral
Health Agencies,
etc., to pick up the fight.
“We are asking our members
to spread the word among
their staff and clients,” says
Sesso. “They will be reaching
out to elected officials
and meeting with them in
their district offices. They
will be bringing local residents
who their programs
have served so that these
clients can tell their stories
directly.”
“Safe Space is proud
to be working with the campaign
to tell the stories of the
families and children that,
The “Who Cares? I Do!” campaign will feature stories of New Yorkers
whose lives have been changed by human services. Met Council client
Agneta Welber (above at left) has received assistance from the Metropolitan
Council on Jewish Poverty in caring for her older sister Esther who suffers
from Parkinson’s disease and a degenerative neurological disorder, is
wheelchair bound and requires constant attention. Rafael Figueroa (top)
was a client of Barrier Free Living’s (BFL) Transitional Housing program,
where he successfully transitioned from being homeless to living in his
own apartment.
thanks to our services, have been able to stop the
cycle of family violence and neglect, return to school,
and find work,” says Christine Molnar, Executive
Director at Safe Space. “Through our clients’ testimonials,
we hope to demonstrate to legislators and
the public how cost effective and critical to the city’s
economy our services are.”
“This is very important in this unusually challenging
year,” says Jane Velez, President and CEO
of Palladia, Inc. “We will be providing stories of our
work with clients. And, we plan to have people go
up to Albany to meet with legislators. We want to
get the word out.”
Several statewide coalitions and upstate advocacy
groups are also supporting the “Who Cares? I
Do!” effort, including the New York State Community
Action Association (NYSCAA), Schuyler Center
for Analysis and Advocacy, New York Children’s
Action Network and the Empire Justice Center.
“This is a great campaign that in one place can
rally the troops, share information, and keep us focused
on the message that human services matter,”
said Denise Harlow, Executive Director of the New
York State Community Action Association. “I followed
Michael Stoller at the Human
Services hearing and echoed
his call to the Legislature to sign
on as well. We have a prominent
link on our homepage that goes to
the campaign and will be promoting
it via our twitter @NYSCAA
feed. NYSCAA hopes to provide
the upstate and Long Island stories
on the impact of the cuts to human
services.”
In addition to sharing the
importance of human services for
clients, the campaign will also
stress that services are a large and
important part of the State’s economy.
“Cutting services for these
programs is precisely the wrong
thing to do during these still perilous
times,” says Stoller. “Compounding
high unemployment and
so much financial uncertainty with
cuts to vital services that are a lifeline
to thousands of people will be
devastating.”
“We are a major employer
in Southeast Queens, with close
to 300 employees - the majority
of whom live and work in the
community,” said Safe Space’s
Christine Molnar. “We need our
local officials to appreciate the severe
impact of the cuts will have
on their community’s economic
health as well.”
Human services are the smart
policy choice for a variety of reasons,
says Molnar. “Our sector is
about investing in the future of
our country: daycare, early intervention,
afterschool programs. If
excessive public debt burdens future
generations, human service
programs do just the opposite,
they give people an advantage. I
see this regularly at Safe Space.
Vulnerable teens and their families
turn to us when they have nowhere
else to go for help.”
For more information, visit
www.whocares-ido.org.