http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/celebratin-40-years-of-urban-fellows/
Celebrating 40 Years of Urban Fellows
By Sewell Chan
The Urban Fellows Program, begun in 1969, is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The idea was fairly simple: Take a group of bright and energetic recent college graduates, assign them to work with high-level New York City officials, and expose them to the joys (and frustrations) of municipal government. The year was 1969, and idealism about public service was in the air, when an assistant city administrator, Sigmund G. Ginsburg, part of a team of young aides to Mayor John V. Lindsay, invented the Urban Fellows program.
This evening, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the sixth mayor to make use of the fellows, will honor the 40th anniversary of the program in a reception at Gracie Mansion.
Some 900 Urban Fellows — about 25 a year — have passed through the program. Applicants must have graduated from college within two years of the start of the fellowship, which runs from September to May. Many Urban Fellows end up staying in, or returning to, city government. Among the alumni who now serve in the Bloomberg administration are Linda I. Gibbs, deputy mayor for health and human services (class of 1985-86); Robert W. Walsh, commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services (class of 1981-82); and Jeanne B. Mullgrav, commissioner of the Department of Youth and Community Development (class of 1984-85).
City Room asked several former Urban Fellows to reminisce on the program and what it meant for them. Descriptions of their accomplishments, and excerpts from their responses, follow.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Ounces of prevention vie with pounds of core
OUNCES OF PREVENTION VIE WITH POUNDS OF CORE
Preventive programs are falling by the wayside as the city budget is cut ever closer to only mandated services. > By Lindsey McCormack
City Limits WEEKLY #674February 9, 2009
Make or View Comments (2)Printable VersionE-mail this Story
In the wake of the mayor’s presentation of the cost-cutting preliminary budget for fiscal 2010, city social services agencies are circling the wagons around “core services.” For the Department of Homeless Services, the core means maintaining the shelter system. At the Administration for Children’s Services, it’s protecting abused children and overseeing foster care. The Department of Corrections must maintain prisons, and the Human Resources Administration manages food stamps, among other duties.
In their push to protect mandated services, many agencies are cutting back on preventive programs—those aimed at addressing small needs before they become big ones. Such programs are premised on the idea of spending some money up front to prevent larger problems – and costs – down the road. The bill for eviction prevention is lower than for a stay at a homeless shelter, for example, and family counseling is cheaper than putting a child in foster care. But preventive programs are rarely mandated, and agencies that focus on the needs of lower-income New Yorkers came under particular pressure in the latest round of budget cuts.
“Social services tend to be looked at as non-core programs,” says Maria Doulis, a senior research associate at the Citizen’s Budget Commission. “Every program has its own constituency, and the greatest public outcry tends to be about education and police. Social services fall lower on the scale.”
Certain aspects of the mayor’s proposed $58.8 billion budget, released on the last Friday in January, bear out that assertion. While the police, fire and corrections departments all cut about 2 percent of projected spending, their budgets still exceed the FY 2010 baseline adopted by City Council last June. On the other hand, agencies like the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), which cut 6 percent, and the Human Resource Administration, which cut 8 percent, are spending well below their baseline budgets. Children’s and homeless services also account for almost 95 percent of projected city layoffs for FY 2010 – not counting 13,930 teachers, whose threatened jobs may yet be saved by the state or federal governments.
All of this is part of a plan to bring the remainder of FY 2009 budget into balance, and to close the $6.4 billion budget gap looming next fiscal year. The mayor’s proposal forms the basis for rounds of community board feedback, City Council hearings, and other refinements that will occur before the budget is approved by early June.
Losing Capacity
ACS insists that the eventual loss of 842 staff members – 608 from layoffs – will not affect front-line casework or preventive services like mental health counseling and parenting classes. Outside the agency, though, some worry that the layoffs will reverberate. “It’s a significant number of positions, and those people must be supporting the efforts of the child protective workers,” said Stephanie Gendell, associate executive director for policy at the Citizen’s Committee for Children. “We’re concerned about the impact, but don’t know what it will be.”
During previous attempts to shore up New York’s finances, city agencies focused on relatively painless savings through administrative cuts and attrition. Last November’s budget did eliminate some preventive programs, such as the Fortune Society’s discharge planning services for detainees on Riker’s Island, which aim to reduce recidivism. That particular program was axed by the Mayor’s Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator. This time around, broader cuts to preventive programs, as opposed to personnel, include:
Homelessness Prevention
State funding for the Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP), which funds caseworkers to mediate rent disputes and connect low-income tenants to rental subsidies, already has been eliminated (as reported in Eviction Prevention Imperiled By State Cut, City Limits Weekly #671, Jan. 12, 2009).
The Jan. 30 budget peels $5.1 million from another program designed to prevent homelessness. A flagship effort of the Department of Homeless Services, HomeBase went citywide at the beginning of 2008, and currently serves more than 1,000 families each month at an annual cost of around $12 million.
DHS says it will seek “alternative sources” to replace city funding, which goes toward everything from legal services to household repairs. But some are nervous about where that money will come from, and when. “Quite frankly, if we were to lose HomeBase and HPP, we would no longer have any credible capacity to prevent low-income families in the Bronx from becoming homeless,” said Ken Small, development director at the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, which provides HomeBase services in the Bronx.
After-School and Youth Employment
A thick docket of research shows that after-school and youth employment programs provide long-term bang for the buck, both in educational attainment and child safety. With almost 80,000 kids enrolled, New York City has the biggest after-school initiative in the country, according to the Department of Youth and Community Development.
The latest budget reverses years of growth, cutting 10,750 after-school slots for elementary, middle, and high school students for the coming school year. Also, this summer fewer teens will take part in the popular Summer Youth Employment Program, as 1,450 slots are dropped. (Federal funding for the summer program has also eroded over the past decade, from $43.9 million in 2000 to $3.4 million this year.) Even without the cuts, the program is oversubscribed—last year more than 100,000 teens applied for 43,113 positions.
The cuts amount to $11 million in savings. But DYCD is also planning to invest $14 million in an internship program and two other literacy and skills programs for teens who have dropped out of school.
Services for People with HIV/AIDS
New Yorkers living with HIV are entitled to government-subsidized housing, a policy grounded in evidence that stable housing correlates with improved medical care. The city also funds a range of health, counseling, and housing placement services to quicken the transition to permanent housing.
In November, the HIV/AIDS Service Administration (HASA), a division of the city welfare agency, HRA, eliminated contracts with community agencies that provide case management to clients in some HASA-supported housing. The new budget maintains that cut, and expands it to another group of case managers that focuses on people with multiple diagnoses and advanced AIDS cases, for a savings of $5.9 million.
Sean Barry, director of the NYC AIDS Housing Network, says that fewer support services will drive some clients back to the streets, increasing the city’s reliance on emergency shelter. “They’ll probably end up cycling in and out of SROs, which cost a lot more than supportive housing. They’re unhealthy for clients, and unhealthy for the city’s budget,” said Barry.
Seeking Conclusive Evidence
Preventive programs are particularly vulnerable to cuts because of their often less tangible benefits. "When government cuts back, prevention programs can be at risk because short-run savings are immediate, while long-run costs may be hard to measure and hard to see," said Mark Greenberg, a poverty researcher and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington.
Some preventive services may work better than others. In the case of housing services for people living with HIV, there is evidence that a simple subsidy program without additional case management services is quite effective, according to Prof. Dennis Culhane, a specialist in homelessness policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Even for more generalized homelessness prevention programs, city decision makers have few hard facts to go on when making budget decisions. “We don’t have conclusive evidence to say whether in tight times a city should move its money towards prevention,” said Culhane. “I personally think we should move in that direction, especially since so much money is put into long-term shelter stays.”
It remains to be seen whether city government will use the budget crisis to redefine some core social services in a more preventive light. City Councilman Bill De Blasio, chairman of council’s General Welfare Committee, has scheduled a hearing in March to review potential cuts to prevention services, especially in the Department of Homeless Services. In that area at least, a new push for preventive emphasis may come from the federal government. Both the House and Senate versions of the evolving stimulus bill have provided $1.5 billion for homelessness prevention services, including rental assistance, legal help, and conflict mediation—but not for more traditional forms of assistance like emergency shelter. New York City stands to receive a sizable portion of that money, potentially making up for cuts in homelessness prevention programs like HomeBase.
- Lindsey McCormack
Preventive programs are falling by the wayside as the city budget is cut ever closer to only mandated services. > By Lindsey McCormack
City Limits WEEKLY #674February 9, 2009
Make or View Comments (2)Printable VersionE-mail this Story
In the wake of the mayor’s presentation of the cost-cutting preliminary budget for fiscal 2010, city social services agencies are circling the wagons around “core services.” For the Department of Homeless Services, the core means maintaining the shelter system. At the Administration for Children’s Services, it’s protecting abused children and overseeing foster care. The Department of Corrections must maintain prisons, and the Human Resources Administration manages food stamps, among other duties.
In their push to protect mandated services, many agencies are cutting back on preventive programs—those aimed at addressing small needs before they become big ones. Such programs are premised on the idea of spending some money up front to prevent larger problems – and costs – down the road. The bill for eviction prevention is lower than for a stay at a homeless shelter, for example, and family counseling is cheaper than putting a child in foster care. But preventive programs are rarely mandated, and agencies that focus on the needs of lower-income New Yorkers came under particular pressure in the latest round of budget cuts.
“Social services tend to be looked at as non-core programs,” says Maria Doulis, a senior research associate at the Citizen’s Budget Commission. “Every program has its own constituency, and the greatest public outcry tends to be about education and police. Social services fall lower on the scale.”
Certain aspects of the mayor’s proposed $58.8 billion budget, released on the last Friday in January, bear out that assertion. While the police, fire and corrections departments all cut about 2 percent of projected spending, their budgets still exceed the FY 2010 baseline adopted by City Council last June. On the other hand, agencies like the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), which cut 6 percent, and the Human Resource Administration, which cut 8 percent, are spending well below their baseline budgets. Children’s and homeless services also account for almost 95 percent of projected city layoffs for FY 2010 – not counting 13,930 teachers, whose threatened jobs may yet be saved by the state or federal governments.
All of this is part of a plan to bring the remainder of FY 2009 budget into balance, and to close the $6.4 billion budget gap looming next fiscal year. The mayor’s proposal forms the basis for rounds of community board feedback, City Council hearings, and other refinements that will occur before the budget is approved by early June.
Losing Capacity
ACS insists that the eventual loss of 842 staff members – 608 from layoffs – will not affect front-line casework or preventive services like mental health counseling and parenting classes. Outside the agency, though, some worry that the layoffs will reverberate. “It’s a significant number of positions, and those people must be supporting the efforts of the child protective workers,” said Stephanie Gendell, associate executive director for policy at the Citizen’s Committee for Children. “We’re concerned about the impact, but don’t know what it will be.”
During previous attempts to shore up New York’s finances, city agencies focused on relatively painless savings through administrative cuts and attrition. Last November’s budget did eliminate some preventive programs, such as the Fortune Society’s discharge planning services for detainees on Riker’s Island, which aim to reduce recidivism. That particular program was axed by the Mayor’s Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator. This time around, broader cuts to preventive programs, as opposed to personnel, include:
Homelessness Prevention
State funding for the Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP), which funds caseworkers to mediate rent disputes and connect low-income tenants to rental subsidies, already has been eliminated (as reported in Eviction Prevention Imperiled By State Cut, City Limits Weekly #671, Jan. 12, 2009).
The Jan. 30 budget peels $5.1 million from another program designed to prevent homelessness. A flagship effort of the Department of Homeless Services, HomeBase went citywide at the beginning of 2008, and currently serves more than 1,000 families each month at an annual cost of around $12 million.
DHS says it will seek “alternative sources” to replace city funding, which goes toward everything from legal services to household repairs. But some are nervous about where that money will come from, and when. “Quite frankly, if we were to lose HomeBase and HPP, we would no longer have any credible capacity to prevent low-income families in the Bronx from becoming homeless,” said Ken Small, development director at the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, which provides HomeBase services in the Bronx.
After-School and Youth Employment
A thick docket of research shows that after-school and youth employment programs provide long-term bang for the buck, both in educational attainment and child safety. With almost 80,000 kids enrolled, New York City has the biggest after-school initiative in the country, according to the Department of Youth and Community Development.
The latest budget reverses years of growth, cutting 10,750 after-school slots for elementary, middle, and high school students for the coming school year. Also, this summer fewer teens will take part in the popular Summer Youth Employment Program, as 1,450 slots are dropped. (Federal funding for the summer program has also eroded over the past decade, from $43.9 million in 2000 to $3.4 million this year.) Even without the cuts, the program is oversubscribed—last year more than 100,000 teens applied for 43,113 positions.
The cuts amount to $11 million in savings. But DYCD is also planning to invest $14 million in an internship program and two other literacy and skills programs for teens who have dropped out of school.
Services for People with HIV/AIDS
New Yorkers living with HIV are entitled to government-subsidized housing, a policy grounded in evidence that stable housing correlates with improved medical care. The city also funds a range of health, counseling, and housing placement services to quicken the transition to permanent housing.
In November, the HIV/AIDS Service Administration (HASA), a division of the city welfare agency, HRA, eliminated contracts with community agencies that provide case management to clients in some HASA-supported housing. The new budget maintains that cut, and expands it to another group of case managers that focuses on people with multiple diagnoses and advanced AIDS cases, for a savings of $5.9 million.
Sean Barry, director of the NYC AIDS Housing Network, says that fewer support services will drive some clients back to the streets, increasing the city’s reliance on emergency shelter. “They’ll probably end up cycling in and out of SROs, which cost a lot more than supportive housing. They’re unhealthy for clients, and unhealthy for the city’s budget,” said Barry.
Seeking Conclusive Evidence
Preventive programs are particularly vulnerable to cuts because of their often less tangible benefits. "When government cuts back, prevention programs can be at risk because short-run savings are immediate, while long-run costs may be hard to measure and hard to see," said Mark Greenberg, a poverty researcher and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington.
Some preventive services may work better than others. In the case of housing services for people living with HIV, there is evidence that a simple subsidy program without additional case management services is quite effective, according to Prof. Dennis Culhane, a specialist in homelessness policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Even for more generalized homelessness prevention programs, city decision makers have few hard facts to go on when making budget decisions. “We don’t have conclusive evidence to say whether in tight times a city should move its money towards prevention,” said Culhane. “I personally think we should move in that direction, especially since so much money is put into long-term shelter stays.”
It remains to be seen whether city government will use the budget crisis to redefine some core social services in a more preventive light. City Councilman Bill De Blasio, chairman of council’s General Welfare Committee, has scheduled a hearing in March to review potential cuts to prevention services, especially in the Department of Homeless Services. In that area at least, a new push for preventive emphasis may come from the federal government. Both the House and Senate versions of the evolving stimulus bill have provided $1.5 billion for homelessness prevention services, including rental assistance, legal help, and conflict mediation—but not for more traditional forms of assistance like emergency shelter. New York City stands to receive a sizable portion of that money, potentially making up for cuts in homelessness prevention programs like HomeBase.
- Lindsey McCormack
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Your Money Helpline
I volunteered at the call center for this today:
Call the Helpline NOW!
English: 212.330.6505 | Spanish: 212.330.6506
Free Advice to help you through the Financial Crisis
THE ECONOMIC CRISIS affects everyone, from people struggling with their rent or mortgage to those losing their jobs or seeing the value of their pensions eroding.
But help is here! Starting Monday, the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs, The City University of New York and the Daily News will launch an unprecedented initiative to offer FREE advice to anyone who needs it.
The YOUR MONEY HELPLINE brings together some of the leading experts from across the city to give YOU the help you need. With uncertainty plaguing every aspect of personal fi nance, there has never been a greater need for the type of advice the YOUR MONEY HELPLINE will bring.
Our experts come from the City’s Office of Financial Empowerment, banks and credit unions, financial industry associations and participants, city agencies, CUNY’s business, finance and economics faculty, staff and student financial aid experts and other trained volunteers. Starting Monday morning, they will be available on a Daily News phone bank to answer all your questions and offer advice about weathering the financial storm.
They will provide help in English and Spanish – and advice will be featured on the Univision Spanish television channel and the Wado radio network.
It is vital help that could benefit all New Yorkers. Contacting the YOUR MONEY HELPLINE could be the most valuable call you ever make.
YOUR MONEY HELPLINE STARTS ON MONDAY DECEMBER 15.
Please remember that you can always call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/ofe to learn about services available throughout New York City to help you through the financial crisis. And for quick information about free and low-cost financial education classes and counseling available in your area, visit the City's Financial Education Network Directory.
For information on higher educational opportunities and financial aid, job training, certificate programs, skills building and professional training programs at CUNY's 23 campuses, please visit: www.cuny.edu
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Just couldn't stay away...
So, I'm back. I found I missed it. I'm still torn, but I thought I'd post these articles, and maybe a few pictures from summer.
This one I had to post after reading it myself and having three people send it to me, about becoming a New Yorker. I'm no New Yorker yet, but I do recognize many points well made. My favorite, a quote from one Mr. Chen:
"'I’m pretty good with the subways now, but at night it’s a little weird, and I don’t really know how that works.'
(Neither do we, Mr. Chen.)"
Also it mentions that in 2006, around 77,000 people in their 20s had been in the city for less than a year. I was one of those! I've told they probably didn't survey people in convents, though, so that takes the count up to at least 77,006.
Also, I thought as an avid opposer of gated communities and most HOAs, I thought this NYTimes blog post was good food for thought. In the comments section below the post, a lot of people say, if you don't like 'em, don't move to a neighborhood with a HOA. The scary thing is a lot of the new developments that go up all over the place have mandatory HOAs that do everything from mandate the color of your house to outlaw clotheslines. So if the only affordable place to live is a new development with a HOAs, there's not really a choice at all. It reminds me of that X-Files episode where this monster made of lawn dirt ate people who broke the neighborhood rules. Anyone? Anyone?
This one I had to post after reading it myself and having three people send it to me, about becoming a New Yorker. I'm no New Yorker yet, but I do recognize many points well made. My favorite, a quote from one Mr. Chen:
"'I’m pretty good with the subways now, but at night it’s a little weird, and I don’t really know how that works.'
(Neither do we, Mr. Chen.)"
Also it mentions that in 2006, around 77,000 people in their 20s had been in the city for less than a year. I was one of those! I've told they probably didn't survey people in convents, though, so that takes the count up to at least 77,006.
Also, I thought as an avid opposer of gated communities and most HOAs, I thought this NYTimes blog post was good food for thought. In the comments section below the post, a lot of people say, if you don't like 'em, don't move to a neighborhood with a HOA. The scary thing is a lot of the new developments that go up all over the place have mandatory HOAs that do everything from mandate the color of your house to outlaw clotheslines. So if the only affordable place to live is a new development with a HOAs, there's not really a choice at all. It reminds me of that X-Files episode where this monster made of lawn dirt ate people who broke the neighborhood rules. Anyone? Anyone?
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Pomp and Circumstance
So I write this, for dramatic effect, on the eve of my last night of being a Fellow! Tomorrow's it, the last day, the show is over say goodbye. Only, not really. Much of the melodrama is decidedly lost on me, since I decided to stay on at DHS for the summer. My title changes from fellow to intern, but my job will be largely the same. There are some projects I want to see through, such as this financial education initiative, so I'll be there until August when school starts.
The fellows had a "graduation" ceremony last week. Everyone got all dolled up, Bloomberg came and spoke (his advice: make your billions first, then go in to public service...), all in all it was a very nice evening. We started the event by getting there 15 minutes early and arranging ourselves on a picturesque stairwell for a photo-op, with a Bloomberg-sized hole in the front row. He arrived, inserted himself in the picture, and we were off! It must be strange to live your life shepherded around from one photo-op to another...
Anyways, that's a wrap, folks. I think this is probably the end of my blogging, but I do love to end on a photo montage, so there may be something more yet! No promises though. :-) Thanks for your reading and sticking it out through the end.
Much love,
The fellows had a "graduation" ceremony last week. Everyone got all dolled up, Bloomberg came and spoke (his advice: make your billions first, then go in to public service...), all in all it was a very nice evening. We started the event by getting there 15 minutes early and arranging ourselves on a picturesque stairwell for a photo-op, with a Bloomberg-sized hole in the front row. He arrived, inserted himself in the picture, and we were off! It must be strange to live your life shepherded around from one photo-op to another...
Anyways, that's a wrap, folks. I think this is probably the end of my blogging, but I do love to end on a photo montage, so there may be something more yet! No promises though. :-) Thanks for your reading and sticking it out through the end.
Much love,
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