NYN Review June 2015 by New York Nonprofit Review

MEDIA - REVIEW DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

Issue N°3 JUNE 19th, 2015

NEWS

OPCON:

REPLACING FEGS

LEARNING FROM LEADERS

p.11

p.12

AGENCY OF THE MON TH: ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION

THE PERSISTENT PROBLEM OF PRICEY PRESCRIPTIONS

p.8

.... Read more page 10

C OV E R S T O RY

NONPROFITS LOSING GROUND IN THE NURSING HOME SECTOR p.17

KIDS ‘COMING APART AT THE SEAMS’ .... Read more page 15

SYRINGE EXCHANGE .... Read more page16

By GABE PONCE DE LEÓN

CEO CORNER

BUILDING YOUR BRAND

THE THRI V E NET WORK

THE BR ANDING EFFECT

Paddles: A Leader’s Blueprint for Creating a Unified Team.” The following interview has been edited for space and clarity.

Q&A with CHARLES ARCHER CEO, THE THRIVE NET WORK

harles Archer is the co-found-

er and CEO of The Thrive Network, the new iteration of the Evelyn Douglin Center for Serving People in Need, which offers services to clients with intellectual and developmental disabilities throughout the New York metro area. Archer is also the author of the book, “Everybody

NYN: YOUR ORGANIZATION, THE EVELYN DOUGLIN CENTER FOR SERVING PEOPLE IN NEED, IS BEING REBRANDED AS THE THRIVE NETWORK. HOW DOES THE NEW BRAND REFLECT THE WORK OF THE ORGANIZATION AND ITS FUTURE PATH? CA: About 24 years ago, I started working with people with disabilities as a direct support professional. I had the opportunity to go to college during the day and work at night, and what I’ve learned over the years is that people with disabilities want the same things in life that I want. That propelled me to commit myself to providing those types of services to those people. Read more page 9

Will rebranding really help you raise more funds?

ack in 2012, Phipps CDC, a

The rebranding of Phipps CDC was comprehensive, and included setting a brand strategy and changing their logo, tagline and name (they are now Phipps Neighborhoods). Key messages, boilerplate content and an elevator pitch were also created. Other elements were rewritten to be more engaging and the entire staff was trained to use this new suite of tools. Today, Phipps Neighborhoods staffers say the rebranding was instrumental in helping them raise more

40-year-old human services organization in the South Bronx, was struggling to communicate clearly, consistently and effectively. Target audiences, particularly potential clients and supporters, did not always understand the focus of the organization, and Phipps CDC suspected this was getting in the way of growth. With a newly hired communications staff and a strategic plan in place, they were ready to change their communications, so they embarked on a rebranding process.

Read more page 6

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Issue N°3

June 2015 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

TRADE TIPS

BUSINESS OF YOUR NONPROFIT

CHOOSING THE RIGHT HEALTH PLAN BY CHRISTOPHER T. FREEBURN

roviding health insurance coverage to employees often makes a great deal of financial sense, even for smaller nonprofits. “It absolutely benefits a small to midsize nonprofit to offer health insurance coverage to its employees,” says Amy Schiffman, co-founder and principal at Giving Tree Associates. “It is very difficult to attract competitive candidates without it because most of the larger nonprofits do offer it.” Health insurance both improves recruitment and makes it easier to retain existing talent. Good employees are hard to find, and they can be lured away by superior benefits packages from competing organizations. Health insurance is a tempting perk that can help your nonprofit hold on to valued staff members, thus reducing employee turnover and retraining costs. “Most midsize nonprofits are now offering this benefit and smaller nonprofits are catching up, or tending to offer compensation packages that allow for employees to purchase their

own health insurance if it is not part of the offer package,” Schiffman explains. IMPACT OF HEALTH CARE REFORM The Affordable Care Act has greatly reshaped the employee health insurance landscape, offering many small organizations the chance to obtain health insurance coverage for their employees at a discounted cost, but also imposing certain regulatory requirements. “Nonprofits' health plans now

have to be categorized into ‘metal’ tier levels based on their actuarial values: platinum, 90 percent; gold, 80 percent; silver, 70 percent; bronze, 60 percent,” explains Eric Laughlin, manager of broker services at the New York Council of Nonprofits’ Council Services Plus subsidiary. Under the ACA, out-of-pocket expenses are also capped at certain levels. “For example, some plans around the platinum level will have expenses capped at $2,000 for an individual and $4,000 for family coverage,” Laughlin says. “Once you get to the bronze-level plans, they are capped around

IT ABSOLUTELY BENEFITS A SMALL TO MIDSIZE NONPROFIT TO OFFER HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE TO ITS EMPLOYEES

$6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. Waiting periods for new hires are also capped at 90 days.” Health insurance exchanges are probably the most visible aspect of the ACA. New York’s online health insurance exchange is known as the New York State of Health. Nonprofits that purchase health insurance for their employees may become eligible for a small business tax credit. “This is only available if the nonprofit purchases their health insurance through the New York State of Health,” Laughlin notes. “In order to qualify for the tax credit, the nonprofit must cover at least 50 percent of the premium, employ fewer than 25 full-time-equivalent staff, and pay an annual average wage of less than $50,000.” AVAILABLE OPTIONS Health insurance plans for nonprofits fall primarily into two major categories:

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June 2015

Issue N°3 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

Navigating the rules imposed by the ACA can be complicated. Small to midsized nonprofits may wish to seek out the advice of an insurance broker in order to ensure the choices they make fully comply with ACA requirements. “Nonprofits should make sure that they are working with someone who is knowledgeable about the product they need,” Laughlin says. “The broker should be able to explain the differences between all different types of plan options and carriers, not just one carrier’s offerings.” For nonprofits, the best broker is one that has worked with organizations of a similar size and mission. “Every broker will tell you that they are the best at what they do,” Laughlin advises. “So ask around. Contact local nonprofits and ask who they use and if they recommend them.”

Building Your

BY LUZ M. RODRIGUEZ

FINDING THE RIGHT BROKER

DESCRIBING YOUR PROGRAM DESIGN

with the help of a broker fairly easily, so that employees understand what they are enrolling in,” he adds. Defined benefit plans, by contrast, save time and money for the employer, but can be more problematic for employees. “Employees generally need guidance when it comes to their benefits,” Laughlin explains. “They may enroll on a plan only thinking about what the premium is going to cost them right now, and not necessarily what it will cost them when and if services are needed. It puts some skin in the game for employees, which if they aren’t careful, could come back to bite them later on.”

TRADE TIPS

• Group health insurance plans: Nonprofits often qualify for the same group health insurance plans offered to small businesses. Group health plans generally fall into two categories: traditional indemnity plans and managed care plans. Indemnity plans offer more flexibility but require higher out-of-pocket costs, while managed care options restrict the range of health service providers, but reduce expenses and paperwork. Most small to midsized nonprofits opt for a managed care plan. “Nonprofit organizations typically offer platinum- and gold-style EPO (exclusive provider organization) plans to their staff, which have some of the lowest out-of-pocket costs,” Laughlin notes. “There are also preferred provider plans available for organizations that need an out-ofnetwork solution for their staff.” Silver and bronze EPO plans offer cost savings that can be paired with alternative funding arrangements such as health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts and health reimbursement arrangements. • Defined contribution plans: Under these plans, employers provide employees with a specified amount of money to purchase their own insurance plans. The primary benefit to employers is the ability to manage costs. “Offering a group health plan through the employer can take more time and effort to implement and administer,” Laughlin notes. However, group plans are more structured and provide clearly defined benefits that are easy to explain to employees. “You can run open enrollment meetings

n your grant proposal, if you've done your job of clearly defining a particular problem in the world that needs to be solved (see “Be Clear About the Need,” May 2015 issue), then you are well on your way to capturing a funder's interest in your proposed solution. Now you’ll need to find an effective way to describe how your program is designed to make an impact on the problem by changing a condition, a situation or a behavior. A “logic model” is a popular method of illustrating how your program activities will accomplish the change you are working toward. Often requested by funders to be attached to proposals, the logic model can provide a structured, visual framework for clearly depicting your “theory of change” by describing your program activities, how they will achieve the goals you are working toward and how you will know when you are succeeding. Regardless of how you decide to explain your program design in your proposal, you will need to have an answer to the question often asked by funders: “What is your theory of change?” Don’t forget that funders are essentially investors in social change; the results you achieve will be their return on investment. So, your program design—and how you describe it—is key in attracting financial support. Luz M. Rodriguez is a training specialist at the Foundation Center. The Foundation Center seeks to strengthen the social sector by advancing knowledge about philanthropy in the U.S. and around the world. For more information, visit www. foundationcenter.org.

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Issue N°3

June 2015 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

TRADE TIPS

BUILDING YOUR BRAND

THE REBRAND EFFECT Will rebranding really help you raise more funds? By SAR AH DURHAM

Nonprofits that have rebranded raise more money & reach key audiences more effectively.

Revenue from Government Grant

15% / 15% Revenue from Individual Donors

INCREASES IN REVENUE SINCE BRANDING

49% / 26% Donor Retention

31% / 36%

50%

Number of Individual Donors

29% / 26%

21%

19%

Too soon to tell

Stayed about the same

ack in 2012, Phipps CDC, a 40-year-old human services organization in the South Bronx, was struggling to communicate clearly, consistently and effectively. Target audiences, particularly potential clients and supporters, did not always understand the focus of the organization, and Phipps CDC suspected this was getting in the way of growth. With a newly hired communications staff and a strategic plan in place, they were ready to change their communications, so they embarked on a rebranding process. The rebranding of Phipps CDC was comprehensive, and included setting a brand strategy and changing their logo, tagline and name (they are now Phipps Neighborhoods). Key messages, boilerplate content and an elevator pitch were also created. Other elements were rewritten to be more engaging and the entire staff was trained to use this new suite of tools. Today, Phipps Neighborhoods staffers say the rebranding was instrumental in helping them raise more private support. “It’s not necessarily direct; people don’t give because of the name or logo, but the brand elements help us to talk about the work more effectively,” said Nancy Riedl, Phipps Neighborhoods’ director of development and communications. “The new brand, the

Not Sure

Yes, has increased Too soon to tell

Decreased

work we do, and the fundraising that supports it are all a system now.” Branding is all about perception— how your nonprofit is perceived in the hearts and minds of the people who matter most. In today’s increasingly noisy world, nonprofits consider rebranding as a strategy to reach and engage clients and supporters more effectively. But does it really work like that for most nonprofits? I decided to find out. My communications firm, Big Duck, worked collaboratively with the FDR Group, a research firm, to develop an unbiased study comparing the outcomes of organizations that had rebranded with those that had made less dramatic communications changes in recent years. Rebranding was defined as changing or developing at least four of the following elements: brand strategy, name, tagline, logo, key messages and/or elevator pitch. Our research revealed that organizations undertaking branding activities experienced many positive outcomes, including improved fundraising, donor retention and recruitment—just as Phipps Neighborhoods had. These organizations also did a better job engaging more activists, increasing program registration, recruiting better board members and garnering media attention.

28% / 26%

Revenue from Corporate Donors

29% / 26% Increased

Revenue From Foudnation Grants

About 1 in 4 survey participants said their organization’s ability to raise funds improved since implementing branding and communications changes. Virtually the same number said it was too soon to tell. For 36 percent, things had “stayed about the same,” while 6 percent said their organization’s ability to fundraise had gotten harder. “(It’s) easier to tell the story … but still a difficult challenge raising money in a down economy,” one survey respondent said. Fundraising is “not easier, just more effective.” Another respondent noted, “(Our) entire budget has been cut by 50 percent, including the fundraising budget. Direct mail campaigns, which were the backbone of our fundraising, are all but impossible now.” Beyond this study, Big Duck has informally tracked the results of a number of nonprofits we have worked with over the past 20 years. The effects of getting smarter, faster and more confident as communicators seem to radiate outward, shifting an organization’s culture as staff members become more confident communicators and brand ambassadors. Often, it begins with staff members producing materials or writing appeals or speeches faster and better than before, frequently without freelancers or the outside support they

used to rely on. Next, donors who had previously made smaller gifts are making larger gifts and saying that they perceive the organization has “gone to the next level.” For example, The Marfan Foundation, a national nonprofit headquartered in Long Island that Big Duck rebranded in 2013, saw a 50 percent increase in overall support in their first year-end season using their new brand. Rebranding a nonprofit is a lot like renovating your home: It’s messy, complicated, expensive and more time-consuming than you’d expect. But afterward, you feel more confident inviting people in. That’s where the fun begins—and the fundraising. Sarah Durham is the CEO and founder of Big Duck, a New York City-based communications firm that works exclusively with nonprofits. The Rebrand Effect e-book, which highlights the findings from the study mentioned above, can be downloaded for free at www. bigducknyc.com. The findings are based on the responses to a survey completed Feb. 5-28, 2014, by 351 nonprofit decision-makers from across the country. Durham is also the author of “Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications. (Jossey-Bass 2010). You can reach her at sarah@bigducknyc.com. NYNmedia.com

June 2015

Issue N°3 N°1 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NOTABLES

FRONTLINE HERO By JEFF STEIN

ARMANDO ROSADO DIRECT SERVICE PROFESSIONAL, HEARTSHARE

or many, the transformational and life-altering work of direct service professionals—especially those who work with developmentally disabled clients—is self-evident. And yet the heroism of Armando

Rosado, a direct service professional at HeartShare, an organization that assists individuals with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities, exemplifies the dramatic impact a caring front-line worker can have on a client’s life. Rosado has spent several years with HeartShare, developing close relationships with his clients as he manages their daily care, facilitating transportation to and from habilitation programs and administering prescriptions. He also works closely with the family members of clients, making sure that residents are able to connect with loved ones through frequent home visits. “Many of our individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are nonverbal,” Rosado explained. “Often, they can only communicate through subtle glances. It’s our job to make sure that they are heard and have a voice. I want to be there for our clients, many of whom have been overlooked and disregarded by society for their entire lives.”

Rosado formed one particularly close bond with John, a resident at HeartShare’s Clinton Residence. “We always went for a morning walk to buy the newspaper and then watched the football game together. It was our Sunday tradition,” Rosado said. After five years of establishing a trusting relationship, Rosado was called to action at a critical moment. One evening while eating dinner, John abruptly got up from the table, panicking, flailing and unable to speak. Rosado recognized that John was choking and immediately administered CPR, bringing the traumatic experience to a swift resolution. “There was simply no time to think,” Rosado recalled. “I acted as quickly as I could.” For Rosado, the terrifying episode brought into focus the essential nature of his work and the importance of his training. “John hugged me and thanked me over and over again,” Rosado said. “I never thought I would ever have to use CPR. But if it weren’t for that train-

ing, John might not be here today.” Rosado was recently recognized by HeartShare’s Everyday Heroes program, which was originally founded by the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities to single out outstanding work in human services organizations. Eunice Beck, director of special projects and family support services for HeartShare, says recognizing exemplary behavior of direct service professionals like Rosado is a key element of providing high-quality services. “Everyday Heroes is not only about staff appreciation, but also a demonstration of best practices. It’s inspiring to see employees bonding over the joys and challenges of their work, as well as to learn from one another in order to do the best job possible,” Beck explained. But Rosado sees best practices simply as part of his job description. “I just try to go about my daily routine to help clients live a healthier and happier life at home and in the community,” he said.

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Issue N°3

June 2015 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NOTABLES

AGENCY OF THE MONTH

CARING FOR THE CAREGIVERS Alzheimer’s Association, NYC By ROSALY N RETK WA

eith Amparado first noticed major changes in his mother’s personality when the two of them were planning his father’s funeral. He says her forceful responses to minor disagreements were out of character for his “extremely dignified” mother, who had once been an actress with the American Negro Theater and had gone on to a long career with Consumers Union. At one point in their discussions with the funeral director, when Amparado interjected with something he wanted, she said: “Well, you can just pay for the entire funeral yourself.” But when he gave the funeral director his credit card, she grabbed it back and said: “This is my husband, and I will take care of the arrangements.” She would start an argument, but then “in another minute, the whole thing would be gone,” Amparado says, which he describes as one of the “hallmarks” of Alzheimer’s—a progressive, still-mysterious disease of the brain that affects memory, thinking and behavior. “Most people will initiate an argument, and at best it trails off, but it just doesn’t stop and go away,” Amparado says. An assistant director in New York University’s information technology division, Amparado says his faculty staff-assistance program referred him to the Alzheimer’s Association, and he took every available course and workshop and participated in support groups. “If they had it, I took it,” he says. Amparado was his mother’s caregiver for 15 years until she died in 2011. Now he is a caregiver support group leader at the association and he also runs a support group he started at NYU. “Memory loss is what people are the most familiar with, but it’s not just about memory,” says Lou-Ellen Barkan, the president and CEO of the New York City chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. When her father started calling every woman “honey,” and the men “buddy,” it wasn’t immediately obvious that he had lost the ability to recall names, she says. But then she says “he also did something very scary”: He started writing checks to fraudulent charities, “which is very common,” she says, because people with Alzheimer’s also lose their ability to reason and their judgment is flawed. DonnaMarie Arrigo of Brooklyn says she knew something was wrong when her mother started repeating herself: “Is it raining? I think it’s raining out.” The first group she attended was on understanding dementia and its different stages—the commonalities and the differences—and “quite

frankly, it scared the hell out of me,” she says. Alzheimer’s is “very hard to accept, but you learn to accept it,” she says. Alzheimer’s started to develop more of a public profile in 1994 when former President Ronald Reagan went public with his diagnosis. A few prescription drugs have been developed that can sometimes help people level out for a period of time, but there is still no cure. It is primarily a disease that strikes people over the age of 65, but the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that up to 5 percent of the more than 5 million Americans with Alzheimer’s have the early-onset version of the disease, which affects people in their 40s and 50s. On its website, the association runs a service called TrialMatch, which lets the caregivers for Alzheimer’s patients search a database that includes 225 clinical studies at nearly 700 sites around the country. With the baby boomers reaching the age bracket for Alzheimer’s, Barkan says “the good news” is that the race is on to find a cure. But given the difficulty of working with elderly people with dementia, research is also “expensive and hard,” she says. “In the 11 years I’ve been here, I’ve seen 20 drugs go down the tubes,” she says, though there are now “three drugs of interest.” In the absence of a cure, most of the chapter’s efforts are focused on providing support and services to the people who care for the estimated quarter-million people with Alzheimer’s in New York City. Barkan says

that when she took the helm, the organization’s budget was under $2 million; it is now $9 million this year, while its staff has grown to 60 people. “Our support services start with our 24-hour help line,” Barkan says, noting that help is available in 180 languages through a translation service. That line is currently staffed by 12 social workers and three other people, and Barkan says she expects to add four to six more social workers because of growing demand. The line gets about 12,000 calls a year, but the volume of calls is growing by about 10 percent a month, she says. One of the things that Barkan says surprised her was that when she started there was “almost nothing” in the way of support for early-stage Alzheimer’s patients who were “cognitively damaged in some way, but still high functioning.” So she created programs where people in that stage of the disease “could talk to a group of people like themselves.” Barkan says the organization’s support groups are led by volunteers who are “trained and supervised by us.” Since caregivers often can’t leave their relatives alone for very long, the chapter, which is based in Manhattan, is increasing its network of in-borough support groups in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, as well as its “culturally sensitive” outreach programs for the Latino, African-American, Chinese, Russian, LGBT and Orthodox Jewish communities. “Each one of the subsets has very specific feelings about Alzheimer’s,” Barkan says.

The chapter can also help caregivers find home health care aids who have completed the association’s training in caring for people with dementia. And since wandering is a big problem with Alzheimer’s patients, the chapter has about 22,000 people registered with MedicAlert bracelets in New York City. Barkan wants to expand that program since the odds of finding someone within 24 to 48 hours is “almost 100 percent” if they have the bracelet, she says. She says the chapter also trains police officers on safe return of people with dementia at the precinct level. Of course, lobbying for greater funding for Alzheimer’s research is a big part of the effort. Currently, the National Institutes of Health provides $585 million a year for Alzheimer’s research—far less than for cancer, HIV, cardiovascular disease or diabetes—and Barkan says her organization is trying to get that increased to $2 billion. If a cure is not found before 2050, the cost to Medicare and Medicaid of taking care of a growing population of seniors with Alzheimer’s is projected to rise from $214 billion to $1.2 trillion, Barkan says—enough “to destroy the health care system.” “This is the most costly disease in the U.S.,” Barkan says, especially since Alzheimer’s patients can live as long as 20 years after the diagnosis—though “over time, the body just shuts down,” she points out. That makes Alzheimer’s the only cause of death in the top 10 that can’t be prevented or cured, she said. NYNmedia.com

June 2015

Issue N°3 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NOTABLES

CEO CORNER

Q&A with CHARLES ARCHER CEO, THE THRIVE NET WORK

harles Archer is the co-founder and CEO of The Thrive Network, the new iteration of the Evelyn Douglin Center for Serving People in Need, which offers services to clients with intellectual and developmental disabilities throughout the New York metro area. Archer is also the author of the book, “Everybody Paddles: A Leader’s Blueprint for Creating a Unified Team.” The following interview has been edited for space and clarity. NYN: YOUR ORGANIZATION, THE EVELYN DOUGLIN CENTER FOR SERVING PEOPLE IN NEED, IS BEING REBRANDED AS THE THRIVE NETWORK. HOW DOES THE NEW BRAND REFLECT THE WORK OF THE ORGANIZATION AND ITS FUTURE PATH? CA: About 24 years ago, I started working with people with disabilities as a direct support professional. I had the opportunity to go to college during the day and work at night, and what I’ve learned over the years is that people with disabilities want the same things in life that I want. That propelled me to commit myself to providing those types of services to those people. In 1995 and 1996, when I co-founded the Evelyn Douglin Center for Serving People in Need, at that time we were really looking at servicing underserved and under-accessed communities. Fast forward to 2015, we’re at a place now where we have to ask ourselves what we want to become to continue providing support to our core population, but also look at serving other people in other demographics with other needs. The Thrive Network will become a network of services for more than just people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but people with other aging needs or homeless needs, among others. NYN: MANY NONPROFITS CONSIDER REBRANDING TO ATTRACT MORE FUNDING, VOLUNTEERS, NYNmedia.com

GROW THE ORGANIZATION, ETC. WHAT HAS THE REBRANDING PROCESS BEEN LIKE FOR THE THRIVE NETWORK? CA: The way that we approached it was by coupling the CEO and leadership with the board of directors. We assembled an excellent board that believes in the organization as it is and shares a vision on what it needs to become. When you get those three groups together, you gain more of a consensus about where (the organization) needs to go. What really helped me, as a CEO, was bringing in someone that could help me with the rebranding. There are moments as a leader when you’re expected to know it all—and in some instances you really should—but we had the opportunity to work with a fantastic company that was able to scan the space in New York state to see what names had been used, what kind of logo we should use, and help us through the whole process. That’s really what pushed us to become The Thrive Network. NYN: YOU’RE AN AUTHOR OF A COMPENDIUM OF ESSAYS ON LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY, “EVERYBODY PADDLES.” WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR THAT BOOK, AND WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY? CA: In “Everybody Paddles: A Leader’s Blueprint for Creating a Unified Team,” I lay out six principles that I really believe can create a culture of change, a culture where (people) believe that they matter and want to add value at work. Over the years—I’m an attorney and I’ve also done some teaching throughout the city—I’ve realized that many people come to work and they feel devalued. There’s a sense that people wonder, “Do I have something worth contributing and will anyone pay attention?” “Everybody Paddles” has become a guide for people to understand that you really are expected to add value at The Thrive Network. We don’t want it just on Monday or Friday. We want it five days a week, and your

colleagues want it, and the people that we serve want it. It’s also become about the concept that followership is as important as leadership, and without one you can’t have the other. NYN: THIS IS A CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT FOR MANY NONPROFITS THROUGHOUT THE INDUSTRY. WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE TO OTHER AGENCIES NAVIGATING THROUGH THESE DIFFICULT TIMES, AND WHAT DO YOU THINK GOVERNMENT PARTNERS NEED TO BRING TO THE TABLE? CA: I think that there has to be active participation, active communication and active involvement. As a nonprofit executive, you can’t be in a position where you expect government to come up with all of the solutions, but from the government side, there has to be a willingness to listen. In our experience leading nonprofits, we’re on the ground providing necessary services on a day-to-day basis. Government partners don’t have the same perspective and can’t always see how their actions directly impact people on the ground. The ability to have active communication is very important so that we can make

sure that our perspective gets across. Thinking about involvement, we at The Thrive Network make sure to be involved in a lot of activities in the community and get a seat at the table in discussions that affect the community, not just so that we can know what’s going on but so that we can try to influence the direction of the discussion. NYN: WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST ADVOCACY GOALS FOR 2015? WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PUSH THE CONVERSATION? CA: In terms of the discussion regarding intellectual and developmental disabilities, the health services and delivery systems are changing. From a nonprofit’s perspective we understand that there must be changes, but we need to be careful about how drastically and swiftly things change. In terms of government, if you are going to say that you want to protect and serve all New Yorkers, you need to back that up with actions; it can’t just be a philosophy. There must be implementation. To view the full interview, visit www.NYNmedia.com

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Issue N°3

June 2015 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

THE PERSISTENT PROBLEM OF PRICEY PRESCRIPTIONS By FR ANK G. RU N YEON

ccording to a poll last month, 75 percent of Americans believe they are paying too much for their medications and just about no one disagrees. Data show that Americans pay two to three times what patients in Canada and Europe pay for the same drugs. While New York has a robust system of nonprofit organizations that helps distribute medications to those who can’t afford them, and state lawmakers have been active in trying to regulate unfair practices by the insurance industry and even introduce sweeping reforms, many nonprofit workers and medical experts say the problem of unaffordable medications has continued to worsen in the state. Dr. Peter Bach, a physician and director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, wrote in a New York Times op-ed earlier this year that drug manufacturers “are taking advantage of a mix of laws that force insurers to include essentially all expensive drugs in their policies, and a philosophy that demands that every new health care product be available to everyone, no matter how little it helps or how much it costs.” Priscilla VanderVeer, spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, acknowledged that the high cost of medications is a problem, but said expensive medications are not a result of predatory practices by her constituents. “It’s really easy to villainize each other in that world,” VanderVeer said. “I would think that what patients are looking for is solutions, not pointing fingers.” When asked who was responsible for the steady climb in the price of pharmaceuticals, PhRMA repeatedly pointed toward unfair pricing by insurance providers in the affordable health care marketplace. “One of the challenges of the Affordable Care Act—while great in that people can’t be denied care because they have a pre-existing condition—what we’re seeing is insurance companies are using other tools to … increase cost sharing,” VanderVeer said. Maria Alvarez, of the New York Statewide Senior Action Council, agrees on this point. “The ACA had all these great intentions, (but) the problem is the plans are increasing their prices,” Alvarez said. “I think they had the best of intentions, but the way it’s played

out, seniors are paying more out of pocket for medicine and care.” And it’s not just seniors who are taking the hit. “I think there’s a number of young people who are out of college or graduate school, and they may not be able to get insurance from their parents and they’re really stuck,” said Dr. Mary O’Brien, a physician at Columbia Health Services who treats members of the Columbia University community. Students at the university have a good health care plan while they are enrolled. After they graduate, they may find themselves stuck with a subpar plan that hits them with a high copay and deductibles if they don’t land a job with a quality plan. But O’Brien says pharmaceutical companies are to blame. “They’ve increased the prices on a lot of medications,” she said, citing the cost of treating common conditions like asthma, a chronic respiratory illness that affects 26 million Americans. “Now the prices are $100 for some (medications) that control asthma, or $200 or $300 a month.” “It’s terrible because it’s a life-threatening illness,” she said. “So the health care system ends up paying much more money for it because these patients just end up in the emergency room.” Alvarez agrees. “We’re not doing ourselves any favors by denying care or making it very hard to get to, because if someone doesn’t have readily accessible health care … what will end up happening is they get sicker.” PhRMA argues that part of the problem is that, unlike medical or hospital care, patients have to pay for their medications before they can receive them. And PhRMA agrees that the cost of asthma medications

is too high. But again, the pharmaceutical trade group blames the insurance companies. A PhRMA report notes that insurance plans on the health exchange only cover 68 percent of name-brand asthma medications and that patients with high deductibles may simply end up paying the full cost for their asthma medicine out of pocket each year. Although PhRMA acknowledges that drugs are more expensive in America, it says that’s the price we pay to have the most innovative new

tions like Sovaldi. Yet O’Brien says she has watched the cost of asthma treatments rise sharply over the last decade. “All the medications for asthma, most of them have been around for decades and were very inexpensive for years,” O’Brien said. But when drug companies were obliged to repackage their aerosol-delivered medicines for inhalers to meet new environmental regulations, drug companies took the opportunity to put those same generic medications back on the shelves at a higher price, O’Brien explained. “It’s the same medication now, but it’s all under brand names,” she said. VanderVeer said she could not discuss why some companies charge more for specific drugs. She acknowledged that “the number of people who have asthma that can’t access their medicines is pretty high” but said “it is also one of the drugs that our companies are highly willing and able to provide to patients through their assistance programs.” To relieve many of the issues related to the high cost of medications, both O’Brien and Alvarez advocate for a fundamental shift in the health care system, to a universal single-payer system. Short of that, neither is optimistic about major improvements in the cost of medications. “Unless we go in a different way,”

THE ACA HAD ALL THESE GREAT INTENTIONS, (BUT) THE PROBLEM IS THE PLANS ARE INCREASING THEIR PRICES medicine. “We’re leading the pack,” VanderVeer said. “We’re curing hepatitis C. That’s expensive. That research is expensive.” While Europe is a major contributor to research and development, the competitive marketplace in the United States is what puts the U.S. out front, VanderVeer said: “We are the powerhouse of R&D.” The U.S. pharmaceutical industry invests more heavily in drug development than any other country in the world. But that does not explain why prices for some generic drugs has increased, critics say. There have not been significant breakthroughs in asthma drugs in recent years, the way there has been with high-priced cancer drugs or hepatitis C medica-

Alvarez said, “I don’t see this getting any better.” Assemblyman Richard Gottfried recently introduced the New York Health Act, which aims to create a universal single-payer health care system in the state. While it managed to pass the state Assembly with a vote of 89-47 in late May, it lacked the backing in the GOP-dominated state Senate to become law. A single-payer health care system has been introduced in one form or another since 1999, without success. And while doctors and patients wait for a solution, recent history suggests that the prices for next year’s prescriptions will continue to climb. NYNmedia.com

June 2015

Issue N°3 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

REPLACING FEGS Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services acquires FEGS programs

Q&A with DAVID RIVEL CEO, JEWISH BOARD OF FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S SERVICES

ack in March, the social services nonprofit Federation Employment and Guidance Services filed for bankruptcy after reporting a more than $19 million loss in 2014. The collapse of the vast organization that provided services for roughly 120,000 people sent shockwaves throughout the industry. This month, the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services moved quickly with help from New York City and the state to execute a transition to avoid a disruption of services. David Rivel, CEO of the Jewish Board, sat down with City & State Executive Editor Michael Johnson to discuss the undertaking and the impact it might have on the health and human services sector. The following interview has been edited for space and clarity. CITY & STATE: GIVE US AN UPDATE ON WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE FORMER FEGS PROGRAMS AND WHICH SERVICES THE JEWISH BOARD WILL BE TAKING OVER. David Rivel: All of the FEGS programs have landed safely with other providers. The Jewish Board ended up taking the largest single piece of the portfolio, collectively known as behavioral health programs, mostly for adults with histories of homelessness, drug abuse and mental illness. The state decided very early in the process that, for the benefit of the clients, they wanted to keep all of those programs together and transfer them all to one provider. In January, they did an internal analysis and took a look at the different nonprofits that might be able to take over the portfolio. Jewish Board came out No. 1 in their analysis by a fairly large margin. We were contacted and asked if we would be willing to take over these programs—$75 million of programs in all. C&S: WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE THROUGHOUT THE CHAOTIC TRANSITIONAL PROCESS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE STATE AND CITY? DR: Very quickly we had to do a feasibility study to figure out if we could take on these programs and, if we did, what would be our operational plan to make sure it happened smoothly. The state wanted us NYNmedia.com

to take over programs as of June 1. The city of New York later called and said that they also wanted to give all of the city behavioral health contracts to us. Nassau and Suffolk County also contacted us and said that they wanted those local contracts to come to us also. So there were a lot of programs that had to transfer pretty quickly. We had to figure out a game plan to make it work. We sat down with our board and everyone on our senior staff and we tried to figure out all of the operational details that it would take to make this happen. Because FEGS was going through bankruptcy, none of the assets that would normally be available to us in a transfer like this were available to us. For example, in the portfolio there are about 800 staff people delivering programs. All those staff people needed new computers, all those computers needed to be loaded with software. They needed furniture, phones—all of the phones and computers needed to be networked with each other and networked back to us. We needed additional server and storage capacity. So it was really a tremendous undertaking. It ended up costing us millions and millions of dollars, but the state, the city and UJA-Federation stepped up—were our partners in this—and supported the cost of the transition. C&S: HOW DID YOU FAST-TRACK THE PROCESS OF GETTING MONEY APPROVED BY THE STATE? WERE THE CITY AND STATE GOOD PARTNERS IN MAKING THIS TRANSITION HAPPEN? DR: People recognized that we wouldn’t be able to say yes unless we could identify the sources of funding to support the transition. So people moved pretty quickly, to their credit. The state, city and UJA-Federation all convened special task forces and we had a number of conversations about how they could support the transition. Ultimately it happened pretty quickly. C&S: AFTER THIS TRANSITION, YOU’RE PROBABLY THE LARGEST HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY IN THE NEW YORK CITY AREA WITH A $250 MILLION BUDGET, ROUGHLY. IN THE WAKE OF WHAT HAPPENED TO FEGS, WHAT WILL THE JEWISH BOARD DO

TO AVOID FOLLOWING THE PATH THAT FEGS WENT DOWN? DR: First of all, while we are the largest, there are still plenty of other large, healthy human services organizations— Services for the UnderServed, SCO, Children’s Aid Society. So there are still plenty of colleague organizations. One of the advantages of being large is that you have certain economies of scale that you don’t have when you’re small. So administrative overhead can be spread over more programs. We all know that both city and state contracts have reduced the amount of funding for administrative overhead, so it’s important to be able to run efficiently. We’re also all moving towards a world where our payers are going to be managed care organizations, not government, and there scale is very important. You need to be able to negotiate rates with managed care organizations. You need to be able to deliver services to large parts of the population. So having five-borough coverage, being large, having a diversity of services, having services for both children and adults are actually going to be real advantages going forward. C&S: GOING FORWARD, THE BOARD WILL HAVE TO REVISE FUNDING MODELS, REVENUES AND THE AMOUNT OF MONEY IT GETS FROM STATE AND CITY GOVERNMENT.

WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR STATE AND CITY OFFICIALS WHO OBVIOUSLY HELPED YOU VERY MUCH DURING THE TRANSITION BUT WILL STILL NEED TO PROVIDE YOU WITH SUBSTANTIAL SUPPORT IN THE FUTURE? DR: FEGS is not the only organization, large or small, that has gone bankrupt or is having financial difficulty and I think that the city and the state are recognizing that their reimbursement rates for services may be too low. Of course, as an industry, we’ve been saying this for years. But I think it’s easy to ignore or dismiss lots of advocates on the steps of City Hall or the steps of the Capitol building in Albany. I think it’s harder to ignore when organizations—even large organizations like FEGS, which were mostly well-managed for many years—start feeling the pinch. That makes people sit up and take notice. I think you’ll see a revisiting of the reimbursement rates for organizations. That’s the single most important thing that city and state officials can do. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It would have been much cheaper to help FEGS continue to survive as opposed to paying for the cost of the transition and the programs going forward. This interview originally appeared on City & State TV. To view the full interview, visit www.cityandstateny.com.

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Issue N°3

June 2015 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

LEARNING FROM LEADERS NYN Operations Conference Sparks Conversation, Debate By JEFF STEIN

s critical service providers for the state, New York nonprofit leaders are often focused on helping others, while issues like the internal structure of their organizations, risk management, insurance and data collection often get shelved. New York Nonprofit Media decided to help the leaders who are always helping others by convening industry experts to offer insight on how to best run a nonprofit organization at its inaugural Nonprofit Operations Conference (OPCON) —NYN’s first event since its relaunch. On June 2, NYN gathered over 250 nonprofit leaders, government officials, academics and service providers at Nonprofit OPCON: Streamlining Operations for Nonprofits. The full-day conference featured over 20 panelists, including Fran Barrett, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s interagency coordinator for nonprofit services, and Paula Gavin, NYC Service’s chief service officer, who keynoted the event. The conference featured discussions that ranged from financial strategies to technology tips to real estate insights. “Our goal at NYN is to serve those who serve,” said Publisher Lissa Blake. “The overwhelming response and feedback we received in response to OPCON shows just how needed these events are for the nonprofit industry and NYN is proud to be able to fill this void.” PRESSURES, MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP Jack Krauskopf, director of the Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management at Baruch College, led the first panel of the conference with a spirited discussion that focused on the broad challenges that nonprofit leaders face. One panelist, Jeremy Kohomban, president and CEO of The Children’s Village, pinpointed archaic regulations as the biggest obstacle facing his organization. “The big challenge that all of us face is that the regulatory environment is stuck in the 1970s,” Kohomban said. “We work in an environment that’s highly regulated, that’s costly, that’s redundant, that’s not focused, and that talks a lot about outcomes, but does not incentivize outcomes financially or otherwise.” Fellow panelist Nancy Wackstein, executive director of United Neighborhood Houses, enumerated further challenges she has encountered during her work with human services nonprofits.

Phto credits: Arman Dzidzovic

“One issue is that government contracts—which fund a lot of the services that (nonprofits) provide— don’t fully fund the cost of delivering services, and certainly don’t fund the cost of delivering quality services,” she explained. “A second issue is with philanthropy: Foundations are reluctant to provide support for general operating costs,” Wackstein continued. “It’s kind of an irony that everyone demands excellence and accountability and metrics from nonprofits, but nobody wants to pay for it. … There’s a real mismatch between agency priorities and what agencies really need.” THE GOVERNMENT VIEWPOINT On hand to frame the discussion from a statewide perspective was Barrett, the nonprofit services coordinator for the governor. Barrett, who has a long history in the nonprofit sector as founder and executive director of Community Resource Exchange, described her unique ability to advocate on behalf of the sector from within the Cuomo administration. “The task at hand—which is rather timely—is trying to get contracts to pay on time,” she said. “The governor said to me when he hired me, ‘Get the contracts paid on time.’ It’s three years later, and I’m sure many of you are still not being paid on time, but we can report progress on that front.” In light of the concerns raised in

the previous panel, Barrett sought to express solidarity with the conference attendees. “At the highest levels of state government, the recognition of the issues raised today is there,” she explained. “The reality is moving government itself—the people working in agencies, the people writing the RFPs, the people actually monitoring your contract. There is a huge gap between where I am and where they are.” Barrett expressed a willingness to have her feet held to the fire. With the ink barely dry on state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s report showing that 77 percent of government contracts were late in 2014, Barrett conceded that much work remained

to be done, and called on attendees to drive her to action. “I want you to make me make these changes,” Barrett said. MANAGING RISK, OVERHEAD AND FAILURE Following Barrett’s remarks, Gordon Campbell, professor of practice at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service, led a panel inspired by the widely discussed fallout from FEGS’ bankruptcy, exploring the delicate relationship between executives of nonprofits and their boards, and the difficult, yet necessary, business of making nonprofits more profitable. Neil Pollack, CEO and executive director of the Anderson Center for

NYNmedia.com

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Issue N°3 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

ry right now, but there is a nonprofit industry, and I would argue that a nonprofit that sees itself as a business profits from poverty, racism, discrimination and lack of opportunity,” Ho said. “We often say that we want to work ourselves out of jobs, but I would argue that in many ways, there’s a lot of perpetuation of inequality in society because government likes funding direct services as opposed to taking care of root causes, and there are so many nonprofits that take government funding and simply perpetuate this.”

hope to achieve in the world, and in the case of outputs, if you’re on track to achieving that change,” Leonberger said. However, the panelists were also eager to pinpoint some of the biggest obstacles nonprofits face in outcomes measurement. Peter York, founder and CEO of Algorhythm, claimed there is a disconnect between the measurements funders want and those that accurately capture the experience of clients. “A big barrier is that the proxy buyers—which are the charitable givers, donors and funders—are getting to choose the metrics, not the beneficiaries,” York said. Bonnie Stone, president and CEO of Women In Need, agreed, saying funders should rethink the alltoo-common approach of coveting uniqueness instead of efficacy. “There’s a disease on the funder side to be unique, special, clever and different,” she said. “I have thousands of people (who are) stuck in the same place, looking for programs and improvement, but on the grant-maker side, there is an incredible urge to find the magic pill.” York argued that the entire industry—nonprofits and funders alike— could benefit by harnessing the constant influx of research from the academic community. “There are a lot of researchers who are learning, studying, and doing massive-scale evaluation work, where we’re learning things like, when parents read to their children

three times a week, they are statistically significantly more likely to be ready for kindergarten,” York said. York advocated using these correlative and sometimes causal phenomena to craft benchmarks, using the example of kindergarten preparedness to draw a crucial distinction. “We should be leveraging those studies rather than trying to hold your program accountable to school readiness,” York said. “You’re accountable if you’re a program that’s trying to help parents read to their children every day, and you can measure if the parents are, in fact, reading to their children more. That’s your contribution.” To view the full conference video, visit www.NYNmedia.com/events. Stay tuned for information about NYN’s Marketing Conference!

REPORTING OUTCOME, NOT OUTPUT

Autism, advocated approaching nonprofit management from a business perspective, citing the center’s successful turnaround. “When I looked at Anderson, I did not look at it as a social service,” Pol-

An afternoon panel, “Efficiently Reporting Outcome Instead of Output,” revisited the challenges nonprofits face in measuring and reporting their progress, taking into consideration the pressures and expectations of foundations and government agencies. One panelist, Michael Clark, pres-

THE ... FEEDBACK WE RECEIVED IN RESPONSE TO OPCON SHOWS JUST HOW NEEDED THESE EVENTS ARE FOR THE NONPROFIT INDUSTRY lack said. “I looked at it as a place of business that would be providing supports for people just like any retail establishment. … As we evolved, we became a very lean, streamlined operation where we keep our management to 10 percent of our operation. That means 90 cents on the dollar goes to programs.” However, Wayne Ho, chief program and policy officer for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, pushed back on philosophical grounds, arguing that a for-profit mentality raises fundamental questions about nonprofit organizations’ role in society. “I think it’s easy to attack FEGS because it is the most common stoNYNmedia.com

ident of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, posited that nonprofits often lose sight of the most important reason to optimize their measurement capabilities: to harness data for self-improvement. “The real reason to do it is to up your own game, it’s to improve the way you run your own organization,” he said. “We see outcomes primarily as a management tool.” Katie Leonberger, president and CEO of Community Resource Exchange, joined Clark in emphasizing the importance of effectively using data. “For me, thinking about outcomes and outputs is understanding if you’re achieving the change that you

Issue N°3

June 2015 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

SERVING DUAL-DIAGNOSED YOUTH Yonkers nonprofit offers unique services, personal advocacy for underserved youth By JEFF STEIN

n a picturesque 33-acre former farm overlooking the Hudson River, some of New York’s most vulnerable adolescents receive comprehensive and structured care from an organization that aims to provide preparation for the staggering lifelong challenges that await them. At its Residential Treatment Center, the Yonkers-based agency Leake & Watts provides therapeutic and educational support to up to 95 students, ages 12 to 21, who have all too often been neglected, traumatized or unable to access the specialized care they desperately need. Leake & Watts has recently expanded the services it offers at the Residential Treatment Center to support the special needs of so-called dual-diagnosed youth—those who are classified with a learning disability or emotional disturbance as well as a diagnosed developmental disability, such as an intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder. Sue Sampogna, assistant executive director of residential services for the agency, explained that the expansion of services arose from a natural progression. “Over the summer of 2010, we saw a huge influx of referrals for kids with low IQs and autism spectrum disorders,” Sampogna said. “We decided to provide our staff with training specific for this population, enhanced our programs and even modified our grounds in order to adequately serve this population.” The vast majority of the center’s residents—85 percent—have been referred by school districts’ special education programs. Several students arrive at the center straight from one of the state’s psychiatric hospitals. Sampogna says programs like the Residential Treatment Center are essential not only to individuals but

to the school districts, government agencies and hospitals that serve this population. “From a cost perspective, we are way cheaper than both incarceration and psychiatric hospitals, which is where many of these students would end up otherwise. I can only imagine how traumatic either of those options are for our youth,” Sampogna explained. “We offer these students the option to go to a school that is specifically designed to meet their needs, to play in a pool, and to have many of the typical experiences of childhood that they would not otherwise have access to.” During their stay at one of eight “cottages” on the center’s campus, students receive individualized academic, recreational and job-skill training instruction, with one staff member for every three students, ensuring that these vulnerable young people experience maximum attention. Sampogna said the students must undergo an all-encompassing program in order to gain the experience and skills that will be essential for the difficult road ahead. “We aim to give our students in-

Students pepare vegetables at Leake & Watts.

ternal controls,” she said. “When they come to us, they are often incredibly impulsive and cannot operate as members of the community. Our programs try to give them the tools that they need to self-regulate.” Licensed by the state Office of Children and Family Services, the center’s highly structured program includes day school services provided by the on-campus Biondi School, an accredited special education school for grades seven through 12, as well as a host of after-school programs ranging from recreational activities to community volunteering and engagement. However, the cornerstone of the Residential Treatment Center’s program is its behavior modification curriculum, an evidence-based model called positive behavior intervention and support, or PBIS. This model utilizes a point system to reward and reinforce positive behavior, a concept that Sampogna says is often conspicuously—and unfortunately —absent in these students’ previous experiences. “These students have often spent their entire lives being told what not

to do. We talk to children about what we want to see more of, not what we want to see less of,” Sampogna said. She says the PBIS system instills in students the values of respect, achievement, safety and responsibility, tenets they must internalize if they are to succeed in the outside world. With these concepts in mind, the program rewards students with increased freedom to leave the grounds, allowances through an employment training program, and a glimpse at what success could look like after their stay at the center. “I often tell students that as much as I want them to be successful while they are here, I really want them to be successful when they leave,” Sampogna said. “The true goal is to transfer what they learn here into their life in the community.” The program’s work goes well beyond the scope of the individual student, and helps families navigate the complicated—and often overwhelming—task of providing services for their child, many of whom have already experienced incarceration. “When families interact with us, it is far from their first experience,” Sampogna said. “They are usually very frustrated with the system. Our task is to figure out how to engage the parents in the process, and to not give up on their kid.” Twists and turns can come at many stages of a student’s journey to and through the center, given the mountains of paperwork and various agencies that—at least in theory— work in concert to facilitate services. Sampogna spoke about students who have unnecessarily remained in psychiatric hospitals for months awaiting the processing of requisite paperwork. She cited students whose living situations remain unknown just weeks before they are set to leave the program, due to a lack of appropriate group housing, as well as the slow pace of processing requests. In some cases, Sampogna said, matriculating students who have been unable to secure a place in an Office of Mental Health group home may be forced to land in homeless shelters. However, Sampogna said, Leake & Watts remains vigilant, continually working to establish relationships with school districts, state psychiatric hospitals and group homes throughout New York in an effort to streamline the process for their clients. “This type of program, with its specialized cocktail of services, simply did not exist five years ago,” Sampogna said. “Kids had to be placed out of state to receive this kind of help. We saw a rip in the safety net and knew that we needed to mend it.” NYNmedia.com

June 2015

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NEWS

KIDS ‘COMING APART AT THE SEAMS’ Nonprofits hope to help city allocate funds for mentally ill homeless youth By ALICE POPOVICI

oung people who are living on the streets of New York City and dealing with mental illness are falling through the cracks of a social services system that doesn’t understand their needs, said nonprofit organizations serving homeless and runaway youth. Part of the problem is a lack of programs tailored to their unique situation. “I don’t believe that, as a city, we have seen this population clearly,” said Mary Adams, managing director of mental health programs at Manhattan-based nonprofit University Settlement and its partner youth services organization, The Door. “They are coming apart at the seams for the first time in their lives.” Adams and others familiar with the needs of mentally ill youth say they applaud Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent initiative to recalibrate the city’s mental health system and expand care across city programs. But nonprofits say they hope city officials will engage with them and consider their input as they decide how to spend the relatively small sum set aside for runaway and homeless youth services. The mental health initiative provides $54.4 million in fiscal year 2016 and $78.3 million in subsequent years for programs aimed at families, people dealing with substance abuse and survivors of domestic violence, among others, according to the city. The amount that will be made available for runaway and homeless youth programs as of July 1 is $1.57 million, plus additional funding that is currently in the proposal stage, said Susan Haskell, deputy commissioner for youth services at the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development. Haskell said the agency is going to give the organizations they fund a great deal of flexibility in how they spend the money. For instance, she said some organizations might choose to hire a social worker while others might develop a partnership with a facility that provides health services. “We’ve heard from our providers that it’s been tougher and tougher” to meet the mental health needs of young adults, Haskell said. “We’re not only asking for their input—we’re asking them to tell us what they need.” Staff members at provider organizations say the number of homeless people in their teens and early 20s has gradually increased in the past 10 years, and that the population has become more difficult to serve. There are currently nearly 20,000 homeless people under the age of 24 living in New York City, according to NYNmedia.com

the nonprofit Safe Horizon. There isn’t just one problem, but “a trifecta of bad things raining down on these kids,” Adams said, describing typical scenarios she has seen in the more than 25 years she has spent working with young adults. In some cases they’ve graduated from high school—or stopped attending and were taken off the roster—which means they have lost one of their support networks. Maybe they’ve aged out of the foster care system, or maybe a relative they had been living with wants them to support themselves now that they’re out of school. All of this is happening at an age when people usually begin to exhibit early signs of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or psychosis. “It happens pretty quickly and then they’re out on the street … and they’ve literally been disconnected from every system they’ve known in their life,” Adams said. “We need programs where they can go and stay, and they’re safe.” The Department of Youth and Community Development operates a network of facilities aimed at serving runaway and homeless youth, in many cases partnering with nonprofit organizations in each borough. They include seven drop-in centers, where young people can find a shower, a change of clothing, a meal and employment services; eight crisis shelters, designed for emergency situations, as a place to spend a few nights while finding a long-term solution; and 12 transitional independent living programs where young people can stay for up to 18 months. But accessing mental health care remains a challenge, said nonprofits, adding that employees at most of the city’s hospitals and clinics are not

trained to work with young people experiencing a great deal of trauma. With the exception of several nonprofits that offer on-site psychiatric services, they say it’s difficult for young people to find mental health care where staff members treat them with sensitivity. “It can be intimidating for a youth to walk into an emergency room in the city,” said Richard Luthy, assistant director for transitional programs at the Brooklyn drop-in shelter operated by the nonprofit SCO Family of Services. Even when mental health treatment is available, Luthy said many young people’s lack of insurance and proper documentation is another barrier to their receiving treatment quickly. He stressed the importance of streamlining the lengthy process clients now go through before they

begin treatment. “The main challenge for our staff is ensuring that youth that are undocumented or do not have health insurance, that they can get assessed right away,” Luthy said. “The sooner that we can get someone assessed and possibly on medication, we can start working on moving them forward.” Organizations that have on-site mental health services specifically targeting their client populations, such as the Ali Forney Center in Harlem, a drop-in center that mainly serves LGBTQ youth, are finding it difficult to keep up with the demand. “Our waiting list to see the psychiatrist is kind of long,” said Joey Lopez, outreach coordinator at the center, adding that the staff psychiatrist currently only works two days per week. Lopez said he hopes city officials will engage the staff at the center and at other organizations as they determine how to allocate newly available funding. “We don’t know where the money’s going to go,” Lopez said. “It would be great if they allowed us to sit at the table and give them some kind of guidance.” Ideally, Adams said city officials would develop a “continuum of services” for homeless young adults, reducing the likelihood they’ll face problems such as “bouts in and out of jail and ER” later in life. In this case, the treatment they receive early on would translate into cost savings for taxpayers years later. “Let us create a tool,” Adams said. “People can’t throw up their hands and say, ‘There’s no place to send them.’”

Seeking Help, ideaS, ContaCtS For getting the first Psychotherapeutic game (for use by therapists seeing children in Foster Care) produced and distributed. The game has a copyright and a trademark pending. Helen Barron LCSW 7186802430 helenbarron@earthlink.net 15

Issue N°3

June 2015 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

HARM REDUCTION Lessons learned from the AIDS crisis By FR ANK G. RU N YEON

iving addicts syringes to shoot up was never a popular idea. It still isn’t. Despite medical authorities’ confident assertions that such programs dramatically cut down on disease transmission, so-called needle exchange programs—which aim to dispose of potentially contaminated syringes by giving drug users new ones—remain illegal in half the states in the U.S. And although New York legalized the practice in the early 1990s, it continues to struggle with how best to integrate it into the health care system. The Empire State is not alone. In the last few months, the governor of Indiana made headlines by saying he opposes the idea of distributing free needles as anti-drug policy, but has accepted it as a measure to stop the recent outbreak of HIV/ AIDS in the southeastern part of the state. As of June 4, the outbreak had reached 166 cases, up from 26 when it was announced in February. The director of the National Center for HIV/ AIDS called it one of the worst documented outbreaks of HIV among IV users in the past two decades. The outbreak has been linked directly to injection drug use.

Members of ACT UP march in support of syringe exchange. In the winter of 1990, however, the medical community was not yet convinced and neither were lawmakers. “It felt like I was operating in a hostile environment” said Daniel Raymond, one of the early pioneers of the needle exchange movement in New York, currently with the Harm Reduction Coalition. “There was a

YES, I EXCHANGED NEEDLES WHILE IT WAS ILLEGAL Authorities’ reluctance to embrace needle exchange initiatives goes back to at least the early ’90s, when the first major outbreak of AIDS sent New York into a panic. At the end of the 1980s, New York City was still reeling from a crack epidemic when the mysterious disease started killing off gay men and injection drug users. By 1994, 50 percent of injection drug users in New York were infected with HIV. Some organizations, drawing a link between needle sharing and infection, began distributing clean needles illegally in an attempt to stem the tide of the new virus. By the early 2000s, the American Medical Association, the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization had blessed needle exchange programs, saying that they effectively reduce disease transmission and do not increase injection drug use among participants or society, as many detractors feared they would.

heavy emphasis on law enforcement and a very punitive and stigmatizing attitude towards people who use drugs,” he said. Addicts were criminals in the eyes of the law. Reflecting on the early days of the exchange, Raymond paused. “I think the statute of limitations are over,” he said. “Yes, I exchanged needles while it was illegal.” Raymond and others took to the streets with shopping bags filled with sterile syringes, handing them out to drug users in exchange for used ones. They dressed inconspicuously and spread the word in the neighborhoods: fresh needles, free of charge, it’s all anonymous, and we’re not the cops. Despite the risk of arrest, Raymond said he felt a moral obligation to do something. “While this policy debate was swirling around over whether needle exchange was a good thing or a bad thing, we felt that we had enough information,” Raymond explained. “It’s just common sense.

If people don’t have needles, they’re going to share needles. And if they share needles, they’ll get HIV/AIDS.” By the time New York enacted laws legalizing needle exchange programs in 1992, over 200,000 Americans had been diagnosed with the virus. Authorities realized that the existing drug treatment tactics were failing. “The available capacity for substance abuse treatment was nowhere near enough to meet the needs,” Raymond said. “And that’s really how harm reduction found its niche.” Harm reduction is an approach to drug treatment that proponents describe as a practical set of strategies that attempt to reduce the negative consequences associated with drug use, particularly health consequences. In other words, harm reduction centers are willing to work with drug addicts even if they don’t quit. It’s on the more liberal end of the health care approaches to addiction treatment, especially when contrasted with the traditional perception of drug users as criminals. The Rockefeller drug laws enacted in 1973 mandated long prison sentences for the possession of narcotics. Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former police officer, described a general attitude among officers toward drug users at that time: “They’re all a bunch of junkies, and it’s only crazy liberals who want to do things like give out free, clean needles,” he said. “It was very hostile.” In his time operating harm reduction programs, however, Raymond says “the changes that we’ve seen for the first two decades were very incremental, but they’ve started accelerat-

ing recently.” While Raymond may be more sanguine, Dr. David S. Festinger, the director of law and ethics research at the Treatment Research Institute, believes policy has a tendency to swing between punitive programs and more therapeutic programs. “I see it as more of pendulum; we’re now in a more public health focus,” he said. “A number of efforts have tended to either focus on a pure public safety approach—the extreme of that is ‘lock-’em-up and throw away the key’ on one end—to more of a pure public health approach, which is that substance abuse is an illness, a disease that needs to be treated like any other disease.” Recently, there has been an effort to bring care out of hospitals, which are often ill equipped to deal with the needs of drug users, and into harm reduction centers by “co-locating” medical care facilities with harm reduction centers. A recent study by the New York Academy of Medicine found that “Partnerships between harm reduction providers and health care providers hold exciting promise … and should be encouraged.” Raymond says that challenges remain despite the progress that has been made. The health care field is “a giant network” that will be slow to change. And while institutional change is always a hurdle, it’s the cultural understanding that will be the largest obstacle. “There’s a lot of accumulated stigma towards people who use drugs,” he said. “It’s going to take some time to untangle. … I think the people that we’re concerned about are still vulnerable to criminalization and arrest.” Moreover, there are still issues with how the public understands addiction recovery, Festinger says. “People have looked at programs to permanently cure drug dependence,” but nothing could be further from the truth, he explained. The accomplishments of methadone clinics, needle exchanges and other harm reduction programs have indicated that addicts frequently require prolonged periods of care that may include periods of relapse. “The realization that people need that is one of the breakthroughs that have occurred,” he says. Some addicts “need a continued level of care forever.” This poses a daunting challenge for the new health care regime. “Somehow,” Festinger said, “the system is going to have to figure out a way to provide some continuing level of care.” NYNmedia.com

June 2015

Issue N°3 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

NONPROFITS LOSING GROUND IN THE NURSING HOME SECTOR By GABE PONCE DE LEÓN

ew Yorkers are growing older and living longer, which is bound to add to the state’s already burdened long-term care system in the coming decades. By 2030, the over-85 population of New York could account for 3.2 percent of the total population—a 60 percent spike in a span of 20 years. Some 105,000 New Yorkers already reside in nursing homes, the largest population of any state. For-profit providers have, for years, been gaining market share in that sector, and now operate the majority of the state’s 625 facilities. In 2010, nonprofits constituted 42 percent of the sector, and government-run facilities another 9.5 percent. In just five years, however, the share of nonprofit providers has dropped to 38 percent, and a mere 6 percent of facilities continue to be publicly run. Over the past decade, numerous studies have concluded that nonprofit nursing homes outperform their for-profit peers with higher levels of staffing, lower prevalence of pressure ulcers (bedsores) and fewer government-cited deficiencies. One recent report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that for-profit nursing homes received on average fewer stars from Nursing Home Compare, Medicare’s national rating system. The study found that 42 percent of for-profit facilities were assigned the lowest star ratings of 1 and 2—double the rate of nonprofits. Most experts agree that the foremost determinant of nursing home quality is staffing. And advocates for the elderly claim that happens to be the primary area from which for-profit facilities—and particularly multistate chains—cut corners to bolster their bottom line. “The for-profits don’t have enough staff,” said Toby Edelman, a senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy. “Neither do the nonprofits, but overall they staff at a higher level, and that’s why their care is generally better.” Inadequate staffing can result in any number of negative outcomes, from dehydration to pressure ulcers to hospitalizations. The Nursing Home Reform Act, which Congress passed as part of the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1987, intended to establish industrywide standards. Staffing levels, it mandated, had to be “sufficient” to guarantee certain levels of well-being among nursing home residents. The legislation stopped short of requiring a numerical standard, however. In response to inadequate enforcement, many states have adopted more measurNYNmedia.com

able staffing requirements of their own; New York is not among them. “It really gets to the failure of the state and federal regulators to enforce the standards that protect nursing home residents, as well as the use of many billions of dollars in public funds here in New York alone,” said Richard J. Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition. In the United States, taxpayers sponsor the vast majority of nursing home stays. In 2010, Medicaid paid for 74.1 percent of nursing home residents in New York, with Medicare covering an additional 13.2 percent. Medicare can only reimburse nursing home stays of up to 100 days; Medicaid imposes no such restriction. Because its reimbursement rates are substantially higher, providers of every stripe covet Medicare patients. According to the 2015 Genworth Cost of Care Survey, the median daily rate of a private nursing home room in New York is $374; the median annual rate is $136,437. Only a small fraction of New Yorkers hold private long-term care policies and, since 1970, the population of nursing home residents who pay out of pocket has dwindled as enrollment in entitlement programs has risen. “Ease of access to Medicaid after long-term care is needed has crowded out potential sources of private financing, such as asset spend down, home equity conversion, estate recovery, and long-term care insurance,” according to a 2011 study commissioned by the Empire Center for New York State Policy. The report’s

author goes on to argue that “Medicaid management,” a legally complex practice in which individuals strategically divest assets in order to qualify for the entitlement program, strains government resources as well as nursing home finances. The report does note however, that a disproportionate share of older New Yorkers lives in poverty. (Advocates argue that, due to the exorbitant cost of long-term care, the elderly are often left with no recourse but to spend down their assets in nursing homes until they qualify for Medicaid.) “Private pay is a lot more advantageous for facilities to receive,” said David V. Pomeranz, the chief operating officer at RiverSpring Health, a nonprofit that offers a spectrum of long-term care services, including 835 beds in its Hebrew Home nursing facility. “The Medicaid dollars we get are not sufficient to care for the residents we care for.” Pomeranz, who also serves as board president of LiveOn NY, an advocacy organization for senior centers, argues that nursing facilities need Medicare dollars to offset Medicaid’s low reimbursement rates. His own organization, he says, relies on surpluses generated from the other elderly housing and services it offers—in addition to private fundraising—to make ends meet. Pomeranz cited unionized labor as another strain on the nonprofit business model. “Not-for-profits are disappearing rapidly and being replaced by for-profit entities, which have a different model of care that they provide,” Pomeranz said. A 2013 Center for Governmental

Research study found that in 2010, 92 percent of county nursing homes— New York City was excluded from the study—lost money. Employee benefits represented a major financial burden, the report concluded. It also predicted that the trend of counties selling off facilities to for-profit entities could accelerate in the near future. In some cases, the study found, quality of care declined following privatization. Public nursing homes, however, often admit individuals who are difficult to place in other facilities, such as immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, who are ineligible for Medicaid. And many advocates are not convinced by the industry’s cries of indigence. “If they were losing so much money on Medicaid, how would they be in business?” Edelman said. “It doesn’t exactly make sense to me.” Advocates see the proliferation of for-profit facilities—particularly the chains, some of which are owned by private equity firms—as a clear indication that the sector is offering attractive financial returns. Many believe profits in the politically influential nursing home industry should be capped, and denounce the practice of nursing home chains siphoning profits into office management and other related companies. “The money is drained out of the facilities and some of the profit margins are very, very high,” said Charlene Harrington, a professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing. “Sometimes they can make 25-30 percent profit margins.” Publicly traded nursing homes are not allowed to set up shop in New York, though chains do operate facilities throughout the state. In an effort to reel in Medicaid expenditures, and place a greater emphasis on home- and community-based services, New York has recently adopted mandatory managed longterm care. The new system assigns Medicaid enrollees, who often have no family or guardian, their own care manager—which has the potential, advocates say, to increase accountability in the long-term care sector. “The big problem is that neither Medicare nor Medicaid are making nursing homes financially accountable,” Harrington said. “Most states don’t even know how much they are making, let alone regulate it.” A spokesperson for the state Department of Health did not immediately respond when asked when the last state financial audit of the nursing home industry occurred.

Issue N°3

June 2015 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

SPOTLIGHT: LGBTQ

CELEBRATING BUFFALO’S PRIDE WEEK By THOMAS SEUBERT

Phto credits: Rashard Cunningham, Cunningham Media Files

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uffalo celebrated its annual Pride Week earlier this month, from June 1-7. And on the morning of June 7, marchers, performers and floats lined up at the University at Buffalo’s campus as the week culminated in the annual Pride Parade. Participating organizations were given awards for their interpretations of this year’s theme, “Show and Tell,” a celebration of community members’ personal stories. Buffalo’s Pride Week originated as a series of events organized by the Buffalo Gay & Lesbian Community Network, which was founded in 1988 by Carol Speser and Larry Peck. This group organized the 1991 Lesbian and Gay Pride Unity Fest, the first public pride event in Buffalo.

Now in its 24th year, Buffalo Pride Week was organized by the Pride Center of Western New York, a notfor-profit organization that works to make the region a welcoming place for LGBTQ people. The annual event attracted over 100 organizations looking to raise money for the Pride Center. Other events held during the week included the Gay 5K Run, Big Gay Sing (a show tune sing-along performance), “Dyke March” (a mile-long walk that concluded with music and poetry), and a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall. The Pride Center described the week as a time for the diverse and unique LGBTQ community “to come together and celebrate what makes us tick.”

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June 2015

Issue N°3 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

SPOTLIGHT: LGBTQ

THE ALI FORNEY CENTER: A HAVEN FOR HOMELESS LGBTQ YOUTH By ALICE POPOVICI

ainbow banners hang on the walls of the Ali Forney drop-in center for runaway and homeless youth in Harlem, and the restrooms are gender-neutral. Staff members say the facility, which serves about 50 young people every day, is one of the few places in New York City where LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) youth can find services and medical care that is sensitive to their needs. “If they’re not here with us, then a lot of them are on the street,” said Joey Lopez, outreach coordinator at Ali Forney. “Their needs are a little bit more extensive because of gender identity … their homelessness and their trauma experience goes up a notch.” Forty percent of homeless and runaway youth identify as LGBTQ, according to studies cited by the nonprofit organization, which is named in memory of a gender-nonconforming youth who advocated for other young people he met on the streets of New York City. He was murdered NYNmedia.com

in 1997, at the age of 22. Young people who identify as LGBTQ often have more acute mental health needs than other homeless youth because of sexual abuse experienced early in life, having

by the Urban Institute found that many LGBTQ youth in New York City engage in “survival sex” because they have no other means to obtain shelter and food. “For some respondents, witness-

IF THEY’RE NOT HERE WITH US, THEN A LOT OF THEM ARE ON THE STREET been turned away by their families because of their gender identity and ostracized by their peers, Lopez said. When they see the psychiatrist at Ali Forney, many are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. “It’s just very complex,” Lopez said. “It’s like the onion. You peel a layer off and the next thing you know, it’s just on and on and on.” A study published earlier this year

ing their friends exchange sex for money and/or material goods was an impetus to do the same,” researchers wrote in the study, titled “Surviving the Streets of New York: Experiences of LGBTQ Youth, YMSM, and YWSW Engaged in Survival Sex.” (YMSM refers to “young men who have sex with men” and YWSW to “young women who have sex with women.”) Some young people who were in-

terviewed for the study said they use the money to support a drug or alcohol habit or pay for “gender-affirming medical treatment.” They reported having experienced discrimination within the city’s foster care and homeless shelter system as well as “frustrating experiences with social services systems and providers, which often fail to meet their need for safe housing, reliable income and adequate mental and physical health care, as well as for freedom, independence and self-expression.” Lopez said mental health services are particularly necessary when youth undergo a gender transition, which some Ali Forney clients decide to do for various reasons. In some cases, he said, they want to leave an old life behind—but he said the process of establishing a new life and identity can be frustrating and stressful. “It’s about changing your birth certificate … that stuff doesn’t happen overnight,” Lopez said. “Those things just start triggering and retraumatizing the young people.”

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Confirmed participants include: ACDS - American Friends of the Hebrew University - Anat Gerstein, Inc. - Autism Speaks - Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City - Big Duck - Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York – CharityEngine - CitizenRacecar - Breakthrough New York The Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies - Columbia University - Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, Inc. - The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies Flushing Town Hall - Graduate School of Social Service at Fordham University - Graduate School of Social Service and Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University - Green Chimneys – Greyston - Jewish Child Care Association - JCC Association - MarketingWorks - Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners - New York Cares - New York Common Pantry - Office of NYC Mayor - Queens Centers for Progress - Sadie Nash Leadership Project - Safe Horizon - Sheltering Arms - Story Worldwide - True Colors Fund - Two Bridges Neighborhood Council - United Hebrew of New Rochelle - United Way of New York City - WABC-TV - Washington Heights CORNER Project – WealthEngine - YMCA

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Contact Lissa Blake for information about speaking, sponsoring, or hosing an exhibit table: Lblake@cityandstateny.com or 646.517.2714.

June 2015

Issue N°3

The go-to career center for New York’s nonprofit industry. Featuring thousands of jobs each year, NYN Careers helps large and small nonprofits fill positions ranging from directors to human resources staffers. Contact: Lissa Blake LBlake@NYNmedia.com

CAREERS

CAREER BOARD

MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

ELEMENTARY PROGRAM MANAGER

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT MANAGER

NURSE PRACTITIONER

Harlem RBI, an award-winning youth development and education program, is looking for an elementary after-school and summer program manager responsible for supervising day-to-day operations.

Harlem RBI, an award-winning youth development and education program, is looking for a family engagement manager responsible for creating, promoting and implementing family programming.

United Cerebral Palsy of New York City, the leading non-profit agency in New York City providing services, technology and advocacy to people with cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities, is looking for a nurse practitioner.

Qualifications: bachelor’s degree required and an advanced degree in an education field is preferred; minimum three-to-five years experience working in an academic environment; minimum two years supervisory experience; ability to read and write in Spanish and fluency in spoken Spanish is preferred.

Qualifications: bilingual in Spanish/ English required; ability to develop outreach materials to engage and connect with families, ability to develop and organize large events and successful group facilitation skills; ability to organize and support volunteers.

Contact: http://careers.harlemrbi. org//careers/position/elementary-program-manager-east-harlem-ny

DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES

DIRECTOR OF RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM SERVICES

Contact: careers@upcpnyc.org

ASSISTANT RESIDENTIAL DIRECTOR United Cerebral Palsy of New York City, the leading non-profit agency in New York City providing for people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, is looking for a qualified assistant residential director responsible for assisting in all aspects of managing one or more residences.

Vanderheyden, which has been one of the premier youth, individual and family services agencies located in New York State, is seeking a director of human resources responsible for promoting and implementing human resource values.

United Cerebral Palsy of New York City, the leading non-profit agency in New York City providing for people with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, is looking for a director of residential program services responsible for directing one or more of the agency’s residential facilities.

Qualifications: bachelor’s degree and related experience of at least five years; union experience (labor management and negotiations); SPHR certification preferred; must posses a valid New York state driver’s license.

Qualifications: bachelor’s degree in human services or related field; at least five years of managerial experience; must be Approved Medication Administration Personnel (AMAP) within six months of hiring.

Qualifications: bachelor’s degree in a human services field; minimum three years of managerial experience; must posses a valid New York state driver’s license; must be Approved Medication Administration Personnel (AMAP).

Contact: https://www.vanderheydenhall.org/. Please click “Join Our Family.”

Contact: careers@upcpnyc.org

QUALITY ASSURANCE SPECIALIST Vanderheyden, which has been one of the premier youth, individual and family services agencies located in New York State, is seeking a quality assurance specialist responsible for assisting in improving service and measuring outcomes. Primary Duties and Essential Functions (not limited to): serving as an information expert; organizing materials, services and activities to accomplish QI goals; finding creative and effective ways to advocate for change to ensure goals are met. Contact: https://www.vanderheydenhall.org/. Please click “Join Our Family.”

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Contact: http://careers.harlemrbi. org/careers/position/family-engagement-manager-east-harlem-ny

Qualifications: master’s degree in nursing; minimum two years experience as a nurse practitioner; must have a valid New York State nurse practitioner license; certification for prescription privileges in New York State; must be board certified.

SCHOOL PRINCIPAL Vanderheyden, which has been one of the premier youth, individual and family services agencies located in New York state, is seeking a principal responsible for the 853 school. Qualifications: master’s degree in education; New York State school administrator certification; minimum two years of experience with at-risk youth or youth with special educational needs; minimum of two years of experience as a teacher; two-to-five years of experience as a supervisor. Contact: https://www.vanderheydenhall.org/. Please click “Join Our Family.”

DIRECTOR OF HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT HeartShare St. Vincent’s Services, which serves needy children and their families, is looking for a director of health care management responsible for overseeing daily operations of the care coordination department. Qualifications: a degree in social work, nursing, public health, business administration or another related field; minimum of three years experience working in a hospital, outpatient or managed care setting; minimum of two years of management experience; experience with electronic health care systems. Contact: Renee.Daley@heartshare.org

Issue N°3

June 2015

EVENTS

CALENDAR

MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

JUNE 24 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM HIGH ANXIETY:

NYC GEN X & BOOMERS STRUGGLE WITH STRESS, SAVINGS, & SECURITY AARP New York, NY AARP will release a groundbreaking New York City survey on the financial security and retirement savings crisis facing the city’s Gen X and baby boomer generations. Experts will discuss retirement readiness, loans, debt load and more. Info: Jasmin Freeman, JFreeman@cityandstateny.com

JULY 28

6:30 PM – 9:30 PM

ON BROOKLYN

JUNE 25 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM GRADUATE INFORMATION SESSION

MCNY New York, NY

Metropolitan College of New York is bringing together industry experts in education, emergency management, business, media, health services and government. Find out how they got their start. Then find out how a master’s degree from MCNY can help get YOU started in as little as one year. Join MCNY for our Graduate Information Session Thursday, June 25. Info: Jasmin Freeman, JFreeman@cityandstateny.com

SEPT 17

8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

NONPROFIT MARKETING CONFERENCE

CITY & STATE, LLC Brooklyn, NY

NEW YORK NONPROFIT MEDIA New York, NY

The evening will play host to New York lawmakers, leaders in public policy, the business community and media for a night of networking and cocktails, as City & State’s award–winning team launches our second annual Brooklyn Special Issue!

Join New York Nonprofit Media for our inaugural Marketing Conference (MARKCON) which will bring together marketing and communications executives from nonprofits across New York to discuss how to build your brand.

Info: Jasmin Freeman, JFreeman@cityandstateny.com

Info: Lissa Blake, LBlake@NYNmedia.com

Post your career opportunity with NYN Careers to reach our highly-targeted audience of nonprofit leaders and staffers! How to post when you’re ready:

1. Visit www.NYNmedia.com 2. Click “Careers” in the menu 3. Click the “Post a Job” button and follow the directions

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To ensure your career posting stands out, feature it in NYN’s print publication, on the homepage of NYNmedia.com, and in NYN’s daily e-newsletter! Contact Samantha Diliberti at Jobs@NYNmedia.com to learn more! 22

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June 2015

Issue N°3 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

PERSPECTIVES

RESTORING HONOR FOR DISCHARGED LGBT VETERANS

By BR AD HOYLMAN STATE SENATOR

iscrimination against openly gay people in the U.S. military has a long and ignominious history dating back to Colonial days. According to the historian Randy Shilts, the first known soldier dismissed for homosexuality, Lt. Gotthold Frederick Enslin, was subject to a court martial on March 11, 1778, approved by General George Washington himself. Over 114,000 LGBT service members have been dishonorably discharged since World War II. In 2011, the Department of Defense ended its discriminatory policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” allowing gay and lesbian members of our armed forces to serve openly for the first time. But widespread injustice in our military remains. Openly transgender service members continue to be prohibited to serve and LGBT service members who were discharged prior to the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” just because of their sexual orientation are now ineligible for a host of state and federal programs that are intended to support veterans. New York can help remove this stain on our country’s history by ensuring all gay, lesbian and transgender service members—regardless of

when they served—have access to the same benefits as their straight counterparts. This past Memorial Day, I released a report identifying over 53 state programs that LGBT veterans may fail to qualify for because of their discharge status. These programs, designed to provide support for veterans who often face a difficult transition to civilian life, include scholarships, job opportunities, health screenings and reimbursement for burial costs. New York should lead the way to put an end to our government’s shameful treatment of LGBT veterans. To this end, I'm introducing the New York Restoration of Honor Act, which would make veterans discharged just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity eligible for these programs, services and benefits at the state level. My legislation will establish a simple, streamlined certification process within the state Division of Veterans’ Affairs for LGBT veterans to clarify their discharge status and place the burden on the state to prove why a veteran discharged for sexual orientation or gender identity isn’t otherwise eligible for state assistance. There is similar legislation at the federal level. New York’s own U.S. Sen.

Kirsten Gillibrand introduced a bill that would correct the military records of veterans discharged because of their sexual orientation to reflect their honorable service and, as a result, make them eligible for all the federal programs to which other veterans have access. But with the gridlock that has seized Congress, New York shouldn’t wait for Washington to act. While New York State doesn’t have the power to correct the military records of discharged LGBT service members, it can ensure these men and women are treated with the respect and honor deserved by anyone who defends our country. Thankfully, “don’t ask, don’t tell” is now considered to be as archaic as prohibiting women from serving in the armed forces. But it’s important that New York end the lingering effects of over two centuries of discrimination toward LGBT service members and rectify the disparity of benefits for LGBT vets. Republicans and Democrats alike can surely agree that restoring honor to those who’ve sacrificed for their country is a battle worth fighting. Brad Hoylman is the state senator for New York’s 27th District in Manhattan.

PERSPECTIVES

PLENTY FOR THE PROUD

By GLENNDA TESTONE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE CENTER

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he Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center has been, and will always be, the cornerstone of New York City’s LGBT community. It is a place to meet and make connections, a support system for those in need and an invaluable community resource. What truly differentiates The Center is the sense of home that we provide for the more than 6,000 people who visit us each week. The LGBT community has enjoyed wonderful successes in recent years, including sweeping changes in marriage equality. In 2015, as we hopefully look forward to a world where we can be equal in matrimony, many are wondering: What is next for our movement? From The Center’s perspective, the answer is easy: plenty. While it’s incredibly important to celebrate our victories, our community still faces serious challenges, two of the most sobering being poverty and lack of opportunity. Our transgender and gender nonconforming commu-

nity members in particular are disproportionately impacted by barriers to health, stability and success due to discrimination and poverty. The reality is that transgender people are up to four times more likely to live in poverty. Almost one-half of transgender workers report being unfairly denied a job, and one-third of transgender people of color have incomes of less than $10,000. This is unacceptable, and addressing these serious issues with real solutions is a top priority for The Center. At The Center, we’re helping to make the world a better place by equipping our community members with the tools they need get over these hurdles through innovative new programming. The Center has created the T:FIRE initiative, which stands for “Transgender and gender nonconforming: Find, Inform, Resource and Empower,” which will address poverty as the driving force behind many of the challenges facing the transgender community. Through this program,

The Center will build a linked network of resources and providers—public and private—with existing capacity to improve the livelihood opportunities of transgender community members. We will also deliver economic empowerment services, including job readiness and placement, educational preparation, and employment and skills workshops. By improving the livelihoods of transgender people, T:FIRE will reduce the psychological, legal, financial, social and physical consequences that can be caused by poverty, including HIV and other STDs, suicide, homelessness and beyond. The Center is committed to helping everyone in our community cross the finish line, and we won’t rest until we achieve that goal. Glenda Testone is the executive director of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, which seeks to empower LGBT people to lead healthy, successful lives and advocate for justice and opportunity.