New York Nonprofit Review September 2016

MEDIA - REVIEW DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

Issue N°11 September 12th, 2016

NOTABLES

AFTER THE FALL OF FEGS, THE JEWISH BOARD STEPS IN Read more page 10

S P O T L I G H T : O L D E R A D U L TS

AGENCY OF THE MONTH: OLDER ADULTS TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

p.19

ELDER ABUSE IN THE HOME

p.20-21

TRADE TIPS

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DONOR-ADVISED FUNDS Read more page 7

PERSPECTIVES

NEWS

TR ANSGENDER ADVOCATES ASSESS NEEDS Read more page 25

FOUNDATION FOCUS

NEW YORK COMMU NITY TRUST COU NTERS ISLAMOPHOBIA Read more page 13

ROBIN HOOD’S BETTER WAY TO TR ACK POVERTY Read more on page 9

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Issue N°11

September 2016 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

Cause Awards Nominate someone for New York Nonprofit Media’s first Cause Awards 2016 in the areas of: homelessness/housing youth development mental health aging issues immigration education employment criminal justice reform disability/access issues food insecurity/food justice

Winners will be honored in a special print journal featured at a breakfast in early November!

Visit http://bit.ly/2aM8fMe to nominate!

For more information contact Kelly Murphy at kmurphy@cityandstateny.com or 917-952-499

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September 2016

Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

SEPTEMBER 2016

CONTENTS TRADE TIPS

THANK YOU TO OUR ANNUAL SPONSORS! NOTABLES

AABR

JCC of Greater Coney Island

Abbott House

JCCA

ANDRUS

Leake & Watts Services

Astor Services for Children and

Life's WORC

Families

Long Island Adolescent & Family

The Bridge

Services

Brooklyn Community Services

Lower East Side Family Union

CAMBA

Mercy Haven

Cerebral Palsy of Westchester

Mercy Home for Children

Child Care Council of Suffolk, Inc.

MercyFirst

Children's Home of Poughkeepsie

New Alternatives for Children

Children's Village

New York Asian Women's Center

COFCCA

New York Common Pantry

Communilife

Ohel Children's Home & Family Services

Community Counseling & Mediation

PSCH

Concern for Independent Living

Public Health Solutions

The Day Care Council of New York

QSAC

The Doe Fund

Richmond Community Services

East Side House

SCAN New York

Family Services of Westchester

SCO Family of Services, Inc.

FedCap

Seaman's Society for Children & Families

Fiscal Management Associates

Service Program for Older People, Inc.

Forestdale

Sheltering Arms

Good Shepherd Services

Special Citizens Futures Unlimited

Graham Windham Services for

St. Catherine's Center for Children

Families and Children

St. Christopher's Inc.

Green Chimneys

St. Dominic's Home

Greystone Programs, Inc.

St. Francis Friends of the Poor

The Guild for Exceptional Children

Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center

Health and Welfare Council of Long

Staten Island Mental Health Society

Island

Stonewall Foundation

Heartshare Human Services of NY

SUS

Henry St. Settlement

United Cerebral Palsy of NYC

Hour Children

United Neighborhood Houses of NY

Human Services Council

University Settlement/The Door

Independence Residences

Vanderheyden Hall

Institute for Community Living

VISIONS/Services for the Blind

InterAgency Council of

William F. Ryan Community

Developmental Disabilities

Health Center

Jawonio

NEWS

SPOTLIGHT

PERSPECTIVES

CAREERS

5. Rebranding after mergers 6. Empowering nonprofit innovation 7. What you need to know about donor-advised funds

8. Recent galas and events 8. CEO Corner: Audrey Weiner, The New Jewish Home 9. Foundation Focus: Robin Hood 10. CEO Corner: Beth Finkel, New York State AARP 11. Front-Line Hero: Dave Crenshaw, Team Dreamers 12. A Q&A with DASNY President Gerrard Bushell 12. Assessing NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton's legacy

13. New York Community Trust fights Islamophobia 14. Serving the visually impaired 15. The Justice Committee counters police violence 17. Evaluating de Blasio's AccessibleNYC report 18. Serving the vulnerable after disasters 22. Finding a home in Harlem

19. Agency of the Month: Older Adults Technology Services 20. Elder abuse in the home is on the rise

23. Edward Matthews: Time to get on board with Medicaid overhaul of IDD services 23. Murray Schneps: IDD services reformers need to follow their own track 24. Mike Hollis: 'Green' your nonprofit 24. Dawn Saffayeh: Support home-based mentalhealth care 25. Juli Grey-Owens: Dedicated to the 'T'

27. The go-to-career center for New York’s nonprofit industry

61 Broadway, Suite 2235 New York, NY 10006 General (212) 268-0442 Advertising (646) 517-2741 info@nynmedia.com

MASTHEAD

City & State NY, LLC Steve Farbman, Chairman Tom Allon, President / CEO Guillaume Federighi, Creative Director NYN Media

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BECOMING AN ANNUAL SPONSOR, PLEASE CONTACT LISSA BLAKE AT 646-517-2741 OR AT LBLAKE@CITYANDSTATENY.COM

Lissa Blake, Publisher Kelly Murphy, associate publisher AimÉe Simpierre, Editor-at-large Dan Rosenblum, Senior Reporter Sam Edsill, Copy Editor Michelle Yang, Senior Designer Chanelle Grannum, Digital Manager Charles Flores, Marketing Designer

To submit a news tip, article or letter to the editor for consideration, email editor@nynmedia.com or write to 61 Broadway, Suite 2235, New York, NY 10006 NYNmedia.com

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK ful consideration of two sides of an issue. If you ever come across a news story or perspective that you think excludes a particular viewpoint, feel free to send in a response and we’ll consider it for publication.

Not to ignore “Back to School” season, our Foundation Focus section features a conversation about what Robin Hood has been funding in education. And there’s lots of useful information in our Trade Tips section, where we explore the world of donor-advised funds and share

best practices for rebranding after a merger.

As usual, we have lots of exciting new things on the horizon. You’ll soon be seeing more elected officials joining us in the podcast studio to share their work with and for the sector. And be sure to get your nominations in for our first annual Cause Awards. We look forward to celebrating the work the sector has done to advance the top causes over the past year. As always, thanks for reading and keep in touch.

AIMÉE SIMPIERRE Editor-at-large

I

n the midst of planning for your upcoming galas and fundraising events, I hope you’ve gotten your summer vacations in. (Hey, if Mayor de Blasio can take vacations, you can too.) If so, welcome back – and welcome to our September issue.

This month, we spotlight older adults. We are pleased to celebrate the work of an innovative nonprofit, Older Adults Technology Services, which is helping our elders lead more “connected” lives. But we also could not ignore a significant troubling trend related to abuse of seniors, carefully explored by our re-

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porter Frank Runyeon. In addition, you’ll see sprinkled throughout the issue articles covering topics of interest to older adults – including in our conversation with two organizations working to improve outcomes for individuals with vision impairments and a Q&A with the New York State Director of AARP about preparing for retirement.

You’ll find an interesting debate tucked within our perspectives section about how the state’s Medicaid redesign is affecting providers who work with individuals with disabilities. We like to see this kind of care-

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Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

TRADE TIPS

THE IMPORTANCE OF A REBRANDING PROCESS

By V IBR ANT CRE ATI V E and M ARKETI NG WORKS PR

OFTEN, WITH A MERGER BETWEEN TWO NONPROFITS, PEOPLE WILL IMMEDIATELY ASSUME AN AGENCY HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER, SHUT DOWN BY THE GOVERNMENT OR GONE OUT OF BUSINESS.

D

eveloping a new brand is an important piece of any solid marketing plan for a merger between two companies.

But when the merging entities are nonprofits, the need for effective rebranding is particularly high, according to Christopher Quereau, CEO and creative director at Vibrant Creative in Oneonta, New York.

“Branding becomes exponentially important for nonprofits because nonprofits typically work with small marketing budgets and need to make their marketing and advertising spending as productive as possible,” said Quereau, whose company teamed with Marketing Works PR to rebrand IRI: Innovative Resources for Independence and QPRC in advance of their official merger in July.

“If a nonprofit has good branding in place, it makes their marketing much more effective,” he said. “A nonprofit might put out a subpar ad, but if good branding is in place, the ad can still be effective in planting a seed in people’s minds.

“Good branding sticks with people’s consciousness,” Quereau added.

On July 1, Independence Residences Inc. and Queens Parent Resource Center – two award-winning Queens-based agencies that serve individuals with developmental disabilities – officially merged to become IRI: Innovative Resources for Independence.

Marketing’s job – which began during a three year process called “affiliation” where both organizations began to share resources in preparation for the merger – was to deliver three key message points about the merger: (1) Two agencies that complement one another can together provide more expansive and innovative services. (2) Collaboration between the agencies can yield greater access to resources and to broad, resourceful thinking. (3) Combining the talents of two agencies allows for greater focus on supporting the independence of each NYNmedia.com

individual they serve.

“Anytime two nonprofits merge, they both need to consider each other’s constituencies. They need to make sure that they do not alienate the constituencies. They also must educate their constituencies,” said Ron Gold, president and CEO of Marketing Works PR. “Often, with a merger between two nonprofits, people will immediately assume an agency has been taken over, shut down by the government or gone out of business.”

Good and proper branding helps control people’s perceptions and avoids misunderstandings, Gold said. The emphasis should be on informing your marketplace that the two merging agencies have kept the best qualities of the old companies, while adding new benefits.

In advance of the official merger, IRI in May unveiled its new logo, new name and new brand. This rebranding – the result of a collaborative effort that brought together employees and board members from both organizations – also involved creating a fresh look to the agencies’ websites, newsletters and other creatives.

“When we carry out a rebranding effort, community outreach is essential,” Gold said. “Everything we do is geared toward getting the agency – or agencies – more exposure. We need to get that new feel out there.

We want them to stand out.”

Rebranding helped fuel the success of another strategic alliance between EPIC Long Island (Extraordinary People in Care) and South Shore Guidance Center.

Formerly the Epilepsy Foundation of Long Island, EPIC expanded its services to include working with individuals with developmental disabilities and mental health challenges. While many nonprofit mental health clinics on Long Island have closed in recent years, South Shore’s partnership with EPIC enabled South Shore – a Freeport-based agency that provides outpatient behavioral health ser-

vices to children ages 5 to 18 – to not just survive, but thrive.

“Our partnership has helped South Shore add more services, hire more staff and receive additional training and supervision for their employees,” said Thomas Hopkins, EPIC’s president and CEO. “There were no layoffs, and South Shore

and EPIC were able to maintain their names, their histories, their cultures and their identities.”

The rebranding effort for EPIC and South Shore noted that the two agencies’ strategic alliance exemplifies the benefits of incorporating two different agencies strengths.

“In a merger between two nonprofits, you have to consider the marketing and branding equity that’s been built up at both agencies before moving forward with a rebranding effort,” Gold said.

Gold said one of the most important parts of successful rebranding is delivering a consistent message.

“Consistency builds faith. In your rebranding, consistency tells a subconscious story to your customers,” Gold said. “The story is all about stability, consistency, longevity and most importantly, surety.”

FOUR KEYS TO GOOD REBRANDING Here are some key components of a good rebranding effort from Marketing Works PR and Vibrant Creative: 1. Research: We suggest at least some basic, low-cost research of your constituency to help ensure that your selected course of action is appropriate. Research also builds buy-in from boards and employees.

2. Process: Outline a rebranding process. Every branding project has its own institutional history and personalities that must be properly managed to ensure a positive branding experience. An experienced agency will have suggestions on navigating the course of your transformation.

3. Deployment: Once you are provided with your new branding items, such as a logo, website and other materials, develop a plan to roll it all out to staff, supporters, the public and clients. Brands deployed with a whisper can cause confusion.

4. Marketing: Now that you have your brand, determine how your marketing will exhibit that brand – and how will it change, maintain, or enhance that impression.

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TRADE TIPS

EMPOWERING NONPROFIT INNOVATION

By K ATIE LEONBERGER and FIONA K ANAGASI NGA M

T

he nonprofit sector is uniquely placed to be – and often is – a leader in innovation. It is filled with examples of organizations steadily pursuing bold ideas and solving complex problems in new ways with limited resources – innovation at its best.

We at Community Resource Exchange (CRE) define innovation as any change that creates a new dimension of performance or a new approach to solving problems. Incremental, practical improvements on a regular basis can build innovation. Contrary to popular myth, innovation is rarely a disruptive “aha!” moment or the work of a lone genius, nor is it something that has to be perfected to be implemented.

Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) worked with CRE to use both journey mapping and rapid prototyping methods to start thinking

differently about its programs and how to promote them. Journey mapping is a simple framework to help visualize the entire flow of a stakeholder’s experience from beginning to end, often in relation to an issue. It reveals all the touchpoints a stakeholder has with the issue in question, from before they decide to “enroll” to the point at which they disengage. Rapid prototyping is about developing inexpensive mockups to quickly test and refine solutions.

Rapid prototyping and field testing allow for feedback from target audiences to understand what’s working and how to continually move ideas forward.

Through the journey-mapping process, BSDC discovered its current outreach to seniors contained unclear messaging regarding eligibility criteria for funded programs – an issue its team had not realized before. By using

rapid prototyping, the team was able to test and implement small changes, like renaming a program, monthly activity flyers and a flyer detailing the eligibility guidelines.

Here are five simple ideas to jumpstart innovation in your workplace.

• Make space and time for innovation: Innovation is a disciplined practice, not a one-off moment. Make time to brainstorm ideas and use other innovative techniques in a purposeful way.

• Ask questions: What do you need to learn about your problem and potential solutions?

• Look at problem solving from the client or end-user’s perspective: Anchor your problem-framing and solution-generation in the needs and motivations of your clients.

• Don’t be afraid to test and improve

continually: Quickly experiment with some promising ideas – and don’t be afraid to fail. Role play scenarios. Mock up solutions. Listen to feedback.

• Understand that innovation takes practice: Small alterations to mindset and behavior will help innovation become the new normal.

Katie Leonberger leads Community Resource Exchange (CRE), a nonprofit consulting firm that gives nonprofits the means to build sustainable organizations that lead to social change. She specializes in organizational development, planning and innovation and leads client engagements in these areas. Fiona Kanagasingam is a senior consultant at CRE, where she heads up their innovation practice and specializes in strategic planning, leadership and professional development and talent management.

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September 2016

Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

TRADE TIPS

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DONOR-ADVISED FUNDS

By CHRISTI NA TALER

A

t their core, donor-advised funds (DAFs) are essentially charitable savings accounts and present another vehicle for donors to make contributions to nonprofits, albeit in a more indirect way.

To create a DAF, donors deposit securities into a fund housed and maintained by a 501(c)(3). The proceeds of that fund are then donated to qualifying nonprofits based on the advice of the donor.

DAFs offer donors an alternative to a private foundation. DAFs can accept donations of unusual or illiquid assets, provide a way to make contributions anonymously and require no yearly payout mandates or cumbersome administration. Unlike direct donations to a nonprofit of choice, contributions to DAFs guarantee immediate tax benefits and a delayed decision regarding the dispersal of funds.

For all these reasons, use of DAFs as a preferred giving vehicle is on the rise. According to the National Philanthropic Trust, from 2013 to 2014 grants from DAFs grew almost 30 percent to exceed $12 billion.

Many DAFs are housed by charitable divisions of investment banking firms like Fidelity, Vanguard and Charles Schwab. Others are managed by more storied organizations like United Way, the New York Community Trust and the Jewish Communal Fund. Regardless of where DAFs are held, donors benefit from the financial and administrative management that all of these groups provide.

So how can you acquire a grant from a donor-advised fund? To put it simply: solicit a contribution from the donor that set up the fund. As you do, here are a few things to keep in mind: 1. They are probably older. A Fidelity Charitable report on DAFs released in 2013 found that the average primary account holder is 62, having set up their account in their 50s. Unsurprisingly, this age corresponds with retirement. These donors want to both support the work of the charities they love while offsetting taxes

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accrued from investments with longterm capital gains.

All that said, DAF popularity among high net-worth individuals from the tech startup world, most notably Mark Zuckerberg, has been observed in recent years.

2. They may already be giving to your organization. Odds are this individual is no stranger to your organization, and with good donor stewardship, potential grants from these DAFs will soon be revealed. To make a broad assumption, a longtime loyal donor at a higher giving amount will be more likely to make a direct contribution to your organization, but a DAF prospect may present as a smaller intermittent donor. The uncertainty and lack of a firm commitment to any one organization may have been the incentive for the donor to create the DAF to begin with as they gain the advantages from a tax deduction now while deciding later

which charity benefits. This presents your organization with an excellent opportunity to share the passion that drives your mission with a donor that you may have overlooked in the past.

3. If they’re not already giving to your organization, you can try to reach them through DAF Direct. DAF Direct promotes itself as a free, easy-to-install web application that connects nonprofits with potential DAF donors and works with Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable and BNY Mellon, to name a few.

This is a tech-based answer to the old-fashioned approach of establishing contacts at donor-advised funds.

4. They are well off but not extravagantly wealthy. The average DAF account was $296,701 in 2014, and charitable contributions as a whole are commonly 2 percent of disposable net income. Moreover, a typical threshold to set up a donor-advised fund is $10,000. Taking

all these facts together, you may want to look for current and past supporters who have a moderate amount of disposable cash on hand or are about to turn 70 and will soon be forced to make withdrawals from their IRA. 5. Their DAF might reflect their giving priorities. Regardless of the age of your prospect, consider where they have chosen to house their DAF, as some look to pool contributions toward a larger cause – community foundations or religion-focused groups like those mentioned previously being such examples. These groups may help shed some light on areas of overlap for your mission and your donor’s values.

Christina Taler holds an M.S. in nonprofit and fundraising management from Columbia University and is an associate director at CCS. For more nonprofit tips, follow her on Twitter at @stinafsays.

A LONG-TIME LOYAL DONOR AT A HIGHER GIVING AMOUNT WILL BE MORE LIKELY TO MAKE A DIRECT CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR ORGANIZATION, BUT A DAF PROSPECT MAY PRESENT AS A SMALLER INTERMITTENT DONOR.

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NOTABLES

RECENT GALAS AND EVENTS

QSAC (Quality Services for the Autism Community) hosted its annual gala benefiting more than 2,100 children and adults with autism. The event raised more than $450,000 in support of QSAC's programs and services for the autism community.

Left to right: Paul Naranjo, Lisa Veglia, Cory Polshansky and Gary Maffei.

Len Harlan, Fleur Harlan and Alice Shure at the Atlantic Golf Club benefit for the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival.

The Bridge broke ground on its newest residence in the Bronx with the participation of numerous project partners and friends. (Elena Olivo, The Bridge)

H.M.S.I.M. Empress XXX Sugar B. Real of the Imperial Court of New York at the annual Latex Ball, produced by Gay Men's Health Crisis. (Adam Fredericks)

BronxWorks held its Annual Gala at the 583 Park Avenue Ballroom. Laura Behnke of the ABC7 Eyewitness News team hosted with BronxWorks Executive Director Eileen Torres (right). (Dan Senes, BronxWorks)

WHEDco’s 7th annual Benefit and Ballgame at Yankee Stadium honored JPMorgan Chase & Co., Irving Place Capital and Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP. (Jared Gruenwald, WHEDco)

A NEW HOME, AND A NEW NAME

O

n top of its campaign to bring its “green house” model of senior living to Manhattan, the New Jewish Home recently underwent a substantial rebrand.

President and CEO Audrey Weiner spoke to us about why her organization took on the challenge. This interview has been edited for content and clarity. Listen to the full podcast at nynmedia.com.

CEO CORNER

Q&A with AUDREY WEINER President and CEO of The New Jewish Home

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NEW YORK NONPROFIT MEDIA: WHY REBRAND FROM JEWISH HOME LIFECARE? Audrey Weiner: The board wanted to take a look at this name: Jewish Home Lifecare, which was really the way we shortened Jewish Home and Hospital Lifecare System, which came after Jewish Hospital for the Aged – which was our name in 1965 – which replaced the Home for the Aged and Infirm Hebrews. And so we did what every not-for-profit does, which is we hired a branding consultant, and we tried to sort out what were the things that people saw as very positive about us, and what

made us just one of the pack when you looked at our logo and all of the words we used to describe ourselves.

The board concluded that “Jewish” was a really important part of our name because of its representation of our values and our link to the past.

The word “home” represents where somebody wants to live, whether it’s the home that they’re in now, coming to our home, or the services we provide to them, so they can stay in their home. And if we wanted to just take a step backwards and say those are the two words - Jewish, home - how do we differentiate the past from the present? And we came to, why don’t we just think of ourselves as the New Jewish Home?

NYN MEDIA: HOW HAS THAT AFFECTED YOUR FUNDRAISING? AW: The fun part is it gives you an opportunity to go to donors and to talk to them about just what we were discussing a moment ago, and to use it as an opportunity to reach out to our health-care partners, the various hospitals with whom we do work, and

also as a way to inspire our staff.

For years and years, decades and decades, people came to us and lived with us from the time they left their apartment until the time they went to heaven. And in the early part of the 19th century and the 20th century, that might have been for 20 years. Nowadays, when people are not coming to us until much later in their lives, when the time they spend with us is but a few years, it’s a whole different set of services and a whole different mindset.

NYN MEDIA: WHAT IS THE “GREEN HOUSE” MODEL? AW: It’s not about plants and trees, but what it really says is elders should live in an environment where they can be nurtured and they can grow. You get a 12 bedroom New York apartment with a giant dining room and one table where everybody can sit; there’s a living room with a hearth – or translated to New York, a gas fireplace; a fabulous kitchen that is the envy of anybody we know; and access to a garden or, thinking high rise, a terrace.

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Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NOTABLES FOUNDATION FOCUS

FUNDING EDUCATION INTERVENTIONS A Q&A with Emary Aronson, managing director of Robin Hood’s Education and Relief Fund

F

or New York City’s largest poverty-fighting organization, it’s about picking the most successful interventions and the best teams for implementing them.

Emary Aronson has led Robin Hood’s education grantmaking division for over 15 years. She taught in New York City community colleges, where she observed the challenges that face incoming students, and joined Robin Hood in an effort to support earlier interventions.

NEW YORK NONPROFIT MEDIA: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PRACTICES YOU’VE SEEN FOR IMPROVING EDUCATION OUTCOMES? Emary Aronson: We are agnostic in terms of the the governing structure of a program. … There is no one answer to the education question. We are a poverty-fighting organization and so we’re looking for those pro-

grammatic interventions that are going to move the low-income student who is least likely to be successful and make that student successful, and provide all the supports to serve those needs.

NYN MEDIA: WHY DOES ROBIN HOOD THINK CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE A PARTICULARLY GOOD INVESTMENT? EA: What they have done and the reason for our support of the schools that we do, is that they have actually improved student academic performance to the point that we see increases in graduation rates from college. ... I think that what charters were able to do originally – and now you see where the system is trying to embrace it – is to say look, there are different ways to think about it.

There are different ways to organize the school day, there are different ways to organize the curriculum so

that you can really put the emphasis on teaching and learning, there are different supports you can give to school leadership so they can emphasize teaching and learning. There are the other supports that you need to put into the schools. … What we are impressed by in the current environment is now where you see the relationship between the charters and the district as they try to learn from each other.

NYN MEDIA: WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING TO PARTNER WITH NONPROFITS IN THE FUTURE? EA: We know that the future intersection of education and technology is a leading edge now. … There are so many tools that come out to really enhance student learning, so there’ll be some work in that. The exciting thing about being a one-year-at-atime funder is that it leaves us open to what comes up. … We can be very

nimble in that sense.

NYN MEDIA: WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN AS SOME OF THE BEST PRACTICES AMONG NONPROFITS’ DATA-GATHERING EFFORTS? EA: We think about it as both art and science. Data is a really important element. ... We have an expectation that organizations will gather data ... all of which they need to gather anyway because they need it for their own improvement.

NYN MEDIA: WHAT DO YOU THINK SHOULD BE THE RIGHT BALANCE IN TERMS OF INVESTING THE TIME IT TAKES TO GATHER DATA AND THE TIME IT TAKES TO RUN A PROGRAM? EA: It really is programmatic data, and we may be unusual in this case ... we’ll say to organizations, “Just send us your spreadsheets.” We’ll take your raw data if that’s where you are.

ROBIN HOOD'S BETTER WAY TO TRACK POVERTY

By MICHAEL M. WEINSTEIN

R

obin Hood, in partnership with Columbia University’s Population Research Center, has undertaken a different type of survey, known as a longitudinal or fixed-panel survey. Dubbed the “Poverty Tracker,” we survey the same 2,300 households (chosen randomly and now augmented to 4,000 households) four times a year. We track whether families who start the year below the supplemental poverty line end the year there. We track whether the families who start the year suffering from a material hardship (like eviction, hunger or suspended utilities) end the year in the same predicament. We track how long it takes chronically unemployed individuals to find job-training programs, and then work.

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The Poverty Tracker is far more than an academic exercise. It will steer Robin Hood – which makes grants of about $150 million a year to fight poverty in the city – and other funders in different directions.

If the Poverty Tracker consistently finds that unemployed adults don’t know where to look for job training, funders should fashion one type of correction. But if we find instead that the unemployed find training but don’t find jobs, then funders need look for very different corrections.

Preliminary data suggest that poor families place enormous weight on reducing stress – reducing the fear that they will run out of money by month’s end for food, rent, utilities and medicine. Indeed, the data suggest that reducing these risks matters more to families than simple cash infusions. That’s a finding pregnant with implication. In some cases, dealing with a material hardship, like unaffordable food, can be addressed at a fraction of the cost of interventions, like job training, that attack low income.

Here’s another possible application. We’ll ask in future surveys to what extent parents fear for the physical safety of children after the school day ends. The answers might well compel Robin Hood and oth-

er funders to revise upward the importance they place on funding after-school programs.

A final thought: City government and private funders provide a wide array of support services to needy New York families. A preliminary reading of the data suggests that existing support services do a better job keeping near-poor families out of poverty than they do lifting poor families out of poverty. (About the same percentage of poor families

who tap support services exit poverty as those who don’t tap services.) The evidence is not experimental – there were no control groups – and, therefore, admits of no clear cause-and-effect conclusions. But we have interesting informational tidbits worthy of future investigation. And that’s exactly what the Poverty Tracker is designed to do.

Michael M. Weinstein is chief program officer at the Robin Hood Foundation.

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NOTABLES

PREPARING ALL WORKERS FOR RETIREMENT A Q&A with Beth Finkel, New York State Director of AARP

CEO CORNER

A

ARP is not just about senior citizen discounts; the group is advancing the cause of Social Security, Medicaid and affordable housing for retirees and younger workers, too. As the first Generation X-er turned 50 years old last year, AARP launched a push to help private-sector workers get retirement

plans at their jobs. Beth Finkel spoke about her efforts leading the New York state chapter, which counts 2.6 million members. This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Listen to the full podcast at nynmedia.com.

a quarter of New Yorkers – are dependent on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income. Clearly, if you want to have a secure retirement, you’ve got to have Social Security in place and it’s got to be there for future generations.

are not going to have defined-benefit plans, not all companies are going to offer 401(k)s. There’s some data that says that people (are) 15 times more likely to save for their retirement if it automatically comes out of their paycheck.

NEW YORK NONPROFIT MEDIA: HOW DO YOU PRIORITIZE WHAT YOU WORK ON? Beth Finkel: You look at what is most significant in people’s lives.

And obviously if you don’t have economic stability, if you don’t feel like you’re financially resilient, than everything else in your life pretty much takes a back seat. Last year we did a research report called High Anxiety. We chose the name because we found out that people are really, really worried about their finances. So that’s first and foremost, because a huge number of New Yorkers – about

NYN MEDIA: CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR EFFORT TO GET NEW YORK TO ADOPT A GOVERNMENT-BACKED RETIREMENT PLAN? BF: The biggest news we got was at the governor’s State of the State he announced that he was creating something called the SMART Commission, which would be at the state level that would look at how we could devise a state facilitated retirement fund for New Yorkers.

Fifty-two percent of all people who work in private industry in New York State do not have any mechanism to save through the workplace. People

NYN MEDIA: HOW DO YOU ENGAGE MILLENNIALS? BF: A lot of them don’t have confidence that Social Security will be there for them. It’s very important for younger generations to be informed for themselves so that they’ll have enough money to retire on and so that they can advocate for Social Security to get fixed the right way.

And at the same time, they are great advocates for their families. They’re taking care of family members at home who are aging and helping them stay in their home. They really understand the ins and outs of this.

AFTER THE FALL OF FEGS, THE JEWISH BOARD STEPS IN An At the Board Table Q&A with Alice Tisch and Jenny Lyss

W

hen FEGS – one of the largest, most respected social services agencies in the city – imploded, sending shockwaves through the New York nonprofit community, there were many vulnerable individuals whose services hung in the balance. Alice Tisch became president of The Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services in January 2015, just weeks before the organization decided to absorb about $75 million of programming and an additional 9,000 clients from FEGS. Tisch and the board’s vice president, Jenny Lyss, talked about taking on what they called a “daunting” task. This interview has been edited for content and

clarity. Listen to the full podcast at nynmedia.com.

NEW YORK NONPROFIT MEDIA: HOW DID YOU DECIDE THAT YOU AS AN ORGANIZATION WOULD BE WILLING TO TAKE UP THE WORK OF FEGS? Alice Tisch: I think that we were so concerned for the clients on that side. I think that was the overriding piece, is we had our social workers and our administrative personnel from the lowest level to the highest level who really were very sympathetic towards these clients and did not want to see these people fall through the cracks, and I think they were very sympathetic to the

staff there. Their staff has the same profile as our staff. We understand what it is to be in a position to need services and not be able to get them and we certainly understand what it is to be a social worker waiting to give those services and not have a place to go to – to do it – and to serve the needs. So I think when it became clear to us that there was a situation where there was a need for help we were really willing to step in and help in whatever way we could.

It was daunting because of the scale, because of the size, because we were already quite large and so the idea of taking this on – but we knew and we felt very reassured that we had the support of both New York state

"WE CAN’T DO THIS ALONE, AND IF YOU LOOK AT IT YOU REALIZE NO ORGANIZATION COULD AFFORD TO TAKE ON THIS MASS OF CLIENTS AND EXPENSE" - ALICE TISCH 10

government, the city government and UJA and that’s proven to be the case – and that will actually have to prove to be the case going forward because we can’t do this alone, and if you look at it you realize no organization could afford to take on this mass of clients and expense – and the technology piece of it is huge, too.

Jenny Lyss: I think from a board perspective we had an incredible amount of trust in our senior staff.

Because without that, I don’t know how we could have looked at this – other than by saying, “Well we’re in a really good place right now at a time when other nonprofits are not doing as well. Let’s stay in our lane.” I think that it was a combination of having a CEO who said, “We can do this,” and the fact that he had put together a senior staff who gave every indication that they could support every aspect of it. And a board that really showed up. They check out the sites, they come to meetings, they’re active, they’re enthusiastic and they are incredibly knowledgeable about a very large and complicated organization, and it helped here.

NYNmedia.com

September 2016

Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NOTABLES

FRONT-LINE HERO: “COACH DAVE” CRENSHAW Empowering girls through sports

By MICHELLE ARNOT

OUR MISSION IS TO INCLUDE EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY GIRLS, GUYS WHO RESPECT THE GIRLS’ RIGHT TO PLAY AND KIDS WITH BEHAVIORAL ISSUES, AND GIVE THEM THE TOOLS TO BECOME COACHES.

Coach Dave with a Team Dreamer participant and NY1 anchor John Schiumo.

Crenshaw was named New Yorker of the week by NY1 in February of this year.

THE GIRLS RUN THE GYM AND THE BOYS CHEER THEM ON

D

ave Crenshaw blazed a career by connecting his first alma mater, Public School 128, The Audubon School in Washington Heights, to his second alma mater, Hunter College High School.

P.S. 128 serves as home base for his athletics program, Team Dreamers, which trains up to 100 students every week in various sports. Crenshaw – or “Coach Dave,” as he is commonly known – founded the program to give back to the community that prepared him for Hunter High when it first began to admit boys in the 1970s. He was the first student from P.S. 128 to attend what the Wall Street Journal has rated as the nation’s top public high school – and he credits both schools with “saving his life” by keeping him at the books and away from local gangs.Team Dreamers’ mission is to use sports – “basketball, track, the works!” – to

NYNmedia.com

“At that age, girls can whip the guys,” he said, recounting how the Hunter High girls shamed him in seventh grade gym: “The ladies shut me down, even in weightlifting!”

Every year he holds a Girls Sports Day for all the girls in P.S. 128, from pre-K to fifth grade and even some graduates. “The girls run the gym and the boys cheer them on,” he said.

“They make up cheers to honor the class.” Their Title IX anthem chant says, “Always letting girls try/Never sitting on the side/Go girls go!”

Crenshaw trained with his mother, Gwen, at her center, Discovery Rooms for Children, before launching his own program with funding from the Police Athletic League in 1995. In addition, his classmates from the Hunter High School Class of ’81 – whom he calls his “secret weapon,” – have provided a pillar of support. Currently the program is sponsored by the Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation, a nonprofit founded by the Hall of Fame rhythmic gymnast and Olympics sportscaster that has trained 15,000 inner-city youth, including national champions. The program also

receives support from organizations such as the Greater Tabernacle Baptist Church, where Crenshaw’s brother Jeffrey serves as reverend.

They provide volunteers and equipment.

In February Crenshaw was NY1’s New Yorker of the Week thanks to a concerted campaign by the Team Dreamer parents. Principal Rosa Argelia Arredondo praised him for the way he turns unruly students into team players. “I can run a gym without a whistle,” Crenshaw said, “It’s my bad singing voice that gets the kids’ attention.”

Team Dreamers is attracting attention from other city gyms, putting together a website and building the infrastructure necessary to apply for 501(c)(3) status. The goal is to enlist five organizations in addition to Wendy Hilliard to underwrite the annual budget so the program can reach every child in P.S. 128.

“It’s not about me, it’s the kids – we’ve proved that a small program can have a big impact on the community,” he said. “If I didn’t graduate from a girls’ high school, I wouldn’t be the man I am today.”

open the same doors of opportunity for every student enrolled at P.S. 128.

“Our mission is to include everyone, especially girls, guys who respect the girls’ right to play and kids with behavioral issues, and give them the tools to become coaches,” Crenshaw said.

Team Dreamers is more than a sports course: It’s a Title IX program that encourages girls to coach themselves and take that lesson into the community. Crenshaw is committed to giving elementary school girls the chance to shine and dominate the basketball court. He organizes Title IX days when only girls play and he takes Team Dreamer girls to partner programs to encourage more girls to participate. Through years of experience he’s discovered that girls love gym – they just don’t love sharing gym with boys.

11

Issue N°11

September 2016 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NOTABLES

THE KING OF DASNYLAND A Q&A with DASNY President Gerrard Bushell

CITY & STATE: WHAT DOES THE DORMITORY AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK DO? WHAT ROLE DOES IT HAVE IN STATE GOVERNMENT? Gerrard Bushell: Everyone who knows something about DASNY has really focused on the historic underpinning of the message of the New York State Dormitory Authority, so we build and finance dormitories – well, we do a lot

more than that. It’s part of what we do, but given that we are one of the largest public builders in the state and certainly in the nation and we continue to build for two of our largest clients, which would be the City University of New York and the State University of New York. We at DASNY, on behalf of the state, working with the (state) Department of Education, working with the (state) Department of Health, through our financing capability and our construction capability, ensure that New York state is a magnet of opportunity and inclusivity in respect to how we care for people across this state and having some of the finest health care institutions in the world and having some of the finest educational institutions in the world.

C&S: BOTH CUNY AND SUNY HAVE GREATLY EXPANDED IN RECENT YEARS AS THE STATE INVESTS MORE INTO THE TWO UNIVERSITY SYSTEMS. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE

CHALLENGES DASNY HAS FACED KEEPING UP WITH RAPIDLY GROWING SYSTEMS? GB: New York state represents best in class unequivocally – we have many institutions that come to us and they’re looking for cheap financing because we can provide the lowest cost of capital based on issuing as a tax-exempt authority on their behalf, so we can do that. We can get it to the market quickly and more importantly, investors know the credit of the state. DASNY is one of the stellar credits alongside New York state, so our debt is purchased and it’s generally oversubscribed. Our higher education and health care institutions are enabled to meet their goals and objectives to plan for changes in the future and confront uncertainty. We don’t know all the problems and challenges, but we do know that higher education, there’s a higher cost to it, there’s a higher multiple, health care costs have grown and each of these industries have to re-

think how they provide services, how they can be competitive and how they can be inclusive.

C&S: DO YOU SEE A POSSIBLE FUTURE WHERE DASNY DOES SIMILAR CAPITAL WORK FOR NONPROFITS THAT RECEIVE STATE FUNDING – SIMILAR TO THE STRUCTURE OF YOUR WORK WITH NYCHA? GB: You’d have to be in our statute. So, our hospitals are not-for-profits, so in that case, yes, but I guess you’re talking about the smaller nonprofits that intersect in these areas, so not really. Not really, but we would certainly welcome that. Our mandate is doing the financing and the building as it relates to social infrastructure and ensuring that New York really grows its economy and be competitive.

A version of this interview originally appeared in our sister publication City & State New York.

NEWS

NONPROFITS, ADVOCATES ASSESS BRATTON’S LEGACY

By DAN ROSENBLU M

N

onprofits and criminal justice reform advocates shared a mixed reaction to last month’s announcement that New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton will retire this month. While his tenure was marked by a sharp reduction in stop-and-frisks, some groups remained critical of his embrace of “broken windows” policing - a practice based on the theory that enforcing smaller, “quality-of-life” violations will reduce more serious crimes.

Bratton’s tenure also overlapped with a national focus on policing, as protests erupted after a string of high-profile police shootings of unarmed black men, and after Eric Garner of Staten Island died after an officer brought him to the ground in a chokehold. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s relationship with the NYPD rank-and-file deteriorated two years ago after two officers - Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu - were killed by a man who claimed to be avenging Garner’s death.

In a statement to New York Nonprofit Media, George McDonald, founder and president of The Doe Fund, called Bratton an “extraordinary police commissioner” for reduc-

12

ing crime while respecting residents’ constitutional rights.

“The relationship between the police and the communities they serve has improved dramatically with the essential cessation of stop-questionand-frisk,” he said. “Heretofore, the futures of hundreds of thousands of young men of color were blocked by destructive stop-question-and-frisk policies. They were up against the wall. Bratton tore down that wall.”

Bratton’s successor, James O’Neill, a cop since 1983, has emphasized a neighborhood-policing model, which encourages officers to establish relationships in the areas they patrol. De Blasio said that the strategy, which will be adopted at 51 percent of precincts by the fall, would create a “truly deep and consistent bond between police and community.”

Following a 2013 federal ruling that found the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy to be racially biased, the stops declined from 685,724 in 2011 to 24,468 last year, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, even as crime continued to drop citywide.

“We commend Commissioner Bratton for putting in place the depart-

ment’s first use of force policy and implementing important trainings to keep New Yorkers safer in their interactions with police,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU. But, she said, Bratton had been “stubbornly committed” to broken windows-based policing and resisted calls for transparency and the use of “invasive” surveillance technology.

Benjamin Ndugga-Kabuye, an organizer with the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, who was involved in the protests at City Hall Park that immediately preceded Bratton’s resignation, said he considered Bratton’s departure a victory. While one of the protestors’ goals was to see Bratton fired, he said the coalition also wants to end broken windows policing that adversely affects people of color, make the NYPD financially responsible after lawsuits and other claims, and reallocate city money away from policing toward housing and employment programs.

“If Bratton is the architect and the visionary for broken windows, O’Neill was one of the mechanics and the drivers of the policy,” Ndugga-Kabuye said.

He considers the neighbor-

hood-based policing model a deflection, pointing to the fact that residents of color are disproportionately arrested for fare-beating.

Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission, a nonprofit think tank, lauded Bratton as the “father of modern policing and an architect of the greatest decline in crime in the history of our country.”

“Perhaps no other appointed official has had the positive impact on our city that Bill Bratton has,” he said in a statement.

JoAnne Page, president and CEO of the Fortune Society, which backs prison reentry programs, told NYN Media through a spokesperson that she hoped the department would evolve to develop better relationships with residents of at-risk neighborhoods.

“Commissioner O'Neill now has the opportunity to make substantive changes in the way that police interactions take place, and ultimately cultivate a stronger relationship with the NYPD where young people can trust and turn to the police for safety, and the police can encourage a willingness from the community to offer their support," she said.

NYNmedia.com

September 2016

Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST COUNTERS ISLAMOPHOBIA

By DAN ROSENBLU M

The Arab American Association's Linda Sarsour and Brooklyn residents gathered in Bay Ridge at the site of a bias attack for a march entitled "Muslims Our Neighbors." (a katz)

I

n response to what it called a rising tide of bias incidents and Islamophobia, the New York Community Trust in June awarded more than $500,000 in grants to several Muslim American and South Asian advocacy groups that will be used to support – among other initiatives – media campaigns that counter

stereotypes about Islam and the creation of a pipeline to unify and train community organizers across New York.

“As rhetoric was becoming more prominent and more vocal expressing negative sentiments towards American Muslims, and Muslims around the world, we began hearing from some of the non-

profits that we have relationships with that this was affecting New Yorkers,” Program Director Shawn Morehead said during an Aug. 9 roundtable.

The two-year grants were part of an $11 million funding round made to 80 nonprofits. In October the foundation will decide on another round of grants to Muslim and South Asian organizations working on “rights-based” advocacy and the Bangladeshi population, Morehead said.

The Arab American Association of New York received $90,000 to connect Muslim leaders, organizers and advocacy groups. Linda Sarsour, the group’s executive director, said it was launching an October summit at New York University to train organizers, link groups and help the Muslim American advocacy community pivot from a reactionary model to a proactive one. She said that Muslim Americans have needed to defend themselves from backlash stemming from a half-dozen recent major terrorist attacks, such as those in Orlando, Florida, and Nice, France.

Available August 2016

ICPH

“Every time we’re like, ‘OK, we’re in a vibe, here, we’re getting somewhere,’ and then immediately there’s a relapse in the community and then we kind of feel like we start over again,” Sarsour said.

In fact, on the day of the Trust’s roundtable, a mosque on Manhattan’s Upper East Side was vandalized. The following week, an influential Queens imam was fatally shot with his assistant, though police haven’t released a motive for the attack.

Among other grantees, The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, received $80,000 to research the professional contributions of Muslim New Yorkers. South Asian Youth Action got $80,000 to help teach leadership skills to boys up to 19 years old.

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop was given $75,000 to help emerging Muslim, Arab and South Asian artists and writers. Turning Point for Women and Families was given $80,000 to develop leadership and mediation skills.

Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness www.ICPHusa.org

On The Map The Atlas of Student Homelessness in New York City OnThe Map In New York City, one out of every eight children attending public school in SY 2014–15 experienced homelessness within the past five school years. The 150-page 2016 On The Map: Atlas of Student Homelessness in New York City provides a detailed picture of homelessness within the City’s educational system: where homeless students go to school, what kinds of supports they might need, what their academic outcomes look like, what differences exist by the type of homelessness a student experiences, and what the lasting impacts of homelessness are educationally—even after a student’s housing instability has ended.

The Atlas of Student Homelessness in New York City August 2016

For a first-run copy of the report, e-mail OnTheMap@ICPHusa.org.

To join our mailing list, e-mail info@ICPHusa.org.

For other education reports, visit www.ICPHusa.org.

Stay tuned for the September 2016 launch of the new ICPH website.

NYNmedia.com

13

Issue N°11

September 2016 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

SERVING THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED A Q&A with Joseph Bruno of Helen Keller Services for the Blind and Nancy D. Miller of VISIONS/Services for the Blind

JOSEPH BRUNO

NANCY D. MILLER

he number of visually impaired Americans is expected to grow dramatically over the next few years. How will organizations cope with that challenge? To find out, we spoke with two leaders helping to improve lives for blind or near-blind New Yorkers: Joseph Bruno, the president and CEO of Helen Keller Services for the Blind, and Nancy D. Miller of VISIONS/ Services for the Blind. This interview

has been edited for content and clarity. Listen to the full podcast at nynmedia.com.

T

From our conversation with Nancy D. Miller: NEW YORK NONPROFIT MEDIA: WHAT CHALLENGES FACE YOUR ORGANIZATION? Nancy Miller: Vision loss is caused by disease, and if you don’t diagnose and treat the disease and then give

the person rehabilitation, they’re not going to be able to function. And yet, so many older people think it’s just the normal aging, which it is not, so people don’t ask for help. Part of the reason is people who are blind or people with severe vision loss don’t get the rehabilitation under the same system that you would if something else is broken. It’s not generally covered by Medicare or Medicaid. It’s a separate funding stream and most people have never heard of it.

They’ve never heard of the professionals who work in the field who have been getting university graduate degrees since the 1960s. So very few people say, “When I grow up, I want to be an orientation and mobility instructor for blind people,” or, “I want to be a vision rehabilitation specialist.” Unfortunately, many of the professions are not licensed in New York State. It’s only likely you’ll get into the field ... by chance, as I did, or if you know somebody who’s blind, or if you meet somebody who does that work. Our greatest challenge really is getting professionals who are university trained to meet the needs

“GOVERNMENT HAS ITS WAY OF FINDING THE FUNDS TO DO WHAT IT HAS TO DO. IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR IT’S REALLY LIVE OR DIE BY THE AMOUNT OF RESOURCES YOU CAN BRING IN.” — JOSEPH BRU NO of what we believe is about 700,000 or 800,000 New Yorkers who could benefit from the service.

NYN MEDIA: HOW IS THAT EFFORT PROGRESSING? NM: Last year, we were so excited because the Assembly finally let the bill out of the higher education committee, and it was voted in on the floor, and it passed. Unfortunately, the governor vetoed it … with a message with some changes that his staff felt were necessary. This year, the New York Vision Rehabilitation Association membership has been working on changing the bill to meet the concerns of the governor. This year, unfortunately, after all the work that was done and the bill was changed and to the best of our understanding, it met all the concerns and objections, the bill never got out of the higher-ed committee.

One of the arguments against it is if you license professionals, then there’ll be fewer professionals, and you in fact have a shortage. Well, if it causes a

14

shortage of professionals, why do we have 70 licensed professions?

From our conversation with Joe Bruno: NYN MEDIA: WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST NAVIGATIONAL CHALLENGES FACING PEOPLE WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS? Joe Bruno: For the city systems, I think transportation around the city.

There’s lots of technology that’s now helpful to them, but they have to be trained on it, they have to be skilled on it. They just can’t walk out in the street and do that. So it’s very labor intensive. I’m friendly with the people in the Department of Transportation and recently spoke to some of them, and they’re working on different types of technology at crosswalks, at stoplights and even in the way they lay out the pavement so that the sense of touch can be there.

NYN MEDIA: YOU HAVE MORE THAN 45 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN CITY GOVERNMENT. HOW DOES IT COMPARE WITH NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT? JB: For us, even in government, of course we had budget reductions almost all of the time. But government has its way of finding the funds to do what it has to do. In the private sector it’s really live or die by the amount of resources you can bring in.

But there are many similarities.

Our clients in Helen Keller are the same people: out in the street. The particular group that we deal with at Helen Keller, the blind and deaf/ blind, well, people know about that disability, it’s not the one that’s on the tip of their tongue or at the tip of their wallet when they’re giving money.

They just assume, most people, “Well, these folks are being taken care of.”

And they are – families generally will take care – but they won’t open up life to them. What they don’t do is get them out into the world, so they can function as independent people.

NYN MEDIA: WHAT ARE YOUR FUNDRAISING CHALLENGES? JB: The funny part is once you meet people, and you tell them about what you’re doing, about this group of people, it’s an easy sell. They are very interested to try to help because they realize that help is needed. They need a lot more service and they need a tremendous amount of staff for each individual to get them to a point where they can take off on their own and open up the next technology company, or work for Google, or work for the Muppets, or work for the Fire Department, or whatever they’re going to do.

NYNmedia.com

September 2016

Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

THE JUSTICE COMMITTEE GETS HELP FIGHTING POLICE VIOLENCE

By EMILY DEMIRIJIAN

Constance Malcolm, the mother of Ramarley Graham (killed in 2012 by the NYPD), leading a die-in wtih supporters to call for justice for her son. (The Justice Committee)

I

ssues related to police violence and community-police relations have received national attention in recent years due to events in places like Staten Island, Cleveland and Ferguson, Missouri.

However, nonprofit organizations like the Justice Committee (Comite de Justicia), which has been working since the 1980s to help support Latino families affected by police brutality and racial violence, know the challenge of these issues has been with us for a long time.

The Justice Committee is a small grassroots organization of three employees whose primary goal is helping families who have lost loved ones to police violence. They believe that family members can be the most effective agents for making an impact and fighting for change. The group’s ultimate goal is to end police violence in New York City.

In January 2015, The Justice Committee received $60,000 in general program funding from the New York Women’s Foundation (NYWF). YulSan Liem, co-director of the Justice Committee, recognizes the significance of their support.

“The New York Women’s Foundation is making a choice. Their decision to support progressive grassroots organizations and give them general support and multi-year funding is huge,” said Liem. “Not

NYNmedia.com

a lot of foundations are willing to do that, and from our perspective, it’s really putting money where it’s needed to create real change.”

The Justice Committee was founded as a committee of the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights in the 1980s and became an independent entity in 2000. It has an overall budget of a little over $210,000 and spends $68,000 to $69,000 annually on projects. Each year, the group holds around 30 to 35 workshops to help individuals affected by police brutality.

The NYWF grant was renewed in April of this year, and has helped the committee cover materials and staffing costs as well as support projects, such as one that seeks to include police brutality cases among those for which the New York state attorney general can serve as special prosecutor. Currently that increased level of scrutiny is only in place for police killings. Last year the committee composed a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed by 18 families affected by police violence.

This next phase of the Special Prosecutor’s Campaign will help prevent conflicts of interest in cases that involve police abusing civilians.

"We have always felt there is a need for a special prosecutor for all police brutality cases, not just killings. We see this as a first phase.

Our ultimate goal is to establish a Special Prosecutor for killings and brutality through legislation."

A large part of the grant is used to benefit the family members of those killed by police. In the last year, the Justice Committee has worked on five new police killing cases. They assist family members in developing strategies to win justice and train them to carry out activities such as press conferences and actions. They also secure attorneys, help gain media attention for cases and mobilize community members to come out to protests and engage in court monitoring.

“The kind of support we offer can be as minimal as advising the family in the early stages and as involved as launching full campaigns around the case,” said Liem.

They also serve survivors of police violence. According to Liem, they help around 20 survivors every year. This assistance includes referrals, advocacy, advice, and support. They are working closely with the family of Ramarley Graham on the #FireNYPD campaign, which calls for the firing of four New York City Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit officers who entered the 18-year-old’s home in 2012 without a warrant and killed Graham with his grandmother and 6-year-old brother present.

“We’re trying to make sure that families who have lost someone have support to get some of their needs met in the aftermath of a killing, but also develop their ability to lead the movement and be organizers themselves,” said Liem. “They should be able to uplift their stories and their experiences because we feel like anybody who cares about these issues really should be hearing from them.”

NYWF appreciates the Justice Committee’s ability to empower these family members.

They fund programs that focus on organizations empowering girls and women of color and have supported early-stage organizations for up to five years to help them build capacity.

“In the stories in the media that are about police violence, the narrative is centered on victims,” said NYWF Senior Programming Officer Amy Chou, who works directly with the Justice Committee. “The Justice Committee is shifting the narrative to the families – the mothers, daughters, nieces. You typically don’t hear about stories about how the women are impacted.”

According to Chou, NYWF values communities and community organizations because they exist at the place where both challenges and solutions are created. They believe the Justice Committee has developed a strong awareness and sensitivity to the needs of individuals affected by police violence.

“We funded them because they had a strong gender lens,” said Chou.

“They show how women and girls are affected by systemic police violence, too.”

As citizen journalists and social media have helped to increase the number of people involved in criminal justice reform, the Justice Committee has adjusted its programming and seen an increase in the number of fellow providers tackling the issue.

“Over the years, (the Justice Committee) has grown, and has developed additional programming specifically to address police violence and systemic racism,” said Liem. “It is certainly true that in the last several years, both in New York and nationally, there is a lot more attention on a lot of the issues that we address.

It is not new for us, but we definitely have more ally groups now.”

Going forward, the Justice Committee hopes for continuing support from The New York Women’s Foundation and is creating an individual donor program to increase its sustainability.

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Issue N°11

September 2016 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

SPONSORED CONTENT:

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– Chelsea Gibson, marketing & development associate, Midtown Educational Foundation Help people faster: When emergencies happen, there’s usually very little time to respond. You can make it easier for those in need to reach out for assistance by offering a help

request form available directly on the homepage or a dedicated landing page. The benefits are manifold. For those reluctant to ask for help, this type of online form can be submitted by a concerned friend or family member. You can then devote time saved on outreach to other projects.

“When the Alberta wildfires forced more than 80,000 people from their homes, the Canadian Red Cross needed a rapid registration process to ensure the needs of evacuees were met during the emergency and beyond. Red Cross required a form that could be filled out quickly, easily, and collect a lot of data. With JotForm’s conditional logic option, we were able to create a tool that was both user-friendly and effective.”

– Audrey Ooi, user experience and search marketing advisor, Canadian Red Cross Learn more about how JotForm can help your nonprofit by visiting: www. jotform.com/nonprofit.

SPONSORED CONTENT:

VETERAN PROFESSOR RAY HORTON ON THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF CREATING LEADERS AT THE SCHOOL

P

rofessor Ray Horton has seen plenty of change in his 46 years at Columbia Business School – but the enduring constant, he says, and the school’s best asset, remains its students.

“We have produced a huge number of talented, responsible individuals who made lasting contributions in the public, nonprofit and business spheres,” Horton says.

Since joining the faculty in 1970, Horton himself has made a significant impact on the school and has a resume length that matches his longtime commitment: He is the Frank R. Lautenberg Professor of Ethics and Corporate Governance in the Management Division; the Bernstein Faculty Leader for the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics; faculty director of Programs in Social Enterprise for the school’s Executive Education division; and founder of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise. His

16

goal, he says only half jokingly, is to reach 50 years at the school, his professional “home” – and then go out doing what he loves.

“I'd like to drop dead during my last lecture on Karl Marx. I think that would be a fitting way to go,” Horton says. “Die with your boots on. But I also reserve the right to change my mind.”

What’s the future of nonprofit leadership and social enterprise?

Inevitably, what we call social enterprise is going to get bigger and bigger. Basically, social enterprise refers to organizations that are using management principles to provide services that neither the private sector nor the public sector can provide. And the nature of the services that are going to be demanded over the next 25, 50 years is going to require more effort from the social sector, not less.

How do you think that change will present itself ?

Student demand. And those students are going to be driven by changes in the external environment, especially the one factor we don’t spend much time addressing right now – climate change. You had an interesting role in New York City in the 1970s. Can you talk about that experience and how it led to the Social Enterprise Program?

During the fiscal crisis in the ’70s, Mayor Abraham Beame asked me to run something called the Temporary Commission on City Finances, which I did for two years. It was a very hard job, and it taught me many things, one of which was that the City of New York's fiscal problems were really a result of its management failure. So, I pitched the idea to the dean's office to create the Public-Nonprofit Management Program. The dean thought it would be a good idea, and that program existed until 2000, when it morphed into the Social Enterprise Program.

What do you think is the biggest takeaway for a Columbia Business School graduate?

Our students spend a huge amount of time networking with their colleagues, with leaders on Wall Street, with leaders in the nonprofit sector. Contacts have become more important, and I suspect will continue to become more important. The other thing that’s driven that change is that we have become a dynamo with respect to faculty research. That’s the single biggest change I’ve seen at Columbia Business School in the 46 years I've been here. The degree of scholarship is much more advanced now than it was then.

Ray Horton is Faculty Director of Programs in Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School Executive Education and Professor of Ethics and Corporate Governance in the Management Division of Columbia Business School.

NYNmedia.com

September 2016

Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

DE BLASIO’S ACCESSIBILITY REPORT LEAVES ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT, ADVOCATES SAY

By DAN ROSENBLU M

I

n July, to mark the 26th anniversary of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, the de Blasio administration released its plan to place New York City on the vanguard of increasing access to jobs, transportation, education and other services for New Yorkers who are disabled. The AccessibleNYC report was billed as a first annual snapshot of city agencies’ efforts to help residents who are disabled; however, some disability advocates say the city avoided addressing some key, ongoing challenges.

The report, released by the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) on July 10 to coincide with the Disability Pride Parade, states an intent to make New York the “most accessible city in the world” for 948,208 New Yorkers with disabilities.

“Understanding where we are today with issues of accessibility will allow us to set bold goals and propose innovative solutions,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.

“AccessibleNYC will help us to study ambitious and innovative ideas that have the potential to bring lasting improvements to the lives of New Yorkers with disabilities.”

The administration’s plans include increasing the pool of affordable housing for those with disabilities and hiring inter-agency liaisons. It also includes job initiatives such as allowing qualified people with disabilities to bypass the civil service

tests for city jobs and establishing a business development council to encourage private-sector employment in high-growth industries.

The plan also mentioned making “great strides” related to a 2012 special education initiative launched in the schools, but reports show there’s still much work left to be done. Last year, after a two-year investigation, the U.S. Justice Department found limited accessibility at New York City's public elementary schools – six school districts do not have a single fully accessible school. The administration has fought this finding. Also, earlier this year, the Department of Education revealed that nearly 40 percent of students may not be getting the special education services they’re entitled to.

In June, the state did make it easier for students with disabilities to graduate from high school without passing the Regents exam, in response to concerns over testing.

Many of the strides, and issues, unsurprisingly revolve around transportation – one of the most difficult city systems for people with disabilities to access. In the report, City Hall emphasized a program to expand on-demand car dispatch services for wheelchair users. There are 500 yellow cabs and 900 green cabs accessible to wheelchairs, a number expected to rise to 7,000 by 2020 and 9,000 as early as 2024, respectively. There are also 1,275 taxis with “induction loop”

systems that transmit sounds directly to hearing aids.

However, some of this progress only emerged following legal actions. Sid Wolinsky, the co-founder and supervising attorney of Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), a national organization which has brought numerous lawsuits against the city in recent years, dismissed the report as “political puffery,” and called New York “the worst big city in America in terms of hostility to people with disabilities.”

“I actually don’t fully understand it,” he said about the city’s historic gaps in services. “Part of it has to do with the labyrinth of bureaucracies in New York City … we litigate all over the country and we’ve never seen anything like it.”

City Hall spokeswoman Rosemary Boeglin said the report was a roadmap to incentivize agencies to look through the lens of disabilities.

“Never before has City Hall convened agencies from every corner of government to itemize our services, commitments and goals, so that New Yorkers can track our progress and hold us accountable,” she said.

Only 110 of 469 subway stations meet ADA standards, according to the report. The city is planning to improve accessibility to stations near developments subject to land-use procedures and those with renovations that would trigger ADA compliance.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers remarks and marches in the Inaugural NYC Disability Pride Parade with the Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities Victor Calise and members of the administration in Madison Square Park on July 12, 2015. (Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office) NYNmedia.com

Nancy Miller, CEO of VISIONS/ Services for the Blind, told New York Nonprofit Media the release of an annual report was “terrific,” but noted she’d like to see MOPD focus and report on outcomes, particularly for seniors. Seventy-one percent of disabled residents are over the age of 50, according to the report, with many suffering from vision loss as they age.

The MTA offers a paratransit service, Access-A-Ride, for those who can’t use mass transportation.

Miller said the program needed an overhaul, noting that a “Yellow Taxi Debit Card” program, which allowed some users in Manhattan to pay subway-level fares to use accessible taxis, expired in November.

Boeglin said the program ended because of banking regulations that prohibited the payment methods, and noted that several agencies are working on an alternative.

Miller also said the Summer Youth Employment Program needed to add more opportunities for youth with disabilities to access summer work consistent with their education and career goals.

Boeglin said last year 2,962 young people enrolled in the SYEP program who identified as disabled, a five-year peak, and they would collaborate with DOE staff to increase student readiness for entry-level jobs, create a coalition of higher-education staffers to offer internships and job training, and focus specifically on the District 75 special education district.

Under the “NYC at Work” initiative, the Poses Family Foundation will support a pipeline, to launch in the fall, that will direct 700 individuals with disabilities, including high school and college students, those enrolled in state- and nonprofit-based employment services and other job seekers, into jobs.

Wolinsky, who said DRA is preparing a forthcoming lawsuit over the inaccessibility of police precincts, said accessibility improvements help all New Yorkers. He recalled visiting an elevator at the Dyckman Street station in Upper Manhattan following a 2011 settlement with the MTA over access, when he realized it wasn’t just wheelchair-bound riders using the new lift. “The door to the elevator opens up and out comes a woman with a baby carriage and a toddler in tow, an older lady with a great big shopping cart, a guy with a suitcase and a workman with a dolly,” he said. “No disabled people in sight.”

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Issue N°11

September 2016 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

SERVING THE VULNERABLE AFTER DISASTERS

By DAN ROSENBLU M

Devastation in Staten Island caused by Hurricane Sandy in November 2012. (Andrei Orlov)

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onprofits have become more experienced at responding to emergencies in the nearly four years since Hurricane Sandy, but funding issues, communication gaps and confusion over roles could stymie future responses, according to a report issued Aug. 3 by the Human Services Council, an umbrella group of 170 social services providers.

“We can do better and we’re not doing that right now,” HSC Executive Director Allison Sesso said at a conference on disaster relief and recovery which was timed to the release of the report.

Forty-six percent of those responding to the survey identified funding as the biggest obstacle in providing an adequate response; Seventy-nine percent said they had no dedicated funding for those purposes. Nonprofits may be less likely to help with recovery if it could place the group in a financial hole, Sesso said.

“If a Sandy-type event happened today there may be less willingness and ability of the nonprofits to make that pivot,” she said. “And we have to pay attention to that, because that’s going to matter a lot, going back to the communities, for our ability to serve them. ” While most agencies who respond-

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ed to the poll said they had a disaster response plan, few of them worked with other groups to respond more effectively. Many were also confused about which government agencies took the lead role in response, and few of the nonprofits in the report had dedicated funds for planning and recovery. Generally, smaller organizations were less prepared to handle disasters than larger ones: Only 30 percent of nonprofits with budgets of less than $500,000 have an emergency plan, compared with at least 72 percent of those with budgets above $15 million.

The report, prepared by HSC with support from the Baruch College School of Public and International Affairs and the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, surveyed more than 200 groups through April. It updates a similar one done

by Baruch and HSC in October 2013.

One goal was to spark dialogue between organizations, government and funders, something that providers said was necessary before disasters.

“We are very lucky to not have had a disaster since Sandy, but the more years that go, the less institutional knowledge returns,” said Louisa Chafee, the senior vice president of external relations and public policy of

UJA-Federation, who has worked in state and city government.

The HSC report offered 10 recommendations that included: tapping coalitions and membership organizations to make plans and share information; implementing a “human services operations center” similar to the city’s Office of Emergency Management; creating a permanent office with city government to coordinate nonprofits’ disaster response; engaging philanthropic organizations with the government’s formal response plan; creating a disaster reserve fund and making it easy for nonprofits to prequalify.

More than one-third of the groups (37 percent) distributed food, clothing or blankets and other goods immediately after a disaster, while 30 percent served meals, performed crisis counseling or provided mental health services. While many organizations responded to Sandy or offered help after the September 11 attacks, those polled also assisted people affected by other emergencies, such as the 2014 East Harlem gas explosion that killed eight people.

While many of those groups were likely to offer wireless internet or kitchen facilities, they were much less likely to have shelters or backup generators. Sesso said HSC was

launching a committee – the Human Services Disaster, Readiness and Resiliency Workgroup – to guide its work.

Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Herminia Palacio said that disasters seemed to highlight social divides already in the community.

“People like to say that disasters don’t discriminate, but I think all of us in this room know that that’s just not true,” she said. “That the very structural inequities that exist and persist in day-to-day life are just amplified, deepened and worsened in a disaster.”

Palacio, who coordinated services for 27,000 evacuees who relocated to the Houston area after Hurricane Katrina, said those left behind after Katrina were the residents who didn’t have resources to leave, and those affected by Zika and other infectious diseases are often people living in poor housing conditions. “Our planning needs to reflect very explicitly an understanding of the differential impact that disasters can have on the least and most vulnerable among us,” she said.

She also previewed a working group, due to be officially announced in the next several weeks, which will include representatives of the nonprofit sector and city government to focus generally “on the variety of ways that we can support the capacity of community-based organizations, increase stakeholder engagement and reduce administrative burden.”

Sue Fox, the executive director of the Shorefront YM-YWHA, which operates in Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, said that after Sandy, city, state and federal agencies expected her staff to provide translators to canvass the heavily Russian-speaking neighborhood. “At the end of the day, those were not reimbursable expenses,” she said. “They would only have been reimbursable if I could have proven that they did those services during overtime hours.” (Palacio said earlier that the mayor’s office would provide training about reimbursement processes to make it easier.)

The denied payment can be seen as de-valuing the connections nonprofits have with the community. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, Fox said, posted signs that she said were poorly translated and her staff offered to fix them. “The fact is that we couldn’t have the signage up on our building that was in terrible Russian – or Spanish or Hindi, whatever languages that it needed to be in … If you communicate poorly, the services, the connections, the trust is gone.”

NYNmedia.com

September 2016

Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

SPOTLIGHT: OLDER ADULTS

AGENCY OF THE MONTH: OLDER ADULTS TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

By MICHELLE ARNOT

Older adults can learn how to use technology like Skype to connect with loved ones at the Senior Planet Exploration Center.

(Evan Joseph)

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nline access is becoming an even more critical part of modern life for older adults – with communication between doctors and patients increasingly relying on the internet and more and more updates from family members and friends commonly being shared primarily online. Yet computer literacy is still elusive for about half of Americans over age 65, and only 25 percent of seniors earning less than $30,000 annually have access to broadband at home, according to a 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center.

With the cohort of older New Yorkers at 1.3 million and rising, the need for relevant training is only growing.

But by providing free workshops in lower income areas of the city, Older Adults Technology Services (OATS), a nonprofit with a budget of $3 million, 37 locations throughout the city and a staff of 31, has created a model that since 2004 has linked over 20,000 of the city’s most vulnerable older residents to the internet.

“The days of playing bingo at the senior center are numbered,” said Thomas Kamber, the founder and executive director of OATS and a professor of philanthropy and social entrepreneurship at Columbia University.

Kamber is also a member of both the Mayor’s Broadband Task Force and the Age-Friendly New York Commission. It was 12 years ago when he gave an 80-year-old friend computer lessons and based on that success founded OATS. Its affiliate website, Senior Planet, has the tagline “Aging with Attitude.” Senior Planet serves as a forum for a burgeoning audience. It offers features on health and travel and profiles of trendsetting NYNmedia.com

older adults and gets an estimated 135,000 hits per month.

In 2013 the success of the website spurred Kamber to open a brick-andmortar Senior Planet Exploration Center. He chose a location in Chelsea due to its proximity to multiple subway lines. “I also looked for a space on the retail level so that it is welcome to walk-ins,” he said.

Last year 2,500 New Yorkers, 35 percent of them traveling from the outer boroughs, stopped by the center for courses or information. The flagship location and its satellite in Plattsburgh provide spaces where older adults can feel comfortable acquiring the skills to “remain relevant in the workplace, access tools for managing health and … follow new avenues for lifelong learning.”

All of this activity is due to word-ofmouth, OATS’ sole form of outreach, since Kamber believes it “forces us to deliver value.”

In the early days Kamber set up shop in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a site that continues to thrive and impress him with its progress. The organization has since expanded to all five boroughs, and has even trained staff members in branches of the New York Public Library to conduct workshops. This summer, City Councilman Vincent Gentile allocated funds for OATS to conduct free computer classes at Fort Hamilton Senior Center in Brooklyn.

“Ninety percent of our sites are located in lower income areas,” Kamber pointed out. Workshops are always free and although its mission is to support those in need, “we never turn anyone away – and we do accept donations no matter how small,” he added.

“Digital equity is an issue, and our free workshops are designed to bring parity to this growing segment of society,” Kamber said. Predictably, the courses fill up quickly.

OATS is the largest program in the nation dedicated to offering free technological support to an older demographic, Kamber said. While senior centers and libraries offer labs and workshops, “No other nonprofit has a curriculum that runs 3,000 pages, with a full-time developer, available in four languages, that is specifically tailored to instructing people over 60,” Kamber said.

Kamber refers to OATS users as “change agents” in an effort to promote an image of older people as vital and creative and counter the stereotype that they are frail and incapable. “It’s important to convey the richness of experience in the energy

of those New Yorkers over 60 who are deeply active in the community, who are making a contribution and are part of the equation rather than a repository of need,” he observed. “We all have to address the issue of ageism, which is at the root of many of society’s problems,” he said.

Always seeking organic ways to grow and serve the OATS community, this year Kamber launched Team Senior Planet – a pet project with a cohort of 40 members. This workout program requires participants to wear a loaned Fitbit activity tracker and “Team Senior” T-shirt while fulfilling their commitment to work out three times a week. Predictably, team spirit buoyed the group to adhere to the protocol. Based on results, OATS hopes to expand the workout model to as many as 20 city locations.

Kamber is also proud of a collaboration with Capital One that has resulted in an online education project which advises OATS members on how to avoid online fraud. “Our association with Capital One is a testament to the private-public partnership model,” he said. OATS has also partnered with other corporate partners like Time Warner and Verizon.

“It’s encouraging that these firms have invested in our model,” he said.

Kamber finds keeping up with the economy to present the greatest challenge to OATS. “We want to attract and retain the best quality staff, which means the salary we offer is competing with the private sector,” he reflected. “The onus is on us to explain why OATS is the best choice. Sometimes it’s tough to make the pitch when we can’t offer a pension. But I’m confident that if OATS appeared on a game show panel, the contestant would always choose OATS because of our mission: Working with older people is awesome.”

Senior Planet Exploration Center is a technology-themed community center that supports older adults interested in connecting with their community, expressing themselves in creative ways. , using technology to support health and wellness and finding new avenues to increase their financial security. (Evan Joseph)

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Issue N°11

September 2016 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

SPOTLIGHT: OLDER ADULTS

ELDER ABUSE IN THE HOME IS ON THE RISE

JASPER BRIGGS

By FR ANK G. RU N YEON

A

n increasing number of elderly New Yorkers are being exploited financially, state officials report, indicating that this group may also be suffering increasing rates of other forms of abuse.

Between 2010 and 2015, reports of elder financial exploitation rose by 50 percent in New York City and 45 percent statewide, reaching a total of 4,351 last year, according to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS). While many more cases of abuse go uncounted, an agency spokesman said, the number of reported cases continues to rise.

Elder abuse includes a number of forms of exploitation of an individual age 60 or older. The abuse can be verbal, physical, psychological, sexual, or the result of neglect – but most often it involves financial exploitation.

While abuse in nursing homes or other long-term care facilities remains a serious issue, as previously reported

by New York Nonprofit Media, researchers say most elder abuse occurs in seniors’ own homes.

Nonprofit leaders describe elder abuse prevention efforts as decades behind domestic violence or child abuse prevention efforts, even though abuse of the elderly is more prevalent.

In fact, there are more victims of elder abuse in the United States every year than victims of child abuse or domestic violence combined, according to recent estimates. Elder abuse at home affects an estimated 5 million people nationally, studies indicate.

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A 2011 study in New York estimated that 260,000 senior citizens suffered abuse during a 12-month period between 2008 and 2009.

“It's a huge problem that's exploding on us,” said Risa Breckman, executive director of the NYC Elder Abuse Center. “Just looking at the demographics, it's going to get worse if we don't start putting in place prevention programs,” not just programs that assist abuse victims after the fact.

Elder abuse is linked to a long list of undesirable outcomes, Breckman said, such as increased hospital use, a higher likelihood of going into a nursing home, deteriorating mental health, financial hardship and premature death. “The consequences are enormous,” she said.

According to a study by OCFS released in June, financial exploitation of elderly New Yorkers costs the state and victims an estimated total of between $352 million and $1.5 billion per year. The staggering sum calls into question previous estimates, which “may have grossly underestimated the magnitude of losses,” the study’s authors wrote.

Still, the true cost of elder abuse is difficult to measure. ”Quantifying this is pretty much impossible,” said Elizabeth Loewy, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney who headed the borough’s elder abuse unit before joining EverSafe, a tech startup focused on preventing financial exploitation.

Recalling her 29 years in the district

attorney’s office, Loewy said the unit handled 800 elder abuse cases a year.

Social workers and researchers have a catalog of tragic stories: Women and men quietly suffering decades of violence, overworked caregivers berating their elderly charges, and insolvent adults siphoning funds from people’s life savings.

But most often, such abuse isn’t

she said.

The way trusted family members become abusers is often as complex as it is unsettling. Art Mason, who leads the elder abuse prevention program at LifeSpan of Greater Rochester, said his team of social workers has seen a series of emerging trends.

One persistent pattern involves addicted individuals who take ad-

THERE'S NO DESIGNATED FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES. ZERO. the result of ruthless orderlies or over-the-phone scammers, as many assume, Loewy said. As in the case of the opulently wealthy Manhattan socialite Brooke Astor – whose son, Anthony Marshall, along with an estate lawyer, stole tens of millions of dollars from her – family members and trusted aides are usually the culprits.

Loewy said law enforcement officers who call her for advice tend to downplay abuse cases as “a family matter” when outside actors aren’t involved. “It is different,” Loewy said.

“To me, it’s worse. Your family should be there to take care of you. Not rip you off until you have no money left,”

vantage of their parents or grandparents, stealing from them to pay for drugs – particularly heroin of late, Mason noted. Another growing trend is gambling addicts financially abusing elderly family members.

Mentally challenged individuals can also sometimes become abusers of elderly family members who they are ill-equipped to understand or assist.

A very different group, Mason notes, are domestic violence abusers.

"Another family type that we're seeing more and more of is really the purely domestic violence in later life,” Mason said. If the violence is NYNmedia.com

September 2016

Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NYNmedia.com

brokers, and newly destitute New Yorkers are sure to be a drain on Medicaid funds as well.

And considering how often victims of financial exploitation also suffer other forms of elder abuse, several nonprofit providers said they welcomed the attention. As it is, they said, there’s scant funding for the aging sector as a whole, much less for elder abuse.

“There's no designated federal support for adult protective services.

Zero,” said Kathleen Quinn, executive director of the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA), a national nonprofit membership group. As a result, much funding is determined by the state.

Quinn praised New York for funding some of the leading research studies and educational initiatives, including state-funded training for its county-based elder abuse programs. Nevertheless, tracking down New York state’s spending on elder abuse programs has proven elusive for NAPSA, which has made attempts to get the data in the past.

While the state allocated $110 million to reimburse service providers for all adult protective services and domestic violence initiatives, an OCFS spokesman said he could not characterize what proportion of the total funding goes to elder abuse initiatives and that spending data solely for elder abuse was not readily available.

Downstate, New York City has tak-

en laudable steps, advocates said, including allocating $1.5 million to fund multidisciplinary teams to manage elder abuse cases referred to them. But while such funding is a good start, it doesn’t come close to meeting the need.

“When you think about $1.5 million and you think about New York City, it's a big city, there's huge need,” Breckman said earlier this year. The funds must be used to pay medical specialists, psychiatrists and forensic accountants. “We could very well need additional funds,” she said.

Elder abuse prevention programs don’t fare much better. Federal funding for elder abuse programs is a fraction of spending on family violence

issues – about 0.3 percent. While $6 billion was spent on child abuse, and $249 million on intimate partner violence, just $19 million was spent on elder abuse, according to a factsheet prepared by the Grantmakers in Aging.

Spending shortfalls may be indicative of a larger problem in combating elder abuse, experts fear – a cultural indifference to the suffering of the elderly.

“If we really want to be a society where we're working to prevent abuse from occurring, and be more responsive after it occurs, we need to step it up because it's happening to millions of people – millions and millions,” Breckman warned. “And it's going to just grow if we don't do something.”

FRANK RUNYEON

longstanding, by the time it becomes elder abuse, the victim almost never leaves, he said. “They stay because in that generation the husband worked outside of the house so the income is coming through husband and his pension, the health care is through him, and so (abuse victims) don't leave, they stay. So, they're very hidden.”

“It's domestic violence grown old,” said Jenny Hicks, program coordinator at Vera House, a nonprofit serving victims of domestic violence and sexual violence, as well as elder abuse in Syracuse. “It’s exploitation by kids, grandkids. It really is a pretty broad spectrum."

“We had someone stay at our shelter, she was in her 80s dating a man in his 70s who was physically abusing her – that's elder abuse,” said Hicks.

Recently, “elder justice” efforts have focused on the issue of financial exploitation, several industry veterans said, in part because it is one of the easiest forms of abuse to quantify but also because it is less distasteful to consider than other forms of abuse.

Most people don’t want to directly grapple with the ugly acts involved in neglect or physical, psychological or sexual abuse.

“It’s the one that’s easiest to understand,” Mason explained.

There are also clear financial incentives for the banks and governments sponsoring the financial exploitation focus. After all, money stolen from elderly investment or savings accounts is no longer benefitting bankers or

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Issue N°11

September 2016 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

NEWS

A HOME IN HARLEM? Nonprofits pay a “pretty penny” for a spot in a community on the rebound

By DAN ROSENBLU M

F

or the past two years, Glenn Martin has run his Harlem-based organization, JustLeadershipUSA, from coffee shops or anywhere else he can find to get his work done. Since founding the group, which is dedicated to halving the number of Americans in prison by 2030, he has hired several former prisoners as part of his staff of 13. He said it was critical to be based in Harlem, where New York City Department of Correction figures show that residents are disproportionately incarcerated compared with the rest of the city.

When he spoke to New York Nonprofit Media in June, Martin said he expected his new storefront on Lexington Avenue near East 118th Street to be ready over the summer; four other locations fell through because landlords broke off talks when competing tenants made better offers. He needed a security deposit equal to one year’s rent, which, along with other upfront costs, amounted to $80,000 to secure the space. It cost a “pretty penny,” he said, but he wanted to have an inviting storefront where clients felt comfortable.

“It’s great to be in Harlem,” Martin said, “but we’re going to pay for it for the next 10 years.”

While the shortage of affordable housing and other effects of gentrification weigh heavily on low-income residents of Harlem, JustLeadership and other Harlem-based nonprofits are facing their own related challenges: rising operating costs, a lack of space to expand existing operations, or, for others, a struggle to find a suitable location in the community in the first place. While prices generally remain lower in Harlem than in Midtown and lower Manhattan, some organizations seeking to be closer to the people they serve are having a hard time competing with commercial tenants.

For other nonprofits in the city, these trends have actually helped.

Price increases in parts of Manhattan – such as Gramercy and Flatiron, where technology start-ups have contributed to growing demand for space – paved the way for established charities to capitalize on the changing market. The Mission Society, Community Service Society and Children’s Aid Society in 2014 sold their stakes in the United Charities Building on Park Avenue South for a reported $128 million and used the proceeds to move elsewhere.

The Mission Society, a two-century-old social services agency which had been located in the building since 1892, moved to its Minisink Townhouse, a community center it built

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in 1965, on Malcolm X Boulevard off 143rd Street. The organization’s president, Elsie McCabe Thompson, said it “made perfect sense” to move closer to its constituents in Harlem and the South Bronx. “If you live among the people you serve, then you have a daily reminder of why you do what you do,” she said.

While owning the building helps resist market pressures, Thompson said other groups find it hard to move to Harlem. “I know there are a number who would like to be uptown, but there is limited office space uptown, particularly large swaths of office space,” she said. Those who can operate out of storefronts have more opportunities, she added, but they also compete with commercial ventures.

Residential rents in Central Harlem and East Harlem increased by 53.2 percent and 40.3 percent, respectively, between 1990 and 2014, according to an annual NYU Furman Center report released in May. The de Blasio administration has made it a priority to build or preserve more affordable housing for residents, but Thompson said smaller nonprofits could use help, “because not everyone in the nonprofit sector is a large hospital or large educational institution that have major endowments.”

By contrast, when the Community Service Society left the United Charities Building, it bought an office condo in a Midtown Manhattan building because it was a central location for its workers’ commutes and offered easy access to all five boroughs it serves.

“IT’S GREAT TO BE IN HARLEM,” MARTIN SAID, “BUT WE’RE GOING TO PAY FOR IT FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS.” CSS President and CEO David R. Jones said many nonprofits, particularly non-arts organizations in poor neighborhoods, are already financially strapped. As a neighborhood improves, a nonprofit’s financial challenges can grow: “If I’m sitting there providing HIV services or services to the formerly incarcerated in a gentrified neighborhood, suddenly the political and the local support for that begins to wither,” he said.

Jones said market forces could result in more nonprofit failures or consolidations without government intervention.

City government does offer some programs and services to help nonprofits. The city’s Economic Development Corporation provides incubators and workspaces for such organizations. In Harlem, the Oberia D. Dempsey Multi-Service Center, run by a local nonprofit on behalf of the Human Resources Administration, houses roughly two dozen programs offered by providers such as City Health Works, Graham Windham and Harlem Grown.

Others point to the neighborhood’s poor transportation and limited supply of office space. Suzanne

Sunshine, the head of S. Sunshine & Associates, a real estate firm whose portfolio includes nonprofits, said many organizations have gravitated toward Lower Manhattan, which has better transportation access. While prices in Harlem can be as low as $36 per square foot, versus $51 downtown, she said, few clients have expressed an interest in moving there.

Regardless of the struggles reported by some organizations, Mark Goldsmith, the co-founder and president of Getting Out and Staying Out, another prisoner re-entry organization, said groups can still find storefront space in the neighborhood. He said he likes the convenient access for clients and his staff at his East 116th Street location. “You couldn’t get me out of here for love nor money,” he said.

Tired of high rates and struggling to find a landlord who would take on a tenant with a number of former inmates as clients, Goldsmith knocked on doors and inquired about vacant storefronts until he found a location.

He negotiated an expansion with his landlord two years ago, doubling the local capacity to serve 500 people per year.

A map in the offices of Getting Out and Staying Out displays locations to business and organizations where it has connected its job placement clients. (Dan Rosenblum) NYNmedia.com

September 2016

Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

PERSPECTIVES

LET'S GET ON BOARD WITH IDD SERVICES OVERHAUL

By EDWARD MATTHEWS

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hen Gov. Andrew Cuomo took office in 2011, one of his first acts was to form the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT), bringing thought leaders from around the state to overhaul New York’s unwieldy Medicaid system, which was realizing expenditures of $54.6 billion dollars (including state and federal obligations) covering 5.5 million recipients. It was also

assumed that by the end of 2011, there would be a 15 percent growth in the number of eligible participants enrolled in the program. The major theme of the MRT’s plan was to bring costs more in line and to enroll each recipient in managed care plans for all their Medicaid services.

From the outset, the 135,000 people enrolled in long-term care services with the New York State Office of People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) were exempted from enrolling in managed care plans until a special federal waiver covering them could be negotiated. For reasons too numerous to mention, including bureaucratic bungling and mistrust on all sides, this has not yet happened.

Instead, what has happened in this inexorable “Waiting for Godot” time period is fear and loathing of the inevitability among persons supported, their families and the provider community that serves them.

Frankly, this has befuddled gov-

ernment policy-makers, who believe they are taking steps to insure there is a future of service delivery for all persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) that depend on us. To complicate matters, while trying to figure this out, the government changed course and decided that prior to any long term solutions, New York state had to enact a Transformation Agenda to comply with federal mandates. This involves downsizing some group facilities and relocating some programs, eliminating workshops, among other things, to fit the federal definition of community. The service provider community’s reaction to all this is to further withdraw from meaningful interaction and to mistrust all communications coming from state agencies which, admittedly, have lost much control of their own destiny.

One of my mentors once said

something I’ve never forgotten when it comes to dealing with government at all levels: “If the train is coming down the track, don’t stand in front of it, get on it.” I think now would be a good time. It’s time for the provider community, families, advocates, self- advocates and others to articulate the safeguards, options and choices that must be part of any system, regardless of who the payer is or who’s making policy. We must embrace the fact that whether we agree or not, change is going to happen. We have to stop articulating what we don’t want, what’s not going to work, and focus on how we can make it work.

We have another opportunity to be creative. Let’s not miss the boat by embracing the past and fearing the future.

Edward R. Matthews is chief executive officer of United Cerebral Palsy of New York City.

PERSPECTIVES

ALBANY MUST RESPECT SERVICE PROVIDERS IN IDD REFORM

By MURR AY SCHNEPS

A

recent perspectives piece

by Edward R. Matthews that was published by New York Nonprofit Media on August 3, 2016, was remarkably disappointing, especially from someone who had worked for the Willowbrook Review Panel.* As the vice chairman of that panel, I had hoped that Ed learned the lessons from Willowbrook, but those lessons do not appear to be apparent in his article.

NYNmedia.com

In Ed’s article he accepts Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s representation that his Medicaid Redesign Team was intended to simply “bring costs more in line” and to enroll each recipient into “managed care plans for all their Medicaid services.” Many years ago the institutional system was eliminated and a new system of small community residential homes and services were forced by the Willowbrook Class Action (1972), the Willowbrook Consent Judgment (1975) and its Willowbrook Review Panel (1975). The prior dual system of funding – which contained (and caused competition between) separate streams for severely and mildly developmentally disabled individuals – was also eliminated. Everyone, including severely and profoundly multiply developmentally disabled handicapped individuals, finally sat at the same table with those who were mildly and moderately developmentally disabled.

While the state of New York in-

sists upon taking credit for the miraculous turnaround in the field of the developmentally disabled, it must be noted that New York state opposed and resisted the progress and work of the class action and the review panel, even though it voluntarily participated in the drafting and signing of the consent judgment. Frankly, the state has earned the mistrust it receives from any clear-thinking, fair-minded parent, family member, advocate, litigator or person in the field of developmental disabilities.

Ed’s mentor’s belief that when the train is coming down the track, don’t get in front of it, get on it, sounds cute but is only meant for those who want to be safe.

To my mind, we require a new hybrid approach to advocacy and success. Agree only to what we want, demand it directly and in writing, be armed with a steel fist inside of a velvet glove and move forward toward our goals. Ultimately, a new

class action may be required – frankly, it is my belief that the time for such an action is now. * Willowbrook State School on Staten Island was a residential facility for developmentally disabled children and adults. The Willowbrook Review Panel was a Federal group monitoring implementation of Consent Decree guidelines at Willowbrook. The Consent Decree was a document that set new standards for the care of Willowbrook residents.

Murray Schneps was the vice chairman of the Willowbrook Review Panel appointed by Judge Orrin G. Judd of the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York. He was a trial lawyer, advocate for the developmentally disabled, parent for his daughter, Lara, acting as a named plaintiff on her behalf in the Willowbrook Class Action, an attorney for the Willowbrook Review Panel and an attorney of the named plaintiffs in the Willowbrook Class Action.

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September 2016 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

PERSPECTIVES

“GREEN” YOUR NONPROFIT

By MIKE HOLLIS

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his year marks the 40th anniversary of farmers’ markets in New York City. Launched in 1976 with three markets, the city now hosts nearly 100 markets throughout the five boroughs.

However, public awareness of local food often positions the average New Yorker in a passive role, functioning as a consumer or a student of the movement. This ignores the amazing poten-

tial for the nonprofit sector to create access points and engage the populations we serve as active participants in the local food economy.

Furthermore, potential extends beyond food and agriculture issue-focused organizations, and can draw upon the existing knowledge and experience of nonprofits in job development, employment services, start-up incubation, supportive and affordable housing, day habilitation, public health, and countless other fields – in short, any nonprofit that seeks to build community or develop opportunity should be exploring involvement in New York’s local food movement.

As an example, my organization, Services for the UnderServed (SUS), has built its vocational development portfolio to include pathways for professional training in urban agriculture and food services. Building on internal horticultural knowledge through a therapeutic horticulture initiative, SUS developed a curriculum for an annual workshop series to teach plant propa-

gation, Integrated Pest Management, plant identification and maintenance basics, composting, beekeeping and other core agricultural skills.

As one final example, SUS took advantage of its existing therapeutic horticulture program to give participants direct access to the local market network. Produce grown at SUS client-run gardens is now offered for sale at East New York Farms’ farmers market, taking work already being done and translating it to an entrepreneurial opportunity. SUS similarly is exploring its horticulture programming to develop agricultural products, creating an additional gateway for direct participation in food market and distribution networks.

As the local food movement grows, so does the opportunity for all nonprofits to benefit from participation in that movement. Your organization’s mission does not need an intrinsic connection to urban agriculture, nutrition or food justice for you to take advantage of involvement. Expand your vocational

offerings to include “green” jobs development. Build complementary partnerships that give your clients urban agricultural knowledge and experiences. Take a more entrepreneurial perspective on any existing horticulture programming. Whatever your approach, your nonprofit can play a key role in giving your clients an active voice in our food system, and in keeping the local food movement accessible to all New Yorkers.

Mike Hollis is the urban farms manager at Services for the UnderServed. He coordinates a multi-divisional therapeutic horticulture program for individuals and families facing a range of challenges, including mental illness, developmental disabilities, and HIV/AIDS, often compounded by histories of homelessness, substance abuse, poverty, and unemployment. With over 30 agricultural and horticultural sites in backyards and rooftops citywide, the program engages over 400 clients annually in urban agriculture, vocational training, and nutritional programming.

PERSPECTIVES

HOME-BASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES MUST BE A VIABLE OPTION

By DAW N SAFFAYEH

A

s an agency that operates Article 31 mental health clinics, I can tell you that in terms of impact, these clinics are one of our greatest sources of pride and one of our greatest challenges.

What keeps us going is our clients, who need empowering therapeutic services to help them heal, reframe their stories and move on from treatment to living healthy lives.

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The challenge lies in maintaining fiscal stability as an organization while getting many of our clients to come in regularly for treatment.

Unfortunately, these two challenges are closely interrelated.

I sat in our reception area for a couple of days with our team to understand what is driving our noshow rates. No-show rates, or rates at which clients do not show up to their scheduled and confirmed appointments, hover between 30 and 40 percent. So many things came up – the client who did not have enough money for the MetroCard to get to us (even though we provide round-trip fare once they arrive), the teen who forgot or overslept, the foster parent who couldn't make it in because a child at home wasn't feeling well.

One clear solution for some of these clients would be for our clinics to provide home-based treatment. Many home-based models

have a solid base of evidence behind them in terms of effectiveness. We have been exploring the implementation of a new model, Multi-Systemic Therapy for Emerging Adults (MST-EA), which is based on a home-based therapeutic model with decades of positive outcomes. The new model is designed specifically for emerging adults and needs to be delivered in the home of each young person.

However currently we cannot bill and be reimbursed for this service, even if the young adults are covered through Medicaid.

Overall, if Article 31 clinics could bill for home-based treatment, we could: Reach populations who need mental health services but are not receiving them due to transportation or other barriers to office-based treatment Improve treatment outcomes using specialized models, reducing

unnecessary utilization of mental health services Increase the stability of Article 31 clinics Support families and individuals who are struggling with poverty and mobility issues I hope that supporting homebased mental health services through Medicaid reimbursements becomes part of the agenda in New York state. We could reach so many more New Yorkers and help them achieve healthier, happier lives.

Dawn Saffayeh is the Executive Director of HeartShare St. Vincent’s Services. Prior to her role as Executive Director, Saffayeh served as the Deputy Commissioner of Policy, Planning and Measurement at the NYC Administration for Children's Services. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Fairfield University.

NYNmedia.com

September 2016

Issue N°11 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

PERSPECTIVES

DEDICATED TO THE ‘T’ Transgender advocates across the state assess needs, strategize

By JULI GREY-OWENS

Juli Grey-Owens makes opening statements at the Brooklyn Town Hall.

B

ecause there is no federal law prohibiting discrimination against the transgender community, every state can be considered a battleground in the fight for transgender civil rights. Currently 18 states and the District of Columbia have laws that clearly prohibit discrimination against transgender people. Unfortunately, New York is not one of the progressive few.

In 2002, the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) was created to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. Empire State Pride Agenda, a statewide advocacy organization, along with other advocacy groups, decided that the bill should not include transgender language, since this would hamper its passage. SONDA was passed by the Legislature in December of 2002 and signed into law by Gov. George Pataki.

At that time, the transgender community was basically told, “Don’t worry, we’ll get you next year.” However, as of the end of the 2016 Legislative session, “next year” still has not come. The state Assembly has passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) nine years in a row and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has promised his approval, but the bill has never made it to the floor of the Republican-led state Senate for a vote.

Late last year through an executive action Cuomo directed the State Division of Human Rights to issue regulations that extend protections in the New York State Human Rights Law to protect transgender people from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.

NYNmedia.com

Since this action does not require a bill to pass the divided Legislature, the regulations serve as a “half step” toward transgender equality. In order to have complete equality there must be an explicit law. Thus GENDA must be passed sometime in the future.

Following the news of the Cuomo regulations, the Empire State Pride Agenda announced that it was disbanding, suggesting that their work was done. These two events left the New York State Transgender Community in a quagmire: We still did not have an explicit civil rights law to protect us, and we no longer had a statewide advocacy group to speak for us. Little or no organizing or

participating in demonstrations, rallies and marches. Last year LITAC received a grant from the Long Island Community Foundation, through the Unitarian Universalist Fund that provided the capital and momentum needed to connect with other activists around the state and begin discussions of our next steps.

Our plan was simple: bring together transgender and gender non-conforming (GNC) people, their families, friends and allies to create connections within the various communities around the state. We believed these town hall meetings would be a springboard to create a movement for social, economic and racial jus-

We have included urban communities like Brooklyn and Albany, as well as smaller and more rural communities like Oneonta and Plattsburgh.

Community members spoke openly about their needs and the issues that restrict their safety, equality and ability to succeed. Their responses are the beginning of the legislative agenda our community sorely needs.

As you would expect, major topics include discrimination, legal issues, health care, housing, education and employment opportunities. Much time was spent on issues that deal directly with our community’s fragile condition, like substance abuse, the lack of services for our homeless youth, food insecurity and the serious effects of the rampant HIV and Hepatitis C epidemics. There are concerns for the prison population, the disabled and the aging trans communities. The need for training in government agencies, colleges, and medical services was cited.

Perhaps the most poignant moment came after a less-than-effective Town Hall in Oneonta. During the event, every suggestion or new idea was countered with a negative “We tried that already” or “It will never work.” After three hours of unmotivated feedback, we left feeling quite down. A little over a month later we called the Unitarian Church to set an autumn date for the next event and were told that after our meeting, the group began to get organized and decided that they would work together to create an LGBT center in Oneonta.

Finally, community members were very honest about the need for self-actualization and coalition building. We began a to-do list which hopefully will become the action list for work around the state. We are not

IN FEBRUARY, WE BEGAN USING CONFERENCE CALLS TO CREATE WHAT WE CALL THE NEW YORK STATE TRANSGENDER AND GENDER NONCONFORMING TOWN HALL PROJECT. training had been done in our community, and no transgender-focused legislative agenda had been created to deal with important issues affecting our community beyond the stalled GENDA legislation.

My organization, the Long Island Transgender Advocacy Coalition (LITAC), was founded in 2005 to engage in education, advocacy and outreach in order to achieve public understanding and support for the transgender community. LITAC is in the initial stages of becoming a nonprofit, and our nearly 200 members help create social change by actively

tice for all transgender and gender variant people in New York.

These regularly-scheduled statewide meetings would help us find out firsthand what the needs of our communities are, allowing advocates to create a comprehensive legislative agenda. Further, they provide training to community members interested in advocacy work and prepare them to engage in education and outreach.

In the first half of 2016 we held eight Community Town Halls in seven locations across the state, from Buffalo and Rochester to Long Island.

starry-eyed, but we realize that only through organized commitment, active participation and a strong, unified community voice will we change the serious issues we face.

Juli Grey-Owens is the executive director of LITAC, the Long Island Transgender Advocacy Coalition, and regularly speaks at public forums about the need for statewide transgender civil rights.

Grey-Owens is also the founder and owner of Transgender Management Consulting, an organization which works to help organizations become transgender inclusive.

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Issue N°11

September 2016 MEDIA - REVIEW - DIGITAL - CAREERS - EVENTS

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NYNmedia.com

September 2016

Issue N°11

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

NYNmedia.com

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF FAMILY FOSTER CARE The Senior Vice President of the Family Foster Care Program will manage all aspects of the Family Foster Care Program, including service delivery, staff development, foster home recruitment, facilities operations, budget development and allocations.

The successful candidate will ensure that the Family Foster Care program meets and exceeds the regulatory standards of all pertinent governmental bodies and meet contract compliance related to the delivery of Family Foster Care services contracted by government agencies. The candidate must have a Master’s in Social Work (MSW) and be a Licensed Social Worker with a minimum of ten (10) years experience in the field of social work and in the field of Child Welfare.

For consideration, please forward your resume and salary requirements to: The Vice President of Human Resources & Employee Relations, Saint Dominic’s Home, 500 Western Highway, Blauvelt, NY 10913 Fax: (845)398-2067, email: bwarwick@ sdomhome.org or apply online: www.stdominicshome.org/ careers

SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER Cerebral Palsy of Westchester seeks a Special Education Teacher to join our school in Rye Brook, NY. Candidate must be organized, structured with excellent communication and writing skills.

Requirements: · Must have or be working towards a Teacher certification: Teacher of students with disabilities K-6; K-12 and should also possess an annotation for: Students with severe disabilities. · ABA and TEACCH experience a plus. · Bi-lingual is a plus but not required.

Visit our website to apply.

MULTIPLE OPPORTUNITIES Positions Available at The Children’s Village!

Transitional Residence for Alien Children (TRAC) Program Open Positions: •Case Managers •Casework Specialists •Youth Specialists • Senior Transitional Educators •Clinicians **All positions are bilingual English/ Spanish. Applicants will need to be fluent in both languages in order to be qualified.

Positions are located in Dobbs Ferry (Westchester County), NY. To apply online visit our website at www.childrensvillage.org/employment Please contact us with any questions at 914-693-0600 x1754

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT OF RESIDENTIAL SERVICES Responsibilities: leading and managing the group living arm of the Graham School maintaining a consistent focus on prevention and being highly responsive to safety and risk; developing and managing a program that provides opportunities for youth to build skills leading to a pathway to a successful adult life; demonstrating genuine care and joy in working with youth and remains responsive to their needs. Requirements: Bachelor’s degree; Master’s degree preferred in social work, mental health, public administration or related field; 4+ years managerial experience managing residential based programs serving youth, 7+ years of relevant experience w/Bachelor’s degree; possess exceptional time management and detail-orientation skills.

To apply, visit: www.graham-windham.org/ careers/apply/

QUALITY ASSURANCE ADMINISTRATOR PSCH, Inc. has an immediate need for an experienced administrator to assist the department in maintaining compliance with Federal, State, & agency regulations.

Conduct investigations into serious incidents when needed and serve as liaison between the QA Department and the Justice Center in regard to requests for information related to current investigations.

Requirements: Strong clerical and organizational skills; Ability to prioritize and multi-task; Knowledge of Office suite; Excellent written and oral communication skills; Previous experience in administrative support role; Must be able to transport self to various work sites; Maintains confidentiality at all times.

Visit www.psch.org/human_resources to apply.

ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT OF PERMANENCY, HEALTH AND WELLNESS Position provides direct oversight and management of Permanency Planning, Health and Wellness services. Major responsibilities: leading and managing the Graham School operational arms of permanency services, clinical treatment and health services; taking a lead role at the school in strengthening the fidelity to Graham Windham practice models of Solution Based Casework and Collaborative Problem Solving; and collaborating with Assoc. VP of Residential Services. Requirements: Master’s degree in social work, mental health, public administration or a closely related field required; and 4+ years managerial experience managing residential based programs serving youth.

To apply, visit: www.graham-windham.org/ careers/apply/

MULTIPLE OPPORTUNITIES

Life’s WORC is a leading Agency which provides services to individuals with Developmental Disabilities and Autism. We have just been named as one of the 2016 Best Companies to Work for in NY by the Society of Human Resources Management.

We have positions available as Direct Support Professionals, Residential Nurses and Managers. We offer competitive salaries, excellent benefits and opportunities for advancement.

For almost six decades, AABR has been dedicated to children and adults with developmental disabilities. We are currently seeking: MEDICAID SERVICE COORDINATOR: F/T position in our College Pt. Queens office. Bachelor’s degree in similar field and/or proven similar exp in Case Management and/or Medicaid processing required. Bilingual preferred ART INSTRUCTOR- F/T Work one-on-one with adults with developmental disability. Bachelor’s degree and minimum 1 year related exp.

SPECIAL ED TEACHER- F/T

For consideration, please email your resume to: employment@lifesworc.org Visit our website at www.lifesworc.org for more details about our Agency.

Email resume to: humanresources@ aabr.org Or fax: 718-321-8774 www.aabr.org

MULTIPLE OPPORTUNITIES

REGISTERED NURSE Full Time Registered Nurse (RN) is responsible for providing nursing services, coordination and monitoring of medical services, including psychiatric and medication, in accordance with regulatory agencies and individual needs.

It requires a flexible schedule to include days, evenings and weekends. Under the direction of the Nursing Manager, the RN is responsible for supervising unlicensed direct care staff in nursing tasks and activities.

To apply send resume to Jennifer.cobos@ specialcitizens.org.

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