On Friday, June 11th, the Human Services Recovery Taskforce released a report titled, Essential or Expendable? How Human Services Supported Communities Through COVID-19 and Recommendation to Support an Equitable Recovery.
The Human Services Recovery Taskforce, convened by the Human Services Council and led by co-chairs Frederick Shack, Chief Executive Officer of Urban Pathways, alongside James Rubin, Chief Executive Officer of Meridiam NA, “was formed to help analyze and develop strategies for strengthening the resilience of the sector during and following the COVID-19 health crisis.”
The report’s analysis looks at the many ways that human services nonprofits stepped up during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that, despite the many challenges presented, 82% of organizations launched new services to ensure community members’ needs were met. Despite the government’s reliance on human services nonprofits to provide essential services, including homeless services, childcare, senior services, food pantries, and aid to survivors of domestic violence, City and State government did not always come to the aid of these organizations with necessary funding and supports. The report discusses issues of late payments and non-reimbursed COVID-related expenses, unveiling that New York could see as many as 1,829 nonprofits close their doors because of funding cuts and COVID-19 losses.
“Nonprofit human services providers like Urban Pathways and our workers have proudly carried New Yorkers through one of the city’s most vulnerable times. We remain deeply committed to our communities, but we can’t do it alone,” said Fred Shack, Chief Executive Officer of Urban Pathways and Co-Chair of the Human Services Recovery Task Force.
“The conversation regarding the government supporting nonprofits is long overdue — we need action so we can continue to deliver transformative services at this critical hour.”
The Report also provides four key recommendations for the ways that government partners can address these shortcomings and help strengthen the human service sector moving forward. You can find the recommendations and read the report in full here.
And watch the Panel Discussion, where Fred joins colleagues across the sector to discuss the report and how the sector can be strengthened move forward here.
