Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Who's Helping the Helpers?

Human Services Council
“Helping the Helpers” (Before 9-9-09)
Produced by Pro-Media Communications on Behalf of the Human Services Council.
August 2009

Michael Falco: It’s one of those rare 90 degree days in New York City this summer and a familiar sound echoes down a barricaded street. A fire hydrant cracked just enough offers a little relief. It’s not a block party, it’s called Play Street. For two months out of the year the street is closed off allowing Children’s Aid Society to conduct one of its 20 camps for low-income youth. Like so many social service providers across the city, this block in East Harlem was just a few generous donors away from being traffic clogged, no place for a child. Bill Weisberg, Chief Operating Officer of Children’s Aid Society is grateful help came when it did.

Bill Weisberg: Other donors, two trustees stepped up, even when their wealth has taken a hit and said I’m giving 40,000, 50,000 extra dollars above my usual donation this year, because you can’t close those camp [CUE MUSIC] slots for children. Camp is what low-income children remember 20 years later. It’s the joy, it’s the fun, you cannot cut back your camps in a year when families are facing more stress. [MUSIC].

Michael Falco: This is Michael Falco on behalf of the Human Services Council. On today’s show we will examine the challenges human service providers currently face which were recently highlighted in the report “The Helpers Need Help” sponsored by the Human Services Council, and published by the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College, The Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management and Baruch College Survey Research. Stick around. [Music]

Michael Stoller: [Laugh] It’s almost biblical, you know, it’s like when the Hebrew slaves were told to make bricks without straw and somehow they did it. The people who go into this field, go into it because they care, because they are passionate that’s why we’re here, because they want to do what they do. They find a way to do it. The danger in saying that is, then the government says, then the foundations say, then the rich people say, ah, well, what the heck, let’s keep cutting them.

Michael Falco: That’s the way Michael Stoller, executive director of the Human Services Council, describes the work New York City’s service providers do in a normal year. But, as Allison Sesso, deputy executive director of the Human Services Council says, their survey of human service providers from across the city called “The Helpers Need Help” showed normal became a distant memory when the economy nosedived last year.

Allison Sesso: The actual survey found some findings that are very clearly demonstrating what we kind of knew anecdotally. Kind of what we have been hearing from our providers and that’s why we had the impetus to do this survey. It was amazing how many people felt, first of all, compelled to write a comment, which just shows you the level of frustration they were feeling. That this was an opportunity for them to vent off the record about how they’re really feeling and a lot of comments focused on their concerns for their staff.

Michael Falco [off mic to Michael Stoller]: Michael, do you mind reading me one of those quotes.

[Paper shuffling]

Michael Stoller: Here’s a couple of good ones. Umm, the increases in food, transportation and housing cost and no salary increases for staff have negatively impacted staff morale. We have working staff who are living in homeless shelters due to housing costs. This is nuts, this is insane. [Cue music]

Michael Falco: It’s fair to call this a perfect storm for New York’s nonprofits. The survey found that 66 percent of respondents saw a cut in public funding and 80 percent reported reductions in private funding. For organizations like Children’s Aid Society that means making tough decisions and cutting services that are now more vital than ever.

Bill Weisberg: Think about what would be the service that principals want most. They want mental health services, the teachers don’t have time, they have 35 kids in a class or 33 children in class. They want mental health service so we put them into our schools, we had to pull them out of several schools this year because of the public and private support collapsing.

Michael Stoller: There’s less government money because there’s less taxes. There’s less foundation giving. There’s less personal giving. Because of the uncertainty in the market and the hit everybody took in the recession, including the government, means we get less. But, it also means we have more clients because, as poverty levels go up, that’s who we serve. So there’s an increase in food pantries for example, we are seeing an increase in domestic violence because of the stresses on the house from people unemployed. So, on a broad level, it cannot be worse for us, the resources are down and the need is up.

[Cue sound, volunteer Midge Caparossa interacting with a group of children: “You want the big apple.”}

Michael Falco [over street sound]: That brings us back to Play Street, where Midge Caparossa, who has been involved with the program at the East Harlem Center for 21 years helps a group of kids paint T-shirts. [Caparossa: “Design things around it, what’s most important to you about New York]. It’s moments like these that Bill Weisberg and the Human Services Council fear losing. [sound fade out]. The survey’s results were distressing. The majority of human service providers have laid people off. Seventy-three percent of organizations have no financial reserves whatsoever and 2010 could be even worse than this year. But there remain intangibles that could help service providers persevere. Like committed staff and volunteers like Caparossa. Both Sesso and Stoller are hopeful the survey will convince others to start giving to social service providers.

Michael Stoller: There are plenty of opportunities to help on the political side, on the direct care side, on the advocacy side or just the cutting a check side that would really enhance your life and the lives of the people you help [Cue Music]

Allison Sesso: The bottom line is this year is going to make a big difference as to where we end up next year.

Michael Falco [Conclusion over music]: To learn more about the Human Services Council’s report and what you can do to help New York City service providers, visit www.humanservicescouncil.org. At 1 p.m. September 9th, the Human Services Council and Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management will unveil the full report at the panel “The Helpers Need Help: New York City’s Nonprofit Human Services Organizations, Persevering in Uncertain Times” at Baruch College. For more information visit the Human Services Council’s Web site and click on the “Did you know” tab or call 212-836-1230 to RSVP. On behalf of the Human Services Council, this has been Michael Falco.

[Music peaks and then fades]

[Pro-Media Stamp—This is a Pro-Media Communications Production]