Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar
Photograph by Anthony Medina
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Meeting Member Jenifer Rajkumar has launched a groundbreaking new invoice, which is able to finish months of ready for nonprofits to obtain funds.
The ‘Get Nonprofits Paid Act’ will guarantee immediate funds to the various nonprofits working for New York Metropolis. Below Rajkumar’s invoice, the Metropolis can be required to pay nonprofit distributors inside 30 days.
In Fiscal 12 months ‘22, three-quarters of the City’s contracts with nonprofits weren’t registered earlier than the beginning date and often took 9 months to course of. Nonprofits should present providers whereas ready for fee, with many resorting to interest-bearing loans to satisfy payroll and different bills.
New York Metropolis has over $12 billion in contracts with nonprofits for important providers. These embody foster care, supportive housing, crime prevention, immigrant providers, senior care, and group outreach. Nonprofits present high-quality, cost-effective providers, typically with distinctive cultural and language competencies for the Metropolis’s various communities.
The ‘Get Nonprofits Paid Act’ is just like present State and Federal legal guidelines on promptly paying contractors. It incorporates exemptions if the New York Metropolis Comptroller can present an interest-free mortgage in lieu of fee or if contracts are for response to a declared State of Emergency.
“We must end the era of nonprofits being paid months and even years too late. Our nonprofits provide critical services for the most vulnerable New Yorkers, and we must provide for them by getting them the funding they are owed. Paying our nonprofits on time gives them the financial support and security they need to thrive,” Rajkumar acknowledged.
Rajkumar, who represents the thirty eighth Meeting district, which incorporates Glendale, Ridgewood, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, and Ozone Park, can be presently campaigning to develop into New York Metropolis’s subsequent Comptroller.
This invoice is the most recent in her push to expedite New York Metropolis contracting. Lately, Rajkumar launched invoice A8864, which strikes town’s procurement course of into the digital age by transitioning public remark from in-person hearings to a web based platform. She believes this reform will save a mean of 20 days per mission, accelerating the timeline for vital infrastructure initiatives akin to inexpensive housing, transit, and faculties.
Alongside A8864, Rajkumar and her colleagues handed one other invoice, A10543, which authorizes progressive design-build for Metropolis tasks. This technique permits the Metropolis to pick out a single entity for design and building from the outset, lowering supply occasions and saving hundreds of thousands in taxpayer {dollars}.
