Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams holds a roundtable dialogue with Black nonprofit leaders in 2023.
Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit
From Jamaica to Bay Ridge and past, residents in each New York Metropolis neighborhood profit from the important providers supplied by our metropolis’s nonprofit organizations.
Metropolis authorities companions intently with human service suppliers who run childcare facilities, after-school packages, group well being facilities, older grownup providers, emergency meals packages, and way more.
However the survival of nonprofit suppliers and the providers they ship are in danger due to the Metropolis’s damaged processes which have delayed funds for his or her work. In consequence, suppliers are struggling to pay employees and chasing down funding they’re owed, slightly than with the ability to deal with their mission of delivering for New Yorkers.
The results of these longstanding challenges is that the Metropolis’s economic system, human providers workforce, and our constituents all undergo—and that can’t proceed with out change. Fixing these issues and bettering our procurement course of now could be notably essential, as federal funding turns into extra unstable and unreliable beneath the Trump administration.
Our metropolis’s nonprofits deserve management and actual options that may lastly transfer the needle to allow them to lastly receives a commission on time, and the Council is able to advance options.
These important organizations are compelled to depend on mere guarantees of fee, slightly than immediate and predictable funding. In Fiscal 12 months 2024 alone, greater than 90 p.c of nonprofit contracts have been registered late, forcing suppliers to ship crucial providers with out finalized contracts or assured well timed fee. Consequently, median fee delays exceeded 350 days, threatening each important group packages and the employment stability of hundreds of nonprofit staff.
Earlier this week, Mayor Eric Adams revealed that the mayoral administration will speed up greater than $5 billion in funds to nonprofit service suppliers in Fiscal 12 months 2026, considerably larger than the $2.8 billion supplied within the present fiscal 12 months. Whereas this enhance in upfront funding is encouraging, we should stay centered on the persistent systemic challenges that trigger persistent delays in funds, which jeopardize quite a few organizations important to our metropolis’s functioning and the nonprofit sector itself.
Moreover, the Council referred to as on the mayoral administration to baseline a rise of $1.5 million to recruit 20 extra service desk staff on the Mayor’s Workplace of Contract Companies (MOCS) to considerably enhance response occasions and assist as distributors undertake the PASSPort system. This funding, in addition to a further $1.9 million to fund 20 crucial positions at MOCS to expedite contract processing, have to be included within the adopted metropolis price range.
Although the clearance of $700 million in delayed funds and the introduction of the upgraded ContractStat monitoring system are additionally constructive steps, they alone don’t signify a complete answer. Addressing backlogs quickly manages signs, however doesn’t clear up the underlying causes.
Recognizing this, the Metropolis Council, which has labored tirelessly for years to champion human service suppliers, has proposed an in depth legislative agenda to create lasting change.
First, we’re proposing laws to mandate quicker funds on the time contracts are registered, eliminating the necessity for nonprofits to allocate essential assets towards chasing overdue funds.
Subsequent, we’re pursuing laws to require obligatory reporting and accountability plans when nonprofits will not be paid on time. Underneath this legislation, Metropolis businesses can be required to concern complete annual stories and corrective motion plans to systematically reduce contract delays, guaranteeing better transparency and oversight.
To make sure nonprofit service suppliers have the eye and assets of a full metropolis company, the Council is in search of to ascertain a brand new Division of Contract Companies. This specialised company can be answerable for streamlining operations, which can foster constant and environment friendly contracting practices throughout the Metropolis.
These reform proposals will not be simply half-baked or performative concepts; they might make a major distinction for the long-term well being of our metropolis’s nonprofit sector and the communities they deserve.
The profitable supply of providers requires true partnership between service suppliers and Metropolis Corridor that totally acknowledges their important contributions and the crucial significance of dependable funds. New York Metropolis can’t credibly assist its nonprofits whereas concurrently undermining them by means of bureaucratic inefficiencies.
Continued fee delays undermine the soundness nonprofit suppliers must successfully serve communities citywide, successfully shredding our social security internet. Complete, systemic reform—not short-term options—is urgently wanted.
New Yorkers deserve reliable providers, nonprofits deserve constant assist, and town’s future depends upon speedy and decisive motion. It’s time for Metropolis Corridor to behave.
Adams is the Speaker of the New York Metropolis Council and represents elements of Queens. Brannan is the Council’s Finance Chair and represents a part of Brooklyn.
