New York City Council to discuss human services contracts

The New York City Administration for Children’s Services is looking for nurses. Specifically, the agency has a new Notice of Solicitation seeking nursing and support services for children in the agency’s care. Failte Care Corporation New York Irish Center has won a $162,500 contract with the city Department for the Agency to fund senior services, according to the City Record. A $117,284 contract for similar services was also awarded by the agency to Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services.

New York Presbyterian Hospital has received a $631,761 contract from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to fund school health centers. Mount Sinai Hospital received a $1.32 million contract to combat teen pregnancy, according to the City Record.

A new report to be published in the Harvard Law Review finds that Bronx Defenders has saved clients 1.1 million days behind bars. The study was released on Nov. 12 and finds that the nonprofit’s “holistic” model of criminal defense is responsible for shortening sentence length by 24 percent, reducing incarceration rates by 16 percent and cutting pre-trial detention by 9 percent, according to a statement on the nonprofit’s website.

“Holistic defense does more than ask about the circumstance of clients’ cases,” reads the statement. “It requires teams to spend time getting to know clients as individuals. The Bronx Defenders’ social workers and social service advocates learn about the challenges that clients face and help them tackle the issues that stand in the way of the futures they seek.”

Read the 55-page study here.

Henry Street Settlement has completed a five-year $20 million capital campaign. There’s a lot on the to-do list for the Lower East Side-based nonprofit, which recently celebrated its 125th year anniversary. Here’s a full breakdown of the work, taken, more or less, verbatim from a Nov. 13 press release:

• Creation of the Dale Jones Burch Neighborhood Center from a 150-year-old firehouse, purchased from the City of New York for $1, slated for completion in spring 2019. The center will serve about 4,000 local, low-income residents with a wide array of services, including job-readiness services, health insurance and public benefits, parenting support, legal assistance, and connections to numerous other Henry Street programs, such as youth programming – total cost: $5 million.
• Modernization of the 301 Henry Street youth program site, to ensure that the space is both welcoming and used efficiently for a large variety of youth and young-adult programs, including early childhood education, summer camp, programs for at-risk and disconnected youth, college access programming, and one of the city’s largest Summer Youth Employment Programs – total cost: $2 million
• Revitalization of the Obie Award–winning Abrons Arts Center, a storied cutting-edge, avant-garde performance and arts education space, to improve its accessibility, transparency, and visual appeal to the community as well as increase the functionality of its space – total cost: $7 million.
• Preservation of the historical integrity of landmark buildings at 263, 265, and 267 Henry Street, including extensive infrastructure work and collaboration with the Municipal Art Society of New York to undergo an innovative energy retrofit project.
• Investment in Henry Street’s administrative and program capacity, particularly in human resources and information technology, to maximize staff performance and ensure smooth delivery of services – total cost: $2 million.
• Creation of a building reserve fund to attend effectively to critical ongoing capital needs and provide for future maintenance to our 17 program sites – total cost: $3 million.

Nonprofit Amida Care has received an award from the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. Doug Wirth, president and CEO of Amida Care, accepted the award on behalf of the organization on Oct. 25, according to a press release. The award is in recognition of the Medicaid plan provider’s contributions to helping communities of color living with HIV and AIDS.

Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York has received a $41,555 grant from Long Island Real Estate Group. The money will fund the updates to a kitchen at a facility in Wading River that feeds 120 at-risk youth and staff. "LIREG is proud to continue our support for one of Long Island's longest-established agencies devoted to improving the lives of people with developmental disabilities in our area," Peter Schapero, chair of the LIREG Charity Committee, said in a Nov. 6 press release.

The New York City Council will have a hearing today about city contracts. New legislation would require city agencies to inform nonprofit vendors about the reasons behind late payments, a longtime complaint. The legislation, sponsored by Councilman Rory Lancman, would also require city agencies to report any late payments to the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services. That office in turn would release a report every six month compiling information about late payments from city agencies.

The meeting will take place at 10 a.m. on the 14th floor of 250 Broadway in Manhattan. Got thoughts to share on the legislation? Send them along to zwilliams@nynmedia.com.
Here’s the testimony from the Human Services Council: