Sign-On for Fair Wages and Fair Contracting with New York State

Instructions: Read each memo of support below and indicate if you support the legislation by choosing "SIGN ON". Please enter your full name, organization name, and email address. Important: please be sure you are an authorized person to represent your organization's support. Your organization's name will be listed on the official SIGN ON letter sent to elected officials.

Context: More than 300 members strong, Nonprofit Westchester is the county’s only membership organization solely dedicated to advancing the needs and interests of Westchester’s nonprofit sector, the people and communities served, and the nonprofit workforce. Westchester’s nonprofit sector benefits from strong partnerships with government on the local, state and national levels. Yet, challenges exist in the government-nonprofit partnership that relate to contracting and are addressed in the following legislative items.
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5.MEMO OF SUPPORT - S.4877 (Mayer)/A.2740 Paulin

NonProfit Westchester (NPW) supports S.4877 (Mayer)/A.2740 Paulin which would ensure a timely procurement process for not-for-profits contracting with the state.

As nonprofits partner with government to provide much needed services they face challenges, especially in contracting. Late procurement and payment plague the system, and this results in inefficiencies and increased, nonreimbursable costs to nonprofits. Nonprofits may have to let go of staff or take on debt because of funding uncertainties.

A nonprofit cannot receive payment from the state until the contract is formally approved by the state Comptroller. Nonprofits are required to start providing services by the start date of the contract. This leaves many nonprofits providing services in their communities for the state and uncertain about when they will receive payment. S.4877 (Mayer)/A.2740 Paulin would require state agencies to register contracts with nonprofit organizations within thirty (30) days of the start date of the contract. Requiring this approval will help nonprofits to receive payment for their services in a timelier manner, helping to ensure the fiscal health of nonprofits.

For these reasons, NonProfit Westchester supports S.4877 (Mayer)/A.2740 Paulin.

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6.MEMO OF SUPPORT S.7793 (Persaud)/A.8437 (Hevesi)

Nonprofit Westchester (NPW) supports S.7793 (Persaud)/A.8437 (Hevesi) which adds certain human services programs to the designated human services programs eligible for a cost-of-living adjustment.

Currently, New York State is required to provide cost of living increases (COLAs) to contracted human service workers as delineated in budget Article VII language. However, the current human services COLA does not apply to every human services worker and human services program in New York State. Because of this, many human services workers across the state do not receive the COLA and instead are held at wages that are not conducive to their own health and wellbeing. This has made it challenging for human services provider organizations to hire and retain qualified staff. It also creates challenges within multi-service agencies when some staff receive the COLA, while others do not.

This bill would add designated programs as eligible for the COLA that were not previously included. This would ensure that more human services workers had access to COLA, increasing their quality of life and well-being and providing equity across human services programs.

For these reasons, Nonprofit Westchester supports S.7793 (Persaud)/A.8437 (Hevesi).

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7.MEMO OF SUPPORT S.1291 (Brouk)/A.4046 (Gunther)

Nonprofit Westchester (NPW) supports S.1291 (Brouk)/A.4046 (Gunther) which would establish an annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) for designated human services workers.

New York human services workers are facing more challenges now than they did even a year ago. Workforce shortages are consistently high throughout the state with a turnover rate of close to 40%. This paired with rising inflation and a lack of workforce protections means the human services industry must continually ask for more money and higher wages every year to just stay afloat.

The human services industry has long been languishing in New York where there has been a 17-year period without a meaningful COLA. If wages had continually been prioritized and funded, many in this industry would see a 30% increase in earnings from 17 years ago.

This legislation would remove the COLA for human services workers from the budget process and tie it to the consumer price index. This would provide a yearly COLA that workers could rely on while the industry can begin to address workforce shortages.

For these reasons Nonprofit Westchester supports S.1291 (Brouk)/A.4046 (Gunther).

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8.MEMO OF SUPPORT S.4675 (Ramos)/A.8937 (Bronson)

Nonprofit Westchester (NPW) supports S.4675 (Ramos)/A.8937 (Bronson) which would create a Human Services Employee Wage Board to recommend adequate minimum wages for human services employees.

Human services workers are essential to the State and localities' ability to assist New Yorkers confronting a range of social challenges. To achieve cost savings, government has transferred most legally mandated human services for New Yorkers to nonprofits and in turn have created massive pay disparities within the field. Government is not just the predominant funder of human services in New York, it is also the main driver of human services salaries as it directly sets salary rates on contracts or does so indirectly by establishing costs for a unit or service, along with required staffing on a contract. Nonprofits contracted to provide human services are not only provided insufficient funding to pay their employees, but are met with chronic delays in payment, underfunding, and a lack of sincere collaboration to create meaningful and lasting interventions.

These contracting practices have created extreme pay disparities where human services workers make on average 71% of what government employees make, and 82% of what private sector workers receive. The pay disparities in the human services sector also have important consequences for race and gender equity. The human services provider work- force of nearly 800,000 people is overwhelmingly female (66%), over two-thirds are full-time workers of color (68%), and nearly half (46%) are women of color. The majority (63%) have a 4-year college degree or better; yet they make about $20,000 a year less than a public sector worker with a comparable education. A human services employee wage board is necessary to investigate the pay disparities between government employees and employees of contracted human services providers and develop recommendations on adequate and equitable wages.

For these reasons, Nonprofit Westchester supports S.4675 (Ramos)/A.8937 (Bronson).

Does your Organization Support this legislation?(Required.)
9.COLA Letter to NY State Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and NY State Assembly Speaker Heastie

Dear Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Haestie:

Thank you for including a 3.2% COLA in their One House Budgets. Although the State relies on human services workers to provide essential services to millions of New Yorkers, government contracts have resulted in nonprofit human services workers being some of the lowest paid workers in our economy.

This is why we support a 3.2 % cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for human services workers. Although a COLA alone will not get us to full pay equity for human services workers, a COLA is a key investment to ensure wages in contracts are not stagnant and keep up with cost-of-living. We ask for your continued support during budget negotiations.

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Please be sure to click DONE below to submit your responses.

If you have any questions, please contact:
Jan Fisher, Executive Director, Nonprofit Westchester or
Deanne Braveman, Senior Vice President, Mercury LLC.