Strengthen Nonprofits Providing Key Services by Reducing Administrative Burdens, Report Says
Human services (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
The nonprofit providers New York City and State contract to deliver essential human services spend hundreds of thousands of hours and millions of dollars each year filing paperwork and performing repetitive administrative tasks in order to receive government funding.
That's because of compounded inefficiencies built up across a largely decentralized contracting and reporting system, according to a new report from Center for an Urban Future (CUF), a policy research group focused on economic mobility. The new report describes issues with duplicative contracting and reporting requirements within and across government agencies, obstacles to reimbursement, excessive and unnecessary audits, and prohibitively arduous discretionary funding requirements.
In one example, a youth-services provider, Good Shepherd Services, had to submit the same general liability information each year for 25 distinct contracts it holds with the Department of Youth and Community Development, and is audited on all 25 of those contracts each budget cycle. In another example, providers are asked to email documents to the state Office of Children and Family Services that are already available for review by other agencies on the state's digital Grants Gateway platform because OCFS doesn't use the same online system.
Nonprofits, many of which operate on shoestring budgets, often have to hire full-time staff to ensure compliance with byzantine requirements like these, positions that could otherwise be dedicated to service provision.
In its report, Center for an Urban Future is calling for standardized and widespread use of city and state contracting systems, and a reduction in overly cumbersome reporting and auditing requirements.
"City and state government have a major opportunity to boost support for human services nonprofits, an opportunity that costs the city almost nothing, and that's by reducing or eliminating these excessive administrative burdens in the contracting process," said Eli Dvorkin, CUF's editorial and policy director, in an interview.
Human services providers meet New Yorkers’ most critical needs, from emergency meals to housing and healthcare. They make up much of the social safety net while often struggling to stay afloat themselves. That was especially true at the height of the pandemic when demands on their services were at their highest levels and government and philanthropic funding at its most uncertain.
While the city and state have adopted digital platforms to streamline contracting, not all government agencies use them and they still lack standardized document or formatting requirements, according to the report, which is based on nearly 40 interviews with human services providers.
When reporting on outcomes from funding, required information is often duplicated over a smattering of isolated systems, making it difficult for providers and government officials to track or analyze results for people receiving multiple services. Even then, some agencies, like DYCD in Good Shepherd's case, audit all contracts, despite federal auditing guidelines requiring between just 15% and 20% of contracts be reviewed, the report notes.
Vouchers and reimbursements are often turned down over minor filing inconsistencies and even the smallest expenses, in some cases as low as $5.50, require extensive documentation, according to the report.
Nonprofits seeking New York City Council discretionary dollars to enhance services and secure needed funds outside of the competitive bidding process, face so many paperwork queries that the labor costs often outweigh the potential funding. In one case described in the report, a math enrichment program working with underserved youth called BEAM (Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics) had to file 37 documents in order to receive a $5,000 discretionary award, a burden that proved so costly the organization stopped seeking discretionary funding as part of its model.
The report suggests the City Council, the Mayor's Office of Contract Services, and City Comptroller Brad Lander work together to simplify the application and reporting procedures for discretionary funding.
Mayor Eric Adams has made it a point to ensure nonprofits are paid for the work they are contracted to do, clearing a $4.2 million backlog in unpaid contracts by August after partnering with Lander to launch the Joint Task Force to Get Nonprofits Paid on Time. In 2022, Adams established the Mayor's Office of Nonprofit Services and appointed Karen Ford, former COO of HELP USA, a national homeless and housing services organization, to be its executive director.
The CUF report argues reducing administrative burdens in contracting is a separate area of "low-hanging fruit" that the city and state can take to alleviate pressure on human services providers. That includes ensuring all city agencies use the city's digital PASSPort system and all state agencies use the state's Grants Gateway system for contracting, and that each uses the same documentation standards — steps within the power of Mayor Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul.
Government leaders should also reduce the number of audits nonprofits are subject to, the report suggests. While nonprofits have misused funds and wasted tax dollars leading some to call for greater oversight of the industry, Dvorkin argued eliminating frivolous requirements, like universal auditing, is unlikely to compromise existing accountability.
As the Hochul administration moves forward with plans to replace the Grants Gateway portal, it should conduct robust outreach with nonprofit providers to ensure the new system can function as intended, the report states.
CUF argues other data management steps are relatively simple, like using systems that allow nonprofits to upload information directly from digital spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel. Another is creating so-called document vaults – secure digital repositories for providers to save frequently requested documents directly to the online portals, something PASSPort's predecessor system, the HHS Accelerator, had.
“Reforming our nonprofit contracting processes is a major priority for the Adams administration, which is why the mayor announced 'A Better Contract for New York' with the city’s comptroller before he took office during the transition, to ensure nonprofit human services providers are paid in a more timely manner," wrote a City Hall spokesperson, referring to the alternate title of the Joint Task Force to Get Nonprofits Paid on Time, in an email. The city has now unlocked over $5.3 billion in unpaid contract dollars to 624 providers, they said.
"We plan to build on these ambitious steps in the months ahead to reduce unnecessary inefficiencies, and will review the recommendations advanced in the report,” the spokesperson for Mayor Adams wrote.
"New York City’s non-profits provide critical services and deserve timely and efficient access to the city funding allocated to them," wrote a spokesperson for New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, in an email to Gotham Gazette. "The challenges and delays in accessing funds through the contracting process has long been an issue of concern to the Council. It is critical for the City to strike the right balance between administrative requirements and safeguards in funding organizations with varying levels of back-office capacity."
The Council's committees on aging, contracts, and youth services will hold a joint oversight hearing this month on nonprofit contracting and the Adams-Lander task force recommendations. That will include exploring ways to simplify the discretionary funding process, the Council spokesperson said.
Queens City Council Member Julie Won, chair of the Council’s contracts committee, discussed the need for discretionary funding reform at a recent CUF panel that was quoted in the report. “When you’ve been allotted $10,000 in discretionary funds, it is not okay to have a nonprofit with 30 employees dedicate two of those employees to it for weeks at a time,” Won said. “We’ve created such an administrative burden for only $10,000, which isn’t even enough to cover one payroll.”
A spokesperson for Lander acknowledged the problems identified in the report and noted the issues were an ongoing focus of the office. “Making our procurement process simpler and quicker for nonprofits providing vital services is critical and we welcome the Center for an Urban Future’s contributions to the conversation on contracting reform," said Chloe Chik, spokesperson for the comptroller. "Together with the Mayor’s office and partners in the Council, we continue to work toward streamlining the procurement and oversight process to ease the burden on nonprofits while maintaining integrity.”
Chik noted that some of the recommendations in the Joint Task Force report complement CUF's recommendations, including streamlining the discretionary award process. Chik also said there is already a commitment at the city level to integrate all contracting agencies into PASSPort.
"The Adams administration should commit to reforming at least a half dozen of the most maddening contracting requirements by the end of 2023," the CUF report states.
"These are relatively modest changes that could be rolled out in a matter of weeks or months, not years. And we've seen other challenges that have unfolded over much longer timelines," said Dvorkin, noting the mayor has laid some of the groundwork already by creating the Mayor's Office of Nonprofit Services.
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by Ethan Geringer-Sameth, reporter, Gotham Gazette
@GeringerSameth @GothamGazette
Race for New ‘Asian Opportunity’ Brooklyn City Council District Set to Take Off
A community event in Sunset Park (photo: John McCarten/City Council)
The decennial redistricting process in New York created a new “Asian opportunity” City Council district in Brooklyn, and three candidates have declared their intentions to run for the seat in the fast-approaching June primary.
Asian Americans were the fastest growing population in New York City between 2010 and 2020, according to the U.S. Census, accounting for more than half of the increase in the city’s population. South Brooklyn is home to one of the largest concentrations of Asian Americans in the city in neighborhoods including Bensonhurst, Gravesend, and Sunset Park. That led the New York City Districting Commission to redraw Council District 43 into a new district with a majority Asian American population – combining Bensonhurst, New Utrecht, and parts of Dyker Heights and Sunset Park – giving the growing community a prime opportunity to elect one of their own to the City Council. There has never been an Asian City Council member from Brooklyn.
Because of the redistricting process, the entire 51-seat City Council is heading into another election this year, just two years after the most recent citywide election. And the new District 43 is expected to be among the competitive races since there is no incumbent expected to run. (Council Member Justin Brannan, who represents the current, outgoing District 43 is running in the new District 47. And Council Member Ari Kagan, who represents the outgoing District 47, recently switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, and will likely face Brannan in the general election.)
The population of the new 43rd City Council district is almost 54% Asian, 27.3% white, and 15.3% Hispanic, according to the CUNY Mapping Service’s Redistricting & You project. Though more than half of voters in the district are registered Democrats, it overwhelmingly went for Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, in the 2021 mayoral election, over Democrat Eric Adams by a margin of 60.1% to 35.2%.
There are already three candidates running in the Democratic primary for the new 43rd district: Susan Zhuang, chief of staff to Assemblymember William Colton; Wai Yee Chan, executive director of Homecrest Community Services; and Stanley Ng, a retired computer programmer. Other candidates could enter the fray any time, and it could be a district where a Republican has a chance to win given recent voting trends in the communities that make up the new district.
In interviews with Gotham Gazette, the three candidates expressed similar priorities and concerns about crime and public safety, education and language services, and cost of living, among other issues that have been salient in Asian American and other communities in recent elections.
The race has some early echoes of the closely decided election in State Senate District 17 – a newly-created district that overlaps largely with Council District 43 – where Iwen Chu became the first Asian American woman elected to the State Senate in November. But Chu won her Democratic primary without competition, then held on to narrowly defeat a white Republican candidate in the general election, where she had to outrun Governor Kathy Hochul at the top of the ticket by a wide margin to capture the seat. Republicans have done well in the neighborhoods of the new 43rd Council District in recent mayoral, gubernatorial, and other elections.
“Crime and public safety continues to be the top issue for District 43 and I would say for Asians across New York City,” said Yiatin Chu, president of the Asian Wave Alliance, a political club that endorsed both Democrats and Republicans, though mostly the latter, in the recent statewide election. “The other is education. Education remains a top focus for the community and for District 43 in several different ways.”
What remains a concern for candidates and activists is low voter turnout among Asian Americans. A recent study by the Asian American Federation, an advocacy and research nonprofit, of turnout patterns in Assembly District 43, which overlaps with about half of the new Council district, found that turnout in the 2022 election was significantly lower in election districts (smaller geographic areas within Assembly districts) with a majority of Asian American voters.
“It's a very immature electorate,” Yaitin Chu said. “That can be said about, you know, all of the significant Asian communities but I would say this one especially, given the demographics of the mostly Chinese, largely newer immigrants that live in this district.”
Susan Zhuang
“I want to help more people in our community,” Zhuang said in a phone interview. “That's my home. I want to help more people at home.”
Zhuang, who immigrated to the U.S. in 2007 from China, began her involvement with government as a volunteer for Assemblymember Colton eight years ago, before becoming his chief of staff. She has already been endorsed by Colton as well as former City Council Member Mark Treyger. Colton, who was just reelected, represents Assembly District 47, which covers Bath Beach and large parts of Gravesend.
As Colton’s chief of staff, she said she has personally helped thousands of constituents every year as they navigate the city’s bureaucracy. “I talk with them. I know what they want and what they need,” she said. She has also had to work with everyone from law enforcement to victim services, nonprofits groups and social workers.
In the wake of rising hate crimes, particularly against Asian Americans, in the last few years, Zhuang said she worked to bring together different communities to address the issue. “I bring everyone together to work for one issue, a common issue and then that's how I can empower the community,” she said.
Zhuang said she will be focused on crime and education, quality-of-life issues that are essential to her district. “I want public safety and also the best education for our community,” said Zhuang, who has two children in public school. She said she would advocate for gifted and talented programs and specialized high schools, as well as the need for more resources for special education. She wants an enhanced police presence across the district as well as increased funding for the NYPD, while also investing in services for those leaving the justice system.
She also wants to push for more affordable housing and language services and culturally sensitive services for small business owners in the district.
Wai Yee Chan
Chan, who was born and raised in Hong Kong, has lived in New York City for 27 years. “I have seen firsthand how immigrants struggle and how they cannot navigate and advocate for themselves,” she said, citing her time attending Teachers College at Columbia University.
Chan has lived in Queens for the last ten years and is moving back to Brooklyn as she runs for the Council seat, according to City & State. She has worked as a nonprofit executive for much of the last 20 years, most recently becoming the executive director of Homecrest Community Services, a nonprofit that serves Asian American immigrants and seniors, in 2020. She also serves on the Language Assistance Advisory Committee of the citywide Civic Engagement Commission and previously served as community engagement director for Council Member Brannan. She has quickly been endorsed by State Senator Chu and former Assembly Member Peter Abbate Jr.
Her primary concern, she said, is improving services for special needs families who have been “neglected and excluded at the city level for a long time.” “My heart is always on this group of people,” she said.
Chan also wants to expand the city’s Geriatric Mental Health Initiative to all senior centers in the district.
Chan supports gifted and talented programs and the Specialized High School Admissions Test, both of which former Mayor Bill de Blasio sought to replace in moves that caused significant controversy, particularly in the Asian American community. “But I do believe that we need to secure more resources for afterschool programs and summer programs on a city level, to help working parents and working families as well as immigrant communities,” Chan also said.
Public safety, of course, is also a top concern for Chan. “I do think that residents need to feel safe and socially connected, as well as small businesses need to feel safe to conduct business in our community,” she said. “I believe this is the fundamental need we all ask for. I will lift any concern to the city level and be a voice for that.”
Stanley Ng
“Why am I running? I feel that everybody in the community should have a voice,” said Ng, a retired computer programmer and member of the Citywide Council on High Schools. He was also previously a member of the Community Education Council for District 20.
Ng said that after retiring during the pandemic to spend time with friends and family, he worked with food banks and pantries to help out his community. “I'm a community person,” he said. “I am not involved with any of the political clubs. I am going to be representing the community that has no voice in the current structure.”
Ng’s top priorities are tackling crime and improving education. He wants judges to have more leeway in setting bail and urged the State Legislature to rollback bail reforms that were passed in recent years eliminating bail for most nonviolent crimes. “They must give judges more discretion…It is not working,” he said of the bail law.
He’s also focused on bolstering Gifted and Talented programs and specialized high schools. He once sued the New York City Department of Education over the Specialized High School Institute (SHSI), a program that helped prepare students for the SHSAT but excluded Asian and white students. He is one of the founders of the Scholastic Merit Fund, an advocacy group that fought against de Blasio’s efforts to eliminate the SHSAT.
Another issue that Ng said he is focused on is food insecurity in the district. “I’m probably one of the few people that can get businesses, nonprofits and the government to combine to get things to work,” he said.
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette
Max Politics Podcast: Eric Adams' First Year as Mayor & What Comes Next, with Sally Goldenberg
Mayor Adams (photo: Caroline Willis/Mayoral Photo Office)
January 5, 2023 - Max Politics Podcast: Eric Adams' First Year as Mayor & What Comes Next, with Sally Goldenberg
Sally Goldenberg, City Hall bureau chief for Politico NY, joined the show to discuss Eric Adams' first year as mayor and what to watch in 2023.
Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts at Max Politics.
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