Serving meals (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

The organizations that New York City contracts to deliver everything from essential health and homeless services to youth and senior programing are striking for better compensation in the next city budget.

Over 100 human services providers will pause many non-life-saving activities on Thursday to demonstrate what they say are the consequences of underfunding the sector as inflation and compounding economic and social crises strain the system. Led by the Human Services Council of New York, the "day without human services”

Getting people fed (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

In this season of gratitude and reflection, we are grateful for the unprecedented commitments that New York City and New York State are making to the people who perform the essential services of New York’s safety net.

Home care workers’ hourly wages increased by $2 in October, and New York City human services nonprofits are receiving $68 million earmarked for workforce investment. Our New York State contracts included a 5.4% wage increase, and the

NYPD officers (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)

Budgets, as the saying goes, reflect our values. Take a closer look at where the money goes – or doesn’t – and you can readily see our nation’s priorities.

This is perhaps never truer than during an economic downturn. At FPWA, we’ve examined the trends in federal spending for human services using our online Federal Funds Tracker. We know that since the Great Recession ten years ago, the federal government’s austere budgets have left human service