OPEN LETTER: INVEST IN HUMAN SERVICES, NOT OVER-POLICING OUR COMMUNITIES

In light of the NYPD actions at the protests this past week, and in light of a FY2021 City budget that cuts funding to our social services (e.g., 32% of DYCD) but maintains the NYPD's budget (e.g., 1% of NYPD), we believe that it's time for human services agencies to take a stand. 

This moment requires us to speak out clearly about what we already know: that funding social services is what keeps our communities safe. During this crisis, human services like senior food programs, homeless services, youth development, employment programs, public health and others – proven tools that help us protect and serve communities – are experiencing more demand than ever before, but instead of enhancing funding to these programs, the City is proposing more cuts. A the same time, the proposed Budget maintains funding for the NYPD, an institution that too often fails to protect and serve, and disproportionately harms, these exact communities.

CPC joined 171 human services organizations across New York City to call on the City to make targeted cuts to the NYPD and to protect investments in human services. It’s time to invest in supporting our communities instead of over-policing them.  

Please find the full letter here, or below. 

Dear Mayor de Blasio,

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified what the community based organizations (CBOs) in the human services sector have always known about inequities that exist within the institutions that all New Yorkers rely on. The outrage that has been expressed in our city – and across the country – over the last few days is not solely representative of an isolated incident, it is a reflection of the anger and frustration that exists from inequity and injustice being born on the backs of communities of color, immigrants, and low-income New Yorkers over and over again.

A strong social safety net is the only way that our city survives a crisis. As we experience the unprecedented intersection of a health crisis, a social justice crisis, and an economic crisis that could devastate our city for years, even decades to come, not all City agencies are bearing the burden. We were dismayed to see that the FY2021 Executive Budget makes cuts to crucial programs and social services that serve the very communities who are being hardest hit by COVID-19 — communities of color, immigrants, and low-income New Yorkers — while maintaining funding for the NYPD, an institution that too often fails to protect and serve, and disproportionately harms, these exact communities.

Services like senior food programs, homeless services, youth development, employment programs, public health and others – proven tools that help us protect and serve communities – are experiencing more demand than ever before, but instead of enhancing funding to these programs, the City is proposing more cuts.

Our social services workforce has been designated as essential by the City, and our services will be more essential than ever as more New Yorkers rely on them as we move into recovery. Yet our (mostly women of color and immigrant) workforce is paid poverty wages, sent on the frontlines with inadequate supplies, and is being asked to meet growing community need with less City resources.

Echoing the letter from the City Council released on May 31st, the proposed budget cuts are not equitable. While our social services and discretionary funding (which is a key support for smaller CBOs and CBOs of color) is on the chopping block, funding for the NYPD has been largely maintained. Budgets are a statement of values. When we are facing a budget deficit where the City is emphasizing that difficult decisions must be made across the board, the decision to decrease funding for social services while maintaining funding for the NYPD is the opposite of what our values should be. Particularly in light of the actions of the NYPD over the last few days, it is clear that our city requires diametrically opposite approaches to repair what has been broken.

While this mayoral administration has been working on criminal justice reform, it has also expanded the role of NYPD into human and social services — including putting cops in schools instead of counselors, policing the homeless instead of providing adequate supportive services and housing, criminalizing poverty instead of investing in addressing root causes and uplifting individuals out of poverty, and over-policing young people of color instead of providing summer programming. Cutting funding to social services while continuing to over-police our communities is the opposite of what the City should be doing right now.

As the human services sector is being impacted by budget cuts and as our vulnerable children and families are struggling, it is unjust that the NYPD can maintain its level of funding and not be required to change its harmful policing practices. Police reform must be a mandate for the NYPD in the next fiscal year.

We are proposing a different way, and a new way, to protect our communities – economically, socially, psychologically. Stop over-investing in policing our communities and start to make real investments that serve communities in need. This “new way” is cheaper, it’s proven, it’s just.

As community based organizations, we know that it’s not the police that keeps communities safe. It’s the work that we do to support, enrich, and empower New Yorkers that keeps communities safe. Our communities are safe when residents have affordable and quality housing, transportation and food; seniors and people with disabilities are healthy and engaged; individuals have good jobs and worker protections; youth have summer programming and arts education; immigrants have language accessible services; and more.

It’s time to invest in supporting our communities instead of policing them. It’s time to be bold by making targeted cuts to the NYPD. We need to protect investments in human services, the social safety net, racial and economic justice, and the vision that all New Yorkers deserve to thrive.

Organizational Sign-ons (171):

Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC)

Greenwich House

Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center

82nd Street Academics

Acacia Network

Academy of Medical & Public Health Services

ACQC

African Communities Together

Ali Forney Center

Apicha Community Health Center

Asian Americans for Equality

Bannon Consulting Services

Barrier Free Living Inc.

Beachwold Residential LLC

Black LGBTQ Migrant Project

Boys & Girls Club of Harlem

BRC (Bowery Residents Committee)

Bridge Builders

Broadway Housing Communities

Bronx House

BronxWorks

Brooklyn Community Services

CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities

Cabrini Immigrant Services of NYC

Callen-Lorde Community Health Center

Capitol Hall

Carroll Gardens Association

Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New York

Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens

Catholic Migration Services

Center for Family Life

Center for Independence of the Disabled, NY

Center for the Integration and Advancement of New Americans, Inc. (CIANA).

Chinese Methodist Center Corporation

Chinese Progressive Association

Citizen Action of New York-NYC Chapter

Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York

Citymeals on Wheels

Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF)

Coalition for Homeless Youth

Community Access

Community League of the Heights. Inc

Community Resource Exchange

Comunilife, Inc.

Covenant House New York

Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation

Day One

East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU)

Educational Alliance

Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities

Emerald Isle Immigration Center

Empire State Indivisible

Empire State Progressives

Exponents

F.Y. Eye

Faith in New York

Fifth Avenue Committee

FPWA

Girl Vow

Girls for Gender Equity (GGE)

GMHC

Goddard Riverside

Goodwill Industries of Greater NY and Northern NJ, Inc.

Graham Windham

Grand Street Settlement

Hamilton-Madison House

HANAC Inc.

Hartley House

Heights and Hills

HELP USA

Henry Street Settlement

Here to Here

Hetrick-Martin Institute

Hudson Guild

Human Services Council

India Home

Indochina Sino-American Community Center

Iris House, Inc.

Jacob A.  Riis Neighborhood Settlement

JCC Staten Island

JCCA

JGM Consulting

Kingsbridge Heights Community Center

Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, Inc.

Laal NYC

Lantern Community Services

Literacy Assistance Center

LiveOn NY

Lower East Side Family Union

Lutheran Social Services of New York

Make the Road New York

Martin De Porres Youth and Family Services

Mekong NYC

Mercy Home for Children

MinKwon Center for Community Action

Mixteca Organization, Inc.

MMCC (Mosholu Montefiore Community Center)

Morningside Heights Resistance

Nazareth Housing Inc.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Neighbors Together

Neighborhood Care Team, Inc

New Settlement Apartments

New York City Anti-Violence Project

New York Immigration Coalition

Nonprofit Finance Fund

Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW)

New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC)

NYS Harm Reduction Association

OCA New York Chapter

Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow

Options Center

OutRight Action International

Partnership for After School Education

Partnership with Children

Phipps Neighborhoods

PHNP- NY Metro

Project Hospitality

Providence House, Inc

PSS

Queens Community House

Red Hook Initiative

Riseboro Community Partnership Inc.

Rising Ground, Inc.

S.T.O.P. - The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project

Sadie Nash Leadership Project

Safe Horizon

SAGE

Sakhi for South Asian Women

Samaritan Daytop Village

Sanctuary for Families

Sapna NYC, Inc.

SCAN-Harbor, Inc.

SCO Family of Services

Service Program for Older People, INC

Sheltering Arms

Solstice

South Asian Youth Action

St. Francis Friends of the Poor

Sunnyside Community Services

Supportive Housing Network of NY

The Brotherhood/Sister Sol

The Center for Anti-Violence Education

The Children’s Village

The Coalition for Behavioral Health

The Data Union

The Door

The Fortune Society

The Jewish Board of Family & Children’s Services

The Korean American Family Service Center

UJA Federation of New York

Unique People Services

United Chinese Association of Brooklyn

United Community Centers

United Neighborhood Houses

University Settlement

Urban Justice Center

Violence Intervention Program

Vision Urbana, Inc.

Voces Latinas

Welllife Network

WiN NYC

Wingo NYC

Womankind

Women Creating Change

Women's Center for Education and Career Advancement

You Gotta Believe

Youth Action Programs and Homes, Inc.

Youth Action YouthBuild

Youth Communication

YWCA Brooklyn

About CPC
The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) is the nation's largest Asian American social services organization. Founded in 1965, CPC aims to promote the social and economic empowerment of Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income communities of New York City.

華人策劃協會(華策會)是全美國最大的亞裔美國人及太平洋島民社區服務機構.成立於1965年,華策會專門為紐約市的華裔美國人,移民,和低收入民眾提供金融權力和社區服務.