Statement from Robin Hood on NYC budget deal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Robin Hood CEO Wes Moore calls on Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson to keep their promises to fix NYC’s broken contracting system
NEW YORK (June 14, 2019) – Robin Hood, New York’s largest poverty fighting organization, called on the City of New York to deliver on promises made to repair the city’s broken contracting system as part of New York’s $92.8 billion 2020 budget, announced today.
New York City contracts with over 1,000 community based organizations to deliver critical human services – including homeless shelters, food pantries, mental health clinics, and domestic violence survivor programs – but pays those groups inadequately and late on its contracts, creating an annual financial burden of nearly $750 million on those organizations.
In announcing their handshake deal over the New York City budget today, Mayor Bill de Blasio invited nonprofits whose overhead costs are unreimbursed to submit those costs to the Office of Management and Budget.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson also pledged to work with the de Blasio administration to improve the contracting process, which currently delivers payment an average of 221 days late.
Robin Hood CEO Wes Moore delivered the following statement in response to this budget:
“Today the Mayor and the Speaker have only delivered a promise to pay nonprofits fairly and on time. But it is the over 1,000 nonprofits that continue to serve this city’s poorest and most vulnerable communities even as they are owed hundreds of millions of dollars by the de Blasio Administration and the City Council,” said Wes Moore, CEO of Robin Hood.
“Yet again, these nonprofits have given the de Blasio administration time to fix its broken contracting system — time and money these nonprofits and millions of New Yorkers cannot afford. The Mayor and Speaker cannot lay claim to leading the fairest city in this country until nonprofits are paid fairly and on time. The clock starts ticking now on the Mayor and the Speaker, and we fully intend to hold them accountable.”
Press Contact: bjones@robinhood.org