If an urgent matter arises, we’ll post it.

Click on  A.Cuomo  to see the letter to Andrew Cuomo and on R Lazio  to see the letter to Rick Lazio. Click on Issues and Positions to read the recommended policy positions which cover:

• Financial Stability of Working New Yorkers
• Early Childhood Education and After-School
• New York State’ s Business Relationship with Not for Profits
• 2-1-1 Information and Referral

Local United Ways are encouraged to share these letters with their campaign staff in your community.

Click here to read the column.

To show support for this position, post a comment on the newspaper site.

Click on Charitable Deduction Cap Memo   to see the updated memo of opposition which now includes our colleagues at the American Red Cross.

Click here to see a strong condemnation of the proposal in today’s on-line Philanthropy Today.

Click here to see the coverage in the Gannett  “Politics on the Hudson” blog, posted yesterday afternoon.

The federations urge lawmakers to drop, or alternatively make this provision sunset, after one year.

Click on Memo of Opposition to see the joint memorandum.

Each segment featured co-presenters of state agency and not for profit leaders.

Two local United Way executives attended, James Brown (Tompkins County) and Ron Hatch (Southern Tier). James spoke to the repository of key documents for his funded programs that his United Way has developed and maintained – the subject of numerous recommendations from around the state for the state to do the same. Ron Hatch spoke to the importance of establishing a set of values to guide the funding process against which every request for documentation or other information is measured. Using this guide they made major cuts to their own infomration requests of funded programs.

Susan Hager was invited to address the participants following the Comptroller’s remarks, along with Secretary of State Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez. Rather than review the problems, which were well-known by the attendees, she framed a “what if” scenario. Click on Notforprofit-StateLeadersRemarks   to see her remarks.

The Comptroller’s press release notes that  “DiNapoli’s office found 5,844 of 6,318 contracts, valued at $4.2 billion, were approved an average of 152 days late by state agencies in 2009….Approximately $176,000 was paid in interest to not-for-profits by state agencies for processing their contracts late in 2009, an 18 percent increase from last year.”

Click here to see the report which includes charts detailing the breakdown of late contracts by new and renewal contracts and a list of state agencies that assisted in compiling the report.

Click here to read the press release which includes a link to a region by region breakdown of  not for profit contracts,  the dollar value, and the number of days late they were approved.

Beginning tomorrow this blogger will be on vacation for a week and hoping for better news when I return.

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Today the United Way of Westchester and Putnam is hosting their annual Not for Profit Summit with U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as the key-note speaker. Last week Naomi Adler, their President hosted a NFP conversation with State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Click here to read the article about this forum in the Westchester Business Journal

Similar discussions have taken place with DiNapoli across the state hosted by United Ways and other colleagues including one in Buffalo and Erie County last Friday, with leadership from President Michael Weiner and their Agency Executive Council.  Other previous events have taken place on Long Island, in New York City, Rochester, and Jamestown, with additional events planned for Corning, Plattsburgh and Syracuse.

Today a similar dialogue took place in the Capital Region, co-hosted by The Community Foundation for the Capital Region and the New York Council of Non Profits. The Community Foundation’s President and CEO Karen Bilowith is a member of United Way of New York State’s Board of Directors. At this morning’s forum Comptroller DiNapoli offered  warm and substantive praise for United Way’s continued leadership on issues affecting the not for profit sector. He also re-stated his commitment to addressing the issues raised by the forums.

Previous events have taken place on Long Island, in New York City, Rochester, and Jamestown, with additional events planned for Corning, Plattsburgh and Syracuse.

Click here:  Too fat to fight, to read the full report and see how NYS stacks up against the rest of the nation.

To read the full story click on this link.

The new co-sponsors and the date they signed on are: Representative Gary L. Ackerman (3/24/2010), Representative Nydia M. Velazquez (4/14/2010) and Representative Carolyn McCarthy (4/14/2010).

New York’s delegation now has 19 co-sponsors (not counting one for Rept Eric Massa who resigned his seat).

To see the names of all the co-sponsors go to http://www.thomas.gov/ and search under HR211.

Thanks to the United Ways of New York City and Buffalo and Erie County respectively for hosting these sessions.

Level II training will be held May 5-6, hosted by the United Way of Central New York in Syracuse, and May 11-12 in Kingston.

A total of 79 United Way staff and volunteers from New York, as well as colleagues from Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are registered to participate. United Way Worldwide flex credits can be used for this training.

For more information please go to the United Way of New York web site at www.uwnys.org

The site includes a listing of NYSVOAD members, dates for upcoming meetings, the monthly newsletter, and resource links.

Click here to view this website.

Click on UWWWHR211Updatemar31 to read Steve’s message about the strategy going forward.

Click on OSC press release to read the media release about the report and on OSC NFP Report to read the report.  

UWNYS was one of a group of not for profit organizations asked to provide input into this report. One outcome has been a series of forums organized by United Ways across NYS including, NYC, LI, Rochester and Jamestown, with others planned for Buffalo and Westchester.

Click on Electronic letter to Gov. on UW priorities 01.27.10 to read the letter which covers United Ways 2010 budget priorities and on Electronic Letter to Gov on restored 211 funding 01.26.10 to read the letter which focuses just on 2-1-1. These letters, along with the policy briefs to explain the issues and positions, can also be found on our web site at www.uwnys.org

An alert was sent to local United Ways and 2-1-1 partners asking them to send their own letters, share the alert with others to generate more letters, and encouraging follow-up that emails to the Governor through this link to CapWiz on the UWNYS web site. http://capwiz.com/uwnys/state/main/?state=NY.  This is a very brief transaction – filling out your contact information after which the email is automatically sent for the specified letter.

The first letter asks the Governor to keep up flat funding for several important early childhood programs and services including the Community Optional Preventive Services (COPS) Program, home visiting, the Nurse Family Partnership, the Nutrition Outreach Education Program (food stamp outreach), and the Advantage After School Program .

The letter also includes a request for $4.4 million for 2-1-1  services across the state, funding that was not included in the current year’s budget. Lastly the letter requests $30,000 to match a Bank of America grant for EITC outreach and free tax preparation for low-income working families – an area of significant activity by local United Ways.

The second letter frames a more extensive rationale for the $4.4 million funding request for 2-1-1 services.

Two have been held already: in NYC (1/11) and Long Island (1/21) , the latter co-sponsored by the United Way of Long Island and Senator Craig Johnson.

Upcoming sessions are today (1/25) in Buffalo, co-sponsored by the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County and in Poughkeepsie (2/3).

 The schedule can be found here. Check back as new dates continue to be added.

Thanks to Karin Goldman, Assistant Attorney General at the Charities Bureau for her work in developing these workshops. Ms. Goldman participated in a dialogue with the UWNYS Board on December 1, 2009.

Click here to read the coverage.

Three of the specific proposals may be of interest to the human services community: those addressing pre-school special education, the early intervention program, and local Medicaid costs in relation to long-term care for the elderly.

Click here to read the press release fro the Governor’s office summarizing his proposals and here to see the full listing of all 100 proposals. Further information is expected once the Governor’s budget proposals are announced on January 19.

Click here to read the profile about her career, framed around the theme of finding “ideas that stick.”

Kathy is the immediate past chair of the local United Way executives group, which includes the CEO’s of United Ways in New York State, and a former UWNYS Board member.

The speech itself  is backed up on the Governor’s website by a series of fact sheets which set forth many of the proposals which we can expect to see with in the Governor’s budget or in his program legislation for the session. Click here to see this list of initiatives.

The  categories of issues covered by the fact sheets leans heavily on economic development, energy and technology, and  government reform proposals, including

• A “clean energy” economy,
• Economic development.
• Government efficiency and accountability.
• Changes to state operations to improve tracking of outcomes, reduce costs, and result in better services. Please note in this section the following language: “By merging the operation of the state’s nearly 350 call centers and help lines, the state could realize significant savings while delivering more efficient services.” It is too early to know what this may mean for 2-1-1 but we are working to find out.
• The Excelsior Jobs Program.
• A New York Insurance Exchange.
• A sustainable neighborhood program with an emphasis on affordable housing.
• A series of “Reform Albany” Proposals widely covered in the media over the past few days, including creation of a new State Ethics Commission, comprehensive campaign finance reform and finance disclosure by elected officials, and term limits.

There was little in the speech about health, education or human services other than the proposals to create jobs and substantially increase affordable housing.

Also released was a summary of the Governor’s accomplishments. These provide more background on a number of the Governor’s health and human services initiatives since he took office. Click here to see this summary.

Their article  supports  Governor Paterson’s interim lead poisoning prevention report, and describes the ongoing work in their community on this important prevention centered health issue affecting young children.

Click here to see the column.

Mr. Kelly has served in several United Way posts, most recently as the director of the United Way of Monroe County in Pennsylvania since 2000.  Mr. Kelly grew up in Venice, New York, where his parents still reside.

Gail Homick has been with the United Way since 1979. She has worked with her volunteers to lead the campaign to strong finishes despite the troubled upstate economy, and to increase the leadership role of the United Way in  addressing community needs. She has been an active participant in the work of the statewide local United Way executives group.

Click here to see the article in the Auburn Citizen.

By making the program available to all children in the school and offering breakfast in the classroom, the stigma of having to arrive early in order to participate elsewhere in the school building would be removed.

From the press release :”Schools that have implemented universal breakfast programs report improved student achievement, attentiveness, and attendance. Those schools have also reported fewer visits to the nurse and a decrease in disciplinary referrals.” Examples from two schools are cited in the release.

United Ways supported an expansion of the federal school breakfast program in state legislation passed in 1993. Basic needs is one of United Way’s top policy priorities due to rising demand for help in New York’s communities.

Click here to see the release on Congressman Tonko’s web  site.