Statement on the Mayor’s Preliminary Budget

The Mayor’s more optimistic view of the fiscal health of New York City, as expressed in his preliminary budget announcement yesterday, was a welcome fresh perspective. The Fortune Society remains concerned that many city agencies providing critical services have not been spared from cuts. If funding is cut, these agencies will continue to be understaffed and hampered in their ability to expeditiously connect people, including members of the Fortune community, with much-needed housing, and employment, and more.

As history has unfortunately taught us, those cuts will inevitably be passed along to city-contracted non-profit organizations, such as Fortune. Ensuring our city agencies and contracted non-profits can continue to provide vital, stabilizing services is crucial to our City’s overall well-being and safety. Given that our non-profit human services workforce is predominantly staffed by and predominantly serves people of color, as a matter of racial and economic justice, we hope that as the budget process unfolds, additional sources of revenue may be revealed, and the across-the-board 15% cuts will be reversed for other agencies as they have been for a select few.

True community safety is achieved when people have safe, stable, and affordable housing, when they can support their families, and when they have all necessary physical and mental health care – and when they can access all of this regardless of whether they have past convictions and/or have been incarcerated. Fortune calls upon our elected officials to develop a City budget which continues to provide opportunities and resources for all New Yorkers.