New York City's human services providers were left to address the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on their own with little government support, a report from the Human Services Recovery Task Force, which includes the Human Services Council and leaders of the city's nonprofit, philanthropic, and business sectors, finds.

Based on a survey of sixty-five nonprofit human services agencies conducted in November 2020, the report, Essential or Expendable? How Human Services Supported Communities Through COVID-19 and Recommendations to Support an Equitable Recovery, found that human services workers — who are predominantly women and people of color — were sent to the frontlines with inadequate supplies and little or no government support to meet growing community needs with fewer resources. Even before the pandemic, human services agencies faced chronic underfunding — with a disproportionate impact on the low-income people and Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) they serve and employ — yet 82 percent of respondents launched new services and 72 percent expanded existing services to meet urgent needs.

The report found that 51 percent of human services providers saw a decline in expected revenue for calendar year 2020, with an average decline of nearly $9.1 million; 62 percent had to permanently or temporarily lay off or furlough staff; 70 percent and 60 percent reported delays in payments from the city and the state, respectively; and 46 percent were forced to take out loans or draw on a line of credit due to withheld or delayed payments. On average only 38 percent of the total amount that organizations spent on COVID-related expenses was reimbursed by government, while — due to chronic government underfunding — nonprofit human services workers make only about 71 percent and 82 percent of what public- and private-sector workers earn in similar roles.

To strengthen and ensure the sustainability of New York City's human services delivery system and, in turn, bolster the city's post-pandemic recovery, the report's authors call on the government to make human services nonprofits a part of its crisis response and recovery plans; commit to paying equitable wages to contracted human services workers; pay in full and on time for essential services, cover indirect expenses, reflect market rates for goods and services, and end delayed reimbursements; and reform the human services procurement system to prioritize meaningful outcomes.

"The pandemic magnified long-standing disparities across our state — communities of color faced higher rates of infection and are now suffering from greater economic devastation," said Human Services Council executive director Michelle Jackson. "The programs delivered by nonprofit human services organizations will be essential for achieving an equitable recovery, but the sector is in perilous condition after organizations were largely left to fend for themselves at the height of the pandemic. New York's leaders must invest in our communities by fortifying the systems they rely on."

"When the budget runs at a deficit, New York City and State are quick to cut and withhold funding from human services organizations, including this past year when human services organizations were leading New York COVID-19 response on the ground," said Jason Cone, chief public policy officer at Robin Hood. "The government cannot keep treating our essential nonprofits and workers as expendable or we will never be prepared for the next disaster."