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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Carlyn Cowen, Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer of Chinese American Planning Council (CPC)
4:11:46
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98 sec
Carlyn Cowen from the Chinese American Planning Council (CPC) testified about the challenges faced by nonprofits due to late payments from the city. They highlighted that CPC is waiting on over $2 million in payments and expressed concerns about the scrambling that nonprofits have to do to manage their finances and programs.
- CPC serves over 80,000 Asian American immigrant and low-income New Yorkers annually
- While appreciative of the city's announcement about more advances, Cowen pointed out that waiting over a year for contracts makes "advances" an inappropriate term
- Cowen expressed hope that the proposed bills would help nonprofits achieve stability rather than constantly scrambling
Carlyn Cowen
4:11:46
Good afternoon, Chair Wan and Chair Stevens.
4:11:49
Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify at today's hearing.
4:11:52
My name is Carlin Cowan, pronouns theythem, and I'm the Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer at CPC, the Chinese American Planning Council.
4:11:59
As you know, CPC serves over 80,000 Asian American immigrant and low income New Yorkers each year.
4:12:06
It's been a long day, so I'll try to keep this quick, but I have submitted a full written testimony.
4:12:10
CPC is waiting on over $2,000,000 from the city.
4:12:14
And from the sounds of today's hearing and rally, we are some of the lucky ones because a lot of providers here are owed a whole lot more.
4:12:23
While we appreciate the city's announcement about providing more advances, That's really exciting news.
4:12:29
The reality is when we wait for oftentimes over a year for our contracts I'm not an English major, but advances is maybe not the word that I would use for that.
4:12:40
So a word that I will offer today for how nonprofits like CPC feel is scrambling.
4:12:48
We are often scrambling to figure out how we are going to make payroll by, again, lifesaving things for our community members through our programs.
4:12:59
And then when contracts finally do get registered and advances do get paid, often seemingly randomly, we're then scrambling to spend down before the contract is over.
4:13:09
So thank you so much for your leadership on this.
4:13:12
We are grateful to both of you, to Speaker Adams, Chair Brannan, for putting forth these important bills, and we hope that instead of scrambling, nonprofits will be able to be stable when you pass them.
4:13:24
Thank you.