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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Dr. Sophine Charles, Representative from the Council of Family and Childcaring Agencies
3:18:13
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167 sec
Dr. Sophine Charles from the Council of Family and Childcaring Agencies testified about the financial struggles of child welfare agencies due to delayed payments from the city. She emphasized the critical need for timely payments to maintain services and staff.
- 40% of NYC child welfare organizations have less than 15 days of cash flow on hand
- 47% of child welfare nonprofits have less than one month of cash revenue
- Charles recommended streamlining city contract processes and better forecasting of future rates based on inflation
Sophine Charles
3:18:13
Good afternoon.
3:18:14
I am doctor Sophine Charles from the Council of Family and Childcaring Agencies and my teeth are shuddering because I'm freezing here.
3:18:25
I just want to thank the chairs Wong and Stevens for just really putting the spotlight on this in such a profound way.
3:18:36
We thank you for your efforts for doing this and on behalf of the agencies that we represent at Kafka, the agencies that provide the foster care and prevention services and those who really keep families stable and children at home, they're struggling.
3:18:56
As many of our colleagues have already said, they need to keep the lights on.
3:19:01
They need to keep, to be able to make payroll and to pay their staff.
3:19:07
Without those delayed backed up payments, it's tough for them to continue to work with families.
3:19:17
And your support on this is incredibly helpful.
3:19:20
And I just want to say that the the proposed city council bills, we appreciate, very helpful, really putting the spotlight on and hopefully speeding up and getting rid of the backlog and the bottleneck.
3:19:36
And it's important also to acknowledge that our agencies we did a financial health report on our child welfare agencies and about 40% of the New York City organizations have less than fifteen days of cash flow on hand.
3:19:55
Another 47% of the child welfare nonprofits, they have less than one month of cash rev revenue and that's a real problem when they're not being paid.
3:20:07
And the recommendation that I want to mention is streamlining New York City government contract processes.
3:20:15
There's a clear need to reform the registration and payment systems to reduce the delays.
3:20:21
And also we need to have better forecasting when it comes to the future rates by keeping up with the CPI inflation rate.
3:20:31
And I'll end by saying that we do have a city agency that is works very effectively with our child welfare colleagues and that is the administration for children services.
3:20:45
They do a pretty good job in
3:20:49
That's that's why they're not here today?
3:20:56
Oh, okay.
3:20:56
Well, thank you anyway for your work on this.
Althea Stevens
3:20:47
That's why they weren't here today.
3:20:52
Yeah.
3:20:53
That's why they wasn't here.
3:20:54
That's why we didn't invite them.
Gale A. Brewer
3:20:52
Oh, okay.