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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Greg Morris, CEO of New York City Employment and Training Coalition, on Nonprofit Contracting Issues
3:37:38
·
149 sec
Greg Morris, CEO of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition, addresses the city's broken contracting system for nonprofits. He poses a series of thought-provoking questions about the reasons behind the current crisis, the value placed on nonprofit services, and the potential consequences of continued neglect of the nonprofit sector.
- Questions the timing and long-term impact of the city's announcement of unprecedented advance payments
- Challenges the slow, opaque, and punitive nature of the contracting process
- Highlights the economic significance of nonprofits, contributing $80 billion annually to New York City's economy
- Emphasizes the need for strategic and structural changes to stabilize and advance the nonprofit sector
Greg Morris
3:37:38
Thank you very much for making this time.
3:37:40
My name is Greg Morris.
3:37:40
I'm the CEO of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition.
3:37:42
I'm gonna defer to members the coalition on what has become an agonizing effort for them to support workforce development and workforce development providers given the city's broken contracting system.
3:37:51
Instead, I'm gonna pivot to some open ended questions from this hearing that you have either asked directly, teed up, or I think we're all wondering about, which goes like this.
3:37:59
The city's announcement of unprecedented advance payments raises a simple question, why now?
3:38:03
And more importantly, once the money has been recouped, will nonprofits still be trapped in a contracting maze that is supposed to enable the public good, but has instead become one of the greatest barriers to it?
3:38:13
Why is a process for compensating essential work so slow, opaque, and punitive?
3:38:17
Are there enough staff in place to make it less slow, opaque, and punitive?
3:38:20
Have we invested enough in the technology, digital platforms, increase the speed, transparency, and accuracy of the systems that can make contracting less slow, opaque, and punitive?
3:38:28
Who's responsible for improving performance at the end of the day, and who does that person report to?
3:38:32
And is that contracting crisis at the top of that person's agenda?
3:38:35
For how long will it be at the top of the agenda?
3:38:37
Are those people gonna be in those positions for very long enough to fix the particular problems we're talking about?
3:38:41
Is the city's nonprofit contracting failure by design?
3:38:45
And if so, what does that say about what we value in our city?
3:38:47
What does that say about who we value?
3:38:49
Don't we value public safety?
3:38:51
If so, do we tell police departments to wait for back pay?
3:38:54
And why isn't there the same urgency for hiring social workers and childcare workers as there is for hiring police officers?
3:39:00
Is this a matter of perception?
3:39:01
Why do we fail to appreciate the full value that nonprofits provide?
3:39:04
Do we falsely assume that some aspect of city life is untouched by nonprofit services?
3:39:09
Do we fail to respect nonprofits because the sector is predominantly staffed by black and brown women whose labor is chronically and historically undervalued?
3:39:16
Now how do we feel about that?
3:39:18
Do we understand that nonprofits are not optional accessories?
3:39:20
Do we see them as connective tissue between public systems and private markets?
3:39:24
Do we understand that they are essential businesses, not charitable add ons?
3:39:29
Can we choose not to act incrementally incrementally or symbolically, but instead strategically and structurally to stabilize and advance a sector that commits $80,000,000,000 a year to New York City's economy, nearly 10% of its GDP.
3:39:42
If we continue to sideline and stifle organizations that hold communities together, aren't we fur further fueling a collapse of public trust, deepening inequities, and destabilizing the city itself?
3:39:51
Can we see as begging?
3:39:52
Can we can we be seen as building, not begging?
3:39:55
Can we be seen as essential economic engines?
3:39:58
Can the city afford to fund and fix systems failing our nonprofits?
3:40:02
Can it afford not to?
3:40:03
We support your legislation while we work towards answering those questions.