From Coalition to Save Public Health
June 27, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO – While celebrating at their floats this year, many of the marchers at Sunday’s Gay Pride Parade will also be protesting inequities in Mayor Newsom’s 2009-2010 budget, released earlier this month. LGBT organizations such as the Harvey Milk Democratic Club and Pride-at-Work will be joined by the Coalition to Save Public Health, the Budget Justice Coalition, and Direct Action to Stop the Cuts, groups that are speaking out against the drastic cuts to public services reflected in Mayor Newsom’s budget.
The Mayor’s budget includes a 10% reduction in housing subsidies to people living with HIV/AIDS, will eliminate HIV benefit counseling for more than 3,000 people, and will eliminate outreach and testing services for more than 4,000 people. Mid-year cuts have already eliminated culturally appropriate emergency psychiatric services for LGBT communities. “We can take no pride in a Mayor who devastates public health and slashes HIV/AIDS prevention funding and housing subsidies,” said Rafael Mandelman, president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club.
“Mayor Newsom is in lockstep with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Instead of protecting the most vulnerable populations, they have chosen to balance their budgets on the backs of the poor and the sick,” said Robert Haaland of Pride-at-Work.
Both Mayor Newsom and Governor Schwarzenegger have proposed disproportionately heavy cuts to public health and social services in areas such as HIV prevention, mental health, homeless shelters, youth and senior services, and affordable housing. Programs facing elimination in San Francisco include the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Stonewall Program and the SRO Collaborative, which works with very low income tenants to ensure that their housing and health needs are met. Countless other programs face elimination or severe reductions.
Budget justice marchers at Sunday’s parade are calling on city and state leaders to support progressive revenue measures and to share the pain of a tough budget year across all departments instead of concentrating on cuts to public health and programs serving low-income people.
WHAT: DEMONSTRATION FOR BUDGET JUSTICE.
WHO: Direct Action to Stop the Cuts, Budget Justice Coalition, Coalition to Save Public Health, Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, Pride-at-Work
WHEN: Sunday, June 28th
WHERE: Gay Pride Parade. Protesters will be marching with the Harvey Milk Club and Pride-at-Work floats.
The Hunger Site
June 30, 2009 at 2:54 pm
“The mayor’s budget will eliminate housing subsidies to people living with HIV/AIDS, will eliminate HIV benefit counseling for more than 3,000 people, and will eliminate outreach and testing services for more than 4,000 people.”
I’m not involved up close enough to be absolutely sure what’s going on here , but these don’t sound like “management or staff salaries” to me.
June 29, 2009 at 9:21 am
Jerry,
You ask a good question above, about how to have performance standards for nonprofits.
Nonprofits that get money from the city should be required to have a yearly audit. It should be made available to the supes when they vote on giving them money.
In addition, there are independent services that rate nonprofits for their efficacy. The supes should require that nonprofits receive a rating from such a service and make it available to the public.
As it now is, the nonprofits get money from the city by hobnobbing with their cronies on the board of supes, or pulling off publicity stunts.
They get people with AIDS, or other recipients of social welfare programs, to stand up and plead for money for the sponsoring nonprofit. These displays can make for great theater, as we’ve recently seen. However, they’re basically scams.
In reality, most of the money that the city pours into nonprofits goes to pay for the salaries of management and staff, or for PR, or for lobbying politicians. Not much goes to clients.
A good grading service, as mentioned above, will reveal how much money a nonprofit actually spends on its clients, how much it diverts to its own personnel, how much it spends on PR, etc.
SF nonprofits have learned how to put the profit in nonprofits.
It’s time to clean up this scam.
June 28, 2009 at 8:50 pm
“Let’s keep the funding for nonprofits that are actually doing a good job and can prove it.” – Ruth
How do you propose to do this if, “the city has no performance standards for evaluating them”?
June 27, 2009 at 11:59 am
Take a look at the piece by C.W. Nevius in today’s (Saturday’s) Chron on the city’s nonprofit political complex.
The city spends $500 million a year on nonprofits. However, the city has no performance standards for evaluating them.
The supes, in particular, never ask for the financial records of nonprofits that ask for ad-backs to cuts in their budgets.
Nonprofits get ad-backs based on their political clout with certain supes and political clubs, not based on their performance. That’s how the system works.
The same info as reported by C.W. Nevius is about to come out this week in a scathing grand jury report on nonprofits and city funding. Hold on to your hats because the wind will be blowing.
Let’s keep the funding for nonprofits that are actually doing a good job and can prove it.
But let’s stop throwing buckets of money at nonprofits just because they have clout with certain supes and political clubs.