February 13, 2012 · www.gothamgazette.com

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Social Services Archive

Breaking Down Barriers in the Fight Against Domestic Violence  (June 2009)  Abusive homes exist throughout U.S. society, but cultural patterns and fear of going to the police make this kind of violence a particular challenge in immigrant communities.

City Faces a Rising Demand for Food Stamps  (April 2009)  With more and more New Yorkers needing help to buy food, many residents who would qualify for food stamps do not get them. The city says it is working to get the word out, but some experts say it could do more.

A City's New Poverty Guidelines  (October 2008)  The administration has a new way of calculating who is poor in New York. What effect will that have on the millions of New Yorkers struggling to make ends meet?

Meeting the Gray Wave  (September 2008)  As New York's senior population grows, the city wants to revamp programs for the aging, but advocates worry the changes could neglect individual needs.

Keeping Former Prisoners Out of Prison  (June 2008)  As many as 40 percent of former prisoners go back behind bars within three years. A range of new programs seeks to keep them out of jail for good.

Bringing Customer Choice to Food Pantries  (April 2008)  As demand on city food pantries rises, a handful are givig clients more choice about the foods they take home.

The City Responds to the Foreclosure Crisis  (March 2008)  With the number of housing foreclosures in the country having hit an all-time high, a new center here hopes to keep New Yorkers in their homes and change the system that created the current crisis.

Breaking Down Barriers to Mental Health Care  (January 2008)  Cultural and language barriers and a shortage of resources keep many troubled teens in poor and immigrant communities from getting the mental healthcare they need.

Cash Incentives for the Poor  (August 2007)  Mayor Bloomberg wants to pay poor people to take their children to the doctor and make sure they go to school. Is this a bold new approach or a policy rooted in cynicism?

Helping Young Mothers Help Their Babies and Themselves  (March 2007)  The Nurse Family Partnership tries to help at risk children – before they are even born.

New Help For the Working Poor?  (November 2006)  If they want to help the working poor, newly elected Democrats in Albany and Washington could take bold steps to improve education and housing, says Nancy Rankin of the Community Service Society.

The Poverty Commission: Measuring Up?  (October 2006)  How many poor people live in New York? How do we determine who is poor? Is that accurate? A member of the mayor's poverty commission answers key questions on the shape of poverty in the city.

The Many Faces of Poverty   (September 2006)  

Single Mothers: Working, But Still Poor  (August 2006)  One of the members of the mayor’s poverty commission, which is scheduled to release its first recommendations soon, examines the issue of the high rates of poverty for single mothers who work.

Recreation Centers: For Members Only  (July 2006)  The city's six remaining free recreation centers began charging fees this month. David Jones discusses the possible impact this will have on some of New York's poorest residents.

Every Day Is Father's Day  (June 2006)  For decades, low-income men who have little or no connection with their children have been seen as one of the daunting problems of poverty that policymakers have been unable to address. But Father's Day in New York is a time when government is increasingly looking to the same men as part of the solution to society's most difficult problems.

Ex-Prisoners and Jobs  (May 2006)  Ex-prisoners with job skills are often prevented by law from being employed in some of the very occupations for which they were trained while in prison.

Back From Iraq  (March 2006)  Three years after the beginning of the war in Iraq -- it began March 19th, 2003 -- some veterans returning to New York are suffering from physical wounds, emotional trauma, financial insecurity, and homelessness. But as one veteran told Joshua Brustein, "we've been trained that asking for help is an admission that you've failed.."

Taking On Poverty  (February 2006)  David Jones, president of the Community Service Society of New York and a member of the mayor's new task force on poverty, explains why poverty must be eradicated in the city -- and why it is neither grandiose nor naive to try to do so.

New Medicare Prescription Drug Plan -- Off To A Bad Start  (January 2006)  The problems with the new Medicare prescription drug plan are legion, Lynda Crawford reports, and they fall most heavily on the poor and the mentally ill.

A Punitive System Of Support For The Needy   (November 2005)  As many as a third of all welfare recipients in the city are being sanctioned, or threatened with sanctions – the clearest sign, advocates argue, of an inadequate support system for the needy.

Hunger and Obesity In The Two New Yorks  (October 2005)  Lynda Crawford looks at two new studies that look at hunger and obesity in New York –- one compares obesity in East Harlem and the Upper East Side, the author of the other criticizes Michael Bloomberg for his vetoes of three bills to make it easier to acquire food stamps.

Job Hunters Get Government Help At One-Stop Centers  (September 2005)  The city-run career centers are much-improved, Linda Ostreicher writes, and available to everyone -- except those who could benefit the most, welfare recipients.

Campaign 2005: Making A Difference In Jobs, Food, and Dropouts  (August 2005)  “You wouldn't know it from coverage of the mayoral campaign,” Linda Ostreicher writes, “but the outcome will make a difference to New York City residents who depend on social services, particularly public assistance, job training and placement services, food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and senior services.”

Child Support  (July 2005)  The effort to force absentee parents to pay child support has had mixed results. Now, a new NYC policy would require working parents with children in subsidized day care to participate in the child support enforcement system – or lose their subsidy.

Adult Protective Services -- A Neglected Service For Neglected People  (June 2005)  Over the past five years, the agency known as Adult Protective Services has rejected three-quarters of the 56,750 vulnerable adults in need who are referred to it -- told "they aren’t disabled, isolated, or abused enough to be helped,” writes Linda Ostreicher.

Bankruptcy “Reform”   (April 2005)  Middle-class New Yorkers will be hit especially hard, Linda Ostreicher argues, if Congress passes the proposed bankruptcy “reform.”

WeCARE, For New Yorkers Still On Welfare And Unable To Work  (March 2005)  The city hopes to help New Yorkers still on welfare and unable to work with a new program called WeCARE.

After School Programs  (February 2005)  The city's recent changes to the much-needed system of after-school programs threatens some very good programs, writes Linda Ostreicher.

Social Service Programs Cut; Minimum Wage Raised  (January 2005)  Even before Governor George Pataki proposed the state budget for the next fiscal year, the news for poor New Yorkers was not good, with cuts in both state and federal aid for New York City programs servicing everybody from homeless teenagers to college students and adults preparing to job hunt. The one bright spot for the poor, says Linda Ostreicher – the increase in the minimum wage.

The Working Poor  (November 2004)  New York City’s working poor have limited opportunities to climb out of poverty, according to several new studies.

The Battle Over Social Security  (October 2004)  "The biggest domestic issue on the 2004 Presidential election has barely been mentioned by the candidates," writes Linda Ostreicher, who argues that the battle over Social Security has serious potential repercussions for New York.

The Poor Are Not Better Off  (September 2004)  Despite an improvement in the local economy, poor New Yorkers are not any better off. Linda Ostreicher explains why, and also tries to answer the question: What happens to the people who are forced off welfare?

The Disabled Poor: Shut In, Out of Pocket  (August 2004)  Linda Ostreicher looks at how the disabled poor are hurt both by a new cut in the state budget, and by the city's failure to encourage caseworker visits to their homes.

Welfare Rolls On The Rise  (June 2004)  More people are on public assistance, Linda Ostreicher reports, and the federal government is shifting more of the burden of poverty onto New York.

Marriage Promotion Programs For Welfare Recipients  (May 2004)  At the same time that the Bush administration is seeking a ban against gay marriage (which is now legal in Massachusetts), it is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to promote marriage among welfare recipients. Linda Ostreicher argues why such marriage promotion programs make little sense, especially in New York City.

Meals and Wheels Threatened In The Bronx  (April 2004)  The plan to start serving frozen meals rather than hot meals in the Bronx, turns the very effective program for the elderly called Meals on Wheels, Linda Ostreicher says, into one “mired in secrecy, rumors, Bronx politics, and financial problems facing non-profit agencies.”

No Breaks For Low Income New Yorkers; Also: Unemployment  (March 2004)  A series of actions by the governor and other lawmakers target the most vulnerable New Yorkers, says Linda Ostreicher, and are based on some cynical assumptions about the poor. A look at the battle over the minimum wage hike, the plight of the unemployed, and more.

A Tax Shelter For The Working Poor  (February 2004)  Linda Ostreicher explains a program designed to give tax breaks to the working poor that isn’t working the way it is supposed to.

Is Congress About To Shake Up Job Training?  (January 2004)  Congress is about to pass a new version of a law that could have helped at least half a million New Yorkers get jobs, but didn’t.

Food Stamps Not Reaching Everybody Who Deserves Them  (December 2003)  New York City’s food stamp offices are not complying with federal law or even with the city’s own policies.

Advocates For The Ill  (November 2003)  A “shadow industry” has developed to help New Yorkers who have fallen ill to get the services to which they are entitled – not just medical services, but social and legal as well.

Proposed Changes In Welfare Reform  (October 2003)  Linda Ostreicher details the proposed changes in welfare reform.

The Gap Between Food Stamp Eligibility and Food Stamp Use  (September 2003)  “The post-blackout food stamp replacement experience,” Linda Ostreicher writes, “is an extreme example of the gap between resources available to those in need and their ability to learn whether and how they can receive them.”

Summertime Unemployment. Also: Kinship Foster Care  (August 2003)  Linda Ostreicher reports on the persistent problems of unemployment and the programs that are supposed to help. Also: the Catch-22 involved in kinship foster care (i.e. a grandparent).

Flaws In The Screening Process For Foster Parents  (July 2003)  The latest death of a child in foster care prompts critics to ask: how does one become a foster parent? Carla Thompson looks at flaws in the screening process.

The Mayor's Plan To "Streamline" Social Services  (June 2003)  Linda Ostreicher details the unpredictable and perhaps negative effects on social service providers of the mayor's plan to "streamline" social services, moving around a number of programs from one agency to another.

Threatened Change To HIV/AIDS Services  (May 2003)  “At a time when his popularity rating has dropped to a new low, some of the most bitter criticism facing Mayor Michael Bloomberg is from the HIV/AIDS community,” writes Linda Ostreicher, in response to his proposal to change the law governing the city’s HIV/AIDS Service Administration.

Big Stakes for the Elderly in Budget Battles  (April 2003)  Being old in New York is different from the rest of the country, says Linda Ostreicher, who details the shortage of support services for the elderly in New York City from housing to a helping hand.

Governor's Proposed Budget Bad News For Low-Income New Yorkers  (March 2003)  The governor's proposed new budget is bad news for low-income New Yorkers, Linda Ostreicher says -- eliminating the summer jobs program, cutting adult education and training, underfunding and undercutting programs for the disabled, the elderly, the mentally ill, the homeless; doing nothing to expand day care. All of this is likely to push people back onto the public dole.

How Welfare Reform Affects People With Disabilities  (February 2003)  Welfare reform is affecting people with disabilities in unique and horrible ways, according to a complaint filed with the federal Office for Civil Rights against the New York City Human Resources Administration. Linda Ostreicher reports.

When Prisoners Come Home  (January 2003)  Ex-offenders need one to three years of transitional services to successfully re-direct their lives away from crime. Linda Ostreicher reports on what's available when prisoners come home.

New York City's Permanent Food Emergency  (November 2002)  

Dead Broke Dads  (October 2002)  

9/11/01-02: Charity Began At Ground Zero, But Where Will It Wind Up?  (September 2002)  

Children In No-Parent Families  (August 2002)  

Albany Matters In Social Services  (July 2002)  

Welfare Reform, Round Two  (June 2002)  

Child Welfare and Domestic Violence  (April 2002)  

Job Training  (March 2002)  

When The Neighborhood Doesn't Want It  (February 2002)  

The Limits of Time Limits On Welfare  (January 2002)  

THE NEEDIEST. Also: City-Wide Task Force On Housing Court Still Alive  (December 2001)  

A Rocky Season  (November 2001)  

Administration for Children's Services  (October 2001)  

Suicide Prevention  (July 2001)  

AIDS At 20: Frontline STD Clinics  (June 2001)  

Hanging Out  (April 2001)  

Welfare Running Out. Also, news of the poor, the old, the disabled  (March 2001)  

AIDS And The African-American Community; Homeless and Health  (February 2001)  

In Out Of The Cold: Offering The Homeless A Warm And Safe Place To Sleep  (January 2001)  

Anti-Violence Project Urges Gays and Lesbians To Take Offense  (December 2000)  

Election Special-The Missing Social Service Issues  (November 2000)  

Hunger In New York  (September 2000)  

A Place for Pregnant Teenagers  (August 2000)  

In the News: Violence and Youth  (July 2000)  

In the News: Home Delivered Meals -- and Human Contact  (June 2000)  

In The News: AIDS Peril for People of Color  (May 2000)  

In The News: Substance Abuse Treatment for the Developmentally Disabled  (April 2000)  

In The News: Community Mental Health  (February 2000)  

In The News: Workplace Dangers for Immigrants  (January 2000)  

Domestic Violence  (December 1999)  

Poorer kids have more asthma  (November 1999)