CIVIL OBEDIENCE: SILENCE IN THE STREETS

NEW YORK'S URBAN AFFAIRS NEWS MAGAZI

EDITORIAL
25 YEARS OF
PLENITUDE
WOW-WE MADE IT. As
City Limits wraps up its
25th anniversary celebration,
most of that "we," dear reader, is
you. (The current crew here can boast about a
lot of things, but longevity's not one of them: In
1976, I was eight years old, and I'm the old lady
on the editorial staff.) More than anything else,
this milestone is testament to the power of
action and ideas to change the world. This
magazine has had the privilege of watching the
rest of you literally remake New York City.
Government support to reclaim abandoned
buildings for the people of the city. The Com-
munity Reinvestment Act. The maturing of
community development corporations into vital
neighborhood resources (and, occasionally, into
unaccountable fiefdoms). A social service infra-
structure that has the potential-so under-real-
ized by the politicians providing the funding-
to reliably address communities' basic needs.
Building green spaces and curbing discriminato-
ry dumping of the facilities no one else wants.
Welfare rights organizing, insurgency against
corrupt labor unions, and homeless people
demanding decent treatment. Supportive hous-
ing-<lignity by design. Bringing domestic vio-
lence into the public eye, and victims to help;
undoing the worst abuses of foster care. Only a
tour through the back issues of City Limits can
do justice to all of it (which you're welcome to
take anytime-just drop us a line!).
But just because you've been doing the hard
work doesn't mean City Limits just sat on the
sidelines taking notes. You know this already, 'or
you wouldn't be reading the magazine right now:
The very act of supplying reliable, in-depth
information about how the world really works-
and particularly about the wielding of power, for
good and for ill-is itself a mighty work of
activism. That's never been more true than today.
In a media environment where the bonom line
increasingly dictates content-and serious, influ-
ence-oriented magazines, from Neighborhood
\Wirks to Lingua Franca to the The Sciences, have
shut down after proving financially unviable-
the power of independent, uncompromised and
informed communication about the issues vital
to civil society is a precious resource, and one in
which entire communities have heavy stakes.
This magazine has a well-deserved rep for
obsessing over New York City's problems. But
City Limits has also always dug deep for viable
solutions, particularly ones that fall outside the
realm of existing political interests. Those are
the basic elements the magazine and the City
Limits Week!) will continue to work with into
the future.
The question is, how do we deliver on that
potential? How do we do justice to the possibil-
ities of a free press and the power it has to speak
to those who the public trusts to make New
York a glorious, livable and just city? How can
the tools of journalism provide ammunition for
others who share that agenda? We ask ourselves
these questions every week at editorial meetings.
But the answers the staff here takes most seri-
ously are the ones we get from the people who
really know what's going on-who actually live
and work in New York's neighborhoods.
With the launch of an entirely overhauled
web site this month-www.citylimits.org-
we're extending the reach of our work, to make
it more accessible, more plentiful and, above
all, more useful to people who rely on the
information and insights City Limits provides.
We're going to keep asking questions-and
never be satisfied with the answers until we all
see results.
-Alyssa Katz
Editor
Cover photo by Joshua Zuckerman; mother and son, names unknown, who have been seeking help at the Emergency Assistance Unit for two years.
HOME IMPROVEMENT
SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE SEEN the article "Eyries of Left and Right Dissect the
City's Ills" in the New York limes this January. The City section took the oppor-
tunity of our 25th anniversary to profile of the work of this magazine and that
of our philosophical archrival , the Manhattan Institute's City Joumal. The arti-
cle, in our opinion, did a good job of capturing the differing voices of our two
publications: We're a news organization. They're a journal. Their readers are
the powerful. Ours hold the powerful accountable. We called them "rhetoricaL"
They called us "something to wrap fish."
Ah, what fun. I only bring this up because the article also inadvertently
exposed some divisions and misunderstandings within our own ranks. In the
piece, I was quoted saying the copy in City Limits "wasn't political" in its early
days, back when the magazine was founded in 1976. One of our board mem-
bers, the investigative journalist (and former City Limits editor) Tom Robbins,
e-mailed immediately to remind me-and our relatively young staff-that
nothing could be further from the truth.
Back in the 1970s, when the city was reeling from financial problems and
white flight, city planners were actively considering a policy called "planned
shrinkage"-a clever way of, well, just giving up on the boroughs' most impov-
erished, arson-riddled neighborhoods. The founders of City Limits fought
this ... on the streets, organizing tenants and saving our all-important apartment
buildings from landlords looking to bum them down and city officials eager to be
rid of the people who inhabited them. ''Those groups waged what was an
INTENSELY political struggle," Tom reminded me. "It was a battle for survivaL"
Of course, I knew this, even if I didn't say it. In truth, the the mere act of pub-
lishing City Limits was a political act. .. and the movement that surrounded our
magazine's birth resulted in, literally, billions of dollars of new funding for hous-
ing construction and rehabilitation. Thousands of families in New York City now
live in safe, warm homes, not just because City Limits covered the nuts and bolts
details of how to fix and finance housing, but because this magazine's founders
were an active part of a political movement. Thanks to our predecessors' incred-
ible dedication, both of those are traditions we maintain to this day.
-Kim Nauer
Publisher
City Limits relies on the generous support of its readers and advertisers, as well as the following funders: The Adco Foundation, The Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, The Child Welfare Fund, The
Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, Open Society Institute, The Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, The Scherman Foundaton, JPMorganChase, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The
Booth Ferris Foundation, The New York Community Trust, The Taconic Foundation, LlSC, Deutsche Bank, M& T Bank, The Citigroup Foundation.
FEATU R ES
13 CLASSROOM ADVERSARIES
It's been know as a training ground for activist attorneys since it
was founded in 1983. Today, CUNY School of law hosts a new
struggle-pragmatism versus radicalism.
By Wendy Davis
SPECIAL FEATURE: HOMELESS FAMILIES
18 LOSING HOME RUN
Most families who seek emergency shelter aren't classified
as homeless. But what else do you call it when
you can't find a place to live?
By Alyssa Katz
22 SHELTER SKELTER
Families can't find homes they can afford, so the city is
paying landlords $3,000 a month to lodge them.
Only in New York.
By Jill Grossman
CONTENTS
5 FRONTLINES: WANTED: GAMBLERS TO CLOSE BUDGET GAP .... FOSTER KIDS GET
DOCUMENTED ... TRIPLE THREAT GRABS MIC .... KILLING KIPS BAY'S AFFORDABILlTY .... PRAGMATISM
FOR ALBANY ACTIVISTS? .... LAYING CLAIM TO TAX CREDITS .... SOCIAL WORKERS SOUND OFF
INSIDE TRACK
1 0 HOSED IN HOUSING COURT
A major restructuring of housing court was supposed to be good for both
landlords and tenants. Guess who won and who lost. By Nora McCarthy
INTElliGENCE
26 THE BIG IDEA
Everyone applauds the concept of treatment instead of jail.
Will New York's experiment with mental health courts follow drug
courts' success? By Wendy Davis
28 CITY LIT
Hands to Work: The Stories of Three Families Racing the Welfare Clock,
by LynNell Hancock. Reviewed by David Jason Fischer
Washington's New Poor Law: Welfare "Reform" and the Roads Not
Taken, 1935 to the Present, by Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg and Sheila
D. Collins. Reviewed by Eleanor J. Bader
MARCH 2002
30 MAKING CHANGE
Civil disobedience seemed tactless in the days immediately
following September 11. Several months later,
it is still MIA. By Hilary Russ
32 NYC INC.
Fighting poverty in the city would take a big step forward if New York's
foundations targeted job creation instead of just patching
neighborhood problems. By David Hochman
2 EDITORIAL
4 LETTERS
37 JOB ADS
40 PROFESSIONAL
DIRECTORY
42 OFFICE OF THE
CITY VISIONARY
3
LETTERS
DEFENDING THE FORT
With "Crossing the Line" Uanuary 2002],
Sasha Abramsky has written an unbalanced
article on crime and policing in Fort Greene.
His conclusion-that people don't care about
what's happening in the projects-is mislead-
ing and wrong. This 26-year resident and
homeowner of Fort Greene would have him
poll the people in Ingersoll and Walt Whit-
man Houses. Has crime been dramatically
reduced where they live? I bet a big majority
would say yes and that the statistics would
back them up.
-Phillip A. Saperia
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
DEFENDING THE FINEST
About your article "Crossing the Line, " it
looks to me like the cops are hassling the right
people, those who currently are--or were for-
merly-bad guys.
Right on, brother!
If some of those complaining aren't criminals
but dress like them, I suggest a change in dress.
To hell with the bad guys.
I'm a citizen tired of being hassled by scum-
bags in Vallejo. They don't have any respect for
themselves, let alone me.
-Michael D. Setty
Vallejo, CA
PUSH-OUT PIECE PRAISED
The entire adult education community in
New York City is abuzz with talk of the com-
prehensive, well-written, superb article done by
Mark Greer, "Learning Disabled" [February
2002] addressing the issue of push-outs from
local high schools. Kudos to Mark and the City
Limits staff for tenacity in ferreting out the dev-
astating issues facing youth, adults and educa-
tional programs locally. We are making this arti-
cle required reading for new teachers, tutors,
and for our staff, funders and board members,
and sharing it with our state Department of
Education representatives and local officials.
Thank you again for your consistency and
excellent reporting that deals with the difficult
issues facing New Yorkers.
-Marguerite Lukes
Literacy Assistance Center
Building a Better New York
Now More Than Ever
4
For over 30 years, Lawyers Alliance has provided free
and low-cost business law services to nonprofits with
programs that are vital to the quality of life in New York
City. Now we are committed to helping nonprofit groups
that are directly affected by the terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Center, and nonprofits offering grief coun-
seling, job placement activities, fundraising and other
disaster relief services. Our staff and pro bono attorneys
can help with contracts, employment, corporate, tax,
real estate and other non-litigation legal needs so that all
New Yorkers can continue to recover from the tragedy.
Please call us or visit our website for more information.
330 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
212 219-1800
www.lany.org
Lawyers Alliance
for New York
Building a Better New York
CITY LIMITS
Volume XXVII Number 3
City Limits is published ten times per year, monthly except bi -
monthly issues in July/August and September/October, by the
City Limits Community Information Service, Inc., a nonprofit
organization devoted to disseminating information concerning
neighborhood revitalization.
Publisher: Kim Nauer nauer@citylimits.org
Associate Publisher: Anita Gutierrez anita@citylimits.org
Editor: Alyssa Katz alyssa@citylimits.org
Managing Editor: Tracie McMillan mcmillan@citylimits.org
Senior Editor: Annia Ciezadlo
Senior Editor: Jill Grossman
annia@citylimits.org
jgrossman@citylimits.org
Associate Editor: Matt Pacenza matt@citylimits.org
Contributing Editors: James Bradley, Neil F. Carlson, Wendy
Davis, Michael Hirsch, Kemba Johnson,
Nora McCarthy, Robert Neuwirth
Design Direction: Hope Forstenzer
Photographers: Simon Lee, Gregory P. Mango, Jake Price
Contributing Photo Editor: Joshua Zuckerman
Contributing Illustration Editor: Noah Scalin
Intern: Patrick Sisson
General EMail Address: citylimits@citylimits.org
CENTER FOR AN URBAN FUTURE:
Director: Neil Kleiman neil@nycfuture.org
Research Director: Jonathan Bowles jbowles@nycfuture.org
Project Director: David J. Fischer djfischer@nycfuture.org
BOARD OF DIRECTORS'
Beverly Cheuvront, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Ken Emerson
Mark Winston Griffith, Central Brooklyn Partnership
Celia Irvine, Legal Aid Society
Francine Justa, Neighborhood Housing Services
Andrew Reicher, UHAB
Tom Robbins, Journalist
Ira Rubenstein, Emerging Industries Alliance
Makani Themba-Nixon
Karen Trella, Common Ground Community
Pete Williams, National Urban League
Affiliations for identification only.
SPONSORS:
Pratt Institute Center for Community
and Environmental Development
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board
Subscripti on rates are: for individuals and community
groups, $25/Dne Year, $39/Two Years; for businesses, founda-
tions, banks, government agencies and libraries, $35/Dne
Year, $50/Two Years. Low income, unemployed, $IO/Dne Year.
City Limits welcomes comments and article contributions.
Please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return
manuscripts. Material in City Limits does not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the sponsoring organizations. Send correspon-
dence to: City Limits, 120 Wall Street, 20th FI. , New York, NY
10005. Postmaster: Send address changes to City Limits, 120
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City Limits (ISSN 0199-0330)
PHONE (212) 479-3344/FAX (212) 344-6457
e-mail: citylimits@citylimits.org
On the Web, www.citylimits.org
Copyright 2001. All Rights Reserved. No portion or por-
tions of this journal may be reprinted without the express
permission of the publishers.
City Limits is indexed in the Alternative Press
Index and the Avery Index to Architectural
Periodicals and is available on microfilm from
ProQuest, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.
CITY LIMITS
..
FRONT LINES
Joshua Zuckerman
If I Had A Gambling Problem
REVEREND DUANE MOTLEY'S EARS PERKED UP when he first heard the
twangy rhythms emanating &om his TV set. There he saw the cheery
faces of working-class New Yorkers-barbers, diner patrons, firemen and
farmers-singing an infectious tune, "If I Had A Million Dollars." It was
an advertisement for the New York State Lottery's premier game, Lotto.
"What a perfect ad," fumes Rev. Motley, the director of New Yorkers for
Constitutional Freedoms, an anti-gambling lobbying group. "It's polished,
yet humble. It's perfect for taking money &om the poor."
And it's worked. State Lottery Division spokesperson Carolyn Hapeman
says sales of lottery tickets have gone up "significantly" since the Million
Dollars campaign began last October.
The brilliant ad campaign, the centerpiece of a $20 million annual ad
budget, wasn't the state's only big new gambling push last fall . On Hal-
loween, the state legislature and Governor Pataki agreed to a sweeping
gambling expansion law that makes New York the state with the most
legal gambling outlets east of the Mississippi.
They agreed to join the Big Game, an eight-state lonery with jackpots
up to $363 million. They approved video lottery terminals in the state's
horse-racing tracks and in six Native American casinos upstate. Those
new gambling initiatives, claimed the governor, will add $1 billion annu-
ally to the state treasury.
MARCH 2002
Lottery ticket sales already account for about $1.45 billion a year in
state revenues. Who actually foots the bill? According to academic stud-
ies, working-class and poor people spend significantly more on the
games than the wealthy. A 1995 Newsday investigation found that lonery
spending as a percentage of income statewide was eight times higher in
low-income neighborhoods than in those with the highest incomes.
Lonery officials so&en the unseemly image of what's effectively a huge
tax on the desperate by directing lottery revenues to education budgers--
$145 million &om the Big Game, for example. But behind those big num-
bers lies a muddier truth. The state education budget won't grow once the
Big Game is introduced, acknowledges Hapeman; "it just means that the
lottery's contribution to the state's education fund will be that much larger. "
The debate over gambling has been dominated by the wagering indus-
try's money. They paid Albany lobbyists nearly $2.5 million between Jan-
uary and August of last year, according to state records.
The voices that oppose gambling don't come &om those corners that
typically defend the poor. It's a moralist movement, led by Rev. Motley and
conservatives like State Senator Frank Padavan (R-Queens). "The hypocrisy
of spending money to promote these games to people already addicted is
sraggering," says Sen. Padavan. "The legislature and the Governor-the
most pro-gambling in history-should be ashamed. " -Matt Pacenza
5
FRONT llNES
Immigrants in
foster care may
finally get help
getting legal.
By Kendra Hurley
GISELLE JOHN STILL REMEMBERS the night seven
yeats ago when a city social worker and a police
officer knocked on the door of the Brooklyn
aparrment she shared with some family friends.
John, not quite 16 at the time, was an undocu-
mented immigrant from Trinidad. A year earlier,
her mother had brought her to the United States
to escape years of abuse from the girl's father. Her
mother lefr John with some friends in New York
City and quickly returned to Trinidad.
When the caseworker from the city's Admin-
istration for Children's Services showed up,
6
John was certain the authorities had discovered
her secret-that she was in the country ille-
gally-and had come to ship her back to
Trinidad. So she bolted, leapt down three flights
of stairs to the street. "I was more afraid of what
would happen to me if I went back to Trinidad
than if I stayed here and hid from the authori-
ties, " remembers John, now 23 and an advocate
for foster children at Voices of Youth, a project
of the nonprofit Youth Communications.
They quickly caught up with her, and placed
her in a temporary group home, where she kept
her immigration status a secret for four months.
A caseworker soon discovered she was illegal-
she does not know how-and from then on,
social workers and lawyers entrusted to keep chil-
dren safe did more to instill fear in her than to
help her ease into life in the United States. An
attorney for the Administration for Children's
Services asked a Family Court judge to send her
back to Trinidad. The judge refused. A city social
worker warned her that if she stayed in foster care
she could cause a war between Trinidad and the
U.S. "They said, 'What would happen if
Trinidad found out we had one of their people?'"
John remembers. "I totally believed them."
Card Me
But never during her first few years in foster
care did the caseworkers offer to help her
become a legal United States resident. Little did
they seem to know that under a 1990 federal
law, immigrant children in foster care can apply
for permanent residency as a "Special Immi-
grant Juvenile." Congress wrote the legislation
in response to concerns that without the ability
to work legally, immigrant young adults would
leave foster care unable to support themselves.
Around the country, however, word of the
provision, and how to put it to use, has yet to
trickle down to most service providers. "You ask
clients if they have had sexual abuse, if they're
drinking alcohol, and yet too ofren you don't ask
them where they were born, " says Max Moran,
a social worker with Seamen's Society for Chil-
dren and Families, a private agency overseen by
ACS. In fact, Ron Cerreta from the Door, one of
the few organizations in New York City that
provides legal services for foster teens, estimates
that in the fust five years afrer Congress enacted
the residency provision, less than 100 foster chil-
dren a year were approved. In New York City, he
says, only about 50 immigrant foster kids are
made permanent residents annually. While it is
not known how many of the 1,000 New York
young adults who leave foster care each year are
immigrants, the number, child advocates esti-
mate, is much more than 50.
John was one of the lucky few, having read
an ad for The Door's services in a magazine. "I
had to take the initiative," she remembers. It
paid off; at age 19, she got her green card.
For every such success story, however, there
are many others who leave foster care to live on
their own without the right ro work legally,
receive financial aid for college, access heal th
insurance or public assistance. "They teach me
how ro cook and clean," Giselle says of the life
skills classes the foster care system provides for
teens. "But that's not on the top of my list
when I can't go to college ifI don't have a green
card, and when I can't get a job."
That could soon change, however. Afrer con-
ducting a year-long study of immigrants in the
city's foster care system, the Immigration and
Child Welfare Project, a coalition of child wel-
fare advocates, convinced the Administration for
Children's Services to try to make immigration a
regular part of foster care workers' vocabularies.
In January, ACS hired the project to train the
city's child welfare workers on the ins and outs of
CITY LIMITS
the nation's immigration system. Under the $40,000
contract, child welfare workers with expertise in these
issues will spend a year teaching about 720 casework-
ers everything from how to decipher immigration
papers and determine a client's immigrant status, to
where to refer foreign-born kids for help when they
aren't eligible for government support to how to apply
for a green card.
This training will mark the first time the city has
given its foster care workers an extensive how-to on
dealing with immigrant children and families.
Without this training, the results have at times been
disastrous for kids, says Ilze Earner, founder and direc-
tor of the Immigration and Child Welfare Project.
Nationwide studies show that many former foster kids
end up homeless and on welfare. One such study, by
Mark E. Courmey at the University of Wisconsin,
found that 32 percent of young adults who'd been out
of care for 12 to 18 months were receiving public assis-
tance, and only two-fifths of them were employed. For
kids who are not legal residents, collecting welfare and
working, at least legally, are not options. Instead, they
must rely on friends, or on the families from whom
they were taken away, sometimes returning to the dan-
gerous situations that put them in foster care in the
first place. John knows of one young man who left fos-
ter care without working papers, gOt in trouble with
the law, and was deported to his home country.
Getting legal residency is not the only thing Earner
plans to focus on in the trainings. During her 20 years
in social work, she has seen cultural misunderstandings
lead caseworkers to remove a child from a home
because it was allegedly overcrowded. In other cases,
illegal immigrant families who've had trouble putting
food on the table or required medical attention have
lost a child to foster care because they couldn't apply
for public assistance to keep the family together.
The immigration project expects the training,
slated to start this summer, to put an end to some of
these complications. When caseworkers do help foster
kids become legal residents, Earner says they some-
times lose documents, like birth certificates and Social
Security cards, that are critical to the green card appli-
cation process. Or they wait until just months before
a foster child is scheduled to leave the system to start
the residency application process, which usually takes
two to three years. Once a child leaves foster care, by
age 21 in New York, he is no longer eligible.
In those cases, "Immigration has no obligation to
give them an appointment just because they're about
to age out," says Ron Cerreta of The Door. "Their
reason is, ' You should have gotten it to us sooner.'
And that's right. But who was responsible for getting
it to their arrention in the first place? Foster care."
Kendra Hurley is editor o/Foster Care Youth United,
a magazine written by and for teenagers in foster care
and published by Youth Communications.
MARCH 2002
FRONT LINES
Gifted Rap
FOR A WOMAN WHO RAPS AND HANDLES A MIC in front of late-night crowds, a few indifferent
bureaucrats are no big deal. Tomasia Kastner, activist, educator and hip-hop performer, knows a
thing or two about winning over a tough audience.
The energetic Kastner, 28, runs Elevated Urban Arts and Education, a hip-hop poetry and arts
workshop at the Robert F. Wagner School of Art and Technology in Queens. With Elevated, kids at the
alternative high school rhyme, write, dance, design and make videos as a way to deal with some of
their daily realities, from crime and poverty to the universal hassles of growing up.
None of that could happen without Kastner's backstage wrangling for funding, placating teach-
ers who get paid late, and struggling for enough cash to buy music and computer equipment. "It
takes a special kind of person and a special kind of artist to deal with a New York City public school
district," says Toni Blackman, a fellow performer who teaches writing at Elevated. ''Tomasia does not
mind a little perspiration."
Kastner says she decided to dedicate her life to activism after an eye-opening trip to Ghana while
an anthropology student at SUNY Binghamton. Seeing the desperate poverty and racism in Ghana
made her think more critically about what was happening back at home. But, she adds, the seeds for
her work really started to germinate while growing up as the child of an Italian and black mother and
a Dutch-German father in a white Rockland County suburb. "I feel issues of racism very personally,
such that I can't really be comfortable unless I'm working to resolve them," she says.
Today, when not in the classroom, Kastner works with W.E.R.l.S.E.- Women Empowered Through
Revolutionary Ideas Supporting Enterprise-the nonprofit women's artists collective she co-founded to
give independent female artists the means to raise money and a place to perform. In her limited off-
hours, she has been able to get out her own messages about gender and racial equality, rapping and
DJing under the name infiniTEE.
Next, Kastner plans to expand Elevated to other schools. Her work enables her to reach kids who nor-
mally feel alienated by regular school subjects, she says: "I wanted to have a more proactive approach.
I wanted to create something rather than react and tear something down." -Amanda Cantrell
7
FRONT llNES
HOUSING
Phipps-ed Off
A FEW DECADES AGO, it was not uncommon for
nonprofit housing developers to partner with
investors to fund their projects. But one of the
city's oldest affordable housing managers never
expected this arrangement could threaten its
affordable housing business.
With financial support from 66 individual
investors, Phipps Houses built Henry Phipps
Plaza West 28 years ago as part of the state's
Mitchell-Lima program, which provided low-
interest loans and tax breaks in exchange for
developing low- and middle-income housing.
Since then, the 894-apartment complex on
Manhattan's Second Avenue berween 26th and
29th streets has been home to a mix of work-
ing-class families and senior citizens.
Nothing lasts forever, though. In the case of
Mitchell-Lama buildings, the state required
developers to keep rents low for 20 years. At that
point, landlords can "buy our" of the program
and get back the bulk of their profits-millions
in Phipps Plaza's case-and raise rents to market
rate. Over the last 15 years, more than 30 devel-
opers reportedly have done so, and Phipps
Houses looks to be next-much to its dismay.
In 1989, seven years before Phipps Plaza
West's contract came up for renewal , Phipps'
investors told the nonprofit developer they
wanted the buildings out of Mitchell-Lama.
Phipps resisted. A decade later, the group
found itself in court, sued by its investors.
At that point, the future did not look good. "I
knew we would never change their minds, " says
Adam Weinstein, president of Phipps Houses.
But, last month, after three years of negotiating, a
settlement was reached: As early as this summer,
the building will leave Mitchell-Lama. Because
the building has federal mortgage subsidies, ten-
ants who qualifY for Section 8 vouchers-aIIow-
OPEN CITY
Mayita Mendez
Ramapo Anchorage Camp for Inner-City Kids, Rhinebeck, NY, July 2000
8
ing them to pay only 30 percent of their income
in rent-<:an start using them immediately.
"Management will assist households to fmd
ways they can qualifY, " says Weinstein. He esti-
mates berween 70 and 80 percent of the ten-
ants at Phipps Plaza will be found eligible.
The tenants are less confident. When the own-
ers of Waterside, an ex-Mitchell Lama building on
the East River, made that same arrangement, only
20 percent of the residents qualified for vouchers.
For the rest, rent hikes were set at 9 percent a year.
So some state legislators are ttying to do what
they can, given that there are 260 Mitchell-Lama
buildings in the city and 422 statewide. Assem-
blymen Steve Sanders, Edward Sullivan and
Scott Stringer have drafted bills to extend the
buyour limitation period and to make Mitchell-
Lamas rent-stabilized. But, given Republican
opposition, even that does not look promising.
Says Sanders, "I don't see any program in the
future to replace Mitchell-Lama."
-Alex Ginsberg
CITY LIMITS
HOUSING
Out of Control
THE STATE'S RENT STABILIZATION laws don't
expire until 2003, but tenant advocates looking
ro rweak the regulations are treating this year's
elections as a make-or-break opportunity.
Exactly what demands they plan ro make, how-
ever, depends on whom you ask.
Tenants and Neighbors, a statewide tenant
advocacy group, recently kicked off Rent 2002,
a campaign that calls for extending the current
rent laws through 2006, in time for the next
governor's race, with one exception: Cut out
"vacancy decontrol."
In 1997, the last time it reauthorized the rent
laws, the New York State legislature let landlords
hike rent by 20 percent or more as tenants leave
regulated apartments. That measure has helped
landlords escape regulation entirely, thanks to
another provision included in the reauthoriza-
tion: Apartments renting for $2,000 or more are
now deregulated immediately upon vacancy.
Landlord rep Roberta Bernstein of the Small
Property Owners of New York says the rwo
provisions have "barely affected housing out-
side of midrown Manhattan." But Michael
McKee, associate direcror of Tenants and
Neighbors, tells a different srory. He says the
combination of provisions has led to the dereg-
ulation of2 percent of the city's rent-controlled
apartments berween 1997 and 1999.
Most tenant activists agree that getting rid
of vacancy decontrol is essential. But some are
still adamant about demands that the state leg-
islature ignored or repealed in 1997-demands
that are absent from the Tenants and Neigh-
bors' latest campaign.
"We could have a huge wish list," says Jenny
Laurie, executive direcror of the Metropolitan
Council on Housing. Topping their agenda, in
addition to rolling back decontrol: the repeal of
the Urstadt law, which allows the legislature to
determine the city's rent laws; reenacting a
stronger rent deposit law to give poor tenants
more than five days ro pay their back rent in
court; and extending fair-cause eviction laws ro
short-term tenants.
Met Council has not signed on ro the Rent
2002 campaign as of yet, and it is still figuring
our how it will handle its own organizing
efforts this year.
Meanwhile, McKee hopes his streamlined
agenda will soon draw more supporters. Dur-
ing Showdown 1997, he says, the tenants'
demands were roo scattered, and roo many. As
a result, he contends, their interests were com-
MARCH 2002
promised, and decontrol passed.
Not this time, he vows: McKee promises to
produce a bill lawmakers can't "duck and dodge."
As of mid-January, campaign members included
the Fifth Avenue Commirree, the Citywide Ten-
ants Coalition and the Nassau and Westchester
Tenant Coalitions. While Governor George
Pataki is their primary target, they are soliciting
support from Democratic gubernarorial candi-
dates State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, who was
the keynote speaker at Tenants and Neighbors
annual meeting this winter, and Andrew Cuomo.
"This bill isn't everything that tenants
want, " says McKee, "but Republicans will have
a hard time saying no. "
===TAXES
Give Them a Break
-Pat Sisson
GOVERNMENT FUNDING IS SCARCEST just when
it's needed most. That cruel recession irony is
prompting one advocacy group ro launch a
campaign that could add hundreds of millions
ro the pockets of low-income New Yorkers-
without costing the city a penny.
More than half a billion dollars in tax refunds
meant for poor working families go untouched
each year because as many as 200,000 city tax-
payers who are eligible for the Earned Income
Tax Credit (EITC) rebate fail ro fill out their tax
forms properly, or do not file at all.
Minding The Gap
FRONT llNES
According ro studies commissioned by the
Internal Revenue Service, berween 15 and 25
percent of taxpayers eligible for the federal-
and state-funded rebate do not receive their
payments. To qualifY, a family must earn less
than $32,121 a year, individuals less than
$10,710. The lower the income, the higher the
rebate: A family with rwo children that earns
$12,000, for example, receives the largest
credit, $4,008. On rop of that, New York State
offers its own tax credit rotaling 25 percent of
the federal refund.
However, many workers, particularly non-
English-speaking immigrants who fear deporta-
tion and former welfare recipients who are new
ro the job market, do not file their taxes at all.
"We're in such a financial crisis and there's this
big pile of money just sitting there," says Amy
Brown of the Community Food Resource Cen-
ter. To get that money ro the people who need it,
CFRC is offering free tax preparation at seven
locations including soup kitchens, credit unions,
union halls and the offices of neighborhood
groups. They're also running radio ads and a toll-
free information line in English (866-WAGE-
PLUS) and in Spanish (866-DOLARES) .
With a growing recession and tremendous
job loss since the September 11 attacks, there's
no doubt those rebates would help. Says Russell
Sykes, vice president with the Schuyler Center
for Analysis and Advocacy, which helped write
the state EITC bill: "That can single-handedly
jump that family over the poverty level. "
-Matt Pacenza
ONE DAY THREE YEARS AGO, NEARLY 100 social workers gathered to discuss welfare reform, a hot topic
for professionals serving low-income people. Their shared outrage about their clients' growing difficulties
with unyielding bureaucracies was tinged with concern about their own changing roles: focusing on short-
term troubleshooting rather than long-term assistance.
"There was an incredible amount of frustration and anger not just because clients were having a harder
time," remembers Mimi Abramovitz, a professor at the Hunter College School of Social Work, "but because
welfare reform had compromised our ability to delivery essential social services."
That concern inspired Abramovitz and the New York City chapter of the National Association of Social
Workers to survey the staff of 107 nonprofit human service agencies on the effects welfare reform has had
on their work. "In Jeopardy: The Impact of Welfare Reform on Non-Profit Agencies in New York City," funded
by the United Way, is scheduled for release in late February.
Whether employed in youth organizing, health care promotion, literacy education or mental health counsel-
ing, social service professionals across the city have all had to shift their missions since 1996. Their new focus:
helping clients fight for public assistance by battling sanctions, preparing defenses for appeals and arranging
for emergency food and housing. In the meantime, workers at 60 percent of the agencies surveyed say they are
"less able" to help with longer term problems like mental health and education.
For a copy of "In Jeopardy," call Yvette Moody of the United Way at 212-251-4112.
-Matt Pacenza
9
INSIDE TRACK
Hosed in Housing Court
Welfare families are supposed to get help with the rent.
Go tell that to the judge. By Nora McCarthy
Public assistance budgets just $312 for Anastasia Martinez' rent of $791 . Even when she faced eviction, caseworkers never told
her she qualified for more ai d.
WITHIN A WARREN of gray cubicles housing an
outpost of the Citizens Advice Bureau, Ener-
cida Matteo sits stiffiy, holding in her lap an
eviction notice torn from the door of her apart-
ment as marshals stacked her belongings in the
street. That was Thursday. Now she watches
the faces of the people speaking English around
her, looking for clues. (She speaks only Span-
ish.) Or she presses a hand to her face and cries
10
in silence. ''I'm scared," she says, "I don't want
to go to a shelter."
Matteo is one of the first clients at the evic-
tion prevention unit at a Bronx job center this
Monday morning, and at first glance, her case
makes no sense. Even with public assistance and
a job at a cosmetics factory, Matteo cannot afford
her full rent. As a welfare recipient on the verge
of eviction, she is entitled to a rent subsidy
known as Jiggetts. Named after the lead plaintiff
in a suit charging that New York's welfare rent
allowance of $286 a month for a family of three
is impossibly low, the subsidy, first ordered by a
state court in 1993, pays up to $650 for a house-
hold of that size. Citizens Advice Bureau receives
$1.3 million a year from the city to rue Jiggetts
applications in the Bronx.
When Matteo first came here in December,
CITY LIMITS
.
1
she'd already signed a stipulation in court
promising ro pay $4,000 in back rent by Janu-
ary 3. CAB filed her Jiggerrs application. The
state Office of Temporary and Disability Assis-
rance promised ro send a check and begin her
ongoing subsidy by that date.
But the process went awry. The check didn't
reach her landlord in time. When it failed ro
arrive, Marreo should have gone ro court ro
stay the eviction. (While a 1998 law bars judges
from granting tenants more time ro pay rent
once they've agreed in court ro pay by a certain
date, late checks from the state are cause for an
exception.) But, like 90 percent of tenants in
the Bronx, Matteo had no lawyer. She didn't
know about the loophole.
She got evicted. Now she and CAB have 10
days ro get the state ro come through with
$6,000 for back rent, legal fees and "moving
fees" incurred when the marshals dumped her
fumirure at the curb. In the end, the state paid
it-lining the landlord's pocket with $2,000
that could easily have been saved.
Few cases end well like Marreo's, but she is
like many in the ever-growing ranks of poor peo-
ple getting evicted-grasping at an inefficient
and inadequate rent subsidy, a flimsy protection
against homelessness. Only a few years ago, get-
ting Jiggetts was simple. But a major 1998
resuucruring of Housing CouC[ collided with an
overhaul of welfare, and for tenants on public
assistance, this has meant trouble. Housing
Court cases that once dragged on for months
now get resolved in weeks, giving tenants linle
time ro scrape rogether relief. At the same time,
as welfare rolls have dropped by half, Jiggetts par-
ticipation has fallen, [00. In 1998, 26,000 ten-
ants had their rent subsidized by Jiggetts. In
2000, JUSt 16,000 did.
The impact is obvious. In the Bronx, where
the proportion of the population on public
assistance is the highest in the city, the number
of evictions has shot up, from 5,575 in 1995 ro
8,119 in 2000. Brooklyn, roo, saw a dramatic
rise-from 5,350 in 1995 ro 7, 122 in 2000.
(In the rest of the city, rates have either
remained stable or declined.)
Many welfare recipients can no longer
count on Jiggens' protection. Stephanie Hall-
Wright and her 3-year-old daughter, Zariya,
who arrive at CAB's office wearing matching
Nikes, are one fanlily who may lose their home
ro this disjointed cataclysm of reforms. Wright,
who is 20 and on public assistance, owes about
$1,800 in renr. She seems baffled by her land-
lord's intention ro evict her.
"My landlord knew the situation was rough.
I was not working at the time and no one could
MARCH 2002
help, " she says, sounding angry and then fran-
tic. "I got a daughter. We can't be out on the
sueer. I need ro regroup, think of something
else ro do. This is stressful. "
But Wright's case, like many, will not be
easy ro resolve. She was sanctioned last summer
for not complying with a job training program.
Her welfare rent allowance-usually $250 a
month, far short of the $525 she pays her land-
lord-was reduced ro $93 a month. Even once
she gets Jiggetts, the subsidy will not cover back
rent that welfare cut off; Wright will have ro
repay that portion herself.
To get Jiggetts at all, she will have ro
straighten out her welfare case, which she does
not want ro do. ''They want you ro work in a
park for 75 cents an hour, " Wright says. "I don't
When they arrive
in Housing Court
now, landlords
have many new
opportunities to put
tenants on the fast
track to eviction.
have ro do this. I'm only 20. I can find a job. "
Of course, if her landlord doesn't want ro
wait, that choice may not be hers ro make.
ONLY A FEW YEARS ago, Jiggens represented a
sure shot for landlords. Most were eager ro coop-
erate with tenants ro get it. "I'd say that 85 per-
cent of the cases I deal with end in Jiggetts," land-
lord arromey Steven Goldstein [Old City Limits in
1998. "The point here is not [0 evict tenants. It
is [0 get our money and keep poor people in their
apartments. Jiggerrs does that. " With the subsidy,
landlords receive up ro $7,000 compensation for
back rent and the assurance that most of the rent
will continue ro be paid on time.
But during the late 1990s, owners in poor
neighborhoods starred demanding and getting
rent that exceeded what Jiggetts could pay. The
average rent for a two-bedroom in New York
INSIDE TRACK
City climbed past $834, according ro the
National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The 1997 state law overhauling rent stabi-
lization only gave owners more reasons ro pre-
fer eviction. That law allows landlords ro
increase rents on regulated apartments by 20
percent or more when they become vacant.
Landlords could find desperate tenants who
were willing ro pay high prices by living in large
groups. Other subsidies, such as Section 8, are
also more generous than Jiggetts.
Landlords can not only make more money
by kicking a tenant out, but recent Housing
Courr reforms also make it easier for them ro
get tenants evicted. Previously, a judge heard a
case while a tenant and landlord tried ro reach
a deal. If they couldn't compromise, that same
judge ran the trial. Now, because of the
restructuring, which was pushed by state Chief
Judge Judith Kaye, the court has been split
Into two parts.
One judge oversees a "resolution" part,
where both parties work toward a stipulation.
That states how much money a tenant will pay,
and by what date. Tenants might want ro refuse
a stipulation, because they know they can't get
the money [Ogether in the two weeks or a
month a landlord demands. Judges can pressure
a landlord ro be more flexible about the dead-
line, but there is nothing they can do besides
send the case ro trial-under a different judge.
But few tenants want ro go ro trial, where a
judge's decision is the fmal word. If a judge
decides [0 evict, tenants can be out of their
homes in as little as five days. Getting a trial date
used [0 take up ro six weeks; now it can happen
in just hours. Unprepared tenants often show up
at trial with no evidence ro sUppOrt their case.
Eviction also used ro stretch out over three
ro six weeks, but now the process takes only
days. To avoid going ro trial, tenants are likely
ro sign stipulations whose terms they know
they cannot meet, says Jodi Harawitz, direcror
of the City-Wide Task Force on Housing. They
hope that they can buy more time that way.
Usually, they can't. While requests for an exten-
sion rose ro about 190,000 in 2001 from
130,000 in 1995, the 1998 law drastically lim-
its judges' power ro grant tenants more time
once they sign a stipulation.
For landlords, the new regime is a good
thing: It means tenants have ro get the money
faster, or get out. Meryl Wenig, a Brooklyn
lawyer who often represents landlords, says the
law only makes sense. "If you've agreed ro pay by
a certain day, you shouldn't get several bites of
the apple," Wenig says. "If you couldn't make it,
don't sign it. You could have done a trial ."
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Judge Fern Fisher-Brandveen, a Housing
Court administrator, believes the two-part sys-
tem has helped. "There are benefits on both
sides to making sure something is not dragged
our," she says. Still, she admits that the law pro-
hibiting judges from staying evictions may not
be an improvement: "In some cases the judge's
hands are tied, and maybe the law has made it
more difficult to extend the time in some cases
where time might be a good thing."
It's not impossible to rush a Jiggetts applica-
tion; advocates now have to do it all the time. It's
also possible to get an eviction delayed in some
cases. Legal Aid and Legal Services lawyers know
the loopholes. But their staffs have shrunk by
more than half in some boroughs over the last
decade, and very few tenants are represented.
Says Ed Josephson, director of the housing
law unit at Brooklyn Legal Services, "We see a
lot of people who are totally eligible for relief
money, but if we didn't step in and take the
case, they'd be out."
All OF THIS ASSUMES that tenants know they're
entitled to help. Many don't. One source of
obfuscation is the city's own Human Resources
Administration, which launched the Rental
Assistance Alert program in an effort to
decrease reliance on Jiggetts. RAA units help
welfare recipients wrangle money out of family
or charities, and workers don't recommend
Jiggetts until all other options have been
exhausted. "There are real problems with them
not referring cases quickly to the units who do
Jiggetts applications," says Susan Bahn, an
attorney with Legal Aid.
Welfare caseworkers also often fail to tell
tenants their rights. When a judge gave Anasta-
sia Martinez one month to pay $1,000 in back
rent, her caseworker never suggested a visit to
CAB. Martinez had received a Jiggetts subsidy
in 1998, but lost it during a brief sanction.
Jiggetts is not automatically reinstated when a
welfare case is reopened, and Martinez was
never told she could reapply. Instead, Martinez
got her sister to help out with the $791 rent.
Her sister lost her job after September 11, and
Martinez quickly fell behind.
Luckily, Martinez told a friend she might
get evicted, and the friend told her to contact
CAB. Now Martinez will have to ask a judge to
give her an extension while CAB tries to rush
the application.
Even if Jiggetts comes through, though, it
will not be enough. Martinez had to ask her
brother to pay the more than $150 difference
each month. "I have three kids," she says, "and
they gave me one month to get out. "
CITY LIMITS
STOP
HERE ON
RED
Classroom Adversaries
S
tudent protests at CUNY School of Law
shouldn't surprise anyone. After all, activism
has always been part of the curriculum at this
New York City institution. The school actually offers
a course in civil disobedience taught by professor
Dinesh Khosla, himself schooled first-hand in
demonstrations in India, where he was arrested more
than a dozen times for anti-government protests. His
first arrest for civil disobedience was at age 16, after
the Ford Foundation gave a grant to help his Delhi
high school adopt multiple-choice exams.
Still, it was something of a shock last April
when Khosla and a group of nine students went on
a hunger strike to protest the school 's handling of
faculty member Maivan Lam's tenure bid.
Lanl, acclaimed for her work on the rights of
indigenous people and a faculty member since 1992,
was also known for incorporating into her classes an
approach known as critical legal studies, along with
its controversial offshoots, critical race theory and
feminist jurisprudence. These doctrines look at legal
MARCH 2002
What are
activist attorneys
made of?
CUNY School of Law
is looking
to the bar exam
for answers.
By Wendy Davis
principles through the lens of injustices done to
women and minorities in the name of the law.
For example, when Lam taught her students
about a Supreme Court decision invalidating a law
banning mixed-race marriages, she also asked them
to think about the social pressures that originally
led to the law, as well as to consider who might have
benefited from it. Though the answer-white
men-may be obvious, the context of the law is
not. Lam posits that the ban on mixed-race mar-
riage served to protect fathers from the responsibil-
ity of supporting mixed-race offspring, and it insu-
lated white sons from estate challenges by mixed-
race half-siblings.
When Lam's tenure application was initially con-
sidered, the tenure committee recommended
approving it. Then the school's personnel and bud-
get committee asked CUNY Law's dean, Kristen
Booth Glen, to deny Lam tenure. In accordance
with the school's confidentiality policy, no reason
was ever given. (Court papers filed by Lam suggest
13
that the administration had qualms with her administrative duties and
her classroom teaching.
Lam's student supporters began protesting immediately after they
learned of the personnel committee's recommendation. They insisted that
the move had everything to do with other recent changes at the school-
particularly with curriculum initiatives aimed at making sure students
pass the bar exam. The students charged the school was forcing Lam out
her because her approach did not further the administration's goal.
They started a petition drive, garnering an estimated 150 signatures by
their count. When that didn't produce results quickly enough, they staged
a sit-in. Though the school agreed to add a student member to the per-
sonnel committee, relations between Lam's supporters and the adminis-
tration continued to deteriorate. As months went by without a final deci-
sion from the dean, the students suspected the administration was wait-
ing until the summer-when they would no longer be on campus-to
announce the result.
And so they resorted to the hunger strike, which ended on the fourth
day-after one student was taken to the hospital . Finally, several days
later, Dean Glen announced that the tenure denial would stand. Lam left
at the end of the semester and is now a visiting professor at American
University. (She also filed a lawsuit against CUNY,
Elsa Christiansen and Gordon
Kaupp j oined a hunger strike
supporting a radical professor's
tenure bid. Her absence, they say,
is a sign of CUNY's decline.
devoted to progressive causes, as
are most of Lam's other ardent
supporters. After graduating from
Skidmore College, Kaupp spent
three years in Colorado lobbying
to preserve affirmative action. He chose CUNY Law for its clinics in
international women's human rights and welfare rights advocacy, and
because the school's reputation led him to expect a liberal-leaning faculty
that approached all courses from "a very progressive angle."
For Kaupp and the other protesters, Lam was exactly the type of
teacher they anticipated working with at CUNY. "When we came here,
we expected every class would have critical theory, " says fellow hunger
striker Elsa Christiansen, a Brown University graduate who was drawn
to the school for its immigrants' rights clinic. "We believed each class
would be taught with the angle of repression. "
But there are other students who came to feel that there were times
when that kind of approach was itself oppressive. Nicole Al len, a second-
year student from Rochester who took a seminar with Lam last year,
thought Lam could be a harsh critic of students who did not agree with
her politics. "She was very opinionated about her views," says Allen,
adding that if students challenged Lam, she might dismiss them by say-
ing they were arguing a "very conservative" position.
Dean Glen declined to comment on the specifics of Lam's case, but
did volunteer that end-of-course evaluations included such vitriolic com-
ments as "the worst teacher I ever had."
At a school that prides itself on both diversity and
which is pending. In January, the EEOC deter-
mined a discrimination complaint could move for-
ward as well.) On the advice of her attorney, Lam
refused to comment for this story.
'This school used
a commitment to changing the world through law,
there are a lot of different views on what ought to go
into the education of public interest attorneys.
Lately, that tension has exploded into the open, and
into a virtual referendum on the future of one of
New York's great progressive institutions. Eighteen
years after its founding by a group of radical lawyers,
CUNY Law has found itself torn between two iden-
tities, building on its status as perhaps the most
activist law school in North America while facing
increasing pressure as a public university to provide
its graduates with the goods they'll need to succeed.
Now, nearly a year later, the students who ral-
lied behind Lam say they're still affected by the
turn of events. "Maivan really played a big role in
nurturing us intellectually and emotionally," says
Gordon Kaupp, a polite, earnest third-year student
who says he might have dropped out of school
were it not for Lam and her views on how racial
bias influences the law. "Maivan is fearless in chal-
lenging white privilege," he says. "I'm a white stu-
dent, and she would talk about race in a way that
wasn't always that comfortable for white students
to hear, myself included." Lam drew on history,
political science and sociology in her courses, and
encouraged students to deconstruct the laws they
were learning, not just memorize them.
Kaupp, who is preparing to move to California
and find a job representing low-income clients, is
14
to stand for
something.
Now, there's no
mission. It's run by
people who only
want to be managers.
This school has
lost its soul."
Professor Dinesh Khosla
Those demands aren't coming from students
alone. In 1997, after just 46 percent of CUNY
graduates passed the bar exam on their first try-
the current state average is 79 percent-the New
York Post editorialized in favor of shutting down
the school, and there was some fear that the
trustees might do just thar.
But these days, the loudest voices in Dean Glen's
ears come from right down the hall. "They're who [
CITY LIMITS
Dean Kristen Booth Glen
says that at her progressive
school, gender and race
studies don't need to be
segregated in special classes.
would have been, if I was a stu-
dent," she insists of her critics-in-
residence. That doesn't mean she
agrees wirh rhem. "It's like because
we want our students to pass rhis
bar, we're reactionary, horrible people, " she says, exasperated. "Politically,
we can't exist if our students don't pass rhe bar."
For all rhe hurdles facing rhe school, Glen, a former appellate court judge,
has done a remarkable job in helping raise rhe first-time bar-pass rate, while
also quelling any movement to shutter rhe school. Her initiatives have
ranged from inviting local politicians to observe classes to bringing in a con-
sultant to evaluate rhe way in which courses were taught and suggest changes
to improve rhe bar passage rate. The Community Legal Resource erwork,
anorher new project, provides technical assistance and orher resources to
graduates who launch neighborhood-based practices. Orher changes have
been more traditional: Students now receive letter grades instead of just pass-
ing or failing courses, and rhe worst performers now Aunk out.
But dissenting faculty members insist that Glen's ambitions for rhe
school have come at a cost. "When I came, we couldn't care less how we
were perceived by the mainstream legal community," laments Frank
Deale, a faculty member since 1989. "Now, the school is in a mindset of
mainstreaming . ... There is a concern we really need to up rhe ante in
terms of getting accepted by the traditional legal community. "
Khosla, who has butted heads many times wirh Glen, contends rhat the
new grading practices have created a "climate of fear. " He believes rhere's lit-
tle room in CUNY anymore for teaching rhat
1987 and served for seven years. He was still a member of rhe faculty in
1996 when he was killed in a car crash in Sourh Africa at rhe age of 55.
Under Burns' leadership, which coincided with a Democratic mayor
and governor, rhe school's reputation grew. Alrhough rhe American Bar
Association was nevet happy with the school's low first-time bar-passage
rate or its pass-fail grades, CUNY did become fully accredited.
Faculty who were on staff under Burns' leadership still speak long-
ingly of rhe popular dean's ability ro inspire people to work for social jus-
tice. "What drew me to the law school was rhat it was a place where stu-
dents would come because they really wanted to change society," says
Deale, who was a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights
when he was first recruited to teach at CUNY in 1989.
Wirh rhe motto "Law in rhe Service of Human Needs," rhe law school
has an impressive track record of graduates who have dedicated rhemselves
to public service in New York City. Notable alumni include Housing
Court judges Pam Jackman-Brown, Margaret McGowan, and Schlomo
Hagler, City Council Member Larry Seabrook, and state Assembly Mem-
ber Jeffrey Klein. Anorher graduate, Miguel Negron, won the American
Bar Association's prestigious pro bono award last year for work on behalf
of immigrants and other low-income people.
CUNY graduates work in many of rhe institutions
emphasizes critical approaches to the law. "This
school used to stand for somerhing, " he says. "Now,
rhere's no mission. It's run by people who only want
to be managers. This school has lost its soul."
"It's like because
where rhe people of New York fmd rheir representa-
tion-at Legal Aid, rhe District Attorney's office, gov-
ernment agencies and in numerous small firms.
C
UNY Law was never anyone's idea of a typ-
icallaw school. It was founded in 1983 with
the purpose of training students to practice
public interest law-although from the begin-
ning, there was disagreement over rhe definition
of "public interest. " Some faculty felt that only
advocacy work directly on behalf of low-income
clients deserved that label.
But while rhe founders ultimately chose to also
train students for government work--even to be
criminal prosecutors-it was Haywood Burns,
who took over as dean in 1987, who came to
define rhe CUNY way of rhe law. Burns, a world-
famous activist who registered Sourhern black vot-
ers in rhe 1960s and was counsel to Martin Lurher
King J r. 's Poor People's Project, took over as dean in
MARCH 2002
we want our
students to
pass this bar,
we're reactionary,
horrible people.
Politically, we can't
exist if our students
don't pass the bar."
Dean Kristen Booth Glen
"I feel blessed to have gone to CUNY," says Edwina
Richardson Thomas, a fiercely loyal CUNY grad who
is now a referee in Queens Family Court. "There was
this true sense of commwlity. ... They put it into our
heads constantly: law in tile service of hwnan needs.
Whatever you do, use rhe law to help people."
Alrhough CUNY Law is classified by us. News
& World Report as a bottom quadrant, "fourth-tier"
law school, admissions are exceptionally competitive,
wirh only around one in rhree applicants accepted.
In part, rhe school draws so many applicants sim-
ply because it is affordable. New York state residents
pay tuition of only $5,700 a year; out-of-state resi-
dents, approximately $9,000. At Brooklyn Law
School and New York Law School, by comparison,
ruition is about $25,000 a year.
CUNY Law has also always attracted the best
and brightest from all over the country who could
15
have gone anywhere bur chose CUNY because of its progressive reputa-
tion and vaunted clinical programs, which are ranked fourth in the
country by Us. News. In the mandatory clinics, students represent
domestic violence victims, criminal defendants, immigrants and other
low-income clients. Clinical programs are now de rigueur at elite law
schools, but they weren't when CUNY started its programs; CUNY set
the example that they later followed.
The student body, although small at only around 150 per class, is in
no danger of being called monolithic, either in viewpoint or back-
ground. Glen says her vision for CUNY is for it to be a public interest
training ground as well as "the most diverse law school in the country."
This year, students of color made up an impressive 46 percent of the
entering class, a slight increase over last year.
The one thing all students are supposed to have in common is a com-
mitment to public interest law. About half of the class of 2000 ended up
in a public interest or public service job.
To help the admissions committee decide which
prospective students are truly committed to public
Under the administration of the
late Heywood Burns, CUNY law
gained a national reputation as an
activist Mecca.
"the revolutionaries. "
Second-year student Amy Wasserman entered CUNY with the goal of
becoming a criminal defense lawyer, but after taking one year of classes
she realized the work wasn't for her. Although active in the Public Inter-
est Lawyering Association, which raises scholarship money for students to
work at non profits, she now intends to work in real estate after gradua-
tion, for reasons she can't explain other than that she enjoys it.
Wasserman, a Rockland Counry native, did not get involved in last
year's protests, saying she didn't want to be distracted from her studies. "In
a lot of aspects you're consumed with law school," she says. "You try to dis-
regard anything that is not going to be beneficial to passing your finals. "
Located in a former junior high school in Flushing, CUNY Law is open
and unpretentious for a law school. There's on-site child care for students,
and yoga classes for the communiry. People here tend to be friendly, and to
pride themselves on it. Students' voices have long been heard here, largely
because the founders deliberately tried to do away with the hierarchical
institutional structure followed by other law schools, where the faculry
and administration wield near-absolute authoriry.
"When we started, we had as our goal a radical experiment in legal edu-
cation," says Victor Goode, a specialist in affirmative action cases and for-
mer executive director of the National Conference of Black Lawyers who
has been on the CUNY faculry since the beginning. "We thought we might
stand as a beacon of how things might be done differently."
From the start, however, there were political problems, with both the
larger CUNY administration and the American Bar Association. In 1986,
only 43 percent of the first graduating class passed the bar on their first
try, leading to embarrassing press attention. The
following year, the CUNY Chancellor fired rwo
interest work, applicants must write a personal essay
describing their aspirations and interests. Bur some
with more mainstream goals inevitably get in. Others
come to realize they have priorities other than work-
ing for a cause. Third-year student Hilda Quinto says
she wants to create her own financial securiry after she
graduates this May, as opposed to taking a low-pay-
ing public interest job. A 26-year-old Peruvian immi-
grant who settled in Florida at the age of 16, Quinto
now plans to do securities work for an investment
flrm-a career path that has been met with condem-
nation from some of her classmates.
Among the courses
no longer offered
are "Feminist
original faculry members, even though their col-
leagues had recommended them for tenure; a law-
suit soon followed.
Today, students still call professors by their first
names, although other early practices have faded
away. For instance, students and faculry no longer
meet in small groups, cal led "houses," to do a
postmortem on the week's courses.
"Some students have perspectives totally alien-
ated from what I think," says Quinto. "There was
division here since the fust day I arrived." She has
no patience for the hunger strikers, whom she calls
16
Jurisprudence, "
"Gender and the Law"
and "Critical Race
Studies. "
But more than any other single event, it was
the 1997 bar exam results that altered CUNY
Law's priorities. That July, only 46 percent of
CUNY grads passed the New York state bar the
first time they took it that year.
Whi le the bar passage rate had dipped low
before, the ciry was in a less forgiving mood in the
late 1990s. For one thing, the law school no longer
CITY LIMITS
Not every CUNY law student is
seeking a political education:
Amy Wasserman and Nicole Allen
both plan to go into real estate.
had the excuse that it was feeling its way through
uncharted territory. What's more, a gtowing para-
digm shift in higher education made standardized test scores a defining
measure of a school's success. With a Republican mayor and governor, and
with CUNY board members promoting performance standards for col-
leges, the school no longer had the luxury of downplaying bar exam results.
"With the Board of Trustees and the state legislature breathing down
your neck, you have to sacrifice," says Frank Deale, who is also an offi-
cer with the CUNY faculry union.
Pressure in the form of editorials by the ciry's tabloids, combined with
the perceived threat that the Board of Trustees might close the school,
left the administration desperate to boost its students' test success.
To that end, a host of changes were instituted. For one, the admissions
committee put an increased importance on the Law School Admissions Test
(LSAT), a multiple-choice exam designed to assess logical reasoning skills. A
student who scores high on the LSAT has a better chance oflater doing well
on the bar; like the LSAT, the bar exam is a timed, closed-book test. Now,
following a strict quota, the school admits no more than one-fourth of each
class with an LSAT below the 25th percentile. Just two people with a score
ranking below the 15th percentile have been admitted in the last two years.
At the time of the change, members of the administration knew they
would be locking out some nontraditional students. "One of the things the
school did was insist on higher LSATs," says Sylvia Law, a professor at New
York Universiry Law School, a leading figure in health law and women's
rights, and herself a MacArthur Prize recipient. She was on the school's
Board of Visitors, an advisory body, until 1999. "That was a painful,
painful decision. When you have someone who's been a social worker for
20 years, or a cop, it's a painful thing to say, 'We can't afford to admit you. '"
But the tighter admissions policy has indeed helped the law school boost
its first-time bar passage rate. In 2000, CUNY hit its highest rate ever, with
74 percent of graduates succeeding on their first try-almost the exact same
percentage as the much higher-ranked Brooklyn Law School. This past
year, the rate dipped to 69 percent, 10 percent lower than the state average.
Of course, students can take the test repeatedly, like John F. Kennedy Jr.
famously did. Bur retaking the test can be demoralizing as well as quite
expensive, with bar review prep courses alone running around $1,000; then
there are lost wages while people take time off to study.
Notes professor Sharon Hom, "It's not us who are humiliated and
mortified and have to go through the painful process of having to go
take it again."
B
ut there's an ultimate irony in the numbers game. No one-not
the professors, not the administration-believes the bar exam is a
good measure of abiliry to practice law. If anything, it tests the
MARCH 2002
one thing lawyers are never supposed to do in the real world: give advice
from memory.
This tension between teaching students to memorize principles and to
deconstruct them poses challenges to all legal educators. "Every dean
struggles with that balance between teaching how to be a good lawyer and
how to pass the bar," observes Sylvia Law, who refuses to give closed-book
exams to her students at NYU. "You should be teaching people to be
good lawyers, not just teaching to the test. On the other hand, if you can't
pass the bar, you can't be a lawyer. "
To pass the bar, students need to memorize "black letter law"-the
rules and principles that come our of prior cases or statutes. Closed-book
tests are the rule at CUNY, a practice Dean Glen defends as necessary to
give students practice with timed exams to get them in shape for the
bar-"the most intense test there is. " A rypical question might involve
asking whether employment contracts must be in writing to be valid.
Not surprisingly, teaching these rules is as dull for professors as learning
them is for students. But legal education does not have to be that way-and
tends not to be at the top-rated elite law schools, where tests are open-book
essay exams and where students are routinely asked to think and analyze.
Black letter law only comes front and center during intensive bar review
courses just before the exam; after all, students will be taking their bar exams
in many different states, each of which has its own distinct legal codes.
In CUNY Law's early years, when all classes were driven by theory,
there was little emphasis on the black letter rules. Even the course names
reflected the philosophical approach to law: Contracts was cal led "Law
and a Market Economy," while torts and criminal law went by "Respon-
sibili ry for Injurious Conduct."
The classes are still subtitled with those names, although the names
today JUSt end up puzzling students. "People who come to school now
wonder, 'Why does this course have this crazy name?' It's turned itself on
its head," says Goode.
An increasing number of provocative courses have gone into retirement.
One of the hunger strikers' complaints was that the catalogue listed elec-
tives-such as ''AIDS and the Law" and "Native American Law"-that
weren't offered. "When I read that catalogue, I was like in tears," says
Kaupp. "It only took three weeks for me to realize what was going on .... I
moved here from Colorado. I uprooted my life. I was really disappointed. "
"The range of elective offerings that we provide is pitiful," agrees
Frank Deale.
Last year, the school's catalogue was revised; it now no longer includes
classes that haven't been offered in the last three years. The 2002 catalog lists
continued on page 31
17
Outside the Emergency
Assiscance Unit,
151st Street at
AViflue, the Bronx
18 CITY LIMITS
~
OSln
Want to see the city's housing crisis in action?
Welcome to the EAU.
M
ary Saunders loves her family, but the
birth of her own next generation, 1-
year-old Cheyenne, has put those ties
under a cracking strain. The two of them share a
double bed in an eight-by-nine room, sur-
rounded by the accoutrements of a new life: a
laundry hamper, a stack of Disney DVDs, a tiny
tricycle. Two small adjoining rooms, perhaps
five-by-seven feet each, bunk Mary's two younger
brothers and a sister.
Mary and Cheyenne owe their own cozy sit-
uation to Mary's mother, who now sleeps on
the living room couch, even though it makes
her back hurt. That's just one of many burdens
of life among seven kin. At 21, Saunders has to
carefully coordinate visits from Cheyenne's
father, so they can spend time together-and
alone. There's nowhere for Cheyenne to play,
never mind ride her trike.
Then, in the fall, economic disaster. The
Food Emporium, where Saunders' mom
works, shut down three stores and cut her
schedule from six days a week to three. Mean-
while, Mary lost a job supervising children's
activities for the Salvation Army; next, a
Macy's holiday job did not result in an anti-
cipated permanent position. Welfare's out of
the question; when she was on it before, "they
deducted me so many rimes it's not even
funny." She wants to entoll in a nursing pro-
gram at Bronx Community College but in the
meantime can't bear being a burden on her
mother any long. Says Saunders: "It's time for
me to go."
Saunders has tried living on her own before.
A couple of years ago, she and twO friends sub-
MARCH 2002
By Alyssa Katz
let an apartment nearby, in Harlem's Bradhurst
section. But rent of $900 a month, at a time
when they were partly relying on public assis-
tance, was too much.
Now, Saunders sees just one alternative.
This winter, she plans to go to the city's Emer-
gency Assistance Unit (EAU), just over the
145th Street bridge in the Bronx. She knows
from her ex-roommate Ebony, who did the
same thing about a year ago with her own
infant, exactly what she can expect there.
For 10 days, she and Cheyenne will have to
virtually live at the EAU, a grim bunker packed
with other families in similar predicaments.
Late every night, they'll be taken to a tempo-
rary shelter to sleep, then bused back in the
early morning, to spend another day sprawled
on white plastic benches, surrounded by bun-
dles of their possessions. At the end of the 10
days, investigators will likely reject their appli-
cation for emergency housing, on the assertion
that they already have someplace to stay. And
then they will have to start the process allover
again. A 1999 survey of applicants found that
62 percent were reapplying mer being found
ineligible. Overall, just 26 percent of applica-
tions are approved.
Mary's insisting on hope. After proving
there was asbestos in her boyfriend's sister's
basement and that the only bed for her and her
soon-to-be-born child was a couch, Ebony got
a slot in a family shelter, then an apartment on
Bathgate Avenue, helped by a federally funded
rent subsidy that keeps her own obligation to a
manageable $200 or so a month.
"The question is, will they help me?" asks
Saunders. ''I'm scared to go. It's a last resort-
what you do if you can't do anything else."
S
aunders is hardly the only young parent
in New York right now who can't take
that most basic of life steps-finding an
apartment, or even just a rented room, to call
her family's own. The waiting list for public
housing remains about eight years long. There
are more than 100,000 would-be households
on the waiting list for the federal vouchers that
help poor families pay private rents; from 1995
to 1998, there were no new vouchers at all. (An
increasing number of voucher-holders find
them useless anyway, because many landlords
don't want the hassle of following the regula-
tions.) And forget about finding an apartment
without a public subsidy or another family to
share with: According to a 1999 Census
Bureau survey, there were just under 2,000
apartments on the private market renting for
under $400 a month, about the amount a low-
wage worker can pay. Only about 5,700 were
available for less than $500. Whether these
apartments are in any condition to house a
family is a whole other question; about rwo-
thirds of the units the Census bureau found to
be "physically poor" rent for less than $600.
So it surprises no one that there are now a
record number of families seeking assistance at
the EAU-62 a night on average last year-and
a record number of those actually in the home-
less shelter system, 6,786 in December 2001.
But if the whys are well understood, the lives
and choices of the women who flock here night
after night are far more obscure to anyone who
19
"I'm scared to go," says Mary Saunders.
hasn't heard it from them directly. The Giuliani
administration, so successful at politicizing
what goes on behind the EAU's doors, played
an unmistakable role in muddying public
understanding of why fan1ilies seek shelter.
Qournalists, and for that matter virtually all
outside observers, are barred from the EAU.)
Vowing in 1996 mat the Department of Home-
less Services (DHS) would reject families from
applying for shelrer unless they could prove
beyond a doubt that they were homeless, Mayor
Giuliani explained the minking behind the pol-
icy: "When you really ask questions and you do
mings like we have done wim welfare-you go
and investigate-you find out mar a large per-
centage of people
that were coming to
that unit were not
homeless. They were
looking for other
accommodations. "
He singled out advo-
cates for the poor as
part of me problem,
saying that they
"are unwilling to
acknowledge the fact
that there are two
reali ties about wel-
fare and homeless-
ness. There are very
needy people who
need help and peo-
ple who don't need
help but who seek it
anyway."
On the defensive
as families began
being turned away
in droves, the nat-
ural response for
many advocares was
to avoid confirming
the mayor's characterization. Even as housing
costs rose sharply and availabiliry shrank, there
was little public discussion of the complex rea-
sons why families seek emergency help with
housing; me focus tended to be on the sick, me
abused, the most desperately needy.
Today, quite a few of families who turn ro
me EAU are homeless by anyone's definition:
mey are refugees from domestic violence (just
over 1,600 in fiscal year 2001), or had marshals
mrow them onto the street (about 10 percent
come straight from their own apartment,
according to surveys). Mental illness persists as
a facror for some. Some parents struggle with
20
drug and alcohol problems, but not, say long-
time observers, on me scale mat mey did dur-
ing the late 1980s and early 1990s, when epi-
demics of crack and family homelessness coin-
cided. 'This time, it's less driven by substance
abuse and more by economic factors, " says
Bobby Watts, assistant executive director of me
healm group, Care for me Homeless. "[Drug]
cases seem to stand out more now."
In truth, the vast bulk of business at the
EAU is noming more man low-income fami-
lies seeking public assistance with housing-
something for which they are almost all legally
eligible. There simply isn't any other place to
go. In that, it hasn't changed much at all since
the 1980s, when Beth Weitzman and her col-
leagues at the Wagner School for Public Ser-
vice conducted a ciry-funded study asking
where exactly the then-record numbers of
homeless families were coming from. They
found "a lot of young women in their twenties
that had never broken into the housing mar-
ket," recalls Weitzman. "They were doubling
up wirh people who were themselves in diffi-
cult housing circumstances."
Weitzman's research helped lead me Koch
administration to embark on ambitious efforts
to rehabilitate thousands of apartments for
homeless and other low-income families
(though never enough, as far as many afford-
able housing advocates were concerned). She
remembers the optimism that came with swift
declines in the numbers of families coming to
me EAU in the early 1990s. Says Weitzman,
"We thought we were getting a handle on the
problem."
T
hen, just as quickly as mey went down,
the numbers of families in the ciry shel-
ter system increased, despite efforts by
the Giuliani administration, both legal and ille-
gal, to keep out everyone it could. The reversal
had everything to do wim the increasing
scarciry of apartments affordable to poor peo-
ple. But while they're
coming for the same
reasons and from the
same situations as
mose in me 1980s cri-
sis, families now are
different in one signif-
icanr way: Consistent
with the decline in
welfare rolls, a grow-
ing number of mose
seeking help with
housing are not receiv-
ing public assistance
prior to their arrival at
the EAU.
Weitzman recalls
mat me homeless fam-
ilies surveyed two
decades ago were
invariably on welfare.
"It used ro be virtually
all families-over 90
percent, she says.
Two years ago, one
estimate put the pro-
portion at nearly 75
percent. Now, 70 per-
cent take home TANF checks, according to
DHS; a source who monitors EAU usage esti-
mates mat, of me rest, unemployed adults out-
number tl10se with jobs. The EAU has report-
edly been seeing small but increasing numbers
of parents who've lost their jobs since Septem-
ber 11, particularly in food service and hotels.
The mass departures from me welfare rolls
have left a hefty housing bill for the
Bloomberg administration. While the federal
government pays 50 percent of shelter costs for
people on public assistance, it pays nothing for
those who aren't, contributing to a 12 percent
increase in ciry spending last year on emer-
CITY LIMITS
[
"It's what you do if you can't do anything else."
gency shelter for the homeless, according to
the Independent Budget Office. Families who
don't receive welfare are also not eligible for
many of the subsidies for permanent housing
that are available to people receiving public
assistance, including JiggettS [see "Hosed in
Housing Court, " page 10] and the Emergency
Assistance Rehousing Program
(which places thousands of
homeless families each year into
permanent housing), making it
difficult for them to get out of
the shelters once they're in there.
But no one can speak more
vividly to certain consequences of
welfare reform, New York-style,
than the women waiting at the
EAU. Success stories don't end up
here. As they hopelessly try to get
their kids to sit stiU all day in
cramped waiting rooms and
crowded hallways, they also have a
lor of other things to worry about.
For many of rhese parents,
employment is an unrealized goal,
child care is a constant need, and
unpredictable welfare sanctions
pose a constant peril.
ing: She has to bring Alfred to the office every
three months-"in case he got better," explains
Ferrer with a smile that hardens into a grin1ace.
"It's one of the worst systems on the planet. " Each
time, she pulls Alfred our of scllOol, and together
they endure the line at the welfare office-he
screanung and banging his head against any
Alfled and Ana Ferrer have a place to rest
harrowing trips to the welfar
Ana how far they have to go.
doubled up with relatives, unless the situation
was demonstrably dangerous. Most families
whose friends have kicked them out are also
asked to go back to those situations.
The Legal Aid Society has been fighting the
policy ever since, on the basis of a longstanding
court order ptohibiting the city from consigning
families to housing that is unsafe or
overcrowded; the city can now
reject only those applicants who
"have other housing actually avail-
able to them. " At the tin1e the rules
were implemented, Legal Aid pre-
sented evidence that no other shel-
ter was available for 83 percent of
families (a figure the city disputed).
DHS has persisted in ruling
families ineligible. The conse-
quences have been clear: In fiscal
year 1996, which ended just before
the new rules went into effect,
9,516 families were approved for
shelter, or 80 percent of toral appli-
cations. Two years later, only 4,622
families were admitted, represent-
ing just 19 percent of applications;
it had become the norm to have to
apply repeatedly, waiting for days
at the EAU eacl1 time.
Nothing much has changed
since then. If anything, the scope
of the problem may have gotten
worse. "Starting this past summer,
we started seeing a lot of young
moms coming in after being
turned down for emergency hous-
ing," says Monica de la Torre, legal
director for the youth advocacy
group the Door. She had never
had a single sucl1 case before.
"One was being asked, 'Why isn't
your mom providing housing?'
She kept being rold she could go
to mom, and she had an order of
protection against her mom!"
Ana Ferrer, 25, had little
trouble getting the Department
of Homeless Services to approve
her application for emergency
shelter: Her Red Hook apart-
ment was rendered uninhabit-
able in a burglary, and her 7-
year-old son, Alfred, is, among
other things, autistic, mentally
retarded, and epi leptic. They
spent just three days at the AU
before going to a hotel on
Boston Road; after about a year
in temporary housing, they
moved to Park Avenue Thorpe, a
building for homeless families
with special needs. Here, she's
getti ng assistance placing Alfred
in a special school, as well as day
care for her 3-year-old, Joshua.
_ ~ . . . . . . ; a - . . . - . . : ..... ...iL:"';
Mary Pagan had problems
Witll her mom, too: the house they
lived in was decrepit, with broken
pipes, problems with heat and hot Ferrer guesses that her welfare
case has been sanctioned "every two to three
months," because caseworkers consistently failed
to acknowledge her ongoing exemption from
work mandates--an arrangement that had been
made to allow her to care for Alfred. (When she
gets him situated, she wants to obtain a GED and
become a teacher for children like him.) Now, she
and the autllorities have arrived at an understand-
MARCH 2002
nearby wall, she standing resolutely next to him.
Explains Ferrer, "There's nothing you can do. "
B
ur as far as DHS is concerned, most
families do not have such a clear-cut
entitlement to emergency housing. In
August 1996, it became city policy to deny
emergency housing to families who have been
water, and peeling paint. Pagan, now 22, has gone
to the EAU "like a thousand times" since she was
18 and been rej ected repeatedly. "It was so bad at
the EAU that when I left, I had a nervous break-
down. Every tin1e someone mentioned the EAU,
I'd start shaking. " When she finally resolved to go
back at the end of2000 with her two young boys,
continued on page 34
21
e ter
Homeless parents
and children
now outnumber
shelter beds-
and New York
. .
lS paylng
landlords
millions to
accommodate
the overflow.
It may be making
it even harder
for families to
find a real home.
By Jill Grossman
22
I
t's been almost a year since Shantel Watson
first visited the city's Emergency Assistance
Unit in search of a place for herself and her
three sons to live. After two years of navigating
around the gaping holes in the floor of her
Crown Heights apartment, she reached her
limit when a closet door crashed down on her
5-year-old, breaking several bones in his face.
Trips to the hospital to deal with swelling in his
eyes and a broken sinus are now routine, and
scouting out a permanent and affordable apart-
ment is the only job she has right now.
Last April, to buy time until Watson could
find a long-term situation, the city Department
of Homeless Services moved her family to a one-
bedroom in the Mount Hope section of the
Bronx. The city paid the landlord $100 a night,
or $3,000 a month-six times the median rent
in that neighborhood-ro take the Watsons in.
Not all of that went into the pockets of the
owner, 1101 Holding Corp., which is regis-
tered at the office of attorney Morris Baren-
CITY LIMITS
baum in Borough Park. Manager Kalman
Tabak was required to hire a caseworker to
make sure the kids got to school and to help
Watson with one of New York City's greatest
challenges: hunting for an affordable home.
But that's not what Watson got. The case-
worker showed up the mandated once-every-
two-weeks, but never offered a word of advice
on how to find a permanent home. Watson
didn't have much need to have her hand held,
she says now; "I just thought someone was going
MARCH 2002
to be there to help me find an apartment."
Instead, her stay in Mount Hope, which the
city says was supposed to last no more than 30
days, extended to seven months, and cost the
city about $21,000.
T
he Watsons' high rent was no accounting
mistake. New York City is currently hous-
ing more than 1,300 homeless families in
private apartments, and paying the owners of
more than 250 buildings handsomely for the ser-
vice. With record numbers of families seeking
shelter-December saw 6,800 families in the
city's emergency shelters, up 25 percent since last
winter-the Department of Hoineless Services is
desperate to find a place to put them all.
At the places where the city has long shel-
tered homeless families, demand far outstrips
supply. "Tier II" shelters, most of which are run
by nonprofits and offer a bedroom along with
on-site services such as day care and job training,
have room for about 3,500 families. In late
December, the city placed 1,900 families in
hotels, which the city resumed using for shelter
in large numbers in the late 1990s, reversing a
much-heralded Dinkins administration effort to
phase them out.
One reason Tier IIs are so full is the increas-
ing difficulty their residents are having in find-
ing permanent housing to move into. Under
Mayor Giuliani, city effortS to house the home-
less focused on continuing federal subsidies to
private landlords, bur in a tight housi ng market
owners choose to avoid the bureaucratic hassles.
As a result, say Tier II operators, the families
are staying in the shelters for longer and longer
periods of time. A year ago, the average length
of stay at Tier lIs was about seven months;
today, it's nearly a year. "There's no place else to
put them," says Colleen Jackson, director of
the West End Intergenerational residence in
Manhattan, a Tier II that houses more than
fifty 18- to 24-year-old single mothers and
their children. Jackson's shelter in Manhattan
recently welcomed twO new tenants to fill the
first vacancies she has seen in several months.
Paying private landlords to accommodate
the overflow in what DHS terms "scatter-site"
apartments appears to have been an unplanned
measure, one for which the city is paying top
dollar. The rent bill for January 2002 alone was
$3.4 million.
But at a time when finding affordable per-
manent apartments is proving more difficult
than anyone can remember, the arrangement
may actually be making it even harder for home-
less families to make the transition into perma-
nent housing, forcing them to stay in the shelter
system longer. Social workers for scatter sites
report that DHS asks them to move families to
Tier Ils, hotels or permanent housing within 30
days. But many tenants end up staying in these
"temporary" apartments-some sparkling, some
rat-inFested-for as long as a year.
O
ther than their astronomical rents,
scatter-site apartments are no differ-
ent from any others in poor neigh-
23
Living conditions in scatter sites depend largely on landlords'
compliance and a little bit of luck.
borhoods. Some buildings are packed wirh
them; others stand alone. So far, about 10 land-
lords are supplying apartments, most of rhem
Brooklyn-based owners with large holdings of
apartment buildings in poor neighborhoods.
Their buildings range from six-story walk-ups
like Watson's to the mammoth 59-building
Vanderveer Estates complex in East Flatbush.
Living conditions in scatter sites depend
largely on landlords' compliance and a litrle bit of
luck. The Department of Homeless Services says
its inspectors make regular, unannounced visits
to rhe buildings and hold rhem to standards
higher rhan rhose used for apartments subsidized
rhrough HUD Section 8 vouchers. That works
in many cases: Watson says her building on
Manor Avenue was immaculate compared to her
previous apartment.
The city's own housing code violation
records show, however, that other properties are
plagued with rats, peeling lead paint and leaky
ceilings. High crime rates are also a problem-
Vanderveer, for one, is infamous.
Uncooperative landlords are a persistent
issue. As director of client services for Consumer
Information and Dispute Resolution (CIDR), a
group mred by several property managers to pro-
vide social services at scatter sites, Joe Morris
oversees social workers for 425 families living at
dozens of scatter site locations in Brooklyn, rhe
Bronx and Manhattan. While he says some of
rl1e buildings rhey work in are in excellent shape
and are run by cooperative management, wirh
others, he and his caseworkers spend mum of
rheir time fighting for repairs.
"You have large old complexes that were rat
infested and continue to be rat infested, " he
says. Ice cold radiators, inoperable refrigerators
and cockroach infestations have also vexed
occupants.
When rhat happens, "we call the manage-
ment company, and if it doesn't get fixed, we
write a memo, " Morris adds. Even then, how-
ever, problems persist: "We have tons of
memos that we send out to rhese people. "
The time and energy social workers spend
on such efforts is that much less they have to
help tenants move into permanent housing.
Each has a caseload of 25 families, for which
landlords pay CIDR $6 per family per night.
They must make contact wirh a new family
within 48 hours after DHS tells rhe agency a
new family has moved in.
After that first encounter, the city expects
the caseworker to meet wirh the family at least
once every two weeks. To do rhat, they must
tailor their hours to rhe clients' schedules and
24
locations. "In scatter si te, you spend a lot of
time looking for people," explains Morris.
Much of a caseworker's day consists of com-
muting on buses from building to building.
DHS instructs caseworkers to strive to move
families out of rhe scatter-site apartment wirhin
30 days, but tenants can stay until rhey find
orher temporary shelter or permanent housing.
Once a monrh passes, rhe tenant has squatter's
rights and can stay until a housing court judge
says othetwise-a situation Morris has had to
deal with a couple of times.
Indeed, not every family is anxious to leave
right away. "A lot of our job becomes trying to
motivate them to do it, " says Morris. "A lor of
people don't want to apply for city housing;
they want to wait for Section 8," vouchers that
can take months to obtain.
To make sure tenants are moving toward find-
ing anorher apartment or shelter, rhe city sends
notifications to social workers if a client has not
completed rhe necessary housing applications. As
Shantel Watson discovered, not all of rhem follow
rhrough wirh efforts to help residents secure per-
manent homes. But at CIDR, fmding apartments
is serious, intensive business. Two staff housing
specialists make sure the fanlllies are on rhe list for
Tier II shelters, walk them through applications
for public housing, Section 8 or EARP, and put
rhem in touch wirh realtors connected wirh land-
lords who accept housing vouchers.
Yet rhere's more to it than moving famil ies
into long-term housing. "Sometimes rhey show
up wirh norhing," Morris says, and need to be
directed to the local food pantries and soup
kitchens. They often arrive wirh incomplete
public assistance applications.
What's more, if a family has moved from
another borough, which often happens despite
DHS' efforts to meet geographic needs, parents
need to register their children in the local
school or make arrangements for them to com-
mute to their current one.
But not all scarrer-site social workers do
rhat, say family wotkers at rhe Board of Educa-
tion. They are supposed to make sure the
homeless families in transitional housing send
their kids to school, but keeping track of fami-
lies' whereabouts is a persistent challenge.
Some of the landlords' social workers contact
the Board of Ed about new tenants right away,
says Robert Diaz, director of rhe Board's Atten-
dance Improvement Dropout Prevention and
Students in Temporary HOllsing programs. But
then, he adds, "certain ones don't. " His social
workers have on a number of occasions arrived
to meet with a family only to find they've
moved someplace else. While he would not get
specific, he says rhere have been times like rhese
"when kids have been hurt as a result."
To deal wirh the increase in school-age chil-
dren in scarrer site apartments-as of mid-Jan-
uary there were 8,369-the Board of Ed
increased its budget for dropout prevention to
$6.75 million rhis school year from $4 million
in 2001 . Right now, Diaz's office is funded for
23 full-time scatter-site caseworkers, but he
needs more.
"We're still trying to get a handle on where
the youngsters are," says Diaz. He estimates that
between 50 and 100 kids are not accounted for.
In December, Diaz requested a meeting wirh
DHS. He's still waiting to hear back.
F
amilies could get rhe services rhey need,
Morris and orhers contend, if rhe city put
temporary scarrer site housing in rhe
hands of non profits, and built more permanent
housing for homeless families on top of rhat. In
Morris' view, rhe current landlords are motivated
by profit, not rhe families' well-being. "I don't
rhink contracting wirh realtors is necessarily rhe
better way to handle the families," he says.
In fact, New York City seems to be unique
in securing emergency housing from private
landlords and then relyi ng on rhem to hire
social workers. "If you're going to put some-
body someplace temporary, it's better to have
someone in an apartment. They have a kitchen,
barhroom, it's in a neighborhood, " acknowl-
edges Nan Roman, president of rhe National
Alliance to End Homelessness. But, she adds,
"the more typical model is a nonprofit that had
experience dealing wirh homeless families
would select rhe landlord to provide the hous-
ing, and [the nonprofit] would provide rhe ser-
vices. I'm not aware of anywhere else where the
landlord is given rhat responsibility. "
That responsibility can be serious. Social
workers report that scarrer-si te residents
include domestic violence victims, for whom
security and counseling may be priorities. They
are also families who've been knocked off rhe
public assistance and food stamps they need to
feed and clorhe their children. "For scatter site,
you really need to have an absence of real prob-
lems, " says Louis Rodriguez, executive director
of rhe Sf. John's Place Family Center, a Tier II
shelter in Brooklyn. What makes Tier lIs work,
he argues, are rhe readily available services on
site.
The city began building those shelters in rhe
1980s for JUSt that reason. At that time, the
continued on page 35
CITY LIMITS
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Economic Development:
o Going on with the Show: Arts & Culture in New York City after September 11 Nov. 2001
o Under the Mattress: Why NYC's Jobs System Remains a Work in Progress Nov. 2001
o Sudden Impact: Many of New York City's Vital Sectors Seriously Affected by September 11 Attack Oct. 2001
o The Future of the Tech Savvy City: How New York and Other Cities Can Continue to Grow Into High-Tech Hubs Oct. 2001
o Payoffs for Layoffs: Designed to Save Jobs, New York City's Corporate Retention Deals Otten Result in Job Cuts Feb. 2001
o On a Wing and a Prayer: Highway Gridlock, Antiquated Cargo Facilities Keep New York's Airports Grounded Oct. 2000
o The Empire Has No Clothes: Rising Real Estate Prices and Declining City Support Threatens the Future of
New York's Apparel Industry Feb. 2000
o The Sector Solution: Building a Broader Base for the New Economy Jan. 2000
o Biotechnology: The Industry That Got Away Oct. 1999
o The Big Squeeze: How Rising Rents and the Real Estate Crunch are Forcing Small Businesses Out of New York May 1999
o Why New York Needs a New Jobs Policy Dec. 1998
Workforce Development and Higher Education:
o Building a Highway to Higher Ed: How Collaborative Efforts are Changing Education in America June 2001
o The Workforce Challenge: To Place is to Win May 2001
o The Skills Crisis: Building a Jobs System that Works Aug. 2000
o Putting CUNY to Work: CUNY's Job Training and Business Partnership Programs June 1999
Social Services:
o Unfinished Business: Analyzing NYC's Foster Care Reforms Winter 2001
o Too Fast for Families: Washington's Get-Tough Adoption Law Hits Home Winter 2000
o Playing By the Numbers: New York's Latest Foster Care Fix Summer 1999
o Families in Limbo: Crisis in Family Court Winter 1999
o Race, Bias & Power in Child Welfare Spring/Summer 1998
o Restoring the Community Connection Winter 1997
o An Agenda for Change Spring 1997
o Neighborhood Justice: A Community Response to Juvenile Crime January 1997
Center for an
F
Utroan
u ure
INTELLIGENCE
THE BIG IDEA
j
Judgmental Health
Can even the most understanding judge make
mentally ill defendants obey the law?
By Wendy Davis
JAILS, IT SHOULD GO WITHOUT SAYING, are not the
ideal therapeutic environment for the mentally
ill. Aside from the physical menace, crowding
and all-around dehumanization, many mentally
ill people simply can't follow a jail's unbending
rules. They land in solitary confinement, setting
off a downward spiral of deterioration.
Yet for years judges haven't had much choice.
When a mentally ill person sold drugs, picked
someone's pocket or fought with family mem-
26
bers, the coun's only alternatives were releasing
offenders back to the same bad situation or
sending them to jail. Currendy, around 20,000
people with a serious mental illness pass
through Rikers Island every year.
But in Brooklyn, judges and prosecutors
will soon have a new place to send mentally ill
defendants: Starting this month, State Supreme
Court Justice Matthew D'Emic will oversee a
new "mental health court," a specialty court for
mentally ill people arrested for nonviolent
felonies, especially drug crimes.
Authorities in Broward County, Florida,
opened the flist mental health court in the coun-
try in 1997. In its four years, this court has
diverted approximately 3,600 people from crimi-
nal prosecution; mental health advocates hail the
court as a model of therapeutic jurisprudence.
The Broward co un's reputation inspired
about a dozen cities nationwide to create their
own mental health courts. Last year, advocates
for the mentally ill convinced Congress to allo-
cate $4 million-which, according to the
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, should
lead to the creation of mental health courts in at
least a dozen more cities, including New York.
In mental health courts, as in drug courts,
judges order defendants to a plan of therapy
rather than jail. A treatment provider develops a
plan for defendants, which can include anything
from psychotherapy to psychotropic medication,
and the court-usually one specially assigned
judge-monitors their progress through regu-
larly scheduled court appearances. With one
judge watching the case from start to finish, cases
don't shutde between multiple courts, and treat-
ment programs, knowing they have to answer to
a judge, will treat cases with extra care. If defen-
dants successfully complete the program, their
charges are ultimately dismissed or reduced. Par-
ticipation is stricdy voluntary, with the courts
accepting mentally ill defendants only if they
have "opted in" to the program.
Like drug courts, mental health courts use
the power of the court to solve a longstanding
social problem. For mentally ill defendants, the
courts can offer a far more humane and prag-
matic approach than traditional criminal
courts, because the courts' goal is helping
defendants to get bener rather than punishing
them with a jail term. "It's what we jokingly
call ADA court-it reasonably accommodates
people with a disability, " says Ira Burnim, legal
director of the Judge David L. Bazelon Center
for Mental Health Law. "It seems, at first blush,
like a very positive thing."
But Brooklyn's court will stray from the
Sunshine State's successful model in one sig-
nificant way: In Florida's court, no one pleads
guilty to criminal charges. Judge Ginger
Lerner-Wren, who has been in charge of the
Broward court since its inception, is adamant
that mentally ill people shouldn't be be forced
to plead guilty. "Our interests have always
been towards decriminalization of the men-
tally ill, " she says.
In a controversial move, Brooklyn District
Attorney Charles Hynes and Judge D'Emic are
planning to require nearly all defendants to
plead guilty as a condition of entering the
CITY LIMITS
court-even if mental illness contributed to
their crime.
"The fundamemal goal here is public
safery, " says Carol Fisler, Project Director for
the Center for Court Innovation, which is
developing Brooklyn's mental health court.
"We're not driven in this by wanting to be soft
on criminals. "
BROOKLYN'S COURT WANTS a guilry plea partly
because it will be seeing more serious crimi-
nals. Florida's court, like other mental health
courts, accepts only those people who are
charged with low-level misdemeanors, such as
trespassing or shoplifting. But in New York,
where very few people charged with misde-
meanors do hard time, the court will only see
defendants arrested for nonviolent felonies,
especially drug felonies.
With a guilry plea in hand, the District
Attorney does not need to prove its case later
should things fall apart in treatment. This means
less work for the prosecutor and less of a chance
that the defendant will end up going scot-free.
The criminal defense bar is also wary of hav-
ing misdemeanors heard in mental health courts,
because whatever treatment the court might
order could potentially be far more intrusive in
their lives than a misdemeanor prosecution. "1
fought hard to keep misdemeanors out of this
court," says Lisa Schreibersdorf, executive director
of Brooklyn Defender Services.
In drug courtS, people charged with
felonies have higher success rates, possibly
because they risk serious time if they don't
comply with treatment. "It's easier to exercise
authori ry on more serious cases," says Fisler.
"Having more at stake in terms of loss of free-
dom becomes a very powerful motivator for
people to stay in treatment."
D'Emic, too, believes a guilry plea might
help motivate defendants to cooperate with
treatment. "If a crime was commirred," he
says, "[a guilry plea] gives leverage to the
court. That leverage can be the key to keeping
people in the program. "
But while the threat of another drug count
may work as a deterrent to an addict, mental
illness does not follow the same rational pat-
tern of cause and effect. In drug courts, a
defendant who stops complying with his treat-
ment by buying or taking drugs again also
commits a new and independent crime: a new
drug offense. A mentally ill defendant who
stops taking medication, by contrast, commits
no new crime-and, in fact, may have very
valid reasons for discontinuing a regimen.
And unlike substance abusers, for whom rec-
MARCH 2002
ognized protocols of treatment exist, some men-
tally ill people simply don't respond to treatment.
"How can people plead guilty without knowing
what the treatment plan is going to be?" asks
Schreibersdorf With mentally ill defendants, says
Florida's Lerner-Wren, "you don't always know at
the very beginning what's going to work."
Even Fisler agrees. "With drug courts, there
is an expectation of recovery," she admits.
"With mental illness, you can't expect any par-
ticular linear progression. "
That's especially true of the defendants New
York's mental health court will see. The Brook-
lyn court is starting out with dually diagnosed
mentally ill substance abusers-a group noto-
riously difficult to treat. In fact, though it's not
widely known, Brooklyn has operated a pilot
program just for mentally ill drug users since
1998. So far, the program, dubbed Treatment
Alternative for the Dually Diagnosed (TADD),
has been less than a stellar success: Of the pro-
gram's 243 defendants, 30 percent flunked out
and returned to regular criminal court to face
sentencing, an unusually high failure rate for
an alternative court progranl.
The new court, however, may have some
advantages over TAD D. While TAD D cases go
before all Brooklyn judges, only D'Emic will
preside in mental health court. Schreibersdorf
hopes the judge will develop an expertise in
problems faced by the mentally ill and setbacks
in treatment, which will ultimately lead to
higher success rates. She's also optimistic that
with mental illness cases consolidated in front
of one judge, lawyers and the court will be able
to spot trends and learn what programs best
serve the defendants.
For his part, D'Emic says he has no inten-
tion of sending people to prison simply because
they're not gerring better. "If it's not working for
somebody, but it's not their fault," he pauses,
"you can't ask more than that from somebody."
But criminal defense attorneys worry that
defendants will have to give up the valuable
right to trial in exchange for a chance at treat-
ment, even before they know what that treat-
ment will emai l. Drugs used to treat mental ill-
ness can have horrendous side effects that
might not immediately be apparent, even to an
experienced judge like D'Emic.
In drug court, people can recover if they
exert enough willpower. But mental illness
does not follow as predictable a path. "You
can't apply the same model to mental illness as
to drug courtS, " says Ron Honberg, legal direc-
tor of the National Alliance for the Mentally
111. "Drugs, rightly or wrongly, are more black
and white. "
INTELLIGENCE
T HE BI G I DEA
NEW REPORTS
January 2 wasn't just the day that Florida
crushed Maryland in the Orange Bowl. It was also
the day when the city's data heads, after eight
years of cowering, could finally publish their hard
work without fear that He Who Controls Allinfor-
mation would rip them into tiny shreds and ban-
ish them to Staten Island. OK, perhaps we exag-
gerate, but check out all of the reports that the
city's welfare agency suddenly made available on
Mayor Mi chael Bloomberg's first day. Food stamp
recipient trends! Unemployment versus welfare
since 1985! Job placement numbers! It's all
invaluable, and it's about time.
"Reports, " Human Resources Administration
Available on the web:
httpl/www.nyc.govlhtmllhralhtmVreports.html
While 2001 was definitely the Year That Sucked,
it could also be known as the Year of the Charity,
with sharp attention focused on everyone from
the Red Cross to the United Way since the Sep-
tember 11 attacks. Forbes magazine, in its
annual philanthropy report card, ranks the effi-
cacy of the nation's biggest charities byexamin-
ing the numbers- how much money gets spent
on administration and the cost of fundraising,
for example. Local agencies with excellent scores
include Kids in Distressed Situations and United
Way New York, while the Local Initiatives Support
Corporation falls in the middle, and Covenant
House gets low ranks.
"Giving Smartly" Forbes
Available on the web at: www.forbes.com/charities
or 212-620-2200
New York State is nearly the worst in the country
when it comes to spending gaps between rich
and poor schools, according to this annual report
from Education Week magazine, which examines
how each state educates children under 5 years
of age. The mag does give New York excellent
marks for having quality testing programs, but
says the state could do a better job prepping
teachers at all levels, both by requiring more stu-
dent teaching and pumping up funding for new
teachers.
"In Earty Childhood Education and Care: Quality Count"
Education Week on the Web
Available on web: www.edweek.orgor301-280-3100
27
INTELLIGENCE
CITY LIT
Welfare As We Knew It
Hands to Work: The Stories of Three
Families Racing the Welfare Clock
by LynNell Hancock
William Morrow, $25.95, 308 pages
By Davi d Jason Fischer
LI KE A MODERN- DAY TRIAL by ordeal, the new
world of welfare was designed to resolve the
distinction between deserving and undeserving
poor by letting the unfortunates sort them-
selves out. Those willing to work would join
the society of vinue, while the rest, its champi-
ons implied, would deserve whatever they got.
Veteran journalist LynNell Hancock tells
the harsh story of what they got in her gripping
new book, Hands to Work. Three women per-
mitted Hancock to "invade every facet of their
lives for three years and more" as they, like
thousands of others, raced the clock to get off
public assistance before their five-year lifetime
limits for federal welfare eligibility ran out.
Through their experiences, the author exam-
ines how the abstractions, ideologies and polit-
ical considerations that underpinned welfare
reform have played out at street level. What
emerges is a harrowing picture of how the
theories of the anti-welfare crusaders-through
unintended consequences, careless implemen-
tation and bureaucratic indifference-hinder
people striving to create a better life.
The three women come from sharply differ-
ent backgrounds but run up against similar
obstacles. Moldovan immigrant and aspiring
doctor Alina Zukina hopes education will one
day lift her out of poverty, but Mayor Giuliani's
insistence that all who receive benefits must
participate in his Work Experience Program
(WEP) forces her to choose between her wel-
fare benefits and completing her last semester
of college. Brenda Fields, former foster child
and mother of two, successfully negotiates the
system to get a job as a food-service worker for
a Wall Street firm at the princely sum of $8.25
an hour, yet still struggles to cover expenses.
After becoming active in an emerging union,
she loses her job. Christine Rivera, a mother of
four and former medical assistant with a
volati le personal history, struggles to balance
motherhood, the obligations of welfare, and
her own precarious health. Booted off welfare
three times, she bottoms out into heroin addic-
28
THE STORIES OF THREE FAMILIES
RACING THE WELFARE CLOCK
LynNell Hancock
Three women, like
thousands of
others, race the
clock to get off
welfare before their
federal lifetime
limits run out.
tion and homelessness, and the city takes her
children away.
Through their stories, Hancock shows how
welfare reform's contradictions force the women
to make wrenching personal choices-between
education and survival, between child care and
work-that most people would never tolerate.
Brenda's full work schedule, for example, leaves
her too little time for her young son, whose day
care arrangements are a constant worry. And the
irrefutable data that education is the surest way
to wealth is little consolation to the thousands of
CUNY students like Alina, who face the awful
choice of either dropping our of college-forgo-
ing an education that could help get them off
the dole forever-or giving up the benefits they
need to support themselves (and, often, their
children) at that moment. As Hancock wryly
notes, "the new welfare world no longer valued
a degree as much as it worshipped WEP. " For a
series of reforms designed to break the "culture
of dependency," these dilemmas seem ghoul-
ishly ironic.
But perhaps such ironies were an inevitable
end product of a reform process that featured
the spectacle of politicians and government
officials-almost exclusively white and male-
imposing their policy choices on women and
children. Interspersed among the three
women's travails, Hancock offers snapshots of
how New York's welfare crusaders developed
their own pet theories to explain away the evil
of dependence, and the magic bullet to cure it:
Then-HRA Commissioner Jason Turner, for
one, cites the miraculous powers of work-
which he reverently describes as "society's orga-
nized way of giving gifts to others" -as the way
to redeem New York's welfare recipients. But
Turner's measures to put everyone on the road
to work, such as charging Job Center employ-
ees with discouraging people from applying for
welfare, and often denying emergency help to
those who needed it, only wound up raising
the level of confrontation. It was all part of the
system that Turner's HRA had established to
"create... a personal crisis in an individual 's
life," as he once told a group of Albany legisla-
tors, as a way to get that person on the right
track.
The first part worked. The decreasing wel-
fare caseload during Gi uliani's tenure swelled
the ranks of the working poor. The numbers of
those without health insurance rose, while
those receiving food stamps dropped. The cri-
sis in child care only worsened as thousands of
single mothers reponed to WEP assignments
and took low-wage jobs. But by defining suc-
cess solely in terms of who left the welfare rolls,
city officials could claim victory even when the
lives of clients did not demonstrably improve.
Hands to Work illustrates the fundamental gap
in the welfare debate: the chasm between the
successes poli ticians claim for their policies and
CITY LIMITS
the consequences that the people those policies
supposedly help must instead endure.
David Jason Fischer is a policy analyst with the
Center for an Urban Future.
Washington's New Poor Law: Welfare "Reform"
and the Roads Not Taken, 1935 to the Present
by Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg
and Sheila D. Collins
Apex Press, $29.95 paper, 518 pages
By Eleanor J. Bader
WHEN THEN-PRESIDENT CLINTON signed the
1996 welfare reform act, most people-regard-
less of whether they thought it was a godsend or
a disaster-believed it signaled "the end of wel-
fare as we know it. " But as Goldberg and
Collins show, the Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconci liation Act
(PRWORA) was less a radical break with the
past than a return to America's native ambiva-
lence about charity.
In Washington's New Poor Law, Goldberg and
Collins trace the evolution of American anti-
poverty efforts back to the British Poor Laws,
statutes created in Elizabethan England to regulate
the lives of the poor through enforced labor. Like
their American offspring, the British laws aimed
to limit dependence rather than to ameliorate
poverty: A central premise of the Poor Laws-
"relief for able-bodied males was to be less desir-
able than the wages of the lowest paid indepen-
dent laborer"-survived to become the driving
spirit behind modern day workfare.
In America, welfare programs have almost
always treated the poor as if they were personally
flawed, in need of moral suasion rather than eco-
nomic opportunity. Before the 1935 Social Secu-
rity Act, most states provided assistance in direct
exchange for poorhouse labor, called "workhouse
relief." Across the country, states forced impover-
ished people to perform manual labor in
exchange for a bed and a meager allotment of
food and drink. Nobody got in-hand cash, lest
they squander it.
The settlement house and child-saving move-
ments of the early 20th century demanded better
benefits for widows and their offspring-the
"blameless" poor-than for single and theoreti-
cally employable men. In 1909, the federal gov-
ernment passed a law requiring each state to give
Widows' Pensions. But like benefits for single
men at the time, there was no national standard-
MARCH 2002
all funding was locally generated, and aid varied
wildly. No state provided enough to feed a family.
Worse yet, many states denied welfare recipi-
ents--widows as well as others-the right to vote,
or to hold elected office.
With the Great Depression's mass unemploy-
ment, myths about the character deficits of the
1 Washington'S Ne
J POOR LAW
1 Welfare "reform"
and the roads not take.n,
1935 to the present
Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg & Sheila D. Collins
In America,
welfare has almost
always treated
the poor as if they
were personally
flawed.
poor seemed less convincing. Enormous ptotest
marches and the fear of social upheaval made fed-
eral intervention seem imperative. But even with
FDR's broad-based jobs programs, many able-
bodied adults who were willing to work still
needed income supports to live. Even the unem-
ployable-the aged, blind, disabled or very
young-struggled to make ends meet. That,
argue Goldberg and Collins, is because of a pro-
found and continuing equivocation about no-
INTELLIGENCE
CITY LIT
string benefits.
Take eligibility. Aid to Dependent Children,
at its inception, was based on the assumption that
fathers should be breadwinners and mothers,
nurturers. At first, jobs were provided exclusively
to men so that women could stay home and tend
their young. But this policy has long rankled tax-
payers, and since 1935 there has been a growing
obsession with welfare as a reward for recalcitrant
female behavior.
Since the 1930s, women who give birth out
of wedlock have been expected to redeem them-
selves through workplace subservience. Consis-
tently expected to care for children, the elderly
and the disabled-but not exempted from work
requirements-women were forced to juggle
child care, home maintenance and employment
in exchange for aid. In 1943-just eight years
after passage of the Social Security Act-
Louisiana refused benefits to ADC recipients
(and even applicants) if there was work in the
cotton fields. One parish required seven-year-old
children to be field hands. Arkansas adopted a
similar policy in the early 1950s for all "able-
bodied" mothers and youth. The backlash,
grounded in English Poor Law, was taking shape.
Although Aid to Families with Dependent
Children never accounted for more than 1 per-
cent of federal spending, it was a convenient
target. As the New Right gained ascendancy,
spokespeople began lambasting "handouts" as
the root of all evil. Some theorists began to pro-
pose an idea straight from the British Poor
Laws: that recipients "work off" their grants.
They found receptive ears in a Republican
Congress and a Democratic president, William
Jefferson Clinton, who signed PRWORA into
law in August 1996.
Washington's New Poor Law attacks PRWORA
by offering a detailed and thoroughly researched
look at the myriad welfare "reforms" which pre-
ceded it. By linking the ideological shifts of each
decade to economic gyrations, Goldberg and
Collins give a cogent, if academic, analysis of how
American anti-poverty efforts have failed.
Their ultimate solution-that government
should create a jobs program for all able-bodied
adults--is, however, a bit shott on specifics. Who
would pay? And who would determine who is
able-bodied? Nonetheless, their advocacy of full
employment is hearrfelt and visionary, and readers
will close the text sharing the authors' dream of a
just, humane and fully employed society. _
Eleanor J. Bader, a disability rights advocate and
writer, is the coauthor of Targets of Hatred:
Anti-Abortion Terrorism (St. Martins Press,
2001)'
29
INTEL LI GENCE
MAKIN G CH ANGE
The Silence of
the Lambasters
By Hilary Russ
ON A BITTER JANUARY AFTERNOON, the end of
Michael Bloomberg's first work day as mayor,
abour 100 protesters mustered on the steps of
City Hall. AffIXed to the stately metal gate out-
side, a small sign neatly proclaimed in blue
marker, "Demonstration here. " After hello
kisses on each cheek, one young activist asked
another, "What does it mean when you know
everybody else here?" The first protester
shrugged. "I guess it's pretty small."
Members of more than 25 antipoverty orga-
nizations from around New York came to this
"People's Inauguration" to implore: "J love
30
New York, but does New York love me?" Their
four main demands-for schools, jobs, social
services, and quality of life for all communi-
ties-were outlined in informational packets
and emblazoned on clusters of purple, red,
green and blue balloons. By design, this was
not so much a protest as a plea.
In the final months of 2001, poor people
had plenty to protest. Widespread layoffs fed
skyrocketing unemployment; almost 3,000
families were shoved unceremoniously off the
welfare rolls into an abysmal economy; drastic
budget cuts sliced in just as the federal govern-
ment pledged billions of dollars in aid. With a
new mayor, a two-thirds-new city council and
a largely new roster of commissioners-all
more inclined, at least at first, to pay more
attention to post-September 11 rebuilding
than to poverty, hunger and homelessness-the
city seemed ripe for civil disobedience.
Yet for reasons both concrete and intangi-
ble, the character of dissent became, for a spell,
muted and tame. After September 11 , 2001,
activists were more than willing to protest
larger, national and international issues-
globalization, war, Ashcroft. But on the local
level, the lion's roar of civic activism quieted to
a mew. Rallies squeaked instead of screamed;
protestS planned before the 11 th morphed
into vigils or press conferences. "People just
didn't want to be out making noise, " says Ben-
jamin Dulchin, director of organizing at the
Fifth Avenue Committee.
Dulchin was not alone. On December 18,
2000, about 75 immigrants and supporters from
the Coalition for the Human Rights of Immi-
grants had marched through the garment dis-
trict, accompanied by Andean musicians, for
International Migrants' Day. One year later, the
coalition decided an indoor press conference was
a safer alternative for those immigrants who still
feared INS roundups. "It's the way things are
phrased," explains volunteer Jane Guskin (often
catching herself and switching, mid-word, from
"protest" to "picket"). "If we can't do a march,
what about a procession or vigil?"
Even those without fears of deportation were
subdued. At the end of October, Community
Voices Heard (CVH), along with activists from
Families United for Racial and Economic Equal-
ity (FUREE), Make the Road by Walking, Grass
Roots Organizing for Welfare Leadership
(GROWL) and other local poverty groups tried
to attend an invitation-only "listening session"
abour welfare reform with federal Health and
Human Services officials at the Marriott Mar-
quis hotel. Normally, says former CVH board
member LaDon James, they would have
chanted vociferously until they were granted an
audience with HHS Assistant Secretary Wade
Horn. This time, they simply handed fliers to
the low-level officials who finally emerged. "We
wanted to be a little more boisterous," says
James. "We were much more quiet than we nor-
mally would have been. "
On September 10th, West Side SRO Law
Project held a vociferous rally protesting HUD's
delays in fIXing up brownstones where SRO
tenants live. Now, though, "There's a lot less
thinking like, 'We're gonna storm the barri-
cades, sleep in the streets, get media attention
for it,'" says project director Adam Weinstein.
"' Let's all go camp out on the federal building,'"
he exhorts rhetorically. "Suddenly, that doesn't
seem like such a good idea."
To veteran civil liberties champion Norman
Siegel, the post-9/11 hush is unprecedented.
'This period is sui generis, one of a kind," says
the dean of dissent in New York City. "I was the
CITY LIMITS
head of rhe Civil Liberties Union for 15 and a
half years. I haven't seen any period comparable."
AFTER SEPTEMBER 11, rhe temporary state of
suspended animation rhat gripped the city-the
shock and attempts to cope-affected commu-
nity organizers as surely as everyone else. They
needed time to drum up emergency funding.
They were busier rhan ever trying to provide
extra services, including counseling, food, and
shelter, to clients and to rhemselves. Some felt
the sting of anti-immigrant backlash; some had
to help locate missing members or volunteers.
Meanwhile, media attention to poverty gave
way to coverage of the war. Wirh many area
reporters shipped overseas or covering rhe war
from home, mainstream media outlets simply
didn't have as much room to cover local cam-
paigns. "For a time, " says Weinstein, echoing a
widespread sentiment, "if it wasn't about Sep-
tember 11rh or anrhrax, it wasn't going to get
any attention."
But an even subtler change was at work.
After such tragedy, many antipoverty advo-
cates felt that to complain about anything else,
no matter how relevant, was ro be selftsh-or
at least to be perceived as such. "Individual
problems seemed smaller," says Weinstein. "It
wasn't like we were all chomping at the bit on
September 12rh to go take over rhe HUD
offices downtown. Emotionally, it takes a cer-
tain kind of energy to do that. "
For immigrants, there were more concrete
repercussions to fear than feeling inappropri-
ate or irrelevant. Undocumented immigrants
and even some legal immigrants-those here
on srudent or H-l visas especially-avoided
public protests of INS detentions for fear of
getting arrested or deported. Organizing
efforts for immigrants, says Guskin, had to be
"presented in a way that will provoke sympa-
thy rather than antagonism."
Yet with the National Guard on every cor-
ner, even native-born Americans felt intimi-
dated. In the planning session for the HHS
protest, planners advised demonstrators to
hold back if they felt more vulnerable than
usual. Mindful rhat the National Guard was
taking over some police posts, some CVH
members decided to avoid actions that could
get them arrested. "You may have a nervous
person holding a gun, " James posrulates.
"Before, there would have been fear of getting
arrested, but it would have been civil disobe-
dience. Now there's a fear of getting hurt. "
BY THE END OF DECEMBER, that feeling was
starting to dissipate. ''As our heroic firefighters
MARCH 2002
have shown, the moratorium on direct action is
over," one activist exulted cautiously, invoking
firefighters' November clash wirh cops over
Ground Zero staffing, in an email call to action
for the massive February 2 protest against the
World Economic Forum.
But while raucous acts of civil disoberlience
rerurned, most of rhat energy was funneled into
national and international issues rhat seemed
more pressing, like United States foreign policy
or rhe defense of rapidly erorling civilliberries.
It's the paucity of opposition to local injus-
tices rhat is distressing, says Siegel. "What sur-
prises me is rhe lack of the legal, peaceful, First
Amendment protests-rhe rallies, the marches,
the demonstrations. "
When it comes to domestic and especially
After the terrorist
attacks, those
with the most
to lose felt like
they couldn't
demand a thing.
local issues, elected officials-including Gover-
nor Pataki-stiU seem "bulletproof, unbreak-
able," says Michael Kink of Housing Works,
which routinely demonstrates on budget mat-
ters in Albany. Normally, if the state govern-
ment had proposed $18 million in cuts to city
programs, "there would be a whole lot more
screaming and yelling than we've seen this
year," says Kink. Yet after doing just that,
Pataki retained a 65 percent approval rating.
With the new patriotism in full force, most
antipoverty groups didn't want to risk being
branded as unpatriotic by criticizing elected
officials too harshly.
There's another, more mundane reason for
rhe recent hush. Generally, people wait to see
what newly elected officials will do; wirh rhe
new, and seemingly friendlier, administration in
City Hall, some groups hope rhat quiet, behind-
rhe-scenes work may be enough. They may also
be afraid to stick rheir necks out when their very
survival may be at stake. "Organizations going
INTELLIGENCE
MAKING CHANGE
into a year of scarcity feel it may be more in their
interest to be friends wirh elected officials than
tlleir enemies, " observes Kink. But rhat appease-
ment strategy doesn't always work, he points
out: "In a time when rhere are potential cuts-
severe cuts-squeaky wheels get greased. "
Government officials tend to float propos-
als-such as budget cuts, for example-and
then wait for rhe public to react. When rhey
hear a resounding silence, rhey go iliead as
planned. "Wirh budget cuts rhat are coming
now, rhere needs to be a visible and vocal oppo-
sition to some of rhe tllings that are already
being proposed-baseball stadiums, rhings of
rhat sort," Siegel says.
Another case in point is the Lower Man-
hattan Development Corp. While louder
issues like globalization and war have hogged
rhe spotlight, Giuliani and Bloomberg have
been busy making appointments ro the
LMDC. Stacked wirh influential people and
chaired by the former co-chairman of Gold-
man, Sachs, rhe LMDC has already begun to
make decisions about how billions of dollars of
redevelopment money will be spent.
When Community Board 1 chair Madelyn
Wils became rhe only community appointee to
tlle aurhority, there was a lot of grumbling at rhe
grassroots, but no collective demands for better
representation for ordinary New Yorkers. Debates
about redeveloping a huge swarh of Lower Man-
hattan-inclurling hard-hit, low-income immi-
grant neighborhoods like Chinatown-are now
taking place between rhe rich and rhe richer.
"The visible quietness on these issues could
be very damaging to groups of people who are
not capable of protesting, " notes Siegel. "In the
long run, the issues will be framed by the gov-
ernment officials in a vacuum."
Already, government has shown some
promising signs that if rhe people speak, it will
listen. At rhe January City Hall rally, Bloomberg
did much more rhan his predecessor ever rlid,
simply by wading into rhe crowd, shaking hands
and acknowledging rhe protesters and rheir
demands. And rhe city's new HRA commis-
sioner, Verna Eggleston, agreed to meet with tlle
Association of Community Organizations for
Reform Now (ACORN)-after ACORN
scheduled a militant City Hall press conference.
While the atmosphere at the rally was chilly
and calm, Siegel hopes it was the yawn and
stretch of that lion of civil disobedience waking
up after a long nap. Now, he says, "the question
becomes how long does this mood, or climate,
continue." _
Hilary Russ is an Astoria-based freelance writer.
31
INTELLIGENCE
NYC INC.
Building the
Right
Foundation
By David Hochman
NEW YORK'S FOUNDATIONS have a poverry fixa-
tion-and if we don't watch Out, it's going to
make the whole ciry poor.
If you're looking ro help the needy, whether
in Brooklyn or Bosnia, New York is the place ro
go for grants. Our foundations hand out hun-
dreds of millions of dollars each year ro help
the hungry, homeless and ill. But just try ro get
those same foundations to help strengthen the
ciry's economy-and thereby improve the stan-
dard of living for millions in
New York-and watch those
purses snap shut.
Elsewhere 111 America,
foundations are playing
increasingly creative and impor-
tant roles in building the overall
economic health-and
wealth-of their home regions,
in large measure by supporting
and promoting technology-led economic
growth. But this movement has gained no trac-
tion in New York-ro the detriment of the
entire citizenry, including those populations
that foundations most want to help.
Parr of the problem is that the lion's share of
our foundations are not especially interested in
New York. In philanthropy, as in so many other
fields, we are both blessed and cursed ro be home
base ro some of the world's largest, smartest and
best-known institutions. Precisely because they
are opinion-leaders and standard-setters, Ford,
Rockefeller and their peers focus on national and
global questions of poverry, nutrition, health and
communiry empowerment.
These good works may have an impact on
the ciry from time ro time-in part because our
roughest neighborhoods present some of the
most challenging senings in which ro test new
ideas-but local outcomes remain very much
incidental ro these foundations' overarching
goals. The progran1s of these foundations are
not, by design, focused on the specific eco-
nomic needs of our ciry. The last time the Ford
Foundation generated ideas it considered
parochial in this sense, it spun them off, creat-
32
ing the Fund for the Ciry of New York in 1968.
At the other end of the spectrum are New
York's smaller, regionally oriented foundations,
which also are geared toward fighting poverry,
but at rhe local level. They often accomplish
great things within their targeted communities,
but they do so outside of the broader economic
context, and without a blueprint for continu-
ing to build wealth and economic stabiliry over
the long haul. What's missing is something in
the middle: Private, regional foundations that
understand that improving the ciry's overall
economic vitaliry is integral to fighting poverry,
and therefore ro their missions.
Most specifically, we lack foundations that
see it as their mandate to help connect New
York Ciry's economy-which is, after all, as
large as those of many states-to the enor-
mously powerful and fast-moving technologi-
cal forces that are creating, destroying and
redisrributing wealth, companies and employ-
ment opportunities on a worldwide scale.
In the two decades since the "rust-belt reces-
sion" of 1980, a consensus has emerged among
economists and policy analysts that technology
is what differentiates fast-growing regions
(which provide broad-based economic oppor-
runiry) from stagnant ones. In this context,
technology means not just dot-corns, but a
range of manufacruring and service businesses
in sectors including communications hard-
ware, biotechnology (whether medical or agri-
cultural), energy and environmental technol-
ogy, medical devices and advanced materials
and manufacturing processes.
Many states, including New York, have re-
balanced their economic-development agencies
and budgets ro de-emphasize "smokestack" chas-
ing and focus more on what is now commonly
called "technology-led economic development. "
While there will always be some dispute
over how much technology-led economic
development serves the short-term interests of
the poor and undereducated, civic leaders in
many metropolitan regions-particularly those
that have lost substantial portions of their pop-
ulations in the transition ro a postindustrial
economy, such as Cleveland, Pittsburgh and St.
Louis-have concluded they have few other
options if they want to generate the economic
resources necessary for communiry empower-
ment of a meaningful and lasting kind. Still,
this concept remains foggy in New York.
Here, I blame the size and scale of our lead-
ing economic institutions. Why work ro create
a vibrant technology sector when global giants
in finance and media have carried the burden
of economic growth so well? Well , in the pOSt-
September 11 world, that picture has changed.
The very secrors on which we have relied most
heavily are dispersing ro lower-cost and less-
prominent locations, just as manufacruring
and corporate headquarters did in generations
preceding. What will we do now?
We already have a number of qualiry instiru-
tions poised to contribute ro a broader techno-
logical-development blueprint. One is the Sloan
Foundation, a national foundation interested in
science and industrial secrors, with a civic pro-
gram that sees universities as sources of employ-
menr training in fields affected
by technological change. A sec-
ond is SEEDCO (another
Ford spin-off, created as a
national not-for-profit organi-
zation in 1986), which focuses
on universities and hospitals
both as large employers and as
paths for economic mobiliry
within a given communiry. A
third is the Communiry Development Venture
Capital Alliance, which helps attract funds ori-
enred toward inner-ciry development, but which
does not focus specifically either on technology
or on New York.
However, not one of these fine organizations
sees promoting technology-based development
here in the ciry as part of its mandate. None sees
the ciry's many universities and research insti-
tutes as sources of technology that can be devel-
oped into commercial products right here in
our region, through the kinds of startup enter-
prises that characterize vibrant, fast-growing
communities such as Silicon Valley and San
Diego in California, Route 128 in Massachu-
setts, and Research Triangle in North Carolina
(areas not without social problems, but with the
wherewithal to address them).
By contrast, promoting a broad agenda of
tech-based economic development has become
one of the key missions of many regional foun-
dations outside of New York-not only in
declining areas such as Cleveland, but also in
fast-growing metro areas such as Atlanta and
Minneapolis-St. Paul. These foundations grasp
that one very important way in which they can
CITY LIMITS
serve their charitable purposes is to help build
and support connections among civic leaders,
generators of technology such as universities
and hospitals, sources of public, private and
institutional capital for business development,
and state-government programs for research
and technology commercialization.
It may seem odd to suggest that private
regional foundations play such a strong role in
setting and promoting a broad public agenda, but
d1eyare actually well-situated to the task. Unlike
government officials or agencies, which are vul-
nerable to political pressures, or business interme-
diaries, which don't have the money to put vision
into action, private foundations have the auton-
omy-and the money-to get the job done.
I know this because last year I directed a
project for the Battelle Memorial Institute,
funded by the Danforth Foundation of St.
Louis, that examined exactly this question:
How do (and should) foundations participate
in regional strategies for technology-led eco-
nomic growth? Danforth wanted to know
because it had committed to participating in
the region's civic strategy to become a global
center for bringing discoveries in the plant and
life sciences to market (capitalizing on the
research base of the Monsanto Co. and Wash-
ington University, among others).
Here's what we found out.
First, we discovered that many foundations
are active participants in regional dialogues on
technology's economic potential. For example,
following Cleveland's default in 1979, the
Cleveland Foundation and the George Gund
Foundation created a regionally focused eco-
nomic-research institute (an asset that New
York still lacks) at Case Western Reserve Uni-
versity. Both foundations went on to support
specific elements of the resulting sector-based
economic development strategy, which
embraces everything from traditional indus-
tries to advanced technology and biomedi-
cine-areas that were identified as vital to the
region's future growth prospects.
In Atlanta, the Robert Woodruff Founda-
tion was the first private-sector entity to
respond in 1990 to the state's call for ideas
about hitching Georgia's economic strategy to
technology. Woodruff provided the seed money
for the Georgia Research Alliance, a public/pri-
vate partnership now widely credited with
Georgia's dramatic gain (in some measure at
New York's expense) in share of federal biomed-
ical-research funding. Woodruff then made a
series of targeted grants to Georgia Tech and
Emory in the same spirit. In Kansas City, Mis-
souri, the Hall Famil y Foundation and the
MARCH 2002
Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundations funded
the early stages of the Kansas City Life Sciences
Institute, an entity with very similar aims.
Second, we found foundations stretching
their criteria for higher-education grants beyond
the traditional context of expanding educational
opportunity and equity. For example, the Lilly
Endowment, long known for its generous sup-
port of religious and community causes in Indi-
ana, made a $30 million grant to the Rose Hill-
man Institute of Technology for a building that
included a technology-business incubator, and a
$105 million grant to Indiana University for
genomics research. These were justified as part of
the effOrt to keep skilled college graduates in-
state, but they were also quiedy coordinated with
a larger technology-based development strategy,
both in Indianapolis and statewide. Many foun-
dations already mentioned have also made major
Philanthropies are
helping cities
grow. So why
don't they love
New York?
grants for research-and-development infrastruc-
ture or "technology transfer" programs in their
home communities, in sympathy with regional
economic-development strategies.
Third, we saw innovative uses of program-
related investments (PRIs), a mechanism devel-
oped mainly by two national foundations: Ford
here in New York and MacArthur in Chicago.
These are investments made by a private foun-
dation, usually at a reduced rate of return, that
advance the foundation's charitable goals.
Originally designed as a way to funnel money
to community development corporations
charged with building physical infrastructure,
program-related investments have now been
redefined by many foundations to include eco-
nomic and intellectual infrastructure. For
example, we saw PRIs used in Pittsburgh by
the McCune Foundation to help Carnegie
Mellon commercialize software it had devel-
oped; in Cleveland, by the Cleveland Founda-
tion, to help the state-sponsored biotech center
INTELLIGENCE
NYC INC.
launch a seed-stage venture-capital investment
fund; and by the Blandin Foundation of Grand
Rapids, Minnesota, to help "plant" spin-off
technology ventures from the Mayo Clinic in
rural Minnesota.
Finally, we saw foundations investing por-
tions of meir endowments to advance regional
economic-development goals as well as to pro-
duce returns to fund their charitable programs.
For example, the Abell Foundation of Baltimore
operates a $30 million "internal venture fund"
that operates somewhat like a community-devel-
opment venture-capital fund, and has funded
technology startups in Baltimore City. In North
Carolina, the national Burroughs Wellcome
Fund joined institutional investors such as Bank
of America by placing $3 million of its endow-
ment in the North Carolina Bioscience Fund, a
private investment partnership in which the
state has also made a significant investment as an
economic-development thrust.
In Pittsburgh, the Claude Benedum Founda-
tion has made investments in six private-equity
partnerships that specifically target ventures in the
Pittsburgh region. And me Heinz Endowments
committed investment fimds to a joint venture of
four area foundations (three others participating
via PRIs) to buy an abandoned steel mill from the
bankrupt LTV Corporation and hold it patiendy
pending high-value development-such as possi-
bly a third university-related research park for
Pittsburgh (New York has one, so far) .
Regional foundations sum as Danforth and its
peers have most often been the ones to draw
explicit ties between their philanthropic goals and
a community's overall wealth as determined by its
technology capacity, although a few of these inno-
vative programs are housed in national founda-
tions as well. But in New York, with all irs
resources, no one at any level has proven both
willing and able to embrace mis idea.
What can we do about it? In Cleveland, a
group of affluent people who understood me
problem got together and formed me Generation
Foundation, a public charity that works in con-
cert with regional private and community foun-
dations in an effort to address this need. In New
York, we can at least begin to shifT me terms of the
dialogue and encourage our many foundations to
start considering not only what to do about exist-
ing poverty, but also what it will rake, both now
and in the future, for the city they call home to
generate prosperity .
David Hochman is a consultant in technowgy-based
economic devewpment based in New York City.
NYC Inc. is a project of the Center for an Urban
Future.
33
Losing Home Run
continued from page 21
she was also armed with two crucial items: a
Bible and a photo of the conditions at her
mother's house. They gOt accepted to shelter.
Doubling up has become so institutional-
ized that city social workers even offer counsel-
ing to beleaguered hosts, attempting to do what
they can to make a temporary situation work
our while they seek permanent housing for a
family-anything to keep families our of the
AU, where they legally must receive shelter.
Frank Braconi of the Citizens Housing and
Planning Council has noted remarkable evi-
dence of how doubling up has affected entire
communities of New Yorkers: 1 in 20 black
middle-class families now has another family
living with them.
The city does make one notable exception
to its double-up directive. Families who were
living with other families in public or other
federally subsidized housing are virtually guar-
anteed to receive emergency shelter. This
serves the city's interests as much as the ten-
ants'. Having residents who are not on an
apartment's lease is a violation of federal
department of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment rules, because rents are set based on fam-
ily size. In the mid-1990s-the last time it
checked-the city Housing Authority esti-
Commitment is
mated that there were 105,000 families living
doubled up in its apartments.
A
cceptance to the AU is crucial because
it's the ticket to housing subsidies,
mostly the result of court orders and
agreements over the years, that are available only
to fanUlies who are officially homeless. Two
independent studies analyzing the final destina-
tions of thousands of families who came
through the AU in the 1990s found that more
than 90 percent of families who obtained per-
manent housing with subsidies remained
housed; those who did not receive subsidies were
much more likely to become homeless again.
But lately those subsidies have not been
keeping pace with demand. From 1998 to
2002, as the number of families in the shelter
system increased 53 percent, the number of
families who moved into permanent housing
each year declined by about 20 percent. About
3,000 homeless fanlilies a year move into new
homes as a result of EARP But landlord partic-
ipation has plummeted in recent years-
despite mass mailings to building owners and
an increase in cash bonuses-as opportunities
on the private market have grown more lucra-
tive. (The city itself offers an attractive alterna-
tive: it has also been paying some landlords
$3,000 a month to use apartments as homeless
shelters [see "Shelter Skelter," page 22].)
A new city initiative intended to move families
out of the shelters, known as the Employment
Incentive Housing Program, has anracted more
than 80 families so far, but it has Legal Aid and
other advocates for the homeless worried-after
two years of subsidized rent, formerly unemployed
families are expected to pay rents of up to $980 a
month (for a family of t11fee) on their own.
An opportunity to earn her own rent money is
all Mary Pagan is looking for right now. But she
was recently ruled ineligible for public housing,
because tlle father of her children, who had been
included on a previous application she filed several
years ago, is now in jail. Her welfare case is cur-
rently closed, because this past fall she discovered,
too late, that welfare and college don't mix. "I was
willing to comply, but they want me to work fUlI-
time and I was in school fUll-time," she says of her
months in a CEO/higher ed program at Monroe
College. Pagan ended up with neither. "I messed
up," she says. "I failed the whole semester." For
now, her family Lives on the $568 a month from
her older son's SSI check. "I can't afford to start
working now," she's convinced. On a high school
dropout's wages, "I couldn't afford to pay the rent,
food, care for the kids. I'd be struggling."
Pagan recounts what she told the Housing
Authority when she filed for an appeal of her
rejection, which is still pending: "I'm in a shel-
ter with two children. I don't smoke and I don't
drink. I do the right thing. I'm going to school
for a CEO, so when I get my own apartment,
I can get a good job."
Tomorrovv starts today
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starts today.
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34
CITY LIMITS
Shelter Skelter
continued from page 24
armory-style temporary family shelters, called
Tier Is, were unsafe and overcrowded, and the
21-day maximum stay too short for most fam-
ilies to find permanent housing. "It was felt
that a new model needed to come into play to
provide more privacy for pregnant women, and
a more extended stay," remembers Rodriguez.
The Tier IIs are private nonprofit residences.
Most are regulated by the state Office of Tempo-
rary and Disability Assistance, and they are
required to provide a family not only with a room
of its own but with health services and assistance
with finding a long-term place to live. They must
also make sure children are going to school-the
city has at rimes offered incentives for good atten-
dance rates-and that parents are getting the
public assistance they qualif)r for. Most of this, as
well as child care, is provided on site.
The city has shied away from creating more
of these facilities. For one thing, they are not
cheap: Like the scatter sites, they cost $100 per
family per night. But even for administrations
inclined to help the homeless, it's a zero-sum
game: Every dollar spent on expanding shelter
accommodations is one dollar less to invest in
affordable housing. "Building more shelters is
the last thing we should do," observes Roman
of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
'The more homeless beds you provide, the
more homeless people there are."
There are a few instances in the five boroughs
in which the city has asked a service group to
supply the housing, instead of landlords to sup-
ply social services. Two years ago, Women In
Need faced a severe housing crunch in its own
shelters. "Getting together a whole building is
hard," says Bonnie Stone, the group's executive
director. So instead, she asked the Department
of Homeless Services to contract with them to
rent apartments in nearby buildings and provide
the families with the services they need to sur-
vive day-to-day and to find permanent housing.
"They were hesitant at first," she remem-
bers. But today, the group serves 48 families liv-
ing in 10 different buildings, all within four
blocks of WIN's centtal office in Brooklyn.
There, the parents and kids go for services from
child care to counseling, housing assistance to
job training. But the lack of permanent housing
options outweighs even these efforts: The aver-
age length of stay, says Stone, is nine months to
a year. But once they find that long-term hous-
ing, she says, they are there for a while: Accord-
ing to WIN's website, 95 percent of the women
who leave one of its shelters for permanent
housing are still in that housing two years later.
How the Bloomberg administration will deal
with the growing homeless family population
has yet to be seen; new DHS Commissioner
Linda Gibbs did not respond to City Limits'
Open Society Institute
Applications for the 2002
requests for an interview. But Giuliani left City
Hall with a few quick-fix proposals to consider.
In late December, DHS was considering imple-
menting a furlough program that would pay a
family up to $1,500 if it leaves the shelter system
for two months. The family can rerurn to the
shelter system at any time during that period,
and get back on the waitlist for space in a Tier II
shelter, hotel or scatter-site apartment.
Critics of this plan say it would encourage
families to double up, and lead victims of
domestic violence to return to dangerous situa-
tions. "Paying people to go away for a couple of
weeks does not address the underlying problem
of a lack of affordable housing," says Steve
Banks, the lead attorney for Legal Aid in
McCain v. Giuliani, the major lawsuit seeking
adequate shelter for homeless families. Should
the city move ahead with this plan, threatens
Banks, it could find itself back in court. At press
time, Gibbs had yet to decide if she would
implement the proposal. Banks, for one says he
is hopeful for the future, having just been to the
mayor's side of City Hall for the first time in
eight years for a meeting with Gibbs.
Shantel Watson certainly could use some
allies downtown. After seven months in a scatter
site, she was moved to another temporary home,
at a Tier II on the Grand Concourse. In late Jan-
uary, she was still waiting to hear whether she
would get into a Section 8 apartment back in
her home borough of Brooklyn .
New York City Community Fellowships
The Open Society Institute (OSI) is currently accepting applications from community
activists interested in establishing publiC interest projects that address critical social justice
issues throughout New York City. OSI established the New York City Community
Fellowship Program to support individuals from diverse backgrounds to use their
creativity and passion to provide oppoltunitie for disadvantaged communities. The
program supports progressive public initiatives that provide advocacy, direct services, or
organizing efforts for marginalized communities to palticipate in an open society. OSI will
proVide a fellowship stipend award, over IS-months, and other resources to support the
development of each selected project. Applications are due by Friday, April 19, 2002
by 5 PM.
For an application, please contact CommunityFellows@sorosny.org, or visit our webpage
at www.soros.org/fellow/community.html for additional information.
The Open Society Institute, a private operating and grantmaking foundation, works to strengthen
democracy and civil society in the United States and more than 50 countries around the world.
www.soros.org
MARCH 2002
35
36
of
NEWYORK
INSURING LOW-INCOME
CO-OPS, NOT-FOR-PROFIT
COMMUNITY GROUPS
AND TENANTS FOR
OVER 20 YEARS.
For information call :
Ingrid Kaminski
Senior Vice President; ext. 213
BOLLINGER, INC.
R&F OF NEW YORK DIVISION
One Wall Street Court
P.O. Box 982
New York, NY 10268-0982
www.rfny.com
Phone: 212-269-8080 . 800-635-6002 .
Fax: 212-269-8112
Your Neighborhood Housing Insurance Specialist
THERE IS NO SUCH
THING AS A FREE LUNCH
But there is free legal assistance
Not10r-profits, community groups and organizations working to improve their
communities in New York City are eligible for free legal assistance through New
York Lawyers f or the Public Interest's (NYLPI) pro bono clearinghouse. The
clearinghouse draws on the expertise of lawyers at our 79 member law firms and
corporate legal departments.
Our network of attorneys can work with you
on a wide variety of legal issues:
Establishing your group as a not-for-profit
Lease negotiations and other real estate matters
Establishing a long-term relationship with one of our member law firms
Representing your organization in litigation matters
If you believe your organization can benefit from legal
assistance, call Bryan Pu-Folkes at (212) 336-9317,
or email at bpufolkes@nylpi.org to see if you qualify.
All legal services are free of charge.
NYLPI, 151 West 30th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10001-4007
CITY
LIMITS
HEAR
IT
FIRST.
TiifilTUVAl.!-.-.. NIlfIIPlOflTSSUffU
or.lOOI(lYN Fl1IMIAD'U$INESS
Indispensable
news
on the politics
of housing,
weHare, crime,
jobs, schools.
Learn what City Hall
doesn't want you
to know about
New York's
neighborhoods.
And keep up with
everyone who's
working to make
them better.
CITY LIMITS
Classroom Adversaries
continued from page 17
a total of 42 elective classes and seminars, down from 62 in the 2001 cata-
log. Among those no longer offered are "Feminist Jurisprudence," "Gender
and the Law" and "Critical Race Theory."
The administration says enrollment was too low to justifY retaining
them. "We can't offer a class for only three people," notes Glen. Many
(though not all) of the students demanding the courses' return agree
with her reasoning, but they complain that the administration has done
everything it can to discourage students from taking them. In their three
years at CUNY, students have room for about seven elective courses in
addition to the required classes. For the last seven years or so, the admin-
istration has issued students a list of courses "recommended" for the bar,
in real estate, practice, domestic relations, criminal procedure, wills and
estates, business associations, and the Uniform Commercial Code.
"The recommended curriculum asks students to focus on courses
that will be on the New York State bar examination," explains Goode. It
was implemented after administrators took a close look at who was pass-
ing and who was failing the bar exam; it found that some who failed the
bar had steered clear of the business-related courses.
As for the deceased courses, many of them derive from critical legal
studies. Some students say this is what they came to CUNY for: to
deconstruct and recognize the value judgments underlying legal argu-
ments. Without an immersion in critical legal studies, "I might miss
legal issues in talking to clients," contends Elsa Christiansen. "There are
power issues I might not be cognizant o I won't be looking for the
things I won't have had my eyes opened ro."
Recognizi ng "power issues" mayor may not be helpful in the trench-
es of Family, Housing or Criminal courts, where lawyers tend to focus
on applying law to facts, but the ability to see big-picture issues is
important for lawyers who want to bring class action suits or do other
impact litigation.
Glen emphasizes that all CUNY classes incorporate critical legal srud-
ies, including a focus on race and gender, making it unnecessary to
"ghettoize" the subjects the way she had to when she taught a class in
"women and the law" at New York University in 1970. But other stu-
dents say that has not been their experience. "They' ll say all our classes
are taught from a critical perspective," complains Robin Lutz, who came
to CUNY as a community organizer "expecting a good radical, or at least
progressive, education" (she never intended to practice as a lawyer). In
fact, Lutz says, race and gender were "just not addressed" in her classes.
She dropped out at the end of December after completing three semes-
ters, and now attends the Hunter School of Public Health.
Not all students complain when electives disappear from the curricu-
lum. Nicole Allen says she can't spend any more time on classes that
aren't going to be on the bar exam. "I took human rights this year. It's
obviously not going to be tested on the bar exam," she says, adding that
all her future classes will be more practical . This summer, Allen will be
working at the same real estate firm as her friend Wasserman.
For his part, Antioch College graduate Barry Klopfer is a little per-
plexed as to why his fellow CUNY Law students are pouring so much
activism into defending the teaching of legal theory. "I didn't want to go
to law school and be inundated with readings that were less practical," says
Klopfer, who was living in Texas when he decided to attend CUNY. Last
year, Klopfer started an ACLU chapter on campus, and he now works
part-time at the Attorney General's office, bur he's not yet sure where he' ll
end up after graduation. One thing he does know is thar he's eager to leave
behind academia's ivory tower. "In a legal educarion, theory is less impor-
rant than rhe vocational tools necessary to go out there and get dirty and
srarr doing legal work.
"In the end, I just want to be prepared, " says Klopfer. "1 don'r wanr
to be a scholar. I jusr want the tools."
MARCH 2002
ADVERTISE IN
CITY
LIMITS!
To place a classified ad in
City Limits, e-mail your ad to
advertise@citylimits.org or fax
your ad to 212-479-3339. The
ad will run in the City Limits
Weekly and City Limits mag-
azine and on the City Limits
web site. Rates are $1.46 per
word, minimum 40 words.
Special event and professional
directory advertising rates are
also available. For more infor-
mation, check out the Jobs
section of www.citylimits.org
or call Associate Publisher
Anita Gutierrez at
212-479-3345.
RENTAL SPACE
West 36th Street between 5th and 6th. Approx
120 square feet, private windowed office
available in quiet suite in lovely secure build-
ing. Furnished, good light, with shared kitch-
enette, copier, and receptionist service. Price
negotiable. Call for details 212-255-9325.
JOB ADS
Vibrant and growing community-based health
insurance enrollment program seeks a FIELD
SUPERVISOR. Supervise enrollment staff,
oversee outreach, expand program to new
sites. Bi-lingual (Eng/Span), must have super-
visory experience. Master's degree a plus.
$40,000+ Fax cover letter and resume to Kate
Lawler 212-681-6315.
CONTROLLER. Reporting to Deputy Director.
Maintains accounting records and internal
controls, in accordance with generally accept-
ed accounting principles, and prepares
monthly financial statements on a timely
basis. Manages and supervises payroll. Influ-
ences policies and procedures. Minimum
requirements - Bachelor's Degree in Account-
ing and five years experience in a senior
accounting position within the accounting
department of a not for profit organization.
Mail or fax to BPN, 30 3rd Avenue Brooklyn, NY
11217; 718-797-1254, Attn: Ms. Walcott.
Queens Not-for profit agency seeks an experi-
enced MORTGAGE COUNSELOR to market and
implement Pre- and Post-purchase homeown-
ership and community outreach activities:
Credit and budget counseling, guidance and
JOB ADS
assistance to consumers with an emphasis on
foreclosure prevention and home improve-
ment; review, assess, track and develop initia-
tives and strategies to address predatory lend-
ing. Qualifications: Ability to work effectively
with diverse groups. Knowledge of , and
proven experience in homeownership counsel-
ing and assistance. Demonstrated ability to
coordinate and interact with audiences
through workshops, seminars, newsletters,
etc. Excellent analytical, writing and interper-
sonal skills. Extensive knowledge of home
buying process, public and private loan prod-
ucts, FHA regulations and loss mitigation
tools. Proficiency in electronic technology a
must. Bilingual (SpanishlEnglish) a plus.
Submit resume with cover letter and salary
requirements to: Executive Director. Jamaica
Housing Improvement, Inc., 161-10 Jamaica
Avenue. Suite 601, Jamaica, NY 11432 Fax:
718-658-5065.
Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, a Bronx
faith-based youth organization. seeks COM-
MUNITY ORGANIZER for Campaign for Police
Reform (CPR: Revive Justice!). Responsibilities
include working with team of 15 youth orga-
nizers, developing strategy, street outreach
and political education, building institutional
relationships. and organizing actions/events.
Ideal candidate: bilingual (English/Spanish),
excellent writing and speaking skills, 2+ years
grassroots organizing experience, works well
with young people. and organizes out of love
rather than hate. Women, people of color
strongly encouraged to apply. Fax cover let-
ter/resume to Chris, 718-328-5630, or call
718-328-5622 x 12.
NATIONAL COORDINATOR for HOPE VI Project:
Family Justice, a spin-off of the Vera Institute
of Justice, partners with government to identi-
fy, apply and disseminate best practices in
using family supports to improve the success
of offenders supervised in the community. The
HOPE VI National Coordinator, within the Train-
ing and Technical Assistance arm, will develop
and implement Family Justice's collaboration
with HUD to help engage and support families
of offenders living in selected public housing
developments slated for demolition and revi-
talization. This population faces unique chal-
lenges in relocation: many offenders (and their
families) live in public housing "under-
ground", because of HUD regulations barring
residents with a criminal background. The
Coordinator will also collaborate with the
direct-service arm of Family Justice to develop
more effective strategies for engaging public
housing residents in the community. Family
Justice provides direct, customized training.
Responsibilities: Implement Project 's day-to-
day operations; facilitate development of part-
nerships among local justice system, commu-
nity-based organizations, public housing staff
and management, service providers. and resi-
dents; plan and implement broad data collec-
tion and analysis; recruit , hire, supervise train-
ers and consultants; manage development of
training and TA materials for each site; provide
on- and off-site TA to sites. Extensive nation-
al travel required. Qualifications: BA in crim-
inal justice. social work, social policy, or relat-
ed field; at least two years experience in hous-
37
JOB ADS
ing or related field; two years experience with
national multi-site project. Excellent written,
verbal communication skills and computer
skills. Creative self-starter able to juggle mul-
tiple sites in different phases of project devel-
opment. Salary: 40-50K. Send cover letter and
resume to: Rosemary McGinn, Director, Train-
ing/TA, Family Justice, 272 E. Third Street, New
York, NY 10009 - Fax (212) 982-1765
SUPERVISOR. Housing Options Supervise
housing placement for homeless people
w/mental ilinessIMlCA on Upper West Side.
Supervise staff, some case management and
administrative responsibility. Coordinate
placement to transitional/permanent housing
and day programs, expedite housing place-
ment & guide client through housing process.
Supervise case management of clients in scat-
tersite housing. Relevant MA or equivalent
experience preferred, bilingual a plus. Salary
low 30's depending on qualifications, excellent
benefits. Mark Draxdorf, Safe Havens/Goddard
Riverside Community Center, 593 Columbus
Avenue, NY, NY 10024.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER. Westchester Coun-
ty's largest nonprofit housing and social ser-
vice agency is seeking an exceptional person
for a new and exciting position. Reporting
directly to the President and working in both
the boardroom and the street, the Community
Organizer will help plan, organize and carry out
community and economic development pro-
jects in Yonkers and Mt. Vernon. A BS Degree
with excellent writing/speaking skills required.
Bilingual A+. Send resume/letter to President,
Westhab, 85 Executive Blvd., Elmsford, NY.
Fax: 914-345-3139. EOE.
MORTGAGE DIRECTOR. NYC Housing organiza-
tion seeks individual to manage lending pro-
grams. Degree, experience in loan underwrit-
ing for multi-family buildings preferred. Strong
admin., mgmt. Skills. NHS is an Equal Oppor-
tunity Employer. Fax resume and salary
requirements to E. McLawrence 212-242-
6680/email: hrdept@nhsnyc.org.
Social services agency working with immigrant
women is looking for: 1. FULL-TIME BILINGUAL
KOREAN COUNSELOR; social work related
experience required, MSW preferable 2. PART-
TI ME BI LI NGUAL KOREAN CASE MANAGER;
good communication skills needed.
Fax resume (212) 587-5731 or
franI2g@hotmail.com.
DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS. Health Watch Infor-
mation and Promotion Service is a New York-
based national not-for-profit. Its mission is to
improve the health of minority populations and
thus reduce their health care burden as well as
that of society as a whole. Under the direction
of the Director of Operations, the position will
direct the overall creation, implementation and
evaluation of all Health Watch programs. The
position requires: Bachelor's degree, preferably
Master's degree, in health or relevant field; At
least 5 years experience working with minority
populations; At least 5 years management
and supervision experience; Experience writing
and managing government contracts; Strong
computer skills, including internet; Excellent
38
communication skills; training experience; and
Good working knowledge of health and
HIV/AIDS issues affecting minority popula-
tions, especially African Americans. The fol-
lowing are the specific responsibilities of the
position: 1. Provide overall direction for and
management of current Health Watch pro-
grams 2. Provide direction in areas for growth
of Health Watch programs 3. Along with the
Director of Operations, develop and manage
budget for programs 4. Work with grant writing
consultant and/or Development Director to
provide programmatic direction and content
for grant proposals 5. Direct and supervise
program staff, including consultants 6. Direct
and supervise government contracts, includ-
ing assuming responsibility for completion of
all progress reports 7. Provide input to Director
of Marketing and Communications and Editor-
ial Advisory Board on the development and
expansion of the Health Watch resource center
8. Represent Health Watch on relevant nation-
al committees and/or workgroups
9. Provide programmatic content for Health
Watch newsletter, website and other educa-
tional/outreach materials 10. Direct the cre-
ation of agendas for and implementation of
Health Watch-sponsored conferences 11. Con-
duct other duties as assigned to fulfill the mis-
sion of Health Watch Please send a cover letter
with salary requirements and resume to: Mag-
gie Brennan, Director of Operations Health
Watch 589 Eighth Avenue, 6th Floor New York,
NY 10018 Only qualified applicants will
receive replies. No phone calls or faxes please.
Urban Pathways' Travelers Hotel, an EOE and
transitional residence for formerly homeless
adults, seeks an ACTIVITIES COORDINATOR to
initiate and coordinate groups, activities, par-
ties, events, etc. for residents. Weekend avail-
ability preferred. Experience and/interest in
working with this population required. BA pre-
ferred. 25 hourslPT position. Send resume and
cover letter: Program Director, Travelers Hotel,
274 W. 40th Street, NY NY 10018; fax: 212-
391-0837. No phone calls please.
DIRECTOR. National training company seeks
take-charge leader for job placement, reten-
tion programs in Essex CO.-based in Newark.
Self motivated with strong managerial, job
development and supervisory skills. Experi-
ence with job training and placements pro-
grams preferred. Spanish bi-lingual/bi-cul-
tural a plus. FAX resume,cover letter and salary
requirements to 8. Lynch, 610-566-9482
Not-for-profit organization is seeki ng an expe-
rienced person with a BSISOCIAL WORK degree
or related field. Job duties include working
with high risk youths, developing/monitoring
case plan, crisis intervention, conducting
home visits, and escorting youths to appoint-
ments. Fax resume to Jamilah Clark (212)760-
0766.
STAFF ATTORNEY. National Legal Department.
The ACLU is dedicated to protecting online free
speech and personal privacy rights in the dig-
ital age. The staff attorney will spend her/his
first year developing and implementing litiga-
tion strategies to protect technology-related
threats to privacy. Must have relevant legal
experience. Send resume to Ann Beeson, Staff
Attorney, ACLU, 125 Broad Street-18th Floor,
NY, NY 10004 or hrjobs@aclu.org.
GRANTS ASSOCIATE. Advocates for Children,
www.advocatesforchildren.org, is looking for a
Grants Associate. Duties include: writing pro-
posals and grant reports, assisting with corpo-
rate fundraising, private donor development,
and special events work. Writing/editing excel-
lence required, preference for someone with
fund raising experience. Salary is 30-40,000
depending on level of experience. Excellent
benefits package. EOE. Please mail resumes to
Jill Chaifetz, AFC, 151 West 30th St. 5th FI , NY,
NY 10001.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT. NY office
of The Enterprise Foundation, a national non-
profit community development organization,
seeks a Sr. Admin. Assistant w/3 yrs. experi-
ence for its fund raising and public relations
department. Duties include tracking funds
received, writing donor acknowledgement let-
ters, press outreach, scheduling meetings,
assembling budget materials, maintaining all
department files and archives, heavy corre-
spondence, mailings and phone work. Excel-
lent word processing and Excel skills required,
good writing and interpersonal skills, ability to
juggle multiple tasks, work as a team and be
flexible. Graphic ability a plus. Fax resumes to
212-262-9635 or mail to: The Enterprise Foun-
dation 80 Fifth Avenue, 6th floor New York, NY
1O0ll ATTN: NY-AA
DIRECTOR, CLIENT SERVICESISOCIAL SER-
VICES. HELP USA is a nationally recognized
leader in the provisions of transitional hous-
ing, residential & social services. We are seek-
ing a highly qualified professional who pos-
sesses an MSW or related degree with a mini-
mum of 5 years experience in casework prac-
tice, supervision & staff development.
Requirements: An MSW or related field. A CSW
is preferred. Must have excellent clinical and
interpersonal skills. Bilingual in Spanish/Eng-
lish is a plus. Salary ranges $44,0000 to
$58,000. Resumes should be forwarded to
HELP USA, Att: Ronald Guy, Regional Executive
Director, 285 East l7lst Street, Bronx, NY
10457. Fax: 718-583-9085. EOE. A drug free
workplace.
DIRECTOR, WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PRO-
JECT Leading nonprofit organization seeks an
experienced professional who can develop
innovative programs for its expanding work-
force development project that addresses the
multiple barriers to employment facing home-
less New Yorkers. This position offers a unique
opportunity to create new programs, to turn the
project into a national model , and to help build
the resources necessary to effect social
change. The Director will lead the entire project
and participate in our advocacy efforts. Send
resume and cover letter to: Director, Human
Resources, The Partnership for the Homeless,
305 Seventh Avenue, 13th floor, New York, N.Y.
10001. AAlEOE MlFIDN/SO
DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY RELATIONS AND VOL-
UNTEER PROGRAMS. Leading nonprofit orga-
nization has an immediate opening for a tal-
ented professional who can mobilize our
already-existing volunteer base, design initia-
tives that recruits new volunteers throughout
the city, and develop innovative projects that
involve neighborhood-based and corporate
volunteers in our advocacy efforts and direct
service programs. Applicants must have
grassroots organizing experience, an ability to
build diverse coalitions, and excellent advoca-
cy and public speaking skills. Send resume
and cover letter to: Director, Human Resources,
The Partnership for the Homeless, 305 Seventh
Avenue, 13th floor, New York, New York 10001.
AAlEOE.
PROGRAM DIRECTOR, FAMILY RESOURCE
CENTER. Leading nonprofit organization serv-
ing homeless New Yorkers is seeking an expe-
rienced MSW who is interested in directing our
model Family Resource Center in Brooklyn, one
of the new neighborhood-based programs of
our Children and Families Project. The Direc-
tor will be involved in providing direct services
to our clients and overseeing the work of the
Center, which will offer a continuum of care
that includes social work, case management,
counseling, legal and employment services.
The center also will provide services for chil-
dren on issues such as education, health, and
nutrition. Send resume and cover letter to:
Director of Human Resources, The Partnership
for the Homeless, 305 Seventh Avenue, 13th
floor, New York, NY 10001 AAlEOE MlFIDN/sO
ATTORNEY, Reproductive Freedom Project. The
ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project works to
ensure that the decision whether or not to have
a child is informed, meaningful, and protected
from government interference. Work on repro-
ductive rights issues in the National Office of
the ACLU. Must have two years' experience.
Send resume to Catherine Weiss, Director,
Reproductive Freedom Project, ACLU, 125
Broad Street-18th Floor, NY, NY 10004 or
hrjobs@aclu.org.
Volunteers of America's Housing division has
an opening for a PROGRAM DIRECTOR of 160-
unit AIDS scattered site housing and 52-unit
congregate living program. Responsibilit ies
include supervising senior management
teams at two sites, acting as liaison with fun-
der. Responsible for ensuring clients receive
support services, compliance with government
agencies, budget and facility management.
Maintains community contacts. Prepares bud-
gets and reports. Requirements include bach-
elor's degree and five years of experience
including two years at a supervisory or man-
agement level , or master's degree with four
years of experience and one year of superviso-
ry or management experience. Experience
with budgetary oversight required and facility
management preferred. Salary from $60K Send
resumes to: Human Resources Manager Volun-
teers of America 2720 Broadway, New
York, NY 10025. (212) 864-0498 fax
httpJ/www.voa-gny.orgvoa@rezkeeper.com.
CASE MANAGER, ACT Case mgt & psych Ix for
Homeless ACT Team in Upper West Side & West
Harlem. Be part of creative, dynamic team
CITY LIMITS
serving people w/severe mental illness/addic-
tion. Able to drive strongly pref, exp in mental
health/addiction a plus. Sal mid 20's, excellent
benefits. Fax let, resume to Alison Arthur at
(212) 531-3636 or mail to Alison Arthur, ACT
Team, Goddard Riverside Community Center,
593 Columbus Ave, NY, NY 10024.
Marble Hill Neighborhood Improvement Corpo-
ration (MHNIC), a nonprofit neighborhood
preservation corporation is seeking a HOUSING
SPECIALIST to assist with affordable housing
and neighborhood preservation issues. Candi-
date must be bilingual and possess strong
communication skills, writing skills and com-
puter literacy. Fax or email letter, resume and
salary requirements to: Director, MHNIC 135
Terrace View Avenue Marble Hill, New York
10463 or fax: 718-562-8920, Email :
MHNIC.org@verizon.net
OUTREACH WORKER for project that provides
soup kitchen guests with group
intervention/therapy to help with substance
abuse problems. Previous direct experience
with homeless persons, high school diploma,
and three years work experience required.
Some college helpful. Good verbal skills and
ability to interact with clients essential.
$19,000 plus benefits. Fax resume to Cherry
Gordon at 212-807-6821.
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR. The Hunter College
Center for Occupational and Environmental
Health (COEH) is seeking a full-time Associate
Director to develop new initiatives in the areas
of urban environmental health, occupational
health and safety and community public
health partnerships. The Associate Director is
responsible for managing the activities of the
Center; its professional and support staff (10
full-time and six part-time persons); and its
programs. The Associate Director also plays a
central role in fund raising, grant and contract
writing, and program development. She/he is
expected to write training curricula and con-
duct workshops in some areas of environmen-
tal , occupational or public health, to coordi-
nate research and intervention activities,
make public presentations, and assume gen-
eral financial and administrative duties. Qual-
ifications: Experience in administration, grant
writing, and fundraising is essential , as is
proven leadership ability. A Master's degree in
environmental , occupational or public health
or related disciplines is required; a doctoral
degree is preferred. Field experience required.
Excellent communication skills in writing and
speaking are necessary. Salary:$55,000 -
$70,000. Please send cover letter, resume, and
the names of three references by February 8,
2002 to: Dr. David Kotelchuck, Director COEH
Hunter College, 425 East 25th Street, New
York, NY 10010 Fax: 212-481-8795 (No tele-
phone calls, please.) Applications will be
reviewed as they arrive. The preferred starting
date is March I , 2002. AA/ED/ADA Employer
For further information about this position,
please visit the RFCUNY website
<www. rfcuny.org/hr/pvn>. For additional
information about the
Center: www.hunter.cuny.edu/health/coeh.
Northern Manhattan Improvement Corpora-
MARCH 2002
tion, a community-based organization serving
residents in Washington Heights/Inwood, is
seeking a SENIOR CASE MANAGER and a COM-
MUNITY HEALTH CASE MANAGER to join the
agency's Social Services Department. The
Senior Case Manger will be responsible for pro-
viding temporary housing to families of lead-
poisoned children and conduct outreach, edu-
cation and organizing around lead paint and
other housing-related and/or health issues,
one year supervisory experience; bilingual
Spanish-English, and MSW preferred. The
COMMUNITY HEALTH CASE MANAGER will work
with families in the Happy Faces Family Day
Care Network to ensure proper immunization of
program participants; conduct outreach and
education in the community; coordinate a net-
work of Northern Manhattan organizations
concerned about housing and asthma issues;
and implement a peer educator model.
Requirements: MSW preferred, Bilingual
(Spanish/English). Salary: Negotiable. Sub-
mit resume to Maria Lizardo, Director of Social
Services, NMIC 76 Wadsworth Avenue New
York, NY 10033; Fax (212) 740-9646. E-mail:
marializardo@nmic.org.
SENIOR GIFT PLANNING OFFICER. Actively
develop and maintain donor and prospect rela-
tionships with a primary emphasis on face-to-
face visits, as well as through letters and
phone calls. Four years experience in fundrais-
ing or a related field; bachelor's degree
required, but JD, MBA or related advanced
degrees preferred. Send resume to ACLUF
Development- Dept. PG, 125 Broad Street-18th
Floor, NY, NY 10004.
COMMUNITY COORDINATOR. The Harl em Jus-
tice Center seeks a person with strong experi-
ence with community engagement and orga-
nizing, facilitation and mediation skills. The
community coordinator will be responsible for
helping to develop a robust community
engagement strategy. General position
description: This senior facilitator will work
with staff and community organizations to
build a referral network of community organi -
zations seeking to reduce and prevent sub-
stance abuse among young. The community
coordinator must have experience working
with youth and families and strong communi-
cation, facilitation, project management, and
community engagement and organizing skills.
Qualifications: Bachelors degree a must. Send
resume to: Attention: Ivan Deadrick, Harlem
Community Justice Center, 170 East 121st
Street, New York, NY 10035; Fax: 212-360-
4996.
Small non-profit seeks person with strong
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING, PUBLIC RELATIONS
and writing skills to direct newly formed Cen-
ter to advocate for affordable housing in
Westchester County. Background in
planning, law or housing helpful. Salary
$60,000-$65,000. Email resume to
hac@affordablehomes.org.
CASAC/CASE MANAGER. Weston United Com-
munity Renewal , a non-profit mental health
agency in Harlem has full time day position for
supportive case manager in our scattered site
program. Responsibilities include substance
abuse and mental illness counseling, intake,
ADL services, groups and home visits. Experi-
ence with MICA population. Good computer
and writing skills. CASAC eligible and 3 years
of related experience. BA degree preferred.
Bilingual a plus. Salary $32,000 with benefits.
Fax resume to: Joseph Wong, Human Resources
Manager, 212-316-9618.
New Destiny Housing Corporation seeks a
PROJECT MANAGER to assist with develop-
ment of affordable and supportive housing for
low-income domestic violence survivors and
others at risk of homelessness. S/he will par-
ticipate in concept and design development
and feasibility analyses, prepare development
and operating budgets, assist in the prepara-
tion of funding proposals, and work closely
with the members of the development team
and not-for-profit clients. Qualifications: BA,
two plus years experience in real estate
finance, and knowledge of public funding
sources required. Must have strong Excel and
com puter skills as well as experience with
financial spreadsheets. Ability to handle mul-
tiple tasks, good written and oral communica-
tion, and strong organizational skills required.
Knowledge of real estate management, urban
planning, housing policy, or grant-writing a
plus. Salary: low to mid-30's with excellent
benefits. Fax resume and cover letter to 212-
577-7759.
BILINGUAL SUBSTANCE ABUSE SPECIALIST
AND ADl ASSISTANT POSITIONS available at
CUC's Uptown SROs, a national model for sup-
portive housing, in Washington Heights and
Harlem. REHABILITATION/SUBSTANCE ABUSE
SPECIALIS Responsibilities: Case Manage-
ment, individual and group services, and crisis
intervention working with tenants who have
histories of homelessness, substance abuse
and mental illness. Reqs: BSW + I year rele-
vant experience (including field work) , BA + 2
years relevant experience; HS Diploma (or GED)
+ 6 years relevant experience. Additionally, for
applicants without college degrees, every 30
credits can be substituted for I year experi-
ence. Experience working with mental health
and substance abuse preferred. Bilingual
Spanish/English required. Salary: $30K +
comp benefits + $64/month in transit checks.
Send cover letter and resume to Michelle de la
Uz, CUCS/The Rio, 10 Fort Washington Avenue,
New York, NY 10032.
ADl ASSISTANT. (Part-time; 24 hours/week)
Resp: As part of a core services team, this posi-
tion will assist tenants in a supportive housing
setting function as independently as possible.
This includes assisting tenants with activities
of daily living, particularly with upkeep of their
apartment and teaching self-care skills. Addi-
tionally, this individual will escort tenants to
medical , entitlements and other service related
appointments. Reqs: HS diploma or equivalent
or experience with the mentally ill or other spe-
cial needs populations served in comparable
capacity such as ho me health aide. Bilingual
Spanish/English required. Salary: $16K + comp
benefits. Send cover letter and resume to
Kristin Morris, CUCS The Delta, 409 West 145th
Street, New York, NY 10031. CUCS is committed
to workforce diversity. EED.
JOB ADS
HELP USA, a nationally recognized leader in the
provisions of transitional housing, residential
and social services, seeks qualified individu-
als to fill the following positions in its family
units. TEACHERIOIRECTOR. Provide chi ldcare
for pre-school children during the evening
hours (4pm to IOpm). Candidate will also
supervise and coordinate activities of the
childcare staff. Requirements: Bachelors
degree in Education as well as appropriate
Teaching License necessary. Experience with
and familiarity with NYC Agency for Child
Development (ACD) policies and procedures
required. Early Childhood Education experience
preferred. GROUP TEACHER. Provide part-time
childcare for pre-school children during the
evening hours (4pm to IOpm). Requirements:
Bachelors degree in Education with childcare
work experience preferred. Send resume, indi-
cation position of interest, to: HELP USA, 785
Crotona Park North, Bronx, NY 10460 or via fax
to: 718-901-3310. EOE. A drug free workplace.
INTENSIVE CASE MANAGER. HELP USA, a
homeless housing provider offers this exciting,
challenging opportunity to provide intensive
case management to a caseload of 12-15
families. Duties include meeting with each
family as needed, with a maximum of once per
week. You will assist families in maintaining
day-to-day activities, increasing the family's
money management, daily living & parenting
skills, & teaching families self advocacy skills.
Requirements: Computer literacy, time man-
agement skills, the ability to multi-task, as
well as being capable of working in a fast-
paced environment are necessary. BA is
required. Salary starts in the low $30s. Send
resume to Tabitha Gaffney, Director of Social
Services at fax 718-485-5916.
The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is a large,
multi -service non-profit serving the Bronx for
more than 25 years. CAB provides excellent
benefits and offers opportunities for advance-
ment. The Workforce Development Department
seeks a FOOD SAFETY TRAINER. The position
requires a bachelors degree w/excellent verbal
& written skills. Must effectively interact with
limited English speakers. Bilingual
English/Spanish essential. CASE MANAGE-
MENT SUPERVISOR: Supervise team of 7-5
staff & Program Specialists. Position requires
excellent interpersonal & managerial skills. BA
and experience required. MSW & bilingual Eng-
lish/Spanish preferred. Fax credentials to JO at
718-993-8089.
HOUSING CONSULTATION COORDINATOR AND
TRAINER. The Center for Urban Community
Services (www.cucs.org) is seeking a unit coor-
dinator to oversee the housing consultation
activities of the Residential Placement Man-
agement System (RPMs). Thi s unit provides
information and assistance for people with
mental illness and their workers to access
supportive housing in NYC. This individual will
oversee housing conSUltation services and the
production of the biweekly Vacancy and Infor-
mation Updated and the CUCS Jobs Journal ,
provide consultation to staff of mental health
programs, and supervise Housing Consul-
tants. Reqs: Masters Degree in Social Work or
related field (MSW preferred), 5+ years of
39
JOB ADS
human services experience, and excellent clin-
ical , writing and interpersonal skills. Experi-
ence in mental health services, supportive
housing and supervision preferred. Salary: Mid
40's + comp benefits. Send resume and cover
letter to: Maura McGrath, CUCS, 120 Wall
Street, 25th Floor, New York, NY 10005. Fax:
212-635-2191. CUCS is committed to work-
force diversity. EEO.
Two positions available at mental health advo-
cacy organization; small Manhattan office.
BOTH POSITIONS: program assistance/sup-
port, membership and donations, database,
volunteer coordination, public relations,
events; excellent skills--communications,
writing, organizational , computer (Word, Excel ,
Access, Outlook, web, e-mail). PROGRAM
ASSOCIATE, full-time (-$30K): Above, plus
office administration, communications, recep-
tion, secretarial. PUBLICATIONSIMEMBERSHIP
ASSOCIATE, part-time (mid-$30Ks fte): Above,
pl us database/membership management,
newsletter/publications writing and editing,
desktop publishing (Quark or PageMaker), web
design. All candidates: self-motivated, pro-
fessional, detail-oriented, team player, enthu-
siastic, interested in mental health, BAIBS.
Mail cover letter and resume: Alliance, Suite
206, 424 Park Ave South, New York, NY 10016.
HUMAN RESOURCE SPECIALIST (temporary
job) for EarnFair, a social mission business
that helps entry-level job seekers. This posi-
tion is part of our project to prevent layoffs at
lower Manhattan small businesses. The HR
Specialist will orient new employees and
review HR paperwork, provide employee sup-
port and supervision, and assist the bookkeep-
er with payroll. Please fax resume and cover
letter to: 646-486-4917.
POLICY DIRECTOR. The Association for Neigh-
borhood & Housing Development is seeking a
Policy Director to generate research on local
NYC housing and community development
trends and priorities in support of ANHD's
advocacy initiatives. The Director will also
oversee the publication of our newsletter arid
provide staff support for our Policy Committee.
Qualifications: Highly productive and self-
directed. Excellent analytic/writing skills-
expertise in policy research and budget analy-
sis. Commitment to work of community based
organizations required; knowledge of afford-
able housing in NYC desirable. Masters in pub-
lic policy or other relevant field helpful. Salary:
Up to $55,000 depending on experience and
salary history. Please send cover letter and
resume via email to Irene.b@anhd.orgorfaxto
212-463-9606.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR TRAINING. Brook-
lyn Workforce Innovations (BWI) - a non-profit
workforce development organization - seeks a
motivated individual to manage operations for
two training programs serving over 150 people
annually. Responsibilities include contract
management; assisting with job development;
managing participant tracking database;
supervising recruitment and referrals; and
assisting with resource development and spe-
cial projects. Some staff supervision. Qualifi-
cations: Project and contract management
experience in workforce development, commu-
nity development, and/or adult education.
Excellent communication and organizational
skills required. Job Development and data-
base experience a must. Strong computer
skills. Experience in adult education or teach-
ing a plus. Bilingual (English/Spanish) a plus.
Salary: DOE; good benefits. AAlEDE. Fax or e-
mail resume, cover letter and salary require-
ments to: Sarah Safford, (718) 857-4322 or
ssafford@fifthave.org. See www.bwiny.org for
more information.
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER. Brooklyn Work-
force Innovations (BWI) a non-profit workforce
development organization seeks a motivated
individual to assist with social purpose busi-
ness development and to launch financial lit-
eracy and IDA programs. SPM will also assist
with fund raising and special projects. Qualifi-
cations: Strong project management skills.
Excellent communication and organizational
skills required. Experience in community eco-
nomic development, workforce development
and/or business development strongly pre-
ferred. Business development, marketing, and
financial analysis experience a major plus.
Salary: DOE; good benefits. AAlEOE. Fax or
e-mail resume, cover letter and salary require-
ments to: Aaron Shiffman (718) 857-4322 or
ashiffman@fifthave.org. See www.bwiny.org
for more information.
NONPROFIT JOBS. Professionals for NonProfits,
Inc., staffing the NYC nonprofit sector, seeks
permanent and temporary professionals in:
FUND RAISING, ADMINISTRATION AND
ACCOUNTING / FINANCE Salaries range from
$35K to $135K. Register on-line at www.non-
profitstaffing.com or send a resume & cover
letter to 212.546.9094.
Safe Horizon, the nation's leading victim assis-
tance & advocacy organization, has the follow-
ing 2 positions in their Bronx Family Connec-
tions Program. INTENSIVE CASE MANAGER-
Min.BA req'd to wk w/ families & children, Bi-
lingual a plus. MANAGER: MSW or equivalent
and at least two yrs as a human svcs. prof.
wkg w/ children and families. Prior superviso-
ry expo and knowledge of child welfare syst.
needed. Fax resume & cover letter to Sylvia
Wright, Bronx Family Connections, (718) 842-
0583
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT. National Lawyers
Guild. Work closely with executive director,
manage database, website, publication sub-
scriptions, legal referrals, general inquiries,
and maintain equipmenUoffice supplies.
Commitment to progressive issues. Excellent
interpersonal, written and computer skills.
Union position, 4 wks vacation. Resume and
letter to Heidi Boghosian, National Lawyers
Guild, 126 University Place, 5th Floor, NY NY
10003.
St. Raymond Community Outreach (SRCO), a
growing non-profit human services agency
with a mandate to build Parkchester's first
community center, is seeking an Executive
Director. SRCO's mission is to strengthen indi-
viduals academically, physically and emotion-
ally and enhance relationships among these
individuals in order to build and sustain the
Parkchester community. The Executive Director
will provide the strategic vision and leadership
necessary for the Community Center's suc-
cessful development. Responsibilities include:
leadership of a comprehensive fund raising
program; management of current programs
and program development including Center's
eventual program scheme; Management and
oversight of Center's construction. The profes-
sional we seek should have experience in a
senior management position, preferably in a
multi-service agency and a strong record
developing and maintaining strong relations
with NYC corporate and philanthropic commu-
nities. A bachelor's degree in Management,
Public Administration, Education, or other rel -
evant field is required, Masters Degree pre-
ferred. Salary commensurate with experience.
PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY
NYSTAR.COM
Webmastering Service,
Web Design,
Free Ads Available,
Free Link Exchange.
http://www.nystar.com
or email info@nystar.com.
SPECIALIZING IN REAL ESTATE
J-51 Tax Abatement/Exemption 421A and 421B
Applications 501 (c) (3) Federal Tax Exemptions All forms
of government-assisted housing, including LISC/Enterprise,
Section 202, State Turnkey and NYC Partnership Homes
KOURAKOS & KOURAKOS
Attorneys at Law
Eastchester, N.Y.
Phone: (914) 395-0871
40
NesoH Associates
management solutions for non-profits
Providing a foIL range of management support services for non-
profit organizations
management development & strategic planning
board and staff development & training
program design, implementation & evaluation
proposal and repon writing
Bo" 130 75A Lake Road Congers, NY 10920 tel/fax (914) 268-6315
Consultant Service5
ProposalslG .. n, Writing
Hud Grants/Govt. RFPs
DeveIopmen,
Real Estate Sala/Rentals
Technical Assistance
Employmcot Programs
Capacity Building
MI(HAlL 6. BU((I
CONSULTANT
HOUSING, DEVELOPMENT & FUNDRAISING
Community Relations
212-765-7123
p: 212-397-6238
!I,IIAIL: mgbucclOaol.com
451 WEST 48th STREET, SUITE 2E
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10036-1298
CITY LIMITS
Send resume and letter with salary history to:
St. Raymond Community Outreach attn. James
Duncan, 1720 Metropolitan Ave. Bronx, New
York 10462.
MORTGATGE DIRECTOR. NYC Housing organi-
zation seeks individual to manage lending pro-
grams. Degree, experience in loan underwriting
for multi-family buildings preferred. Strong
admin., mgmt. Skills. NHS is an Equal Oppor-
tunity Employer. Fax resume and salary
requirements to E. McLawrence 212-242-
6680/email : hrdept@nhsnyc.org.
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT FOR EAST
BROOKLYN CONGREGATIONS: EBC, an affiliate
of the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, seeks
computer-literate person with strong people
skills for overall office support. Work with full-
time administrative organizer and three com-
munity organizers on phone coverage, mail-
ings, Microsoft Word and excel projects. Bilin-
gual Spanish a plus, but not required. Inde-
pendent, flexible staff person willing to work
with a team. Part-time hours negotiable: 20
per week, Mon-Friday 10-2:00, at $15 per hour,
in Brownsville office. Resume with cover letter
to Lucille Clark ebcteam@aol.com, or fax: 718-
485-5537.
YOUTH PROGRAM ASSOCIATE. Multi-racial
women's organization seeks teacher for after-
school violence-prevention, self-defense, karate
program for children/youth. Will train. Qualifi-
cations: two years experience with
children/youth; participation in physical move-
ment; strong communication/writing skills in
EnglishlSpanish; commitment to social justice.
Excellent benefits. Executive Director, CAE, 421
Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215. Email: aell-
man@cae-bklyn.org; Fax 718.499.2284.
The Pratt Area Community Council (PACC) is
a growing neighborhood based not-for-profit
organization. We combine tenant and com-
munity organizing, tenant and homeowner
services, affordable housing development
and management, and economic develop-
ment to improve the Brooklyn communities of
Ft. Greene, Clinton Hill , and Bedford
Stuyvesant. PACC seeks candidates for: 1.
SOCIAL SERVICE COORDINATOR: Responsible
for implementing the social service delivery
plan for PACC's tenants. The Coordinator will
coordinate and monitor the assessment,
treatment, and follow-up for each resident,
a s
well as serve as an advocate and secure enti-
tlement for clients. The ideal candidate is a
self-starter with knowledge of procedures
and requirements of income maintenance
and entitlement systems. MSW with 2 yrs
experience or BSW with 4 yrs relevant experi-
ence, bilingual a plus. 2. PROJECT MANAG-
ER: Will work with housing development team
to implement and administer new and exist-
ing housing and commercial development
projects, and reports to the Housing Develop-
ment Director. Responsibilities also include
negotiating and conducting transactions
related to real estate acquisition, preparing
real estate financing packages, work scopes,
developing and maintaining budgets and
project timelines, designing and negotiating
construction, development, and consultant
contracts and working with banks, govern-
mental agencies, development teams, archi -
tects, and contractors. Ideal candidate is a
self-starter with two years of housing or relat-
ed experience and excellent organizational ,
problem solving and writing skills. Knowl-
edge of financial packaging, architecture,
construction and publicly-funded programs
helpful. 3. MARKETING & COMPLIANCE SPE-
CIALIST: Primarily responsible for marketing
PACC's apartments and ensuring tenants'
compliance with affordable housing rent and
income guidelines. The position will be over-
seen by PACC's Asset Manager and will require
extensive tenant contact and coordination of
information between applicants, social service
agencies and PACC management. Responsibil -
ities also include generating internal and exter-
nal vacancy reports, interviewing applicants,
certifyi ng tenants' income and rent levels and
maintaining and organizing office records.
Familiarity with Section 8, Low Income Housing
Tax Credit, HOME, HOPWA, state and/or federal
publ ic assistance programs a plus. For any
of these positions, please send cover
letter, resume, and salary requirements
to: PACC, 201 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn,
NY 11205 or fax to 718-522-2604.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. NEW YORK CITY ENVI-
RONMENTAL JUSTICE ALLIANCE. City - wide
alliance seeks Executive Director to work with
Board and member organizations based in low
- income communities of color in developing
programmatic response on environmental jus-
tice issues. Includes program development
and administration; fund raising; financial
oversight and human resources. Will serve as
liaison between board and membership. Will
also oversee program implementation and
research projects. Must have experience with
coalition and membership building; solid
background in environmental policy and either
economic! social advocacy and!or community
development/planning. Substantial experience
in fundraising and grant writing a must.
Superior collaborative negotiation/consensus
building skills. BA required. Send cover letter
JOBADS
with salary requirements, resume and writing
sample to: mbarc@crenyc.org or to:
CRElNYCEJA, 39 Broadway, 10th Floor, New
York, NY 10006 EOE
CLIENT SERVICES SUPERVISOR. Leading
advocacy and direct service organization has a
unique opportunity for an organized, client-
focused individual to be an integral part of its
inter-disciplinary team in our 24 hour multi-
service center for frail , elderly homeless indi-
viduals. Assist with initial client screenings
and referrals and oversee general day-to-day
facility operations, including supervision of
maintenance and monitoring staff. Client Ser-
vice Coordinator will interact with clients on a
regular basis and manage multiple tasks in a
busy environment. Direct social service expe-
rience required, bi-lingual a plus. Work sched-
ule is Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. We offer
excellent salary and benefits. Send resume
and cover letter to: Human Resources Rep.,
The Partnership for the Homeless, 305 Seventh
Ave. NY, NY, 10001.
ADVOCATE/CASE MANAGER. Leading advocacy
and direct service organization serving home-
less people is seeking a dedicated, team-ori-
ented individual to work with homeless elderly
adults in our 24 hour multi-service center.
Address the critical issues facing homeless
elderly as part of a comprehensive continuum
of care. Assist clients and advocate on their
behalf with accessing entitlements, housing,
and healthcare. Provide case management
services, including money management, med-
ication compliance, and supportive counsel-
ing. BAIBS required with demonstrated com-
mitment to assisting this underserved popula-
tion. Bi-lingual a plus. We offer competitive
salary with excellent benefits package. Send
PROFESSIONALDIRECTORY
MICHAEL DAVIDSON
Nonprofit Management Services
MANAGEMENT SUPPORT & ASSESSMENT
BOARD DEVELOPMENT & TRAINING
STRATEGIC PLANNING
INTERIM MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENTS
Hands-on solutions to help
nonprofit organizations achieve their vision
Tel : (212) 662-1758, 523 West 121 St., NY, NY 10027,
Fax: (212) 662-5861, midavidson@aoLcom
Committed to the development of affordable housing
GEORGE C. DELLAPA, ATTORNEY AT LAW
15 Maiden lane, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10038
212-732-2700 FAX: 212-732-2773
Low-incomt housing tax = dit syndication.
Public and private
financing. HDFCs and not-for-profit corporations. Condos and co-ops. J-51
Tax abatement/exemptions. Lmdingfor historic properties.
MARCH 2002
Hand Mailing Services
Henry Street Settlement Mailing services is a revenue
generating, work-readiness program offering battered women and
shelter base families on the job and life skills training.
We offer hand inserting, live stamp affIXing, bulk mail, folding,
collating, labeling, water sealing and more.
For more Information please call Bob Modica,
212-505-7307
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41
I LLUSTRATED MEMOS
OFFICE OFIHE OTIVISIONARY:

Welfare isn't free and day
care shouldn't be either.
Let's use extracurricular
play time to rebuild our
crumbling public schools.
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY
CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP PLAN NQ 23-A
GOT AN IMPRACTICAL SOLUTION
TO AN INTRACTABLE PROBLEM?
SEND IN V@(ljJ[Rl
OFFICE OF THE CITY VISIONARY
CITY LIMITS MAGAZINE
12.0 WALL ST., 20
TH
FLOOR NY NY 10005
OOt.CV@ citylimits.
42
CITY LIMITS
resume and cover letter to: Human Resources
Rep. , The Partnership for the Homeless, 305
7th Ave, NY. NY. 10001. AAlEOE MlFIDNISO
Clover Hall, a new 72 unit Permanent Support-
ed Housing Residence located in Brooklyn is
seeking to recruit extremely qualified individu-
als with strong communication and interper-
sonal skills as well as demonstrated computer
literacy. MENTAL HEALTH SPECIALIST: CSW
with 3 to 5 years experience with homeless,
MICA, AIDS. Knowledge of DSMIV criteria and
psychotropic medication protocols. Will carry a
caseload, conduct training and engage in
supervision. SUBSTANCE ABUSE SPECIALIST:
Masters Degree and current NYS CASAC
mandatory. 2 to 5 years experience with case
management, assessment, referrals, individ-
ual and group counseling. Prefer experience in
residential environment. This position will work
Tuesday through Saturday, l1am to 7pm. CASE
MANAGER: Bachelor Degree with 3 to 5 years
experience with homeless, AIDS, entitlements
and substance abuse. Please forward resume
and cover letter stating position desired and
salary required: Bob Raphael : Fax: 718-608-
9107 or email : Raphael@cloverhall.org or 333
Kosciuszko Street, Brooklyn. NY 11221. EOE
committed to diversity.
Cause Effective is a nonprofit that helps other
non profits fundraise and friend raise. We are
seeking to fill two staff positions: PROGRAM
ASSOCIATE, RESORUCE DEVELOPMENT: Mid-
level position works closely with Executive
Director to handle Cause Effective institutional
and individual fundraising (including manag-
ing the calendar and proposal writing) and
marketing. Also, will provide consulting and
training to clients on resource development
issues; build a program in technology-related
fundraising matters; and update web-site.
Two-four year development experience
required. PROGRAM ASSOCIATE, SPECIAL
EVENTS: Mid-level position works closely with
senior program staff to provide special events
and resource development consulting and
training. Also, help manage Cause Effective
volunteer program. Two-four years develop-
ment and/or special events required. These
positions require acute attention to detail and
strong written and oral communication skills.
Both positions require proficiency in Windows,
Word, Excel , email and Internet. Knowledge of
Access a plus. Competitive salary; good bene-
fits. People of color strongly encouraged to
apply. Send resume (in confidence) to Cause
Effective, 505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1212, NYC
10018 by fax: 212-643-0137, or by email
(include resume in body-flo attachments
please) to zanetta@Causeeffective.org
GENERAL COUNSEL A non-profit, economic
development org. seeks a person responsible
for overseeing legal; communications and
marketing; monitoring of portfolio invest-
ments, including site visits and reporting; and
contract preparation functions. Other duties
incl ude managing client, Board, community,
inter-governmental & other external relation-
ships. Juris Doctor Degree required. Admitted
to practice law in NYS. MBA or degree in mass
communications or journalism highly desir-
able. Marketing & communications experience
highly desirable. Spanish-speaking candi-
dates encouraged to apply. EOE. MaiVfaxl
resume and cover letter, indicating where you
saw vacancy, to Terry C. Lane, UMEZ, 290 Lenox
Ave, NYC 10027 fax # (212) 410-3022, email
to: jirish@umez.org. For more information
& PO please see our web-site at
httpi/www.umez.org/
SENIOR ORGANIZER. The Fifth Avenue Com-
mittee, a Brooklyn-based community organiza-
tion, is seeking a Senior Organizer to combat
gentrification. Responsibilities: direct the Dis-
placement - Free Zone community organizing
campaign to stop eviction of tenants and pre-
serve affordable housing using creative tactics
and public pressure. Coordinate legislative
campaigns to win policy change. Some staff
supervision. Qualifications: Passion for social
justice and a BA degree + Two years profes-
sional organizing or equivalent experience.
English/Spanish a plus. Salary based on expe-
rience. Good benefits. Send resume and cover
letter to Director of Organizing, 5th Avenue
Committee, 141 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Reach 20,000
readers in the nonprofit sector.
Advertise In CITY LIMITS
Call Anita Gutierrez at (212) 479-3345
LET US DO A FREE EVALUATION
OF YOUR INSURANCE NEEDS
JOB ADS
(718) 857-2990 FAX (718) 857-4322. FAC is
an equal opportunity employer. People of color
are encouraged to apply.
Director, Worker Education Program UNITE! , a
major North American union, seeks dynamic
Director for NYC-based Worker Education Pro-
gram. Program provides literacy & skills
classes (including GED, ESOL & Citizenship) to
some 1,200 union members and staff. Con-
tent empowers union members in the work-
place & society. Program will grow byestab-
lishing classes in other locations in NY state.
Director will drive a growth agenda while
administering and updating the current pro-
gram. Responsibilities: Manage staff of 5 FT
and 40+ PT employees. Manage budget. Liai-
son to consortium of union-based education
programs. Report to funders. Consult on
development of worker education programs in
other regions. Collaborate with other union ini-
tiatives to carry out the broader mission.
Qualifications: Masters in Education, Social
Work or related field. Adult education back-
ground. 3+ years supervisory experience.
Strong administrative & leadership skills.
Bilingual English/Spanish or English! Chinese
preferred. Computer literate. Driver's license.
Willing to travel in NYC region. Union/Organiz-
ing background is a big plus. Salary DOE,
excellent benefits. Send resume and cover let-
ter to: HR@uniteunion.orgorfax a copy of your
resume and cover letter (212) 332-9368.
We have been providing low-cost insuraF'l ce programs and
quality service for HDFCs, TENANTS, COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT
and other NONPROFIT organizations for over 15 years .
MARCH 2002
We Offer:
SPECIAL BUILDING PACKAGES.
FIRE LIABILITY BONDS
DIRECTOR'S & OFFICERS' L1ABILTY
GROUP LIfE & HEALTH
"Tailored Payment Plans"
ASHKAR CORPORATION
146 West 29th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001
(2121 279-8300 FAX 7 14-2161 Ask for : Bola Ramanathan
43
Building a Better NewYork
F
OR MORE THAN 30 YEARS, Lawyers Alliance for New York
has provided free and low-cost business law services to
nonprofits with programs that are vital to the quality
of life in New York City. Now we are also committed to
helping nonprofit groups directly affected by the terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center, and nonprofits offering
grief counseling, job placement activities, fundraising and
other disaster relief services in order to restore all of our
neighborhoods. Our staff and pro bono attorneys can help
with contracts, employment, corporate, tax, real estate and
other non-litigation legal needs so that all New Yorkers can
continue to recover from the tragedy.
Please call us or visit our Web site for more information.
Lawyers Alliance
for NewYork
330 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
212 219-1800
www.lany.org
Building a Better New York
After September 11
" t A T
V Vhen the attacks of
September 11 drove us from our offices
in lower Manhattan, the dislocation
disrupted our work fighting against
hunger in low-income neighborhoods.
Lawyers Alliance and volunteers from
the same law firm that successfully
negotiated our lease helped us under-
stand our rights and negotiate effec-
tively with the landlord to return to our
offices quickly."
- E x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r
Community Food Resource Center