by Helen Smith | Jun 24, 2020 | President's Message
Dear Friends,
Wow. What a difficult and uncertain time it has been and continues to be. We hope you and your loved ones are well.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced every one of us—individuals and organizations—to re-evaluate everything: how we rely on each other, where and how we work, and how our goals align with what is happening around and to us.
The health and safety of Schuyler Center’s staff and their families has been a priority. We moved to remote work in mid-March and are constantly improving our systems to work efficiently as a team.
We are extremely grateful to those who support us financially, many of whom have reached out to remind us Schuyler’s work is as important as ever. They have been flexible on grant reporting and timing, and continue to rely on us for insights and practical ways to reduce poverty and inequity in New York State.
Our funders are right—this work—shaping public policy to make it fairer and more focused on those in-need—is as important as ever! We are hopeful that much of the country is coming to acknowledge the same thing. As attention to systemic racism and police violence continues to grow, we are all called to re-examine our implicit biases. The coronavirus has made that abundantly clear over the last several months. The racial, social, and economic disparities evidenced by this deadly virus cannot be overlooked. Coronavirus does discriminate. A family’s neighborhood, income level, and race and ethnicity are all significant contributing factors to whether someone gets and dies from this deadly disease, and the extent to which their community is affected.
Schuyler Center continues to focus on income inequality and its ill effects on the health and well-being of New York families. We continue to examine and make concrete recommendations about strengthening New York’s public health infrastructure. New York has the resources to address these challenges, it needs the political leaders and will to do so. Governor Cuomo, in one of his daily news conferences recently said, “It always seems that the poorest people pay the highest price. Why is that?” Why indeed?
For almost 150 years, the Schuyler Center has advanced effective and inclusive public policies that put children and families first. We hope you will help us with this fight to shape policy so when COVID-19 returns or the next epidemic hits, we’re not again asking what we could have done differently.
Sincerely,
Kate Breslin
President & CEO
Read about the details and impact of our work: Focused on Strengthening Families and Enduring Hardship in 2020.
by Helen Smith | Nov 13, 2019 | President's Message
Nearly three million New Yorkers live in poverty and 895,303 of them are children. An additional 643,000 children are in low-income households above the poverty level. That’s over a million New York children living in households struggling to pay rent, heat their homes, get transportation, and feed their children. The US Census Bureau’s most recent data show 11.9 million children living in poverty and that children are 54.4 percent more likely to live in poverty than adults.
Allowing children to grow up in poverty is bad for all of us. A strong body of evidence shows that a lack of family economic security compromises children’s ability to grow and achieve success in adulthood, hurting those children and families and society overall. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)’s 2019 report concludes that poverty causes negative outcomes, especially if it occurs in early childhood or persists through a large part of childhood.
For more than a decade, the percentage of New York children living in poverty has barely budged, remaining stuck at 20 percent, give or take a point. In some New York communities, child poverty exceeds 50 percent. New York’s economy hums along, with median household income growing each year, and one in five children unable to meet basic needs.
At the same time, the federal government has proposed numerous changes to federal law and regulations, including changes to the public charge rule, and alterations to the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the manner in which the official poverty measure is calculated, that, if enacted, could dramatically roll back anti-poverty supports for children and families in New York and across the nation.
It is time for New York to set poverty reduction targets and meet them. There have been initiatives and pilot programs, but for the last ten years, little measurable progress. The NASEM report concludes that it is feasible to cut child poverty with evidence-based programs and policies. No one single policy is a magic bullet. Policy packages that show particular promise would increase refundable working family tax credits for low- and middle-income people; increase housing vouchers; expand child care subsidies; expand food assistance; replace the child tax credit with a universal child allowance; increase immigrants’ access to safety net programs. Dede Hill, Policy Director at The Schuyler Center, recently presented testimony urging New York to adopt bold strategies to reduce child poverty at an October 21, 2019 Hearing before the Senate Social Services and Aging Communities.
Reducing poverty will require political will. And it will cost money. The data suggests that it will be money well spent.[/vc_column_text]
by Helen Smith | Oct 9, 2019 | General
Our own Kate Breslin was a guest on The Craft of Consulting Podcast with Deb Zahn! Listen in as Kate gives listeners the insider perspective on a client’s viewpoint, highlighting what she likes best about hiring consultants, advice on what not to do, and how to handle it when things change.
Craft of Consulting Podcast
A Client’s Perspective on What Makes Consultants Excellent—with Kate Breslin
Released: Oct 8, 2019
Kate Breslin, a client who frequently hires consultants, shares what she wants from consultants, including what makes her hire them and rehire them again and again. She also shares what she doesn’t want consultants to do when pursuing business with her and during an engagement.
Find the episode at these sources:
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