Alliance Alert: The Alliance for Rights and Recovery joined fellow nonprofit and behavioral health advocates in Albany this week to urge state leaders to protect and strengthen funding for mental health, substance use, and human services providers as New York prepares for one of the most challenging budget years in recent memory.
As highlighted in Crain’s New York by Jacqueline M. Ebanks, New York’s nonprofit sector—particularly community-based providers—continues to face mounting strain due to rising costs, workforce shortages, delayed contracts, and looming federal cuts. These pressures threaten the stability of essential programs that New Yorkers rely on every day, from housing supports and crisis services to peer-led and family programs.
At Wednesday’s press conference in Albany, the Alliance and partners across the behavioral health sector called on the Governor and Legislature to provide a 2.7% Targeted Inflationary Increase (TII) for mental health and substance use providers. This modest investment would help agencies retain staff, address workforce turnover rates approaching 35%, and ensure continuity of services for people across the state. The message was clear: as federal cuts take effect, New York must prioritize funding for life-saving, community-based services rather than allowing critical supports to erode
Advocates stressed that mental health and substance use programs are the foundation of community well-being. These services not only save lives but also reduce homelessness, incarceration, and emergency room use.
The Alliance will continue to work with our coalition partners and stateleaders to ensure that providers receive the resources they need to sustain their workforce and support recovery for all New Yorkers. In this difficult fiscal environment, protecting human services funding is not only the right thing to do—it is essential to the health, safety, and stability of our communities.
Op-ed: Nonprofits Are Sounding the Alarm. Will New York Listen?
Jacqueline M. Ebanks | Crain’s New York | October 17, 2025
Nonprofits are the backbone of care, creativity, and justice in New York City. From the Bronx cultural institution that keeps neighborhood history alive to the Queens after-school program that gives parents breathing room, to the Staten Island health clinic that supports families navigating chronic disease, nonprofits are indispensable to New York’s economy and democracy alike, and every New Yorker benefits.
Yet, despite their importance, four alarm bells are sounding across our city’s nonprofit sector: inconsistent funding, a workforce stretched dangerously thin, aging infrastructure, and a volatile political climate. These warnings are not abstract. They appear in real life when benefits disappear, when after-school programs cut staff, when health clinics shorten their hours, and when arts groups shutter their stages.
Nonprofit New York recently released its “Partnering Through Unprecedented Times: Insights from Nonprofit New York’s 2025 Interest Survey,” in which nearly 300 organizations shared their on-the-ground experiences. Their answers confirmed that these challenges are deepening, not easing. Cashflow crises are expected to worsen, leadership transitions are accelerating, and donors are fatigued.
Additionally, contracts from the City government are often delayed, leaving organizations to float payroll on credit. Too many nonprofit employees, most of them women and people of color, still earn less than a living wage. Facilities are deteriorating, technology systems are vulnerable, and capital support is scarce. Now, as federal lawmakers advance budgets that slash human services, housing, and cultural initiatives, New York nonprofits face the prospect of cascading cuts as demand for our work is rising.
The result: communities are left wondering whether the very institutions they rely on will remain standing. Federal funding pullbacks have accelerated the strain, stripping away support for mental health, immigrant justice, and affordable housing at the precise moment when communities can least afford it.
Some say nonprofits should simply “tighten their belts” or “do more with less.” But we have done more with less for decades. What we cannot do is prop up the city’s social, cultural, and economic life while being treated as expendable in budget negotiations. We are not asking for charity; we are demanding partnership.
Nonprofits are as integral to New York’s infrastructure as subways or schools. They stabilize neighborhoods, hold together fragile safety nets, and create spaces where democracy is lived day to day. When they falter, trust in institutions erodes, civic participation wanes, and local economies weaken. Everyone pays.
The government must begin by fixing its own systems. The City’s procurement platform, PASSPort, must stop being a bottleneck and start being a lifeline. Agencies should release contracts and pay invoices on time. Budgets must baseline nonprofit funding and support wages that allow workers to stay in the sector, rather than fleeing for more sustainable jobs elsewhere. And at the federal level, lawmakers must recognize that slashing domestic programs is not fiscal prudence; it is civic sabotage. Every cut to housing, food security, or health programs is a cut to the stability of neighborhoods and the well-being of families.
Philanthropy has its own role to play. Too many foundations still issue short-term, restricted grants that force organizations to chase dollars instead of serving communities. Especially now, practitioners are in desperate need of multi-year general operating support, investments in organizational capacity, and a recognition that strong infrastructure is as essential as strong programs.
The private sector cannot sit on the sidelines. Businesses benefit when nonprofits help maintain stable neighborhoods, train future workers, and help ensure the city remains livable. The moment calls for three-way partnerships, with nonprofit, government, and business leaders aligning their resources and strategies to safeguard New York’s future.
On November 12, nonprofit leaders from across the region will gather for Nonprofit New York’s Annual Conference, themed “Onward … Together.” It will be a moment to take stock, share solutions, and chart a path forward. But let me be clear: we are not waiting for permission to lead. We are claiming our place at the table. We will not be silenced or silent.
Federal cuts are making the four alarm bells louder. The question is whether city and state government, philanthropy, and the private sector will hear them and act. Now more than ever, it is essential that we build effective and sustainable collaborations across all sectors before the city we love pays an even steeper price.
Jacqueline M. Ebanks is the president & CEO of Nonprofit New York.