Budget Slice Cuts Programs To Core
By Jessica Ablamsky
A former crack addict, Kellie Phelan gave birth to her second daughter in Rikers Island while on a 90-day stay for drug possession.“I knew I wanted to change my life for her,” Phelan said. “I didn’t know how it would be possible to do that.”
That was two and a half years ago. Today Phelan works as a program coordinator for Hour Friend Indeed, a mentoring program for kids whose parents are incarcerated.
Hour Friend Indeed is a program through Hour Children, a non-profit that helps formerly incarcerated women like Phelan turn their lives around.
“I knew when I walked in these doors, I knew that I would never go back [to the streets],” Phelan said. “I knew this was the life I wanted to be living.”
Hour Children is one of the many non-profits whose funding is in danger due to the governor’s budget proposal.
In a tough year for the economy, the current proposal would cut $1.85 billion from non-profits statewide, said Allison Sesso, deputy executive director for the Human Services Council of New York City, an organization that represents a diverse array of non-profits in the City.
The Human Services Council has identified $255 million worth of cuts that must be restored, Sesso said. They strike at the heart of programs that serve the homeless, seniors, victims of domestic violence and those who cannot afford medical care, among others.
“These cuts are going to hurt no matter what,” said Michael Stoller, executive director of HSC. “But we are acknowledging from HSC that everybody has to do their part.”
If everybody must do their part, the two agree that everybody is going to feel the effect of these cuts.
“It’s a perfect storm,” Stoller said. “The government funding is down, but so is the private funding. While the funding is down, the need is up.”
For much of her short life, all Kenya Diaz needed was another hit. She started doing crack at 19. A hardcore user who was busted for dealing, after giving birth in Taconic Correctional Facility she was ready to change her life.
Now 29 and clean, she recently took her GED with help from Hour Children.
“I’m sure I passed,” Diaz said.
Preparation for the test took nearly two years. Although she was ready to change, Diaz is thankful that Hour Children was there for her.
“I’ve done a lot here, a lot that I know I wouldn’t have done otherwise,” Diaz said. “There’s a lot of love and support here.”
Women like Diaz and Phelan receive assistance through another Hour Children service, Hour Working Women’s Program. The governor’s budget proposal would cut all of its funding, about $132,000, said Johanna Flores, employment coordinator for Hour Children.
“It’s such a need, that to lose it would be so sad,” Phelan said.
The daughter of a heroin addict, drugs came naturally to Phelan.
“I grew up going to methadone programs and I grew up around drug addicts,” Phelan said. “That whole lifestyle I was involved in, I’m still involved in it, but now I’m trying to change it.”
Reach Reporter Jessica Ablamsky at jablamsky@queenstribune.com, or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 124.