Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Women's Letter
Women's Letter
Throughout your administration, you have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the causes of
women. Your advocacy of equal pay and equal rights and elevation of women to the top levels of your
cabinet – including not only the first-ever female Secretary to the Governor but also creation of New
York’s first-ever Council on Women and Girls that your senior aide, Melissa DeRosa, chairs – shows your
willingness to take action on issues of gender equity.
That brings us to an issue close to our hearts, not only as New Yorkers but also as women. We all work in
the non-profit human services sector – as direct care workers, social workers, counselors,
administrators, cooks, cleaners, drivers, and more. This sector includes agencies that support people
with behavioral health and developmental disabilities, low-income senior citizens, victims of domestic
violence, people without reliable access to food, those experiencing homelessness, and youth in foster
care.
Fully 81% of the people who work at these non-profit human service agencies are women. That’s more
than teaching.
Despite the predominance of women in our field, your administration appears to have a blind spot when
it comes to adequate funding for our wages and for the human services organizations that keep us
employed. While the average New Yorker earns $67,500 annually, the average human services worker in
New York earns only $27,800; our sector is an important place to start in your work of achieving equal
pay.
For example, your Executive Budget Proposal postpones the Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) for
human services organizations that we work for, as it has done for 8 of the 9 years of your
administration. By removing the COLA, you have deprived our workforce of over $500 million dollars.
How can we women make strides toward equal pay and begin to make a living wage when your budget
doesn’t provide funding to the human services organizations that employ us – simply to keep up with
inflation? We know you’re aware of the staffing crisis that exists in many sectors, like developmental
disabilities and preventive services, but the crisis exists throughout all of human services non-profits
here in NYS.
Frankly, your actions have put the human services non-profit organizations that employ us at
tremendous risk.
Our employers – and more importantly the people who work here and the people we support –
respectfully request that you remove this blind spot, in your otherwise admirable women’s equality
agenda.
Governor, we love our work and the services we provide build up communities and are essential to New
York’s economy.
We admire your dedication to women’s equality. Please extend that dedication to the women of the
human services field. We need you to act now.
Sincerely,