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BOROUGH PRESIDENT HOSTS ADVOCACY SUMMIT FOR LOCAL COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATIONS

Borough President Marty Markowitz and the Brooklyn United Community Coalition hosted an Advocacy Summit at Borough Hall today for more than 60 of Brooklyn’s local Community Based Organizations who deliver critical services to residents all across the borough.

This event highlighted the challenges faced by Community Based Organizations who have contracts with the city and the problems they are having delivering quality service. Of particular importance is funding delays, excessive bureaucracy and a perceived lack of accountability. It is essential that Community Based Organizations, who face ever growing demands for their services, receive adequate assistance to effectively carry out their crucial mission.

“Brooklyn’s community-based health care organizations are on the front lines in our efforts to increase access to health care. These agencies work to improve the quality of care through culturally competent and immigration-sensitive services, and by focusing on the specific needs of the borough’s most vulnerable: the poor, the frail, the elderly, children, and immigrants,” said Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham, the founder and former director of a Brooklyn service organization, the Caribbean Women’s Health Association. “Particularly now, with so many residents affected by our fiscal crisis, we must work together to identify health priorities in each community, to develop and implement strategies that are cost-effective and sustainable, and to streamline the process of funds distribution.”

“Funding delays are killing our communities and our people. Excessive bureaucracy and a lack of accountability results in putting our communities at risk. Something is broken, lets fix it!” said Ivy Turnbull, coordinator of the Brooklyn United Community Coalition and the director of the Brooklyn Pediatric AIDS Network.

Dee Bailey of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS moderated the panel discussions.