February 9, 2007
IS JUSTICE DELAYED JUSTICE DENIED?
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The City Council can still rebalance the Scales of Justice |
As February kicked off with activities and campaigns marking National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, many of us here in New York City found ourselves wondering, some with anger and others with disgusted resignation, "Where is our promised $2.6 million in Communities of Color funding?" These were dollars fought for in a community/government partnership intended to end the disparities in HIV/AIDS funding that have systematically worked against NYC's communities of color and specifically against community-based organizations controlled by people of color serving communities of color.
Since the allocation of these dollars back in June 2001, Housing Works has chronicled the highs of getting the money into the city budget and the frustrating lows of getting it out to the community in a timely fashion. This year, it looks like we are in for yet another round of beat-the-June-30th deadline (the date by which all city funds must be expended). Once again, it seems, public health is taking a back seat to political chess.
This time around, the hold-up for the release does not rest with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene—the usual suspects—or the Medical Health and Research Association of NYC (MHRA), the grant manager. As a matter of fact, MHRA completed their vetting of the Communities of Color awards by the second week of January. They were hoping to begin executing contracts right away not only so that folks can begin to do their work, but also to avoid a timeline crunch with contractual deadlines for Ryan White grants. Rather, the problem rests, as of the writing of this article, with the New York City Council.
The trouble seems to be that no organization in Queens applied for the Communities of Color dollars, a fact that doesn't sit well with the sizeable portion of the Council leadership from Queens: The deputy majority leader, finance committee Chair, land use committee chair and the minority whip all come from that borough. We are not sure why eligible Queens organizations elected not to participate: Shortly before the "request for proposals" or RFP, was released, members of the New York City Communities of Color HIV/AIDS Initiative were made aware that the City Council wanted to get dollars into Queens and special outreach was targeted there. Whatever the reason, Council members now face the quandary of how to get funding to Queens agencies that didn't go through the competitive RFP process.
The fact that no Queens groups applied for the Communities of Color money is not a legitimate reason to hold these funds hostage. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn must use her influence to get the money released. As we start to flip calendar pages and June 30 approaches, and as more and more people of color become infected in communities riddled with HIV, the perpetual delay in the release of millions intended to end the injustice of funding disparities has become yet another funding injustice in and of itself. The New York City Council can continue to delay justice or it can do the right thing, the fair thing, the just thing and honor the results of the competitive process and release the funds right now.