|
Ask Your Assemblymember to Support Funding for LGBT Health & Human Services
We need you to write your assemblymember and ask him/her to support providing $4 million to help fund the New York State LGBT Health & Human Services Network (The Network). These funds come out of the Assembly Majority's annual discretionary budget, which traditionally provides a significant percentage of the funds that local LGBT organizations depend on to continue operating.
Without this funding, many of these vital community-based LGBT health and human services organizations cannot continue to provide critical services. These include (but are not limited to): health and wellness programs including primary and preventative health care; social support and education; mental health treatment and family counseling; domestic violence and sexual assault services; crime victim assistance; homeless youth services; and alcohol and substance abuse prevention. Click here to view a list of Network members across the state.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Please support funding for the NYS LGBT Health & Human Services Network
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am writing to ask that you support adding $4M of Assembly Majority discretionary funding for the New York State Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Health and Human Services Network ("The Network") through the "Health and Social Services Sexuality Related Programs" budget line.
As you may know, the Assembly Majority has been a champion of The Network and this funding initiative for a decade now. In that time, The Network has grown to over 50 community based organizations -- including a number in our neighborhood -- that provide non-HIV health and human services to LGBT New Yorkers, including youth, seniors, people of color, and those dealing with substance abuse issues.
I believe these services are vital to our community and in the long run provide savings for the state by increasing access to preventative healthcare. Additionally, the services will be more effective because they are provided on a peer-to-peer basis by locally based, LGBT-friendly non-profit organizations.
While The Network has been successful in increasing support from the Executive branch, it is the Assembly Majority that has been the leader in this nationally innovative model of service provision for the LGBT community. The amount of funding provided by government has been and continues to be inadequate to meet the current needs of the LGBT community and is woefully inadequate to meet the emerging needs. Your leadership is needed now as much as it ever has been.
Please contact the Assembly Speaker and encourage him to have this $4M legislative addition for the LGBT Health and Human Services Network included in the 07-08 budget.
Sincerely,
|
