Keep up the great work
New York City's annual spending budget is $100 billion.
How that budget is spent is determined by what leaders view as our top priorities.
We recently received an email from one of our partners: "We had no idea how much diaper need was a "thing" until we started our partnership with you." This underscores that we are shining light - even for organizations that are already aware of their families' needs- on something silent, urgent. Something families probably don't think to ask for because it seems so out of reach, like it's 'too much' or 'too expensive'. City leaders agree- they've said themselves "how critical it is to address diaper disparities in NYC." Of the partners we recently surveyed, our program was ranked as either the second-most critical service- or, in one case, the most critical service- that that organization provided to the families they serve.
That is really something.
Getting back to the budget. Earlier this year, after many hours of intrepid maneuvering through the bowels of what could be the most bureaucratic system in the history of this concrete jungle where dreams are made of, we received an email from someone at a nyc.gov funding agency informing us, ever so regretfully, that our program does not qualify as a service.
The explanation continued: if only we had some kind of overhead, or a staff- some kind of object or salary or electric bill that supports the distribution of the necessary commodity- then we could receive funding to pay for that; but because we simply provide a commodity that should be as basic as sunshine, green park space or drinking water, a commodity to which families currently do not have access, we're disqualified from funding.
Why does NYC insist on circling around the very thing that is most obvious, most central, to health and well-being? Their dollars are flying around in a holding pattern around the very thing that should be non-negotiable.
Diapers are not complicated. They are expensive, but they don’t have to be as expensive as they are. They are necessary, and they are simple. Due to an apparent blindfold made of red tape, they are not seen.
Naturally, I did what someone who has been told that she's not administering a service, having clocked upwards of a thousand hours of volunteer time toward this project- I sent many emails describing my objections, asking follow-up questions, for justification or some kind of reasonable- even a simple acknowledgment that the system was totally wack would have done.
Silence. No feedback. No clarification, response, engagement with my queries.
I suppose it's because there's no real explanation.
The only thing in our inbox these days are emails from individual families and organizations. Our inbox groans at the seams. "Please- can we have diapers." Our waiting list of organizations has increased tenfold since we started this project 2 years ago.