Governor Kathy Hochul
New York State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Re: Urgent Action Needed to Protect Nonprofits’ Client Confidentiality
Dear Governor Hochul,
We, the undersigned 239 nonprofit organizations and individuals from across the state, ask you to act quickly to change State contract language that threatens the security of vulnerable communities and impedes the delivery of essential safety net programming.
Section III.F of the January 2024 NYS Contract for Grants template, which State agencies use for contracts with nonprofits, makes client data the property of the State and bars the nonprofit from using it to provide services to those clients outside of the State-funded program. The State contracts with nonprofits precisely because of their longstanding relationships of trust with people in the community. Requiring nonprofits to share confidential client information with the State threatens that trust, particularly when clients are domestic violence survivors, immigrants, LGBTQI people, or members of other vulnerable communities. This is an issue for all nonprofits delivering social services, but it is especially problematic when the services are provided by attorneys, social workers, and others with a professional or legal obligation to maintain client confidentiality. It also violates Public Officers Law sec. 94, which prohibits the State from collecting personally identifiable information unnecessarily.
The State funds nonprofits to provide food security, safety for domestic violence survivors, early childhood education, senior services, legal aid for immigrants and tenants, workforce development and so much more. For those programs to succeed, people who receive those services must entrust nonprofits with their most sensitive personal information. Many simply will not do so if they know that information will be passed on to State agencies. In addition, because State contracts rarely cover the full cost of providing services, nonprofits must use anonymized client service data to raise funds from additional sources and to report to those other
funders. The State must fix its contract template immediately to make confidential client information the property of nonprofit contractors.
Some of our organizations have already recommended contract language that would protect client confidentiality while allowing the State to exercise its legitimate contract oversight authority. We also ask that you work closely with nonprofit contractors to review the contract as a whole. As critical partners in the State’s safety net programming, we must also be equal partners in drafting our contracts with the State.
Sincerely,
Signatories
(As of December 2, 2024)
The Lawyers Alliance
The New York Legal Services Coalition
59E59 Theaters
Access Justice Brooklyn
ACR Health
Advocates for Children of New York
Advocates Incorporated
ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES FOR JUSTICE
American Center for Strategic and International Affairs
Ardea Arts, Inc
Ariva Inc
Artists Alliance Inc
Asian American Federation
Asiyah Women's Center
BalancedCare Community Services, Inc.
Ballet Tech
Beam Center
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
Belmont Housing Resources for WNY, Inc.
BK ROT
Bowery Alliance of Neighbors
Braata Productions
Brooklyn Book Bodega
Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A
Buffalo Urban League
Calpulli Mexican Dance Company, Inc.
CAMBA Legal Services, Inc.
CAMBA, Inc.
Can Code Communities
Caribbean Equality Project
CaringKind, The Heart of Alzheimer's Caregiving
CASES (Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services)
Catholic Charities of Onondaga County
Catholic Migration Services
Center for Community Alternatives
Center for Elder Law & Justice, Karen L. Nicolson, CEO
Center for Elder Law and Justice
Center for Safety & Change
Center for Urban Pedagogy
Central Islip Civic Council, Inc.
Charles Settlement House & Community Place of Greater Rochester
Child Care Solutions, Inc.
Children's Aid
Chinese-American Planning Council
City Bar Justice Center
City Living NY
Co-Counsel NYC
Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF)
Coalition of Institutionalized Aged and Disabled
Community Access, Inc.
Community Action of Orleans and Genesee
Community Resource Exchange
Community Service Society of New York
Community Services HDC
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Rochester, Inc.
Cortland County Community Action Program, Inc. (CAPCO)
Dance/NYC
Day One
Diana Breen Consulting, LLC
Domestic VIolence Project at the Urban Justice Center
Downtown Community Television Center, Inc.
EAC Network
Empire Justice Center
Enchanted Mountains Village
Episcopal Actors' Guild
Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project
Exponents
FAIRNY (Fairness Alliance and Information Resources of New York, Inc.)
Forestdale
FPWA
Francescos Foundation Incorporated
Frank H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society
Franklin County Community Housing Council
Friends of the North Country
Goddard Riverside
Good Shepherd Services
Graham Windham
Gray Panthers NYC
Groundswell Community Mural Project
Her Justice
Homeward NYC
Housing & Homeless Coalition of Central New York
Housing Conservation Coordinators
Housing Court Answers
Housing Help Inc.
Hudson Guild
Hudson River Housing, Inc
Hudson Valley Justice Center
Human Services Council
I Heart MF
Immigrant ARC
INCLUDEnyc
IndieSpace
JASA Legal Services for Elder Justice
Journeys End Refugee Services
Joyful Planet LLC
JustCause
KAVI (Kings Against Violence Initiative)
Keuka Housing Council Inc.
La Colmena
La Fuerza Unida, Inc.
Latinos Unidos de Long Island
Lawyers Alliance for New York and the New York Legal Services Coalition
Lawyers For Children, Inc.
Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc.
Legal Aid Society of Rockland County, Inc.
Legal Momentum, The Women's Legal Defense & Education Fund
Legal Services Attorney
Legal Services NYC
Legal Services of Central New York
Legal Services of Long Island
Legal Services of the Hudson Valley
Leviathan Lab
Lifespan of Greater Rochester, Inc.
Literacy Trust
LiveOn NY
Long Island Housing Services, inc.
Long Term Care Community Coalition
Make the Road New York
Mark DeGarmo Dance
Martin De Porres Youth and Family Services
Medicaid Matters New York
Mekong NYC
Metro Justice
MMCC
Mobilization for Justice, Inc.
MODArts Dance Collective
Mohawk Indian Housing Corporation
Naked Angels Theater Company
Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem
Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc.
New Pride Agenda
New York City Arts in Education Roundtable
New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc.
New York Immigration Coalition
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest
New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG)
New York State Children's Alliance, Inc.
New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
New York State Defenders Association
New Yorkers for Culture & Arts
Next Generation Men Of Transition
NMIC
Nonprofit New York
Nonprofit Westchester
NY StateWide Senior Action Council
Opportunities for Otsego, Inc.
Pace Women's Justice Center
Partnership for After School Education (PASE)
PathStone Corporation
Precious First Step Child Development Center Inc
Pro Bono Net
Progressives Educating New Yorkers, Inc
Project Guardianship
Queens Community House
Queens Defenders
Queens Volunteer Lawyers Project, Inc.
RaisingHealth Partners
Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus, Inc.
Rise-NY
Rising Ground, Inc.
Rockaways Neighbors Helping Neighbors
SAGE USA
Sakhi for South Asian Survivors
Schuyler County Office for the Aging
The Ali Forney Center
Syracuse Model Neighborhood Facility Inc.
The Art Therapy Project
The Door - A Center of Alternatives, Inc.
The HALI Foundation, Inc
The Health & Housing Consortium
The Jewish Board of Family & Children's Services
The Korean American Family Serice Center
The Legal Aid Society
The Legal Aid Society of Rochester, NY
The Legal Project
The SafeGuard Group
Transformational Intelligence
UNITED SIKHS
United Neighborhood Houses
United Tenants of Albany
Urban Justice Center
Urban Pathways Inc
Urban Upbound
Violence Intervention Program
Volunteer Lawyers Project of CNY, Inc.
Volunteers of Legal Service
Washington County Economic Opportunity Council, Inc. d/b/a/ L.E.A.P.
WAVE Women Inc.
Westcott Community Center
Western New York Law Center
Whole Me, Inc.
Womankind
Women for afghan women
Workers Center of Central New York
Yleana Leadership Foundation
Youth Action YouthBuild
Zone 126
Alison Gerson
Amy Turner
Andrew Cortese
Brenda Berkman
Brianna Weaver
Carrie Steinmetz
Cole Giannone
Daniel Kelley
Dechelle Damien
Derek Smith
Edwin Gonzalez
Ellyn Kessler
Grethe Barrett Holby
Hannah Webster,
Ismael Diaz
James Williams
Jenny Asaro, LCAT, ATR-BC
Jill Eisenhard
Jill Marcus
Jill Paperno
Jim Dukette
Jorien Brock
Kim Belizaire
Kristin Henley
Laurie Stricks
Lulu Fogarty
Mary Lou Hoffman
Nancy S. Erickson
Naya Coard
Pamela Mary
Pamela Spadaro
Paola Martinez-Boone
Rachel W. W. Granfield
Raphael Stern
Samantha Pedreiro
Sandra Gresl
S. Skier
Sarah Thompson
Siobhan O'Neill
Tara Bognar
Veda Kamra