Providers’ Council In the News
For more information about the Providers' Council news coverage or to request an interview with Providers' Council President and CEO Michael Weekes, please e-mail Bill Yelenak or call him at 617-428-3637 x122.
For a sampling of news articles that mentioned the Providers' Council over the past two years, please see below.
2013
April 12, 2013 - Human service agencies share life stories with legislators (iBerkshires.com)
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Tim Potter was classified as legally blind in 2003 because of retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease.
He lost his job and his hobbies. He spoke with United Cerebal Palsy and they helped fit him with adaptive equipment, mobility cane, books on tape. Then they set him up with an internship to get his foot in the door to go back to work.
He has just finished computer training on a specialized laptop UCP had gotten for him and he feels he is ready to rejoin the work force. ...
Those are three of a dozen stories the Berkshire's representation on Beacon Hill heard on Friday morning. The annual breakfast, organized by the county's human service agencies, is a way for the organizations to tell the delegation what they want, need and where state money is going.
"Putting out a budget is not a math exercise. It's people's lives," said Michael Weekes, of the Caring Force, a statewide group advocating for human services. [Read more]
BOSTON - More than 500 human service workers held a rally at the Statehouse Tuesday to push increased funding for programs to help the disabled and a 2 percent salary increase for their caretakers.
The workers and supporters, all wearing gold Caring Force shirts, heard a pledge from Senate President Therese Murray to support Gov. Deval Patrick's budget plan to add $140 million more in state aid. [Read more]
With the Legislature focused on passing a $500 million tax bill to boost investments in transportation, hundreds of human services workers visited the Statehouse Tuesday to demand funding for salary increases and increased rates for vendors... [Read more]
April 5, 2013 - Boston executives remember 20 years of Mayor Menino (Boston Business Journal)
Michael Weekes, president and CEO of the Providers' Council: "We are really going to miss the mayor. Among the issues he's worked on is helping to promote summer jobs for youth and making sure that nonprofits have funding to help support that. That's a really big and important role. He's been very strong on homelessness, making it clear that we have a responsibility to care for those who are among us who don't have homes. He does that with other services too - like making the city more accessible to people with disabilities. There are a wide variety of issues that heâs been a leader on. ... People I've talked to are disappointed that the mayor is not going to run, but they know he's been a great friend." [See image]
2012
December 7, 2012 - Pay raises for more than 400 Statehouse Staff (Beacon Hill Roll Call)
The hikes come at a time when state revenues are not meeting expectations and there are whispers of possible mid-year budget cuts and tax hikes. Revelation of the hikes also coincided with the protests of a group of human service workers who were outside Patrick's office demanding the release $20 million in pay raises for some 29,000 human service workers. According to the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, these workers make an average of $12 an hour and haven't received a pay raise in five years.
The Council says the funds would increase salaries by about 2 percent -- an approximate increase for workers of about $13 per week or 33 cents per hour. "These low-paid workers serving people with disabilities, our elderly residents, veterans and homeless individuals feel the Patrick-Murray administration's action to indefinitely delay this promised 2 percent increase is heartless and lacks an appreciation for this workforce's daily sacrifices on behalf of all of us," said Council President Michael Weekes.
A $20 million salary reserve to provide raises to human service workers is not being reduced, Gonzalez said. "It is available to disburse to human service workers," he said.
The Haverhill Democrat said Patrick could look to spending items that could be delayed for now, including public safety grants and a $25 million salary reserve for human service workers that Patrick has already frozen, causing workers to protest outside his office daily.
"There's never a great place to cut. I would prefer to see perhaps it spread out in way we've done in the past and look at those areas of spending that perhaps we could hold off on. The least disruptive is obviously preferable," Dempsey said.
Dempsey said that despite being "a very popular line item" the salary reserve "may be one we'll have to hold off on."
Members of the Caring Force, a grass-roots human services advocacy movement, are demonstrating to encourage Governor Patrick to release a 2 percent salary increase for direct-care workers that was indefinitely delayed by the Patrick-Murray administration. For several months, these workers were promised that this modest increase would arrive before the holidays. More than 29,000 workers, who work in our community to serve people with disabilities, children at risk, our vulnerable elderly, veterans, and others, have not received an annualized salary increase in five years.
"...I hear that Governor Patrick has made the decision to "delay" the implementation of the Salary Reserve indefinitely ... it is not right!"
Expected continued high unemployment, compounded by calls to reduce taxes, means state funds on which human services agencies depend will likely be reduced in the current and next fiscal years, leaders of those nonprofits were told yesterday.
Referring to the state government’s current fiscal year, Marilyn Anderson Chase, assistant secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, told more than 1,000 nonprofit leaders and managers at the annual convention of the Providers’ Council, a statewide association of health and human service agencies, “Revenue has slowed down, and we haven’t identified cuts yet.”
November 28, 2012 - Legislative staff land raises amid likely budget cuts (Cape Cod Times)
Human services workers already began demonstrating at the Statehouse after Patrick's office indefinitely delayed 2 percent raises that the state promised the contract workers in the fiscal 2013 budget. "Let's be frank: It's on average about 13 (dollars) a week" raise for many workers, said Michael Weekes, president of Providers' Council, a statewide association of health and human service agencies. "It was for many of them a sign of respect, a sign of appreciation."
November 28, 2012 - Conscience nowhere to be found at State House (Boston Herald)
Nowhere is that truer than on Beacon Hill, where Bob DeLeo, Therese Murray and Deval Patrick just handed out pay hikes to State House staffers, even while still insisting there’s no extra money in the till for those who labor in the noble field of human services.
November 27, 2012 - Human services workers await pay raises (Hudson Valley YNN)
The legislature voted to give a total of $20 million in pay raises to human service providers who work a lot with disabled people, seniors and veterans. But because of lower tax revenues, the governor took some precautionary measures. This put a hold on salary increases for more than 29,000 people in the commonwealth. "The raise was for anyone who made under $40,000. All human service workers that fall under the EOHHS, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. They're the ones that we're talking about," said Ken Singer, executive director of Berkshire County Arc.
November 27, 2012 - State House aides get raises; human services workers protest (Boston Globe)
The workers earn $25,000 a year, on average, and have gone without an increase since 2008. “There’s no sense of a shared sacrifice here,” said Michael D. Weekes, president and chief executive of the Providers’ Council, which advocates for the workers. “Why are the lowest-paid people taking it on the chin?”
November 26, 2012 - Human Service workers protest gov (WWLP-22 Springfield-TV)
But advocates say 29,000 human service workers across the state haven’t received the salary increase they were promised in time for the holidays. With $1 billion in the state’s rainy day fund, they say a modest salary increase shouldn’t have to be delayed. “We think this small amount of money, which is late to providing them with 2 percent, is a reasonable investment to some of the hardest working people in the Commonwealth,” said Providers’ Council President and CEO Michael Weekes.
Michael D. Weekes of Longmeadow, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, said the Patrick administration is indefinitely delaying release of $20 million in this year's state budget to provide about 2 percent salary increases for 29,000 workers of private, nonprofit agencies that contract with the state for care of the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled and other human services. When he signed the $32.5 billion state budget in July, Patrick vetoed $10 million of the money. State legislators voted to override the veto. Weekes said the raises were to be released on Dec. 21 but have been held up by the administration amid a shortfall in state tax collections.
July 17, 2012 - Mass. House overrides Gov.'s salary reserve veto (Associated Press)
The Massachusetts House of Representatives has overridden Gov. Deval Patrick’s veto of a Human Services Salary Reserve budget proposal.
House lawmakers voted unanimously in favor of the override Tuesday afternoon. Now the measure heads to the Senate for consideration. [Read more]
The House on Tuesday plans to take a vote to fully restore a $20 million salary reserve for human service providers that Gov. Deval Patrick cut in half with a veto when he signed the fiscal 2013 budget. Human service providers pressing for an override say low-paid workers have gone five years without a raise.
Providers’ Council President & CEO Michael Weekes called the governor’s veto “devastating” and said an override would “help low-paid staff, and strengthen the human services sector.” [Read more]
July 13, 2012 - Social impact bonds are advancing (Boston Business Journal)
While many nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs applaud Massachusetts’ efforts, social financing raises concern among its skeptics. “It is good to have a financial incentive, but our industry works on another bottom line,” said Michael Weekes, CEO of the Providers’ Council, which represents social service organizations. “Our efforts are geared toward making people better and safe. Those don’t always appear on the bottom line of a balance sheet.” [Read more]
July 12, 2012 - Veto of pay hike for direct care professionals draws ire (Berkshire Eagle)
The human services salary reserve item, approved by the Legislature, had established the amount as a pay raise; the governor's adjustment changes the item to a one-time bonus. State Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick, is leading an effort to override Patrick's veto in the House of Representatives. The cut affects 31,500 direct care workers in Massachusetts, all of whom earn under $40,000 a year, according to Bill Yelenak, spokesman for the Providers' Council. [Read more]
July 11, 2012 - Human service agencies upset over Governor's Veto (WGGB Springfield)
State human service workers are upset this week following one of Governor Deval Patrick’s vetoes. Many agencies were expecting to get a slight increase for employee salaries in order to gain and keep good workers. Many in the health and human services industry are upset with this news. On Sunday, Governor Patrick vetoed $10 million in salary increases for workers in the field. [Read more]
BONUS: Watch the video at WGGB's website.
July 10, 2012 - Mass. lawmakers to pick and choose some do-overs (Worcester Telegram & Gazette)
But Mr. Brewer said he expects lawmakers to consider taking up votes to overturn the Taunton State Hospital veto and a $10 million cut from a $20 million appropriation for pay increases for as many as 35,000 human service workers.
The Legislature had approved the higher figure to provide an annual pay increase to those workers for the first time in four years. The governor's cut, if it stands, would only allow a one-time payment instead of an annual pay increase that would amount to about 15 cents per hour, according to the Providers Council, which advocates for mental health services.
Mr. Brewer said the human services workers are among the lowest paid employees providing direct care for needy people and he would like to see the pay increases go through. “I think we have the resources to pay them,” Mr. Brewer said. [Read more]
July 10, 2012 - A pretty good state budget (Metrowest Daily News Editorial)
Patrick made a few small vetoes that will be handled, probably without much fanfare, in the next week or so. While Southeastern Mass. lawmakers are most upset over Patrick’s push to close Taunton State Hospital, the most regrettable in our view is his reduction, by half, of a one-time “salary reserve” payment to the state’s lowest-paid human services workers. These workers, largely non-union employees of nonprofits that contract with the state, haven’t had a real raise in five years. After Patrick’s cut, they will get a bonus worth less than a dollar a day. That’s one veto the Legislature should override. [Read more]
But then sometimes, you see choices being made that seem just plain absurd. Like Governor Patrick’s decision to use one of his rare vetoes on $10 million that was set aside for salary increases for people who do some of the dirtiest, most desperately-needed jobs for some of state government’s lowest wages. [Read more]
BONUS: Head the audio at WBZ's website.
July 9, 2012 - Gov. signs 2012 state budget (WWLP-22 News)
Providers' Council CEO Michael Weekes represents a number of human service workers in western Massachusetts and hopes the Legislature will override the governor’s veto. “We need to help those workers and having them pay for this reform effort, although it’s a good reform effort, but having them pay for it and bear the [cost at the] moment is not a good idea,” said Weekes. [Read more]
BONUS: Watch the video at WWLP's website.
“We are profoundly disappointed that the Governor cut the Salary Reserve in half and that he has declined to provide these low-paid direct care workers with an annualized wage increase," said Providers' Council President & CEO Michael Weekes. "These employees, who have gone without an annualized salary increase for five years, will receive a one-time payment equivalent to about 15 cents an hour if his proposal passes.” [Read more]
July 9, 2012 - Governor Patrick signs $32.5b state budget bill (Boston Globe)
The governor also halved $20 million that had been provided to increase the salaries of human services workers who provide care for people with disabilities and the elderly, instead channeling the remaining $10 million toward a program that alters the way the state pays such workers.
“We’re talking about a matter of maybe $6 a week, or somewhere around a buck a day of an increase, which when you consider that annualized increase has not been provided since fiscal year ’08, I think it’s extremely disappointing,” said Michael Weekes, chief executive of the Providers’ Council, an association of health and human service agencies that lobbied for the raises. He said the association would be considering its future options. [Read more]
June 28, 2012 - New Mass. budget would loosen drug firm ban (Boston Globe)
It also provides the first raise in five years for 31,500 direct care workers who assist people with disabilities and who earn less than $40,000 a year. They will get a 1.5 percent to 2 percent raise, a modest bump for workers with starting salaries of about $12 an hour.
“It’s a historic moment that they have been recognized by the Legislature as deserving of this support,” said Michael Weekes, chief executive of the Providers’ Council, an association of health and human service agencies that lobbied hard for the $20 million needed to fund the raises. [Read more]
TO THE EDITOR:
More than 22,000 Massachusetts nonprofits provide vital services to millions of state residents. Many nonprofit human services organizations care for individuals with disabilities, people seeking shelter, families in need of protection, and others who need assistance. We were disappointed, therefore, to read Joan Vennochi’s April 29 Op-ed column “Nonprofit greed’s real victims.” Using just a few high-profile examples of organizations performing poorly, she warns readers about the “shadowy world of Massachusetts nonprofits” and the sector’s “greedy administrators.” [Read more]
April 2, 2012 - Mass. direct care workers seek boost in wages (Associated Press)
BOSTON -- People who work at human services agencies in Massachusetts say they deserve higher wages for the work they perform.
The group, calling itself The Caring Force, held a rally at the State House on Monday and lobbied legislators to increase state funding to allow for modest salary increases. [Read more]
February 24, 2012 - Story misled readers about nonprofits (Boston Business Journal)
The human services sector cares for one in 10 Massachusetts residents and works to strengthen our communities. We were surprised and disappointed, therefore, to see the Boston Business Journal publish a story that sensationalizes executives’ salaries and misleads readers to believe taxpayers are reimbursing the entire salaries of the executives. [Read more]
2011
December 16, 2011 - State House Roundup: Pour L'Amour Et L'EConomie (State House News Service)
But advocates for services that have been gored by budget cuts since the start economic collapse in 2008 and 2009 spoke up Thursday, wondering why, when elected officials are publicly warning about the prospect of budget cuts to programs that serve the neediest residents, should a tax cut estimated to cost $111 million to $117 million a year be allowed to take effect unchallenged.
"As revenue officials are cutting the state’s tax rate and budget officials are pointing toward a difficult 2012, we are concerned that this move could end up hurting the one in ten individuals who receive vital human services from our state," said Providers' Council President Michael Weekes. "We understand state residents need tax relief -- many of those who are struggling with low wages are direct care workers in the human services system," he added. "But we must ensure that cutting the state's tax rate does not hurt our most vulnerable who receive essential supports from this chronically underfunded sector." [Read more]
December 16, 2011 - Mass. taxpayers to gain bit of relief starting Jan. 1 (Boston Globe)
Social service advocates say the state should skip the tax cut, given that many of the neediest are expected to be hit hard in next year's budget.
"We are concerned that this move could end up hurting the 1 in 10 individuals who receive vital human services from our state," Michael Weekes, president and chief executive officer of the Providers' Council, said in a statement. "But we must not mislead taxpayers that we have more than enough revenue in a sector where nearly 60 percent of organizations have had cumulative deficits on their state activities since 1993." [Read more]
December 15, 2011 - Mass. income tax rate cut by .05 percent (Associated Press)
Michael Weekes, president and CEO of the Providers' Council, a group representing human services agencies in Massachusetts, said he was concerned the tax cut could lead to less funding for social programs.
"We understand state residents need tax relief -- many of those who are struggling with low wages are direct care workers in the human services system," Weekes said. "But we must ensure that cutting the state's tax rate does not hurt our most vulnerable who receive essential supports from this chronically underfunded sector." [Read more]
October 20, 2011 - Accountability there (Boston Herald)
TO THE EDITOR:
Our state’s community-based human services sector is indeed subject to extensive reporting requirements and is monitored by the IRS, Department of Labor, Massachusetts attorney general, secretary of state and Legislature, as well as the Executive Offices of Administration and Finance and Health and Human Services, and, in most cases, a state contracting office (Oct. 17).
Strange that a former state official would believe it is difficult to receive information from the sector. In addition, each of these organizations is governed by a volunteer board that oversees an annual independent certified audit. While we are disappointed when isolated acts of abuse occur, the public can be assured that their human services providers are highly regulated.
Michael Weekes
President/CEO
Providers’ Council
October 5, 2011 - Mass. House boosts state reserves (Associated Press)
Lawmakers also heeded a call from human services advocates to provide raises to more than 30,000 direct care workers who have not received a pay raise in at least three years. The bill would create a $10 million fund to support raises for workers who earn less than $40,000 a year.
"We are grateful to the Legislature for funding the Salary Reserve for some of the lowest paid employees in the state, many of whom are living paycheck-to-paycheck and struggling to make ends meet," said Michael Weekes, president and CEO of the Providers' Council, which represents human service agencies around the state. [Read more]
The bill also includes an unusually worded section to tie the establishment of a $10 million salary reserve for human services workers to the state’s projected revenue as determined on Jan. 15, 2012.
“This language is new to us,” said Michael Weekes, president of the Providers Council, which represents thousands of human services workers, “and while we appreciate the recognition by the Legislature in providing this modest adjustment that I think will be helpful, that language … is different than language we’ve seen before, so we have to take some time and analyze it.” [Read more]
“While state executive branch managers and other state employees received a raise this year, it is unfair to deny the same to low-paid employees who perform some of the most demanding jobs that benefit us all," said Michael Weekes, president of the Provider's Council, a statewide association of human service workers and organizations.
“With a FY ’11 surplus of $460 million, we expect the administration and our Legislature to find some funding for our low-paid direct care workers,” Weekes added. “We must ensure the frontline workers who provide critical services on the state’s behalf to so many residents receive a fair wage.” [Read more]
July 19, 2011 - Mass FY '11 tax collections beat projections (Boston Globe)
"We now we now have an opportunity to restore some of the cuts that were made in services to people who are at the most vulnerable levels of society," said Michael Weekes, president of the Provider's Council, a group that represents community-based human services providers.
Weekes, who plans to request a meeting with Patrick administration officials, also said human services workers deserve a "modest" pay hike after going four years without raises. [Read more]
April 28, 2011 - Supporters of nonprofit workers say they need raises (Haverhill Gazette)
Michael Weekes is the president and CEO of the Providers' Council, the largest statewide membership association for community-based organizations providing social, rehabilitation, education and health care services. He said his organization recognizes the difficulty of asking for $28 million during these tough economic times.
"It's really about fairness to the 31,500 low-paid human-service workers who are having a difficult time making ends meet, and meeting the rising costs of health insurance and living expenses in Massachusetts," Weekes said. "We know that this is really about priorities and values, and we don't think that there's any higher priority than the care of those who are among the most vulnerable people in our society." [Read more]
Michael D. Weekes, president of the Providers Council, said House members approved additional money for some key programs, including employment services for the disabled and prevention and treatment of the virus that causes AIDS.
Weekes said he will continue to work for funding in the Senate including a salary reserve to provide a small cost-of-living raise for workers in private, nonprofit human service agencies across the state. The workers earn less than $40,000 a year. [Read more]
The budget includes no money for a cost of living increase for direct care workers with private, nonprofit human-service agencies. The budget also cuts money for several programs including prevention of the virus that causes AIDS, the Women, Infants and Children program for women who are pregnant or who have children under 5, emergency support for the homeless and helping disabled people obtain and keep jobs.
“The torn and tattered safety net continues to unravel in the House budget proposal, even as the need for services is unabated,” said Michael D. Weekes, president of the Providers’ Council, in a statement. [Read more]
April 11, 2011 - Council Letter to the Editor of the Boston Herald (Boston Herald)
TO THE EDITOR: The sensational front-page headline and one-sided story (“Suits paint picture of group home violence,” April 6) is disappointing and only seeks to exacerbate a negative stigma applied to people with mental illness. [Read more]
In human services, Patrick cut several programs including the state Department of Public Health’s intervention program for mostly low- and moderate-income families with children up to 3 who are disabled. The program would receive $21.5 million, down 27 percent from this year’s spending.
“While we understand that declining state revenues required cuts to the budget, the Providers’ Council is concerned that the torn and tattered safety net continues to take a disproportionate hit,” said Michael D. Weekes, of Longmeadow, president of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers. [Read more]
2010
December 28, 2010 - PILOT's cost high (Boston Herald)
Dear Editor:
The story on the mayor’s task force proposal for nonprofits to make payments in lieu of taxes misses a point (“City to nonprofits: Pay up,” Dec. 23). While it’s true that hospitals and colleges are being asked to make PILOT payments, the story neglects to mention that nonprofit community-based service agencies are also expected to pay.
Reaction from the nonprofit sector was swift and negative. ... Michael Weekes, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, said, “The city’s nonprofit community human services organizations are sheltering our homeless, protecting our children, women and elders, and providing many other essential services. They should not also be asked to reduce services to the most vulnerable or lay off employees to fund new, unbudgeted payments to the city.”
He added, “These organizations being asked to pay a PILOT exist to serve the public interest and meet state mandates, and they provide benefits to Boston that far outweigh any potential tax payment.” [Read more]
December 16, 2010 - As budget cuts loom, aid agencies fear worst (Boston Globe)
Michael Weekes — president of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, which represents 185,000 people who work in human services — asked the state this week to set up a $28 million “salary reserve’’ to support providers earning less than $40,000 a year.
“Developing budgets for human services is not just an arithmetic exercise, and it must be carefully planned to avoid harm and the continuance of the sector being a fiscal punching bag for the state,’’ he said. [Read more]
AT ASSOCIATES FOR Human Services Inc., the smiles start just outside the front door: a father unloading his bouncing child from the car, kids giggling with their moms in the waiting room, staffers chattering behind the reception window. ...
Michael Weekes, president of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, which counts Associates as a member, said he thinks Tunney’s leadership is a major part of the formula.
“It’s important for staff to feel that they are being supported in trying to help people achieve dignity and success in their lives,’’ he said. [Read more]
* Massachusetts voters nixed a measure to cut the state sales-tax rate but agreed to repeal a sales tax on alcoholic beverages. The Providers’ Council, a group that represents nonprofit human-service groups, had lobbied against both measures, saying they would lead the state to cut back spending on human-services programs. [Read more]
The ballot questions up for a vote on Nov. 2 are penny wise and pound foolish in the extreme. The truth is a yes vote on all three will increase costs for police, fire, and schools; drive up property taxes and tolls and devastate local safety net programs for seniors, children and people with disabilities.
With just days to go in this election season, it’s important that candidates act like responsible stewards on the dangerous ballot questions facing voters. Given the obvious negative impact each of these laws-in-waiting will have, the only sane way to vote on the ballot questions is no, no way and heck no. [Read more]
This article was also republished in the Fall River Herald News on November 1.
Last month, the Providers’ Council, an association of Massachusetts nonprofits, did something it had never done before: It sponsored a forum to ask the candidates for governor what they would do to help the 185,000 workers who provide the state’s human services—and the people they serve.
Massachusetts, like many other states, is grappling with how to close a looming budget deficit—and the group wanted the next governor to understand how cuts in services to the poor, the elderly, and people with disabilities would affect their constituents.
“We felt it was imperative to talk about what we’re about and who we serve,” says Michael D. Weekes, the group’s leader. “We’ve never quite had the attention of the candidates.” [Read more]
October 14, 2010 - L'Italien gains human services honor (Andover Townsman)
State Rep. Barbara L'Italien, D-Andover, has been selected as the 2010 Providers' Council Legislator of the Year.
The award is given by the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers Inc., to legislators that have dedicated themselves to helping people and the human services industry. She was nominated for the honor by Veryl Anderson, founder and executive director of The Professional Center for Child Development in Andover. [Read more]
September 29 - Taxes dominate debates: Patrick slams Baker, Cahill cut proposals (Boston Globe)
The forum, held before hundreds of human services workers and advocates, showcased policy and stylistic differences among the candidates, and they delivered some direct jabs at the perceived weaknesses of their rivals.
The hourlong event — sponsored by the Providers' Council, a group representing social services providers — was moderated by Karen Holmes Ward, a WCVB-TV host. [Read more]
BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick said Tuesday that plans by his political challengers in the governor's race would require the state to curtail human service programs further, and he claimed to be the only candidate who knows what it takes to achieve results for the neediest in Massachusetts.
Patrick's adversaries in the four-way contest, though, argued at a candidates' forum that the state makes it too difficult for people to access the services they need and spends too much money on programs of lesser importance, including tax incentive programs. [Read more]
September 29 - Governor candidates debate human services (State House News Service)
At a Faneuil Hall forum Tuesday sponsored by the Providers’ Council, Cahill called for a “Quinn Bill for direct care workers” modeled on a salary incentive program for police. Baker urged simplification of the state’s 49-agency Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Patrick, to the night’s only applause, said the first thing he would do is “not roll the tax rate back right now,” taking aim at Baker and Cahill’s proposed cuts to sales, income and business taxes. Stein called for an end to special interest tax breaks and a single-payer health care system to cuts costs for low-income workers. [Read more]
September 29 - Human services worker from Quincy presses gubernatorial candidates (Patriot Ledger)
Quincy resident Vernon Reid came to Faneuil Hall to deliver a simple comment to the candidates at a gubernatorial forum on human services.
“We just don’t make enough money,” said Reid, an employee at Work Inc., an organization that develops community-based programs for people with disabilities. “People are going elsewhere to make ends meet for their family, and a lot of people are even working two jobs.”
The 90-minute forum was hosted by the Providers’ Council, the state's largest human services trade association. [Read more]
September 29 - Gov. candidates grapple over Bay State service jobs (Daily Free Press)
The four candidates for Massachusetts governor minced words and took subtle shots at each other's records in a forum on service jobs in the Bay State at Faneuil Hall on Tuesday.
About 185,000 employees work in the human services sector, which uses eight percent of the Bay State's budget, according to the nonprofit Providers' Council – something that makes service workers a potentially key voter demographic in the election. [Read more]
September 28 - Critics say aid for poor diverted (State House News Service)
Human services advocates are criticizing the Legislature and Governor Deval Patrick, saying they are diverting federal funds meant for services to vulnerable people to pay increases for sheriff’s offices and university professors, a charge the Patrick administration strongly denied.
Michael Weekes, president and chief executive of the Providers’ Council, said in a statement that $450 million in so-called Federal Medical Assistance Percentages awarded by Congress and President Obama in August “was meant for those who are most vulnerable and who . . . continue to suffer in this great recession.’’ [Read more]
August 11 - Mass. casinos loom again after vote on federal aid (Associated Press)
The state's human service providers urged lawmakers to take quick action.
"We urge you to immediately move to schedule a formal session to override those vetoes and restore that funding," Michael Weekes, president and CEO of the Providers' Council, wrote in a letter Tuesday. [Read more]
Like nearly every state in the nation, Massachusetts is in a fiscal tailspin. More than half the state’s human-service providers have less than 30 days of cash on hand, and about 60 percent have cumulative deficits for state programs. This is a time in which preserving our core values—protecting the most vulnerable, providing hope and opportunity to the disadvantaged, and lifting many out of poverty—has become increasingly difficult as we strive to provide more services with fewer resources. The problems with our state economy are staggering. [Read more]
March 23, 2010 - Massachusetts nonprofits will benefit from new healthcare law (Massnonprofit.net)
Michael Weekes, president and CEO of the Providers' Council, said, “We’re pleased that our federal elected officials brought nonprofits to the table when they took this historic first step to expand access, reduce costs, and move toward a full reform of health insurance for all America. Working with the National Council of Nonprofits, the Providers’ Council fought to ensure the inclusion of a payroll tax credit to assist in providing coverage to small nonprofits.” [Read more]
February 28, 2010 - States Move to Revoke Charities' Tax Exemptions (The New York Times)
Michael D. Weekes, chief executive of Providers' Council, a trade association representing organizations that provide human services in Massachusetts, said that more and more cities and towns in that state were pressing nonprofit groups to make similar agreements.
“Those may seem less onerous than what other places are considering,” Mr. Weekes said, “but the bottom line is, they still cut into our ability to deliver vital services.” [Read more]
