Hello, All-

Here are some NYSCAA News and Updates that you may find of interest.

NYSCAA Events and Updates

Poverty Symposium. The Poverty Symposium is quickly approaching and we send a thank you to the many of you who have already registered. You may register on line at http://hq.nyscaaonline.org/priweb/events.aspx. The keynoter will be NYC Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, Linda I. Gibbs who oversaw the City’s Commission on Economic Opportunity. DYCD Commissioner Jeanne Mulgrav, Evelyn Harris, and many other folks will be joining us as presenters and panelists. We hope you can, too.  The formal brochure should arrive on your desks this coming week.

June Annual Conference and Awards Celebration. Save the dates of June 11-13 to gather in Poughkeepsie, NY for the Annual NYSCAA/NYSWDA Conference and Awards Celebration at the Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel. More information to follow.

Executive Director e-List. There is a new easy way to communicate with your CAA Executive Director colleagues in New York from anywhere. To email all Executive Directors, enter in the email address of executivedirectors@nyscaaonline.org.   

Upcoming Committee Meeting/Conference Calls

Audit and Finance Committee Conference Call-Monday 2/12 at 9:30

Public Policy Committee Conference Call-Tuesday, 2/13 at 9:00

Membership Development Committee Meeting-NYSWDA Training Facility in East Syracuse, Wednesday 2/14 11:00-2:00.  Conference calling available for those not making the trip.

 Upcoming Public Policy Topic Calls to frame NYSCAA’s position:

Economic Development-Monday 2/12 at 11:00

Child Care (beyond Head Start/Early Head Start)-Monday 2/12 at 2:00

 For all calls, please call 1-866-680-1500 and enter code 3162050# at the prompt.

Other Community Action Events

NCAF conference. March 7-9 is the Annual NCAF Conference in Washington DC. There will also be a special session on Tuesday, March 6th on the history of Community Action. For more information, see www.ncaf.org.

NASCSP 2007 Mid-Winter Training Conference

CSBG and WAP Orientation Training  February 12-13, 2007

2007 NASCSP Mid-Winter Training Conference - February 14-16, 2007

Washington Marriott, Washington, DC. National training event for CSBG and Weatherization state directors and staff, community action agencies/associations and all other community service networking partners. For further questions, please email the Gove Group at: chomol@gove.org or visit http://www.nascsp.org/events.htm.

 

 

 

 

Colleague Organization Advocacy Days

NYS Rural Advocates. NYS Rural Advocates is having their legislative conference on March 5 and 6. There will be a new DHCR Commissioner Deb VanAmerongen by then and HFA Director Priscilla Almodovar, and Paul Heroux from the Federal Home Loan bank will be talking about the directions in housing on the state and federal level. Please contact Nancy Berkowitz at nbek@frontiernet.net  for info or registration.

Winning Beginnings. The Winning Beginning NY (WBNY) Coalition has set Wednesday, February 14, 2007 as this year’s Advocacy Day for Early Care and Education to be held at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York.  Advocates will meet at the Hart Lounge on the Fourth Floor of The Egg. The formal program will begin at 10:30am and end at 12:00pm. For more information contact Donna Hercules at dherculeshackshaw@nyscccc.org.

Reports of Interest

Budget Briefings. Fiscal Policy Institute held their annual budget briefings around the state this week. To review their presentation that contains several key slides that may be of specific interest around the regressive tax burden on low and moderate income families, poverty rates, and employment go to http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/publications2007/2007BriefingBookFeb7Corrected2.pdf.  To see their write-up on the federal budget's impact on New York, see http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/publications2007/FPI_PresidentsBudget%20February2007.pdf.  NYSCAA staff attended the presentation in Albany.  Contact Denise Harlow at dharlow@nyscaonline.org if you have any questions on the slides in the report.

GAO Report. The GAO recently released a report on the interconnectedness of health and poverty. Please find a copy of this report attached.

Auditing Standards. The January 2007 revision of the Government Auditing Standards (aka Yellow Book) was released February 1, 2007 by GAO (US Government Accountability Office). An advisory about the revisions and the Yellow Book are on-line at http://www.gao.gov/govaud/ybk01.htm

USDA Announces Priorities of 2007 Farm Bill Proposal.  Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns unveiled priorities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 2007 Farm Bill proposal. The government has proposed to spend around $10 billion less than the last Farm Bill adopted in 2002. In the nutrition area, the Food Stamp Program is set to be “modernized” and “simplified” in order to improve access to food assistance for the elderly and low-income people. USDA may change the program’s name to the Food and Nutrition Program but the basic benefits would be substantially unchanged. The proposal also would provide funding for grants targeting low-income areas to develop and test solutions for the problem of obesity.http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=73840&m=1FNU201&c=xqdjukrrlerzutg Also see http://tinyurl.com/2q4kn5 (USDA Transcript: “Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns Unveils Provisions of the 2007 Farm Bill”)

Poverty Growing in the Suburbs.  As city dwellers move to the suburbs in search of a better life and improved access to food and other services, poverty follows them. In 2005, the number of poor people in the suburbs – over 12 million – surpassed the number of urban poor for the first time. To learn more, view the Brooking Institution’s report at: http://www.brook.edu/metro/pubs/20061205_citysuburban.htm.

Other Information

Prison Families of New York. Please see the attached new flier from Prison Families of New York.

Mileage Reimbursement Rate. Effective February 1, 2007, GSA (Government Services Administration) increased the privately owned automobile reimbursement rate to 48.5 cents per mile. I believe the IRS rate went up as of 1/1/07.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Denise

 

Denise Harlow
Chief Executive Officer
New York State Community Action Association
2 Charles Blvd.
Guilderland, NY  12084
(518) 690-0491, ext. 24
Fax: (518) 690-0498
www.nyscaaonline.org
 
A Member of the Community Action Partnership-Helping People.  Changing Lives
 

Check out http://hq.nyscaaonline.org/priweb/events.aspx   for infomation on upcoming NYSCAA events such as our Online Tech Day on January 31, 2007 and the New York State Symposium on Poverty and Economic Security on March 12-13, 2007.