One of New York’s largest social service agencies will soon be closing, after an audit revealed it was about $20 million in the red. FEGS (Federation Employment & Guidance Service) Health and Human Services is the Human Resources Administration’s biggest provider of job placement services to the city’s most vulnerable populations.
The crisis came to the city’s attention in December but has escalated in recent weeks as FEGS announced it was ending all of its programs. Since the organization focuses on finding jobs for impoverished and disabled residents, city and state officials are now looking for alternatives to serve tens of thousands of New Yorkers.
According to the New York Times, advocates will be watching closely.
“What we worry about, obviously, as things shake out, is that services may be diminished,” said Roberta Mueller, a director of the Disability Justice Center at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, an advocacy group.
A representative from FEGS said that an ongoing forensic audit has not yet revealed fraud or malfeasance.
Jenn Stanley is a freelance journalist, essayist and independent producer living in Chicago. She has an M.S. from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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