Dear Friends:

Over recent months, city and state officials have proposed increasingly severe measures to deal with immense deficits. In April, Mayor Bloomberg presented two versions of the city budget-one described as "painful" and the other a "doomsday" budget. Though we remain hopeful that a significant portion of the shortfall will be made up by an infusion of federal and state funds, it seems inevitable that there will be major cuts in services throughout the city.

Everyone is affected by budget cuts. Streets will be dirtier. Fewer police will be in our neighborhoods. Firehouses will be closed. Many of our City's most impoverished and troubled children may have no place to go after school, if after-school programs are cut drastically and many public pools are bolted closed this summer. Even the Prospect Park Zoo may be hanging a "closed" sign on its gate.

We at the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service are assessing the impact of the proposed budget cuts and developing plans to maintain our core programs as close to their current size as possible. We are concerned that we may be forced to turn away many of the thousands who will seek our help. The hardships they already face now will grow even greater if they do not receive services; for many, this means job training and employment services.

Of great concern is the prospect of downsizing our foster care prevention program, which includes homemaker services. Year after year, these are instrumental in preventing the placement of over 95% of the children we serve, now about 1,200 annually. Such cuts would be the cruelest of all. When children are separated from their parents, the trauma most often has profound and lasting effects.

With respect to the cuts, I have written to the Governor and city and state legislators, as have many of our Board, to urge for the provision of revenues substantially larger than were represented in a recent budget proposals. As of last week state and city legislators have offered ways of accomplishing this. We have been advocating at the state level to restore funding for a program we've already had to cut, and at the city and state level to mitigate other painful reductions. From my perspective as Executive Director of a large social services organization serving some of New York City's most vulnerable, I know those we serve cannot afford to lose vital services.

Surely everyone is affected by a battered economy, and our clients have been among the hardest hit. Some are still out of work as a result of September 11th, while others have lost their jobs more recently as the economy spirals down. Thousands in our city have exhausted their unemployment benefits and are finding themselves without resources to pay for basic necessities-shelter, food, and medical care for themselves and their families.

To date, our dedicated staff and volunteers have served more than 11,000 persons whose lives were significantly disrupted-if not shattered-by the events of September 11th. More than a year and a half after the disaster, hundreds of individuals are still turning to us monthly for cash assistance (although our resources to provide it are now very limited) for help in finding jobs, and for counseling and case management services. At the same time we continue to provide our core services such as tutoring, daycare, after-school, day treatment, and many other rehabilitation and employment services for disabled adults, including those in our PRIDE program who are transitioning from welfare to work.

The need for our services will grow in the year ahead, and unfortunately, diminishing resources may reduce our capacity to respond as fully as we might wish. The intense competition among not-for-profits for private funding and the shortfall in city and state budgets will have an impact for some time. Our Board of Directors and staff have upheld their steadfast commitment to those we serve, as have our generous volunteers, who continue to enrich our programs and the lives of those participating in them. In these difficult times, we will continue to turn to our long-standing supporters in an effort to sustain our critically needed programs. We look to our partners-individuals, foundations and the corporate sector--and value their ongoing involvement.

To all of you who have contributed to the Brooklyn Bureau, I extend our deepest gratitude for your commitment. Should you wish to help us further or if you are donating for the first time, I cannot overstate how much we would welcome your assistance. As always, you can trust us to make effective and efficient use of our resources.

I will continue to keep you apprised of our progress.

Thank you for your interest in the Brooklyn Bureau.