Momentum Restorations a Lesson in Successful Advocacy

When the Bloomberg administration laid out its plans for the 2009 city budget earlier this year, there was an ominous provision for The Momentum Project, which provides congregate meals and pantry bags for poor and homeless persons living with HIV/AIDS.

The budget proposed cutting in half the funds provided by the city’s Human Resources Administration for nutrition services.  The problem was that the entire cut –  $491,000 – would have applied exclusively to The Momentum Project, an affiliate of Village Care of New York.

Last year, Momentum served more than 350,000 meals to the hardest-to-reach individuals with HIV/AIDS in nine communities in four boroughs.  Just as importantly, Momentum acts as a link with AIDS-related services, sometimes the only link the program’s 3,000-plus clients have.  Momentum’s nurses, nutritionists, social workers, chaplains and other specialists provide a greatly needed connection to primary health care, mental health and substance abuse programs, housing and other essential services.
The cutback would have had a devastating effect on Momentum’s effort, forcing it to close two of its community sites, or, alternatively, significantly reduce its services, eliminating thousands of meals and pantry bags.  Either way, it would have meant that persons living with HIV/AIDS would have less access to food and nu¬trition services.

Momentum works with people when they are in crisis – that is, when they are in seriously failing health, are poorly nourished or need to get better quickly but simply don’t know how. Sixty-four percent of Momentum clients have an AIDS diagnosis; 87 percent have incomes of under $10,000; 90 percent are per¬sons of color, and one-third of all clients are home¬less or have unstable housing arrangements.

In the face of this cut, the challenge we had at Village Care was raising awareness of the important work accomplished by Momentum on behalf of some of the neediest persons living with HIV/AIDS in the city.

To accomplish this, Village Care spearheaded a campaign with AIDS advocacy groups and Momentum clients that particularly targeted Speaker Quinn and City Council members, as well as the mayor, urging restoration of the funds.

More than 1,200 postcards signed by Momentum clients were delivered to the mayor’s office and to City Council.  Supporters took to the phones, calling Speaker Quinn and the mayor’s office.  Numerous meetings were held with City Council members, who were invited to visit Momentum sites to meet with clients and staff and see the benefits of the program first-hand.

After witnessing the value that Momentum brings to their districts and communities, several champions of the program emerged on City Council in support of the Momentum funds restoration from across the city – including Gail Brewer, Bill deBlasio, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Rosie Mendez, Letitia James, Maria Baez, Robert Jackson, John Liu and Maria del Carmen Arroyo.

Village Care’s colleagues at Housing Works, one of New York’s leading advocates on behalf of persons living with AIDS and the homeless, joined in helping carry the message of the importance of Momentum’s nutrition and other services.  Housing Works staff members Kristin Goodwin and Diana School helped spread the word of Momentum’s funding crisis throughout their constituency.

Meanwhile, others such as Allen Zwickler at First Manhattan lent their voices of support through letters, phone calls and emails to officials.

In many ways, it was a gratifying experience to see so many individuals from a variety of walks of life rally around a program that does so much good addressing the basic needs of some of the most vulnerable of persons living with HIV/AIDS.

Most gratifying, however, was that, in the end, it worked.

When City Council approved the 2009 city budget, the funds for The Momentum Project had been restored.

Speaker Quinn and all the members of City Council deserve our thanks.