Hispanic Brotherhood among agencies seeing cuts

Hundreds of people, including representatives of the Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre, gathered at Nassau County’s Theodore Roosevelt Legislative and Executive Building in Mineola on July 6 to fight to reinstate contracts and funds that the county has cut from youth programs and substance-abuse treatment agencies.

In June, County Executive Ed Mangano sent letters to 43 private youth organizations and 15 mental-health and addiction-treatment agencies that receive annual county contracts for services, informing them that their funding would be eliminated this month — unless, Mangano said, they could persuade three Democratic lawmakers to side with the County Legislature’s 10 Republicans to approve a measure to borrow $41 million to pay the county’s tax-certiorari debts. (A certiorari is a challenge to a property’s assessment.) No such legislation was approved, and on July 5, all of the contracts were canceled.

“It’s devastating,” said Margarita Grasing, the executive director of the Hispanic Brotherhood, which lost half of its after-school program budget — $80,000 in county funds — and will be forced to lay off two teachers, cut the hours of other employees and accept no additional students to its long-running tutorial program.

“I’m hoping this can be resolved before September, but you never know with the politicians,” Grasing said. “It’s the worst political climate that I’ve ever seen in 45 years in the county. To pick on the kids and the very needy is not the right thing. It’s scary to see this happen.”

“We will continue the fight to restore the funding of Nassau County youth and other community services,” said Peter Levy, president of the Coalition of Nassau County Youth Services Agencies. “Closing our doors will have devastating and detrimental impacts on the lives and futures of thousands from Nassau County’s most vulnerable populations. By cutting these programs, our elected officials will cost the county and taxpayers much more in both the short and long term.”

The July 6 rally featured speakers from organizations across the county, all calling for the reinstatement of the youth programs and substance-abuse treatment agencies’ contracts.