The ACT Project Task Force
In 1989, the ACT Project Task Force brought together more than
100 leaders from New York City’s philanthropic and social
service communities to assess the implementation of public recommendations
to improve the delivery of health and social services to children.
For more than a decade, commissions and panels under public,
independent, and joint auspices had looked at the quality of
services for children and families. Yet by 1989, the situation
for poor children and families in New York City was disastrous.
Child abuse reports stood at almost 58,000, and infant mortality
rates in some neighborhoods were two to three times the national
rate. The city’s foster care population was at an all
time high with more than 47,000 children in care. Foster children
were routinely placed in care far from their home communities,
disrupting their schooling and friendships and making parental
visits and family reunification difficult.
Proposal for Neighborhood-Based Child
Welfare Services
The Task Force focused on the frequent recommendations made
by advisory groups to integrate services to disadvantaged children,
families, and neighborhoods. Finding that the fragmentation
of services was a continuing problem, the Task Force proposed
a solution that recognized the need for a change agent to guide
changes in the service delivery system. The Task Force proposed
a neighborhood-based planning process to coordinate human services
and economic development efforts. ACT’s proposal had five
key elements:
-
Mayoral support for the effort’s
policies and programs
-
Public/private sector cooperation
-
Specific action-oriented proposals
with measurable outcomes
-
Active outreach and constituency
building
- Persistent follow-up advocacy and monitoring
