With Little Warning, Agency Aiding New York’s Most Vulnerable Crumbles

Image:  Faced with a budget shortfall of $19.4 million, FEGS Health and Human Services recently announced it would be closing its programs. Credit Bryan R. Smith for The New York Times

nytimes.com - February 8 2015 - Rachel L. Swarns

The bombshell dropped on a quiet Friday evening. Steven Banks, the commissioner of the city’s Human Resources Administration, was in his office when he got the call.

On the line was Kristin M. Woodlock, the new chief executive of FEGS Health and Human Services, one of New York City’s largest social service agencies, a venerable institution often praised by corporate titans and community leaders alike.

But this was no social call: FEGS, the Human Resources Administration’s biggest provider of job placement services to the impoverished and disabled, had discovered a gaping hole in its budget and was suddenly struggling to stay afloat.

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