A key part of First Lady Chirlane McCray’s ThriveNYC program that trains employees at community groups to address mental health problems is struggling to make a dent because the nonprofit employees don’t stick around.
Embarrassingly, a top city official acknowledged the $17.5 million initiative struggles during a panel session for ThriveNYC’s lightly-attended annual conference, Cities Thrive, at the New York Law School Tuesday.
Over 1,700 nonprofit workers have been trained through the ‘Connections to Care’ program, according to City Hall tallies. However, ThriveNYC spokesmen were unable to say how many still work at social services organizations.
Instead, they cited a 20 percent annual turnover rate at nonprofits nationally.
“There’s really high turnover in social services staff at community-based organizations across the city. It’s very costly, it’s a problem,” said Sinead Keegan, director of the Social Innovation Fund at the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity.
The disclosure comes a year after the feds yanked $4 million from the $10 million they promised the program.
A combination of city and private funds filled in the gap, said ThriveNYC spokesman Joshua Goodman.
“What doesn’t Thrive NYC understand about addressing serious mental illness first?” said Queens City Council Member Robert Holden. “That needs to be the top priority rather than spending even more on training and outreach programs.”
He added: If most people taking this training are leaving their jobs and possibly not even using what they learned, then it is just another colossal waste of taxpayer money by ThriveNYC,” Holden added.
It’s not the only ThriveNYC initiative suffering from high turnover.
It’s Mental Health Services Corps — which accounts for nearly 20 percent of Thrive’s $250 million annual budget — lost 63 percent of its first 125 placements to turnover, The City reported in March.
Just 190 people showed up for McCray’s annual Cities Thrive conference, far fewer than the 224 who signed up.
McCray herself seemed to tire of the event. She skipped out on her plans to deliver closing remarks when just 40 people convened Tuesday afternoon for the last session of the two-day conference.