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New York State

Do You Work for a Social Service Department in New York?

We are expanding our coverage and want to hear from you.

New York Focus   ·   February 14, 2025
A photo collage depicting a sign for social services and the Capitol building in Albany
New York Focus wants to hear from social service workers across New York state to better inform our expanding coverage. | Illustration: Photo by Kelly Marsh, Flickr: Kumar Appaiah.

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Do you work for a social service department in New York? New York Focus wants to hear from you.

We are expanding our coverage of county social service departments across the state. We know that these offices provide critical assistance to the New Yorkers who need it most — and also that the work is deeply challenging and at times hindered by bureaucratic and political obstacles.

We’re interested in how staffing, funding, technology, policy decisions and other issues are impacting your day-to-day as a social services worker. What’s working at your department, and what could be better? What changes would you like to see your county or the state implement? How do changes in Albany and Washington impact your ability to do your job?

Our new reporter, Jie Jenny Zou, is dedicated exclusively to this beat. Send Jenny your confidential feedback, tips and suggestions — or just say hi. Reach her at jenny@nysfocus.com or securely via Signal at jzou.11.

At New York Focus, our central mission is to help readers better understand how New York really works. If you think this article succeeded, please consider supporting our mission and making more stories like this one possible.

New York is an incongruous state. We’re home to fabulous wealth — if the state were a country, it would have the tenth largest economy in the world — but also the highest rate of wealth inequality. We’re among the most diverse – but also the most segregated. We passed the nation’s most ambitious climate law — but haven’t been meeting its deadlines and continue to subsidize industries hastening the climate crisis.

As New York’s only statewide nonprofit news publication, our journalism exists to help you make sense of these contradictions. Our work scrutinizes how power works in the state, unpacks who’s really calling the shots, and reveals how obscure decisions shape ordinary New Yorkers’ lives.

In the last two decades, the number of local news outlets in New York has been nearly slashed in half, allowing elected officials and powerful individuals to increasingly operate in the dark — with the average New Yorker none the wiser.

We’re on a mission to change that. Our work has already shown what can happen when those with power know that someone is watching, with stories that have prompted policy changes and spurred legislation. We have ambitious plans for the rest of the year and beyond, including tackling new beats and more hard-hitting stories — but we need your help to make them a reality.

If you’re able, please consider supporting our journalism with a one-time gift or a monthly gift. We can't do this work without you.

Thank you,

Akash Mehta
Editor-in-Chief
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