Brooklyn Catholic Charities unit is losing millions, looks to transfer clients

According to a Crain's New York Business story, the Brooklyn diocese's Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services, a unit of the diocese's Catholic Charities that serves the developmentally disabled population, has lost $13 million since 2010. This deficit places the entire Catholic Charities organization at financial risk, according to the not-for-profit's chief financial officer. The deficits are due to a change in state funding for such programs.

From the Crain's story:

A New York City nonprofit serving one of the city's most vulnerable populations said its programs for the developmentally disabled have lost the agency $13 million since 2010.

Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services, a division of the larger $200 million Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens social services organization, has sold assets, liquidated investments and exhausted credit lines to keep the program running. It's now looking for other agencies to take over 24 of its residences and day programs by August.

Ultimately, funding from the state Office of People with Developmental Disabilities was inadequate to run those services, said Alan Wolinetz, chief financial officer at Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens.

"The fear is going forward, if we let the process continue, it will affect the rest of the agency," a spokesman for the nonprofit said. "We're trying to deal with the problem upfront because we don't want it to affect the rest of our" initiatives.