As word spread of a tentative budget deal between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council Tuesday, Jewish groups that help the needy were optimistic that more aid would be available.
“Speaker [Christine] Quinn and many of her Council colleagues have been supportive of our Jewish community Council network and our crisis intervention, food pantry, frail elderly and kids at risk programs,” said William Rapfogel of Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. “The mayor has been working closely with Met Council on innovative housing and employment programs. So we are particularly optimistic.”
The City Council’s finance chairman, David Weprin of Queens, said an additional $700,000 was in the budget agreement to aid Holocaust survivors and that funds to provide daily meals to the elderly had been increased.
Rapfogel said he would not know until later in the week, when Council members divide up the amount of funds to be spent in their districts, how organizations and community groups in the Met Council network will be affected.
