NYC nonprofit human services workers got three 3% raises

Much of New York City’s safety net is run by nonprofits the city pays under contract: shelters, food pantries, health programs, and services for new arrivals. Their workers have long earned less than city employees doing similar jobs. In 2024 the city committed $741 million to give them a 3% cost-of-living raise each year for three years. The raises took effect July 1 of 2024, 2025, and 2026, adding up to 9.27% because each increase builds on the last.

Workers don’t apply. The money goes to eligible nonprofits through their city contracts, and the nonprofits must use it to raise pay for all budgeted personnel on those contracts. The city estimated about 80,000 workers are covered, and about two-thirds of them are women. The raises came on top of an earlier pay boost in the city’s 2024 budget.

The Human Services Council launched the #JustPay campaign in 2021 to push for raises that keep up with living costs. Mayor Eric Adams put the three-year adjustment in his proposed budget and announced it in March 2024 with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, whose Council had repeatedly pushed for nonprofit workforce pay increases. The City Council adopted the budget that June, and the final installment remained funded in the FY2027 budget.