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After their victory in November, the Patrick/Murray gubernatorial campaign formed a transition team and held a series of community events throughout the Mommonwealth. On December 13, STEPPS attended the meeting in Framingham and presented this testimony.
Good evening. Unlike some previous speakers who promised to be brief, I actually will be.
I have mixed feelings about social service delivery in Massachusetts. As a lifelong Democrat, I fully support programs for the poor and disadvantaged, and fully support anti-discrimination laws. However, as a ten-year resident of Framingham, I am dismayed as loopholes in the law and lax oversight have led to major abuses of towns like Framingham. Our town's PILOT Study Committee report, which I will provide to you, details how the sharp growth in social services in Framingham -- almost alone among MetroWest towns -- has harmed the Town.
I would like to recommend action on the following:
1. The current method of picking “hub” cities and forcing them to host the lion's share of social services is unfair to both citizens and to service recipients, and is contrary to the democratic ideals of America and the Democratic Party. All towns should share an equal burden of hostong social service facilities.
2. The current method of requiring social service companies to provide “one stop shopping” with either services of their own or linkage agreements has led to the “Wal-Mart” effect with smaller companies being swallowed up by big ones, decreased competition (to the point where many RFRs only have one bid), efficiency at the sake of quality, and profit motive among nonprofits (witness the growing salaries of CEOs compared to the shrinking salaries of usually non-union workers). The state should give preference to smaller, more neighborhood friendly service providers.
The state must act to curb the abuses of the private social service industry and must take steps to ensure that towns like Framingham are not forced to shoulder a greater responsibility for social service delivery than other towns in the region.
Thank you very much for this opportunity to speak.
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