§ 482-a. Legislative findings and purpose. The legislature finds that
public policy experts and state and local agencies have been searching
for a model of service delivery that will insure programmatically
effective and cost-efficient delivery of services to inner-city families
and neighborhoods, and that the emerging consensus is that the best
models provide comprehensive, coordinated, neighborhood-based and
family-focused services. The legislature further finds that New York
state's existing network of fifty-eight settlement houses can contribute
to providing these comprehensive, coordinated, neighborhood-based and
family-focused services in a cost-effective manner, and that the
capacity of these settlement houses to provide and enhance these
services can be increased if the settlement houses are provided with
additional resources to implement greater neighborhood outreach, to
direct individuals and family members to appropriate settlement and
community-based resources, to monitor the progress of these individuals,
and to plan and coordinate intra-agency and community services so that
community residents have easy access to a range of services that respond
to the varied and often multiple needs of individuals and families.

It is the intent of the legislature to increase the funds available to
settlement houses for the purpose of providing a comprehensive range of
services to the residents of the neighborhoods they serve, and that
funds provided pursuant to this article will be complemented by
privately-raised contributions to the settlement-houses for the program
services funded pursuant to this article. The legislature does not
intend that these funds be used as a substitute for any funds currently
available from federal, state or local sources for the provision of
neighborhood-based service delivery programs provided by settlement
houses.