They may be rumors, but they are good rumors. That is the general assessment as advocates and providers scramble to learn details of a $59.4 billion New York City budget agreement announced last night by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Human services, it seems, may have dodged a whole volley of bullets with the allocation of significant funding to continue most Council initiatives and even restore several major cuts to the Mayor's own baselined programs.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday outlined a series of new initiatives to help New York City's more than 40,000 cultural, health and social service nonprofit organizations survive the economic downturn. The Mayor's plans focused on providing the struggling nonprofit sector with assistance in three major areas:

Advocates of human services are being urged to call Senators Charles Schumer and Kirstin Gillibrand to express support for the Federal Stimulus package.