Spotlight Story: "W's ax offers little hope to lift city's poor"

Richard Motta, president and CEO of Volunteers of America-Greater New York, spells out some of the devastation President's Bush proposed budget would cause in a Daily News op-ed:

Under the President's proposed budget, New Yorkers will lose $207 million in community block grants - money earmarked for literacy and senior programs and desperately needed funding for child care for needy families. The budget also would slash some $31 million in after-school programs for city kids and English classes for immigrants.

Worse, this follows a $50 million reduction in federal housing aid that will soon send more than 6,000 of New York's poorest tenants scrambling for a place to live.

While advocates, the labor movement and others focus attention on the Social Security fight, the Bush administration is moving forward with a despicable program of cuts to important parts of the safety net. Motta is dead-on in his effort to shine a light on the impact of these efforts.