And its advocacy agenda of enhancing the

environment for social enterprise 

As a new Board member of the Social Enterprise Alliance (SEA) Long Island Chapter, I'd like to share the mission and goals of this sustainability- and social-responsibility-geared organization.  Starting with the basics, a social enterprise is an organization or venture that achieves its primary social or environmental mission using business methods. The social needs addressed by social enterprises and the business models they use are as diverse as human ingenuity.  Social enterprises build a more just, sustainable world by applying market-based strategies to today's social problems.  
                
There are two distinct characteristics that differentiate social enterprises from other types of businesses, nonprofits and government agencies: Social enterprises directly address social needs through their products and services or through the numbers of disadvantaged people they employ.  This distinguishes them from "socially responsible businesses," which create positive social change indirectly through the practice of corporate social responsibility (e.g., creating and implementing a philanthropic foundation; paying equitable wages to their employees; using environmentally friendly raw materials; providing volunteers to help with community projects).  They are powerful vehicles for job creation, economic growth and increased opportunity for people facing barriers, including those in low-to-moderate income families and communities. (www.se-alliance.org)

Social enterprises use earned revenue strategies to pursue a double or triple bottom line, either alone (as a social sector business, in either the private or the nonprofit sector) or as a significant part of a nonprofit's mixed revenue stream that also includes charitable contributions and public sector subsidies.  This distinguishes them from traditional nonprofits, which rely primarily on philanthropic and government support.

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Landlords routinely collect a security deposit from tenants at the commencement of a lease term with the deposit generally to be used to ensure the tenant's compliance with its lease obligations.  These obligations typically include the payment of rent or additional rent and payment for any damage to the leased premises caused by the tenant.  While Courts will look to the lease to determine the nature of a deposit (i.e. whether the deposit is security, liquidated damages or a penalty) and the right to the deposit, the parties to the lease sometime overlook the General bligations Law provisions relating to security deposits.  The failure to comply with the General Obligations Law can prove costly.  Indeed, as demonstrated by the following case, the failure to comply with GOL §7-103 can have harsh results.
                    
In relevant part, GOL §7-103 (1) provides:                
                                                         

Whenever money shall be deposited or advanced on a contract or license agreement for the use or rental of real property as security for performance of the contract or agreement or to be applied to payments upon such contract or agreement when due, such money . . . shall be held in trust by the person with whom such deposit or advance shall be made and shall not be mingled with the personal moneys or become an asset of the person  receiving the same . . (Emphasis supplied)

   
 GOL §7-103 (2) provides, in relevant part:

Whenever the person receiving money so deposited or advanced shall deposit such money in a banking organization, such person shall thereupon notify in writing each of the persons making such security deposit or advance, giving the name and address of the banking organization in which the deposit of security money is made, and the amount of such deposit.

                  
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"Special needs children" are those who need extra assistance.  They may be disabled, have learning issues, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, ADD, autism, muscular dystrophy, depression, obsessive compulsive behavior, closed head injury, spinal cord injury, or any one of a host of other physical or mental challenges.  Sometimes those problems are severe, other times children function normally only at a lower level.  Special needs children usually need more emotional support, have higher expenses and need additional financial resources for a longer period of time.  It is possible (if not probable) that a special needs child will require assistance throughout his or her adult life.
                
When a special needs child loses his or her parents (whether that special needs child is 8 years old or 50 years old), he loses his prime support network.  It is important to understand the devastation of that loss and to try to put a support system in place -- just in case -- to cushion the blow.  Issues change with age, but in general parents must think through who will monitor that child's welfare, help him apply for and continue to receive benefits, help him decide whether to continue working, how to get around, and fulfill supplemental needs like vacations or travel.  Special care must be given to who the guardian, trustee and advocate will be, and it is especially important in this case to line up successors.
                  
Many special needs children and adults pay for food, shelter and some medical costs with money from governmental programs funded by the Social Security Administration and Medicaid and some state sponsored programs.  Even if a child is covered under a private health insurance plan, that may not be enough.  Medicare and private insurance do not cover residential care or most medication expenses.
Medicaid does cover those expenses and for most special needs children.      

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