Campaign for Children Statement on the City’s COVID-19 Response
NEW YORK – April 9, 2020 – In response to the public health crisis and the announced cancellation of summer programs and other planned budget reductions, the Campaign for Children made the following statement:
“The Campaign for Children is a coalition of over 150 members including advocacy organizations, non-profit umbrellas, and direct service providers serving children and families across this city. Since our founding our focus has been unwavering in our effort to protect and expand access to high quality affordable early education, afterschool, and summer programming to New York’s children and families. These services offer critical support for children’s social-emotional growth, academic achievement and overall wellbeing. For nearly a decade now the Campaign has successfully engaged in advocacy and has worked in partnership with the Mayor, the City administration, and the City council, to protect and expand these services.
During the current crisis, this partnership is ever more critical. There is no mistake that COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the health, economic stability, and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, and is having a disproportionate and devastating impact on low-income communities, people of color and immigrants. We are deeply concerned about the City’s capacity to respond to the immediate and future needs of children and families. Out of this concern, we stand ready to ensure that the communities we work within and children and families we advocate on behalf of, do not simply survive this crisis but recover, rebuild and receive the necessary investments they will need. Throughout the development and execution of a recovery effort we believe the Campaign for Children is uniquely positioned to be both a voice to those in power and an ear to the ground. We are intimately aware of the needs of our communities and our families; as advocates we must be at the table.
To that end, we believe that any City response and recovery plan must address the following issues:
- Getting parents back to work
- Supporting children and youth
- Addressing Learning Loss
- Preventing Homelessness
- Combatting Hunger
- Addressing Trauma
We look forward to working with the Mayor, City Council, private industry, state elected leaders, and the New York federal delegation to ensure our children, families, and communities will thrive again.”###
