Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center Beacon Program Parents, Children, Advocates and Elected Officials Rally to Save Child Care and After-School
Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center Beacon Program Parents, Children, Advocates and Elected Officials Rally to Save Child Care and After-School
Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center Serving More Than 1,300 Will Close in July if the Mayor’s Budget Cuts are Enacted
New York, NY – With the Mayor’s preliminary budget proposing to cut more than 47,000 children from child care and after-school programs, Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center parents, children, advocates and elected officials rallied Tuesday evening to urge Mayor Bloomberg to fully fund child care and after-school in his Executive Budget and stop their beloved Beacon program from being forced to shut its doors in July.
Earlier this month, the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center Beacon Program was notified by the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) that, due to budget cuts, it would be forced to close on July 1. Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center Beacon Program serves more than 1300 people from the surrounding Yorkville andEast Harlemcommunities, and is one of seven nationally-celebrated youth programs that are the first victims of the Mayor’s cuts to child care and after-school programs.
“The celebrated Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center Beacon Program – is a critical part of the efforts of this community to provide role models and quality programming for our community,” said Wanda Wooten, Executive Director Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center, Inc. “If the Mayor’s budget cuts to child care and after-school aren’t restored and our Beacon program shuts down, our community, especially the young people we work with will be devastated.”
Instituted in 1991, NYC’s 80 Beacon programs serve communities’ needs utilizing a neighborhood-based approach. Beacons operate after school, on weekends, school holidays, and throughout the summer. Three years ago, Beacons added a more intensive focus on middle school enrollment that has been very successful for this vulnerable age group. The Beacon model is recognized nationally as a premier program for positive youth development and has been replicated in over 10 cities around the country. Beacon programs work to prevent drop-outs in high school by focusing on academic enhancement, life skills, career awareness/school-to-work transition, civic engagement/community building, recreation/health and fitness and culture/art. Each Beacon Program is mandated to serve 950 children, youth and adults but all seven slated for closing go well above those numbers with annual enrollment.
“The Beacon program at Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center provides my son opportunities I couldn’t afford to give him otherwise – help with academics, exposure to arts and music programming and other activities that help him succeed in school,” said Eddie Guzman, parent of a child participating in the Stanley Isaacs Beacon Program. “I can’t even imagine what I’d do if our Beacon closes. I won’t have a safe and educational place for my son to go.”
ABOUT THE CUTS
After years of cuts that have dramatically decreased working families’ access to children’s and youth services, the Mayor is once again proposing devastating cuts to both child care and after-school programs in his FY 2013 budget. The Mayor’s Preliminary Budget, coupled with changes from the EarlyLearn NYC and Out-of-school Time (OST) RFPs, would eliminate 15,900 child care slots and slash after-school program capacity for 31,800 children. All told, more than 47,000 children and their families will lose access to these essential programs. This is the fifth straight year that the Mayor has cut child care and after-school programs. Added to year after year of cuts, the Mayor’s latest proposal will result in 90,000 fewer children having access to these programs than in 2009 – a 61% decrease.
The Bloomberg Administration’s failure to fund these core services is a disturbing departure from its stated desire to make education reforms and economic development the Mayor’s top priorities and the foundation of his legacy. As the Mayor himself recently stated, “what happens after the final school bell of the day rings is as important to students as what goes on in the classrooms.” Both child care and after-school programs provide children with critical educational opportunities that pave the way for future success, and allow parents to maintain jobs and support their families while their children receive safe, affordable care.
The Mayor is taking notable steps to restructure the child care and after-school systems to increase the quality of the programs citywide – but is, at the same time, cutting funding significantly so that the programs will serve a fraction of the children.
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