Campaign for Children Statement on the FY21 Executive Budget
For Immediate Release: April 16, 2020
Following the release of Mayor de Blasio’s FY21 Executive Budget, the Campaign for Children released the following statement:
“The Campaign for Children appreciates that the Mayor and his administration have crafted a budget to address the unprecedented crisis the city is facing, by investing in crucial hunger, health and human services that will see us through this pandemic. In the face of an austere budget, the City’s child care system was also left largely whole, with the exception of the slowing down of 3K expansion.
However, we are concerned that in response to the economic impact of COVID-19, the executive budget puts forward deep reductions in youth services and budget cuts that will make the road to recovery as a community that much harder.
The budget proposes to cancel all summer programming for youth, programs the Campaign has long fought to restore and expand. The Summer Youth Employment Program, summer COMPASS and SONYC programs, and summer programs run through Beacons and Cornerstones, are all eliminated in the FY21 executive budget. With schools closed through the rest of the school year and social distancing guidelines unclear for the foreseeable future, it is hard to envision these crucial programs operating as we know them. However, we do know that youth will require some form of engagement this summer. The programs may not be able to have the same structure and scale as they have in the past, but their social, academic and economic benefits will be needed more than ever in light of our current crisis.
To recoup learning losses from the City’s move to remote schooling, to aid parents looking to return to work, and to address the profound trauma experienced during this difficult time, the City will need to invest in children. Youth services not only enhance the social and emotional well-being of our children, but they are necessary to achieving some sense of normalcy when we emerge from the pandemic. These programs will be vital to the well-being of families and to our larger economic recovery.
We hope that the Mayor, City officials, and the City Council will work with us as providers and advocates throughout budget negotiations in a collaborative process to develop alternatives that won’t leave hundreds of thousands of New York’s children with no options this summer. Additionally, we look forward to working with the City to leverage all available funding sources, and to engaging with state and federal elected leaders to ensure New York City’s children not only recover but thrive.”
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