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Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg's upbeat presentation highlighting his plans to restore funding for 15,000 child care slots, human service advocates have identified many serious concerns with the Executive Budget proposal for FY2011-12. In fact, advocates are already raising questions over the extent to which the Mayor is restoring child care service capacity, or simply shuffling declining resources from one group of needy New Yorkers to another. And, providers are highlighting what they see as an extensive series of budget cuts in a wide range of other human service programs.
“While there were only a few additional cuts proposed to human services in the Mayor’s FY12 Executive Budget today, the total budget still proposes to cut about $500 million in essential human services,” said the Human Services Council of New York (HSC) in an email to members. “The cuts initiated in the Preliminary Budget and the loss of FY11 City Council funding, which is not baselined, still stand.”
“Mayor Bloomberg has many priorities to juggle as he balances the budget in a slowly recovering economy,” said Nancy Wackstein, Executive Director of United Neighborhood Houses (UNH). “ But just as the libraries, parks, schools and subways contribute to the quality of life in this great City, so do essential services such as child care and after school programs; English classes and adult education for immigrants; and senior centers and meals on wheels for older adults . While the Mayor has listened to some of the concerns expressed by UNH and our members, I am disappointed that the budget released today fails to fully recognize the critical contributions that human services make to communities and the very fabric of urban life. Without adequate funding for these services, parents cannot hold on to their jobs, teenagers cannot get ready for college and seniors cannot stay in their homes.”
“Although the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies is pleased to learn that the Mayor has included $25 million in his Executive Budget for subsidized child care for pre-school age children and baselined funding for 2,900 child welfare preventive services slots, we are deeply disappointed that much needed funding which supports youth aging out of foster care, seniors, persons living with HIV/AIDS and runaway and homeless youth is being slashed,” said Fatima Goldman, Executive Director / CEO.
Child Care
In response to Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement that his Executive Budget will include $40 million to avoid some of the drastic cuts proposed to child care services, the Emergency Coalition to Save Child Care called on the Mayor and City Council to find the money to fully save child care. The group described the details of the Mayor’s proposal as “murky” and noted that the Mayor only restored $40 million of the original $91 million cut to child care. In addition, in the revised budget, hundreds of early childhood classrooms remain at risk, family providers will still lose slots, and 9 day care programs remain slated to close.
“We are encouraged by the fact that the Mayor recognizes the importance of child care, but this budget still means that children around the city will be deprived of care, parents will be forced to choose between child care and going to work, and child care teachers and providers will lose their jobs,” said The Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson, Executive Director of the Children’s Defense Fund – New York. “The City Council and the Mayor must ensure that no child loses child care and that we maintain critical early childhood capacity in our most under-resourced communities.”
"While it is a step in the right direction, it is unclear if what the Administration has put on the table is really an appropriate solution to the significant reduction of funding to the child care system," said Council Member Annabel Palma, Chair of the General Welfare Committee. "More conversations and details are needed since it is unclear how services can remain intact for all 16,500 children with $40 million instead of $91 million; it is also unclear what the impact will be on existing out-of-school programs, providers, child care centers and classrooms."
“The Mayor has taken an important first step towards both recognizing the importance of early childhood education and restoring funding for our child care system,” said Jennifer March-Joly, Executive Director of Citizens' Committee for Children. “But unfortunately significant capacity will still be lost and, in the final budget, the Mayor and City Council must ensure that child care centers and family day care providers remain fully funded and that capacity remains in place for future generations of children.”
Youth Programs
Advocates also reacted strongly to proposed cuts to after-school and other youth development programs.
“At the same time that the Mayor proposes to add $15 million to Out of School Time (OST) programs to serve the 10,500 school aged children losing their child care subsidies, the Executive Budget identifies a reduction of $24.7 million for OST, which would cut OST programs for 18,000 young people,” said UNH’s Nancy Wackstein.
“These cuts will have a profound impact on the lives of low-income children and their families,” said Richard Buery, President and CEO of the Children’s Aid Society. “It is unconscionable that thousands of underprivileged children are losing their after-school programs when vulnerable families are struggling. We implore the Mayor and the City Council to find a solution that benefits poor New Yorkers instead of disproportionately burdening them.”
“Budgets ought not to be balanced on the backs of children. Doing that is short sighted,” said Council Member Lew Fidler, Chairperson of the Youth Services Committee. “The cuts to OST are draconian and will affect over 16,000 kids. We have to make better choices.”
"Out-of-school time programs return great value. Kids get more learning time and developmental support, parents can keep their jobs knowing their kids are safe, and programs employ young adults who face a tight job market,” said Lucy Friedman, President of TASC. “The human costs of trimming these programs are not worth the relatively small savings to the city budget."
Robin Bernstein, CEO of The Educational Alliance, said, “The Educational Alliance community is distressed about proposals to dramatically reduce after-school programs. In our neighborhoods in Downtown Manhattan, low-income families depend dearly on these programs and eliminating them will surely bring results that none of us desire – higher rates of unemployment, high school dropouts, gang activity, and use of drugs and alcohol. These are costs we can't afford financially, and the losses in human terms will be incalculable.”
“Cutting after-school and youth programs on the scale of what is being proposed right now is the wrong way to close a budget gap. Parents depend on after-school to be able to work and they are already struggling to make ends meet in these tough times,” said Michelle Yanche, Director of Public Policy at Good Shepherd Services.
“We believe that Mayor Bloomberg has developed an innovative and successful model of delivering after-school care to New York City's children that provides security, educational enrichment, and recreation,” said Ronald Soloway, Managing Director of Government Relations and External Affairs at the UJA-Federation. “Given the proven benefits of this program UJA-Federation urges the Mayor and City Council to maximize the OST resources available to the youth of our City.”
The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is also taking a hit. “New York City’s summer jobs program has funding for only 24,000 jobs this summer, which is 12,000 fewer than last summer,” said Wackstein. “Over 143,000 young people applied for a job last summer.”
Senior Services
Services for older adults are also on the chopping block, say advocates. The Mayor’s FY12 proposed executive budget includes about $38 million in cuts to services funded through the Department for the Aging (DFTA), according to the Council of Senior Centers and Services (CSCS). Funding reductions include a 30% cut, $6.6 million, to case management which is social workers going into the homes of frail, home-bound elders, $20 million in cuts to senior centers including the closing of 17 senior centers which were restored this year by the City Council. Also cut is a subsidy for senior meals and elder abuse funds
“Seniors have fought hard to save the damaging cut to case management for home-bound elders, the terrifying possibility of the state closing 105 senior centers, the unfathomable elimination of all elder abuse funds and other cuts,” said Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy at CSCS. “Each year, they must take part in the budget dance. While we all appreciate that some funding is restored, seniors find themselves dancing in quicksand as millions of dollars are lost and services disappear just as the age revolution is upon us. We urge New Yorkers to call Mayor Bloomberg at 311 and urge him to not cut the elderly. The Department for the Aging has taken enough cuts.”
“A thirty percent reduction of funding for senior case management would mean the loss of lifelines for isolated, homebound elderly in some neighborhoods. Case managers have saved seniors’ lives when they have faced physical, financial and emotional abuse and neglect,” said Kathleen Fitzgibbons, Senior Policy Analyst for Elderly Welfare and Youth Services. “
Adult Literacy & Immigrant Services
“Funding for Adult literacy, English classes for immigrants, and immigrant legal services is reduced by $10 million despite continued high demand for these services,” says Wackstein.
"New York City is at a crossroads. In such dire economic times, immigrant children and families suffer disproportionately," said Wayne Ho, Executive Director of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families. “We would like to thank Mayor Bloomberg for his leadership in baselining funding for 2,900 preventive slots in his Executive Budget, helping to keep children safe and families together. However, proposed budget cuts in vital services for children and families will continue to marginalize vulnerable communities, especially Asian Pacific Americans… We urge the Mayor and City Council to work together to restore these budget priorities for New York City's fastest growing community and to identify progressive revenue options to prevent the elimination of these essential services."
HIV/AIDS
“It is unfortunate that the Mayor, once again, fails to recognize that the HIV epidemic has disproportionately impacted low-income communities of color in NYC,” said Esther Lok, Assistant Director of Policy, Advocacy and Research and Senior Policy Analyst for HIV and AIDS. “Elimination of funding for anti-stigma, case management and HIV nutrition programs will pull NYC backwards in its fight against HIV/AIDS."
“Before I moved into supportive housing, I was sleeping on park benches and not taking my HIV medication," said Wayne Starks, a Board member and leader in VOCAL-NY. "Short-sighted cuts to supportive housing for HIV-positive New Yorkers will cost more in the long-run and push more people into emergency rooms, hospital beds and shelters. People living with HIV/AIDS didn't crash the economy, Wall Street did - why are we being punished for their crimes?"
The good news for the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (ASA), say advocates, is that approximately $8.5 million was restored for City HASA caseworkers as a result of legal action brought by Housing Works and others; The bad news, a proposed cut for supportive housing case management remains, which would affect nearly 4,500 formerly homeless people living with HIV/AIDS with co-occurring mental health and substance use issues.
NYNP will attempt to provide additional detail on these issues and as well as assessments of the Executive Budget's potential impact on other human service programs in future NYNP E-Newsletters. If you have issues or concerns you would like us to cover, email
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