“Invest in us; we’ll rise to the top. Give us a little, we’ll grow a lot!” This was the rally cry of the 700 children and after-school advocates that attended the March 28th rally outside City Hall to save child care and after-school programs. Dozens of after-school programs citywide, including Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center on East 93rd Street, brought representatives to the rally to protest the extreme proposed budget cuts. Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed fiscal plan in 2014 would cut $130 million from after-school programs and leave 47,000 children without a place to go after the school day.

“I think what we want to look at is how kids are staying in school and how our and how these programs build the skills of our youth,” said Cathleen Fitzgibbons, of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, one of the sponsors of the rally, along with the Campaign for Children. “These programs are critical for their overall development, and for shaping them as they’re going through middle school and high school.”

The rally was packed with hundreds of advocates, who brought signs and posters pronouncing their love for the after-school programs: “Help Keep After School Alive!” and “Do Not Close Child Care!” Matt Phifer, Director of Educational Services from the Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side, led the rally as MC. He brought to the stage numerous council members like District 6’s Gale Brewer, as well as District 8’s Melissa Mark-Viverito, who both touted the educational importance of these programs. Gale Brewer explained that every year for the past 12 years, the mayoral office has done this “budget dance” where they cut programs they know the City Council can restore.

“The uncertainty is still scary,” said Council Member Brewer.

Children from the after-school programs showed off their extracurricular skills on stage – from double-dutch, to singers and traditional drummers, making for quite an exuberant scene. As for the kids in the crowd, many of the younger students said that they loved playing sports like dodgeball and rugby in their after-school programs. But the older teenagers conceded that the programs keep them off the streets and out of trouble.

“Visibility was great. It was a perfect storm of different concerned parties,” said Phifer. “Hopefully we will be able to make some change.”

Mayor Bloomberg has not yet responded to the pleas of families impacted by these budget proposals. “We’re working with the City Council to deliver an on-time, balanced budget that keeps the city’s fiscal house in order, while also protecting vital services,” said City Hall spokeswoman Lauren Passelacqua.

The budget right now has not included any of the City Council’s one-year funds, which would cause hundreds of programs to have to shut their doors completely. In addition the $10 million proposed cut would slash after-school slots by 75 percent.

This struggle is not new – just last year, similar budget cuts were proposed. But after several rallies last year, many of the funds were actually restored for one more year, according to Phifer.

Emma Woods, a representative from the Campaign for Children, an organization that was started last year in response to the budget difficulties and one of the rally’s sponsors, said that the Mayor should just baseline the money for these programs in his budget, so that this fight would not have to happen year after year.

“In the long term, the goal would be to no longer put these programs on the chopping block,” said Woods. “As the number of kids served goes down, poverty increases.”

And there are other measurable benefits too. A Wallace Foundation Evaluation of Out of School Time Programs in 2006 found that 56 percent of program participants felt that the programs really got them interested and involved in activities outside school. Plus 69 percent of participating students said that they made more friends in the program. Besides social skills, most of the students surveyed felt that their schoolwork improved.

So what would happen to those benefits if budgets were slashed? For Stanley Isaacs Center, the Upper East Side organization at the rally, budget cuts would be devastating. They have four after school programs, and would basically have to chop one completely (P.S. 112), if the budget proposal passed. At P.S. 112, right now, they can only serve 80 kids, with a waitlist of dozens of students who want to participate in the program, said Jeanine Glazewski, the Director of Development at Stanley Isaacs, which oversees a low-income area. She also said that these programs decrease delinquency. One of their board members is Marianne Hedges, the woman who was hit in the head with a shopping cart thrown from the roof of a building over the summer.

“These are just kids with nothing better to do we after school,” said Glazewski. “We would much rather have them doing homework, arts and sports.”

Plus, she said, the after school programs allows parents to go to jobs or do job training/searches. Many of these parents, she said, cannot afford caretakers. So, if there were no after school programs, the parents would have to quit their jobs in order to provide an environment for their children.

“Parents feel strongly about this, but it becomes more and more difficult,” said Glazewski.”People think ‘oh this again? Didn’t we fight this last year?’ When you have to go and argue for something that is creating longterm benefits of the city, you know there’s a problem.”

Yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council passed a $68.5 billion budget for 2013, which will help to save some children’s programs and 20 fire companies, the Huffington Post reports.

“Working with our partners in the Council, we’ve again produced an on-time, balanced budget for our city that doesn’t raise taxes on New Yorkers, and that preservers the essential services that keep our city strong,” Mayor Bloomberg said regarding the budget.

“These actions… have allowed us avoid the severe service cuts that many other cities are facing.”

Mayor Bloomberg - photo by Flickr commons

According to Bloomberg’s press release, the budget increase will allow the city to add about 1,000 teachers to the school system and will add about $150 million to after-school programs.

Public Advocate for New York City Bill De Blasio agrees.

“We are immensely relieved that working families will not face the worst cuts to child care and after school programs in memory. This is a hard-earned victory for the thousands of parents and advocates who stared down the Mayor’s attempt to dismantle the system so many kids rely upon,” De Blasio said.

The Huffington Post says saving the fire companies will cost roughly $59 million.

In his address, Bloomberg did not identify what exactly was cut to make room for the spared programs.

Other topics addressed in the budget were cultural institutions and taxi medallions.

Funding for cultural institutions will be increase by roughly $50 million, slightly more than in 2012, with the city citing the institutions’ effect on tourism as a large reason.

The city also expects to see $635 million in taxi medallion revenue in 2013.

“We face a significant challenge again next year, but given the effective and fiscally responsible partnership we’ve had with the Council – and the leadership we know we can rely on from Speaker Christine Quinn – I’m confident we’ll meet any challenges that arise,” Mayor Bloomberg added.

–Nick Gallinelli

Chin Says Cuts to After-School and Daycare Programs Remain

Councilwoman Margaret Chin

In response to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s executive budget, Council Member Margaret Chin noted that while the mayor has committed to fund 2,600 teaching positions, the budget still includes cuts to daycare, after-school programs and other services in the Lower East Side and Chinatown.

“The mayor’s budget once again takes aim at working families and minority neighborhoods in New York City,” Chin said in a statement. “These are programs that New Yorkers rely on in order to hold down a job, make a living and support their families. In Chinatown and the Lower East Side, we stand to lose 70 percent of our elementary and middle after-school programs.”

Chin said these cuts prove the programs “are not a priority for this administration. Instead, the City Council will be called on to restore these programs to what are already significantly reduced levels. Since 2009, we have lost 61 percent of our daycare and after-school programs. As a city, we should be focused on expanding after-school and daycare and making high-quality programs available for all our public school students,” Chin continued.

Citywide

Stringer Calls for MTA to create Temporary Reduced-Fare Cards for Seniors and Disabled People

This week Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer demanded that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reform its process for replacing lost or stolen reduced-fare MetroCards for seniors and disabled people, calling the current system “a ridiculous, time-consuming maze that burdens the very people we’re supposed to be helping and makes it harder for them to get around our City.”

The borough president said that reduced-fare MetroCard holders face formidable obstacles if their cards are lost or stolen. When they call MTA to request a replacement, Stringer noted, the wait for a new card can frequently take up to three months.

In the meantime, those who want to ride a bus at reduced fare must present evidence of their age to bus drivers and come up with exact change of $1.10. To ride the subway, they first have to find a station agent. Next, seniors or disabled get a one-trip MetroCard and a paper voucher that’s about as useful as an old token. It only works if they can find another subway station agent to take the voucher on their return trip.

“All of this takes an emotional and financial toll on New Yorkers, who have a right to expect better service,” Stringer wrote in a letter to Joseph J. Lhota, the MTA’s chairman and executive officer.

In his letter to the MTA, Stringer suggested that there is a simple solution to this problem: provide temporary MetroCards to seniors and disabled riders whose reduced-fare cards have been lost or stolen.

Stringer said the MTA already gives out such replacements when reduced-fare cards are defective, adding: “It’s a smart, sensible solution. These temporary cards last for three months under the current system, which is plenty of time for a new reduced-fare card to be issued. We’d be extending the same courtesy, the same seamless service to seniors or disabled whose cards are lost or stolen. No waiting for station agents. No digging for identification or the exact change every time you want to get on a bus.”

In a letter penned last week to School Chancellor Dennis Walcott, New York State Assembly Speaker urged the Department of Education (DOE) to abate school overcrowding in Lower Manhattan by opening a new pre-kindergarten center in the area. Silver pointed out that while the community has helped build several new schools over the past few years, there is still a kindergarten waitlist nearing 100 students for the Spruce Street School, P.S. 276, P.S. 89 and the Peck Slip School. “This is the most serious overcrowding problem we have ever had in this neighborhood, and it is taking place when we have even more kindergarten classes than originally planned in these four schools,” wrote Silver.

Silver pointed out that a new pre-kindergarten center would free up seat in the zoned schools in the neighborhood for incoming kindergartners, a measure that has been advocated by Silver’s School Overcrowding Task Force and Community Board 1.

“As I expressed to DOE officials at my last School Overcrowding meeting, it is important that the DOE present a plan for creating one of these centers in time for the coming academic year, consider adding an extra kindergarten class to the Peck Slip School, or come up with another option for adding seats in September,” Silver continued. “While implementing these plans would help cut down on our waiting lists, these are not long-term solutions. Our overcrowding problem is getting worse. We need more elementary school seats in Lower Manhattan and we need to begin planning for them now. It takes years to bring a new school on line and we simply don’t have the luxury of waiting. Members of my task force are already searching for possible locations for new schools and I hope the DOE and the School Construction Authority will do the same.”