June 9, 2014

CCC’s City Budget Advocacy in Full Swing!

It is June in the City, which means that CCC staff and volunteers are focusing on City Budget Advocacy. In fact, you will find us down on the City Hall steps every day (starting today) until the budget is passed.

The Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2015 was released by Mayor de Blasio on May 8, 2014, and includes many proposals that would make New York City a better place to be a child. Examples include the full-day UPK expansion, the middle-school after-school expansion, adding 100 shelter beds for runaway and homeless youth, and creating a new Center on Health Equity to address health disparities. CCC has summarized the Executive Budget proposals we are supporting, which impact children and families.

While there is much in the proposed budget to support, CCC has additional priorities that we hope to also see in the Adopted Budget. These include salary parity for early childhood education staff, universal school lunch, a review of all homeless shelters to address safety concerns for children, and restoring funds for 22,000 summer elementary school after-school/OST programs and food stamps at farmers’ markets.

CCC testified about our FY 2015 budget priorities at the City Council public hearing on the budget. While public testimony began at 3:30 and CCC didn’t testify until 7:30, we were so grateful that so many Council Members stayed to listen to the public speak about the Budget. (Shout out to Council Members Ferreras, Gibson, Lander, Chin, Johnson and Arroyo!)

As Council Member Ferreras reiterated throughout the hearing, City Hall is the “people’s house” and it is important for the general public to have input into the budget process. CCC agrees and feels that our citizen volunteers are an integral part of our budget advocacy. Over the coming weeks, CCC volunteers will be joining CCC staff at meetings with Council Members and down at the City Hall steps for vigil and rallies.

Want to be a CCC volunteer next year? Sign up to take CCC’s Community Leadership Course to learn more about the programs and services that impact children and families in New York City.

You can also learn more about the City Budget process and how to be an effective advocate.

Tags
City Budget, Effective Advocacy

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