CCC Testimony: City Council Public Hearing on Fiscal Year 2015 Executive Budget Proposals

Published June, 2014

CCC testified about the impact the Fiscal Year 2015 Executive Budget would have on children and families at the City Council Finance Committee Public Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2015 Executive Budget, on June 6, 2014.

CCC’s testimony supported many Executive Budget Proposals including expanding pre-kindergarten to all 4-year olds, expanding after-school programs to all middle school students, creating a new rental subsidy program for homeless families, expanding homeless prevention services, creating a new Center for Health Equity to address health disparities, and adding child protective staff to the Administration for Children’s Services.

While CCC’s testimony applauds the administration for taking critical steps to improve the well-being of New York City’s children, the testimony includes additional recommendations to make the City and even better place for children.

CCC urged the City Council and the Administration to adopt a budget that also includes the following:

• Add $12 million to increase the salary of lead teachers for 3-year olds to the same salary as lead teachers for 4-year olds.
• Restore $17.6 million for OST summer programming for 22,000 elementary school students.
• Add $4.38 million to save 2 immunization clinics (in Crotona and Tremont) slated for closure due to federal cuts.
• Add $20 million to implement universal school lunch.
• Restore $335,000 to enable families to continue to use EBT machines (Food Stamps/SNAP) in farmers’ markets.
• Add $14.2 million to expand the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) by 10,000 slots, as part of a 5 year plan to reach 100,000 youth total.
• Review the safety conditions of all DHS family shelters (Tier 2 and cluster sites) and add funding to address safety concerns.