CCC’s New York City Fiscal Year 2017 Preliminary Budget Summary

Published January, 2016

The Preliminary Budget funds a number of previously announced important initiatives for children and families, related to education, behavioral health and addressing homelessness. For example, the Preliminary Budget includes $16.4 million for literacy consultants, $20.8 million for “Algebra for All,”
$6.2 million for mental health services for 100 high need high schools, and $4.9 million for 100 new beds for runaway and homeless youth.

Unfortunately, the Preliminary Budget fails to include funding for a number of critical programs and initiatives that are important to addressing income inequality and ensuring the well-being of New York City’s children and youth, all of which we hope to see in the Executive Budget. Some examples of critical items not funded in the Preliminary Budget include: funding to expand universal free lunch to elementary and high school students; funding to expand child welfare preventive services; funding to better meet the needs of youth in foster care; funding to increase the rates for Beacon and Cornerstone community centers; funding to expand the capacity of the child care system to serve more infants and toddlers; and funding to expand after-school programs for elementary and high school students.

In addition, Mayor de Blasio is once again planning to eliminate summer programs for 34,000 middle school students.In the budget address, the Mayor said, “There are some things that we chose not to continue. We talked last year about the summer after-school program, that’s something we thought was a good thing but was not necessarily a priority we could devote to. So that’s not in here.”

A detailed summary of the Preliminary Budget proposals, as well as CCC’s priorities for the Executive Budget, can be found in the full summary.

For more information about the New York City Budget process, you may also read our one-page guide, New York City Budget 101.