NYC Council Calls for Restorations and Greater Funding for Runaway Homeless Youth, Childcare and Adult Literacy Services Ahead of Children and Youth Executive Budget Hearing

 

Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget fails to restore funding to key children, youth and community development programs

Ahead of the City Council’s Executive Budget hearing with the Committee on Children and Youth and the Committee on Finance, the Council called for funding restorations and deeper investments to services provided through the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). Specifically, the Council urged funding for childcare, youth development programs, services for runaway and homeless youth, adult literacy programs, the Office of Neighborhood Safety and other community development initiatives that have been left out of the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget.

The omitted budget priorities outlined by the Council were included in its Preliminary Budget Response released in April. They include:

DYCD Budget Cuts Restoration for Youth and Neighborhood Safety Programs

•   The Council has called for the mayor’s administration to restore $44.4 million in cuts to DYCD from the Mayor’s 2023 November Plan and Fiscal Year 2025 Preliminary Budget. The budget cuts include baseline reductions to some of its most utilized programs, like COMPASS that provides after-school enrichment to K-12 students and Summer Rising that provides K-8 students with enrichment opportunities in the summer months. The lack of funding also impacts programs supported by the Office of Neighborhood Safety, which advances community-driven solutions to public safety. 

Runaway and Homeless Youth Services Funding Restorations

•   As overall homelessness has increased in the city, the homeless youth shelter system has been particularly strained. The Council has called on the mayor’s administration to protect and strengthen critical services for runaway and homeless youth (RHY) by restoring cuts and expanding investments to key programs that serve the population. Specifically, the Council has identified the need to restore the $1.6 million cut to Housing Navigator positions that assist and connect homeless youth with safe housing and baseline the funding. Similarly, the $1.6 million cut to Peer Navigators that help homeless young people access services and support to achieve stability must be restored. Additionally, the Council urged an increased investment of $6.2 million to fund 100 additional shelter beds for RHY, so that young people in need of shelter are not turned away when seeking temporary housing options. The Crisis and Transitional Independent Living (TIL) Program also requires an additional $5.5 million to increase the per-bed rates of currently contracted programs to match their actual cost of operation. 

Promise NYC Childcare

•   The Council has called for $25 million in baselined funding to expand Promise NYC, which provides childcare for undocumented children and families. This would provide an extra $9 million, in addition to the $16 million allocated in the Fiscal Year 2024 adopted budget to cover 600-700 slots that was left out of the Mayor Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget. The program provides critical services for families, who are ineligible to access other childcare services because of their immigration status.

DYCD Adult Literacy Restorations

•   The Council has called for the Administration to restore and baseline the additional $10 million for adult literacy programs to recover its reductions to the programs, increase the per-student service rate, and expand the number of areas designated for program funding. Adult literacy programs provide adult basic, English language, high school equivalency, and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) education for over 12,000 New Yorkers. In a city home to over three million immigrants, who make up more than one-third of our population, these programs are vital to communities.