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Friday, June 30, 2023
Bronx Chamber of Commerce - Bronx Business News You Can Use
VCJC News & Notes 6/30/23
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NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE'S RESPONSE TO THE SUPREME COURT RULING AGAINST AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
"With this ruling, the Supreme Court has chosen to ignore our nation’s history and jeopardize our youth’s future. The decision was entirely expected from this conservative court, but still extremely hard to hear, and to reckon with its implications on the fight for racial equity, diversity, and justice. The march forward on these issues has been painfully slow, but largely forward– now the court is pulling us back, creating the conditions for young people of more color today to have less opportunities than the generation before them. Students with a legacy of systemic privilege or power may see its benefits, students confronting a legacy of systemic racism and discrimination will see only barriers.
"In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor wrote that ‘Ignoring race will not equalize a society that is racially unequal… Equality requires acknowledgment of inequality.’ It’s clear that conservatives want to ignore race when it is convenient to do so, and ignore reality when it is inconvenient to their philosophy and policy goals. While Republican lawmakers attempt to remove our history of racial injustice from the classroom, conservative justices are trying to remove racial equity from classrooms altogether."
MAYOR ADAMS’ STATEMENT ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SUPREME COURT DECISION
New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court today issued a decision in the case Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College:
“Once again, a highly partisan Supreme Court is overturning decades of precedent in order to advance a purely political agenda. This decision will not only hurt historically disadvantaged communities, it will make many of our educational institutions less diverse, and perpetuate social, racial, and economic inequity. This is a loss for all New Yorkers, and all Americans, but as this country’s largest and most diverse city, New York will not be deterred. We will continue to celebrate and advance our city’s rich diversity and abide by the words of New York’s own Justice Sonia Sotomayor: ‘Society’s progress toward equality cannot be permanently halted…The pursuit of racial diversity will go on.’”
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Statement on Supreme Court’s Ruling in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. (SFFA) v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and SFFA v. University of North Carolina
The Justice Department issued the following statement from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in two cases — Students for Fair Admissions Inc. (SFFA) v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and SFFA v. University of North Carolina:
“The Supreme Court’s decision undercuts efforts by universities across the country to create a diverse group of graduates prepared to lead in an increasingly diverse nation. It will significantly set back efforts to advance educational opportunity for all Americans. And it upends nearly 50 years of precedent.
“The Department of Justice remains committed to promoting student diversity in higher education using all available legal tools. In the coming weeks, we will work with the Department of Education to provide resources to college and universities on what admissions practices and programs remain lawful following the Court’s decision.”
Thursday, June 29, 2023
BRONX MAN SENTENCED TO 6 YEARS IN PRISON FOR FIRST-DEGREE BURGLARY FOR BREAKING INTO BUILDING AFTER BLOODY FIGHT
Defendant Was Convicted After Jury Trial
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that defendant Pedro Hernandez has been sentenced to six years in prison after a jury found him guilty of first-degree Burglary and third-degree Criminal Mischief for breaking open a Bronx building door as he and his friends chased two men they had been fighting with in 2019.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant, Pedro Hernandez, has been sentenced to six years in prison for breaking into a building after he and his friends chased two men after a fight. He then tried to break into an apartment in which the victims had sought refuge. The 911 calls from people in the building that were presented in the trial showed the fear and desperation of the victims and building occupants. The terrorizing of innocent Bronx people will not be tolerated.”
District Attorney Clark said Pedro Hernandez, 23, of East 168th Street, Bronx, was sentenced today by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Beth Beller to six years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision for his first-degree Burglary conviction, and one to three years for third degree Criminal Mischief, to run concurrently. He was found guilty of the charges by a jury on April 21, 2023, after an eight-week trial.
According to the investigation, on April 7, 2019 at 7:30 a.m., the defendant and his friends got into a melee with two youths in front of 2177 Quimby Avenue. The defendant and his friends chased the victims into a building. The defendant is seen on video kicking the front door of the building while his friends are also kicking it and hitting it with the bat. When they broke the door in, the defendant and his friends ran upstairs and attempted unsuccessfully to break down the door to an apartment where the victims were seeking safety.
District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Police Officer Naeem Shahid and Sergeant Luis Cardenas of the 43rd Precinct, and NYC Department of Correction Investigator Walter Holmes for their work in the investigation.
NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE'S RESPONSE TO THE BUDGET HANDSHAKE AGREEMENT
"The budget agreement announced today thankfully prevents many of the highest-profile cuts to city services that New Yorkers rely on. I thank the Council and community for their advocacy. and the mayor for agreeing to this funding. Unfortunately, a necessary focus on restoring cuts meant that many new and necessary investments were not able to be made. Maintaining public school funding and supporting libraries should be a given, but so should strengthening and expanding services to meet the moment and the needs of the most vulnerable New Yorkers.
"I am glad to see investment in areas such as gun violence prevention through the Crisis Management System, yet we need new programming that builds on its successes. Increased funding for Fair Fares is in this budget, but not approaching what is needed. Securing funding for affordable housing is a significant victory, but it comes against a backdrop of a vetoing legislation to help get New Yorkers into that housing. Investments in a mental health continuum, in support services through Community Schools, are important ways to support the health, safety, and well-being of New Yorkers. Cutting funding from restorative programming on Rikers or homeless service providers will do the opposite.
"As I have said many times – investment, not austerity, is the most effective means of meeting the compounding crises our city faces, and we just cannot point to our challenges as a reason to prevent investment. While it is abundantly clear that federal funding is needed to help support those seeking asylum in our city, our newest New Yorkers are not a sanction or a scapegoat for not investing in services that will uplift all people and communities across the five boroughs. This is made even more frustrating by the administration’s opposition to common sense revenue raising measures from the wealthiest New Yorkers, not the working class, which could help fund these services.
"Preventing cuts, while critical, only maintains a status quo that does not adequately address the challenges facing so many New Yorkers, rather than moving forward. Beyond these negotiations, beyond the budget adoption, we have to continue to push for progressive investments that are smart, sustainable, and best serve our city."
MAYOR ADAMS AND SPEAKER ADAMS REACH HANDSHAKE AGREEMENT FOR RESPONSIBLE AND ON-TIME FISCAL YEAR 2024 BUDGET
Approximately $107 Billion Budget is Balanced and Makes Needed Investments in Future of New York City for Students, Seniors, and Working-Class New Yorkers
Adopted Budget Maintains Near-Record $8 Billion in Total Reserves
Mayor Adams and City Council Worked Collaboratively to Restore Funding to Libraries and Continue to Fund Cultural Institutions
Each Public School to Retain Initial FY23 Funding Levels Even if Enrollment Declined
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan, and members of the City Council today announced an agreement for an on-time, balanced, and fiscally-responsible approximately $107 billion Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24). Despite facing strong headwinds, the budget makes upstream investments in working people and keeps New York safe and clean while contributing to the city’s robust savings program.
“The agreement we reached today comes in the midst of a budget cycle dominated by great challenges and unexpected crises, but I am proud to say that we have successfully navigated through these many crosscurrents to arrive at a strong and fiscally responsible budget,” said Mayor Adams. “Our mission is not to simply save money — it is to set priorities, which include fair labor contracts for our unions, funding for education, the arts, and our libraries, and support for New Yorkers in the greatest need. I thank Speaker Adams, Council Finance Chair Brannan, and the entire Council for their partnership through this process.”
“The Council’s focus in this budget has been to protect the essential services that the people of this city rely on to be healthy, safe, and successful,” said City Council Speaker Adams. “We took seriously our task to negotiate the best possible outcomes and deliver results for the people of our city. Through difficult negotiations, the Council worked to bridge the distance between us and the administration, fighting to restore investments in essential services and funding many programs that we know our families, communities, and city need. Though we have come to a budget agreement today, the Council knows we must continue to push forward in our year-long budgetary, legislative, and oversight efforts to secure the investments that New Yorkers deserve.”
The agreement on the $107 billion budget includes increased funding for youth jobs and apprenticeships and innovative educational programming for public school students. As part of the budget agreement, the city is expanding access to Fair Fares discounted MetroCards, providing more meals for seniors and low-income New Yorkers, and extending the hours for many vacant early childhood education seats, so working families can more easily enroll their children. Additionally, the budget takes advantage of higher-than-anticipated revenues to restore and provide additional funding for libraries and cultural institutions, which will both be funded at a higher level in FY24 than they were a year ago in the FY23 Adopted Budget, even before including City Council discretionary additions. Further, no New York City Department of Education (DOE) public school will have an initial budget lower than their initial budget last year, even if their student population has declined.
The Adopted Budget was crafted in the midst of an ongoing asylum seeker crisis that is currently projected to cost the city $4.35 billion over Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024 –– with $2.9 billion in estimated spending over FY24 alone. Though New York City continues the longstanding tradition of helping immigrants, the city has –– virtually on its own –– cared for more than 81,000 migrants since last spring, and has, thus far, received inadequate federal and state assistance. For this reason, at adoption, the city must add $465 million in FY24 to make up for less-than-expected federal asylum seeker aid.
The administration was able to balance the budget in adoption despite substantial challenges by controlling new agency spending and through a higher-than-anticipated increase in the city’s revenue of $2.1 billion in FY23, driven by continued strength in the local economy –– though tax revenue growth is still expected to slow in coming years. These additional resources were used to pay for agency needs, meet increased asylum seeker costs, and fund City Council discretionary spending and shared Adams administration/Council priorities.
Throughout this budget cycle, the administration has made tough choices that reflect an ongoing commitment to strong fiscal management, including by making government more efficient through budget savings and by maintaining robust reserves.
Since last June, the Adams administration has achieved gap-closing savings of more than $4.7 billion over Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024, which include less-than-anticipated agency spending of $72 million in FY23 and debt service saving of $137 million in FY23 and FY24 recognized in this plan. These savings were achieved without reducing funding to programs or services, laying off a single employee, or cutting school or classrooms budgets.
The FY24 Adopted Budget maintains a near-record $8.0 billion in reserves, which includes $1.2 billion in the General Reserve, $2.0 billion in the Rainy Day Fund, $4.58 billion in the Retiree Health Benefits Trust, and $250 million in the Capital Stabilization Reserve.
Investment Highlights of the FY24 Adopted Budget Include:
Keeping New York City Safe and Clean:
- Funding to expand Supervised Release services and pilot an “Intensive Case Management” model to provide stronger support for recidivists ($36.8 million).
- Continuing the increased frequency of litter basket pickups citywide ($22 million).
- Funding the New York City Department of Sanitation’s highway cleaning program, which includes a focus on cleaning highways, medians, and road shoulders citywide ($9.6 million).
- Increasing funding for the CleaNYC program, which cleans streets and sidewalks in targeted corridors ($3 million).
- Expanding neighborhood-based community navigators in Gun Violence Prevention Task Force districts ($1.9 million).
- Investing in technology to conduct a community sentiment analysis that will reach residents in an equitable and inclusive manner in order to evaluate the effectiveness of gun violence prevention interventions and deliver inclusive community-informed solutions to gun violence ($850,000).
Supporting Libraries and Cultural Institutions:
- Providing funding for Cultural Institutions Group and Cultural Development Fund recipients ($40 million).
- Adding funding for the public library systems ($36 million).
Lifting Youth and Working Families:
- Providing workforce enhancement to support wage increases for contracted human services providers ($40 million, growing to $90 million in FY25).
- Increasing annual funding for the Right to Counsel program ($36.6 million in FY24 and $30.6 million annually thereafter).
- Adding 5,000 slots to “Work, Learn & Grow” to provide Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) participants with school year employment ($22.5 million).
- Increasing baseline funding for Fair Fares to expand eligibility ($20 million, bringing baselined funding to $95 million).
- Funding 600 PromiseNYC child care slots for undocumented children and their families ($16 million).
- Converting almost 1,900 vacant, standard early childhood education seats into extended day seats, so they can be more effectively utilized by working families ($15 million).
- Helping City University of New York (CUNY) students overcome barriers and complete their degrees by adding funding for the Accelerate, Complete, Engage and Accelerated Study in Associate Programs ($14.1 million).
- Continuing support for Community Schools, a vital resource that supports the whole child in and out of the classroom, including providing school-based health services, and the child’s family with adult education classes and access to social services ($14 million).
- Providing free MetroCards for SYEP participants this summer ($11 million).
- Adding 400 slots to New York City Department of Youth and Community Development’s year-round youth workforce programs for out of school, out of work youth — bringing total capacity to 1,739 slots ($6.6 million).
- Continuing funding for DOE’s Immigrant Family Engagement program, which helps parents, who either do not speak English or are outside the nine standard translated languages, communicate with schools about their children’s education ($4 million).
- Providing New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity with access to an online marketplace for local grocery stores through the “Groceries to Go” program ($5.6 million).
- Increasing the reimbursement rate for home-delivered meals for seniors ($4.5 million).
- Funding for existing CUNY programs, like “College Now,” “CUNY Explorers,” and “Career Launch” ($5 million).
- Providing funding for K-12 arts education ($4 million).
- Helping to connect New Yorkers to apprenticeships, improve the city’s workforce development system, and establish a new community hiring program as authorized by recently passed state legislation ($2.7 million).
- Increasing funding for housing navigators to connect runaway and homeless youth to safe housing ($1.6 million).
Improving Health and Safety:
- Supporting swimming education in neighborhoods without access to public pools by funding 70 full- and part-time aquatic specialists, five recreation supervisors, 30 lifeguards, equipment, pool rentals, and access to DOE pools ($5.3 million).
- Continuing the investment in the Mental Health Continuum as part of the Adams administration’s Mental Health Agenda ($5 million).
- Investing in trauma recovery centers to support the recovery of underserved crime victims and stop cycles of violence ($2.4 million).