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“Save our program, save our future,” they chanted. “No justice, no future.”
To save money, the city slashed the $120,000 grant that funds the popular program at I.S. 289, a middle school in Battery Park City. Thirty-two other middle schools around the city also lost their after-school funding.
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More than 50 I.S. 89 students rallied on Greenwich Street in Tribeca before marching up to City Hall Park earlier this week, hoping to convince city officials to restore funding for after-school programs.
"Under Bloomberg's grim plan to close at least 50 senior centers by July 1, thousands of seniors will not have a place to eat Thanksgiving this year.Some of my older neighbors, many of whom live alone, spent last Thanksgiving at our local senior center, where they can find a hot, nutritious meal and perhaps more importantly, company. While the city spared this center, it could still lose a third of its funding. A glance at their monthly calendar of activities, which includes movies, blood pressure screenings, AARP tax assistance, computer and tai-chi classes, gives you a hint of the lifeline centers like these offer to older New Yorkers"
Clients, providers and advocates from a variety of programmatic sectors came together at City Hall yesterday to oppose proposed budget cuts to a broad range of “core” human services for children, families and seniors. Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed Executive Budget for FY2011 includes millions of dollars in cuts to child care, after school programs, adult literacy programs, and senior centers.
The program would lose approximately $2.6 million during the next fiscal year on top of a $612,000 cut during the 2009-2010 Fiscal Year. GED testing sites would suffer a $1.15 million cut.
Anthony Ng, deputy director of Policy and Advocacy at the New York Coalition for Adult Literacy, stands in front of city hall on Tuesday in opposition to cuts proposed by lawmakers that would remove $2.6 million from the state's Adult Literacy Education p (Aloysio Santos/The Epoch Times)
“Education is a right,” said Antony Ng, the deputy director of Policy and Advocacy at the New York Coalition for Adult Literacy. He added that the cuts would deprive people seeking to take the GED test throughout New York City and will negatively impact the local economy.
On a recent budget-slashing spree, Gov. Paterson has proposed eliminating the state’s $20 million contribution to the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), leading city teens to voice their displeasure with a 200-person rally in City Hall Park on Thursday. The program, which placed a record 52,000 14-24 year-old youths in summer jobs last year, is facing cutbacks of more than 33% for the coming summer.
At the rally, a lot of teens spoke passionately about the value of the program. Among the LES organizations represented yesterday: the Henry Street Settlement and the Grand Street Settlement. I spoke with Greg Rideout, who leads the youth and workforce development office at Henry Street. He said the direct impact of losing the jobs would be devastating. The program gives kids valuable exposure to the working world. But he’s equally concerned about the ripple effect.
Nachaell Gonzalez, 16, of the Bronx who has worked at a family center for the past three years, called the program critical for local youth.
"Without it kids would be on the street, standing on the corner, doing I don't know what instead of earning money," she said.
According to the Big Bang Theory of Government, New York State’s Budget was scheduled to explode on April 1st with the start of a new 2010-2011 Fiscal Year. Like an out-of-control tour bus packed with screaming teachers, taxpayers, legislators and Medicaid recipients, New York’s $137 billion annual budget was hurtling towards an open and unbridgeable $9 billion hole in the highway.
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