CPC STATEMENT ON THE NEW YORK CITY FY2020 EXECUTIVE BUDGET

Date: 4/26/2019

Press Contact: Carlyn Cowen, Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer (ccowen@cpc-nyc.org | (212) 941-0920 x 155)

New York, NY -- The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) acknowledges Mayor de Blasio for his $92.5 billion FY 2020 Executive Budget that takes some key steps toward building a fair and equitable city, but urges both the Mayoral Administration and City Council to continue to work to ensure that immigrants, people of color, and low-income New Yorkers will be included fairly in the adopted budget.

The budget makes a number of important investments, including a $22 million investment for census education and outreach to ensure that all New Yorkers are fairly and accurately counted in the the upcoming census, and $6 million for emergency repairs in NYCHA community centers.

However, the budget misses several critical investments that will build economic and social empowerment for Asian American and Pacific Islanders, people of color, immigrants, and low-income New Yorkers. CPC looks forward to working closely with the Mayoral Administration and City Council to ensure that these budget priorities are included in the adopted budget:

• Baselining adult literacy funding to ensure consistent programming to meet the needs of Limited English Proficiency New Yorkers.

• Funding for salary parity between early childhood teachers in community based organizations and DOE teachers, who do the same jobs with the same qualifications for vastly different pay.

• Funding to address the chronic underfunding in the nonprofit human services sector, especially including $110 million towards right sizing the underfunding of indirect rates in contracts.

• Funding to address community-based legal services for immigrant New Yorkers, who have experienced a surge in need for legal support, yet struggle to find in-language services.

"New initiatives are critical during these tough times when immigrants, people of color, and other marginalized communities are under attack by the federal government. That is why CPC looks to the Mayor to baseline many of these priorities in the adopted budget. Core services should be funded by the Executive side of the budget, allowing the City Council to invest in new and innovative initiatives to improve access and upward mobility, such as immigrant legal services and family literacy,” said Wayne Ho, President and CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council. “The Mayoral Administration and City Council should also make sure that funding is allocated fairly, equitably, and at parity for immigrant and people of color led organizations and their workers, which are best positioned to provide culturally competent and linguistically appropriate services to diverse New Yorkers.”

This statement can also be viewed on CPC's website.

About CPC
The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) is the nation's largest Asian American social services organization. Founded in 1965, CPC aims to promote the social and economic empowerment of Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income communities of New York City.