CHINESE-AMERICAN PLANNING COUNCIL’S STATEMENT ON THE NEW YORK CITY FY19 BUDGET PASSAGE

For Immediate Release
June 14, 2018
Contact: Carlyn Cowen, Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer, (212) 941-0920 x 155, ccowen@cpc-nyc.org

The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) is grateful for the steps that Mayor de Blasio and the City Council have taken toward a fairer and more equitable city in their FY 2019 Adopted Budget. During challenging times, we urge both the Mayoral Administration and City Council to ensure that the Asian American community, immigrants, communities of color, and low-income New Yorkers, as well as the human service providers that champion them, receive a fair share of funding.

“During these challenging times, it’s important to invest in the social safety net that keeps Asian Americans, low-income families, immigrants, and communities of color resilient, and to support the human services providers that empower and uplift them,” said Wayne Ho, President and CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council. “We are delighted that the Mayor and City Council restored and baselined many initiatives, and created innovative initiatives like Fair Fares, but we are disappointed that critical investments for human services providers and salary parity for early childhood education teachers were not included in the budget.”

CPC applauds the following important initiatives that advance and empower our communities:

• $106 million in Fair Fares funding to provide half-price MetroCards to New Yorkers living below the poverty line
• $14 million for COMPASS elementary after-school programs, including $8 million in baselined funding
• $12 million in funding for Adult Literacy programs, including $8 million in baselined funding
• $5 million for the Communities of Color Nonprofit Stabilization Fund
• Nearly $6 million in new funding for programs and initiatives that support older adults, including: Health Aging, Senior Centers for Immigrant Populations, Support Our Seniors and Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities, Geriatric Mental Health Initiative

CPC acknowledges the partial investments in the following:

• $15 million for 22,000 middle school students to attend SONYC summer camp, out of 34,000 slots recommended for the FY19 budget
• $10.3 million for 5,000 additional Summer Youth Employment Program slots and minimum wage increases, out of 10,000 slots recommended for the FY19 budget

While the City faced significant federal and state budget constraints, those very federal cuts make the social safety net all the more important for underserved communities. These programs are especially important to our young people, and we look forward to partnering with the City and our allies to support opportunities for the next generation of Asian Pacific American and immigrant New Yorkers in the upcoming year.

CPC is disappointed that the following investments were not included in the FY 19 Adopted Budget:

• $200 million in funding to address chronic underfunding in the Nonprofit Human Services Sector
• Funding for community based early childhood teachers’ salary parity, who do the same jobs with the same qualifications as their DOE counterparts but earn significantly less.

Urgent investments to the human services sector were not included in the FY 2019 New York City Budget. The human services workforce is one of the hardest working in the city and are often staffed by the very communities they serve. More often than not, human services contracts do not cover the full costs of services or are subject to significant delay, causing risk to the stability of important community organizations. We look forward to continuing to work with the Mayor and City Council to ensure human services providers are appropriately resourced to advance New York City’s most underserved and marginalized communities.