CPC Statement on the New York City FY19 Budget Passage | Chinese-American Planning Council
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. CPC Statement on the New York City FY19 Budget Passage
Main Content

CPC Statement on the New York City FY19 Budget Passage

Jun
13

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.

 

Click here to ready coverage from NY Nonprofit Media

 

CPC City Policy & Advocacy Agenda FY18-19 

Founded in 1965, the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) mission is to promote social and economic empowerment of Chinese American, immigrant and low-income communities. We advance our communities through more than 50 programs, including childhood development services, education and career services, community services, and senior services. We serve over 60,000 community members across all 51 Council Districts in New York City each year. We transform our communities through social services and social change. In order to build transformative change, we have created a policy agenda that addresses persistent needs and emerging trends in our communities.

Agenda items include: 

  • $20.35 million in funding for middle school summer camp programs.
  • $14.2 million  to baseline 6,500 COMPASS Elementary slots.
  • $12 million in funding for Adult Literacy programs.
  • $5 million for the Communities of Color Nonprofit Stabilization Fund (NSF).
  • $200 million in funding to address chronic underfunding in the nonprofit human services sector.
  • $21.3 million to baseline 10,000 Summer Youth Employment Program positions and address a rising minimum wage.
  • Funding for salary parity for early childhood teachers in community based organizations, who do the same jobs with the same qualifications as their DOE counterparts for vastly different pay.
  • Funding for three City Council Initiatives which support older adults: Health Aging, Support Our Seniors and Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities. 
  • Funding for three City Council mental health initiatives: Geriatric Mental Health Initiative, Children Under Five Mental Health Initiative and Autism Awareness Initiative.
  • Funding for Fair Fares to provide half-price MetroCards to New Yorkers living below the poverty line. 

Click here to view CPC's Full NY City Policy Agenda FY2018-2019