TESTIMONY
Megan French-Marcelin, Senior Director of New York State Policy, Legal Action Center on Advocacy for Alternative to Detention/Incarceration Programs and Community Reinvestment
5:12:15
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3 min
Megan French-Marcelin testifies on the importance of alternatives to detention and incarceration and the crucial need for additional City Council funding.
- French-Marcelin represents The New York City ATI and Reentry Coalition, emphasizing the coalition's broad range of non-carceral, community-based programs.
- The coalition serves 25,000 individuals annually with services designed for specific populations, highlighting the significance of city funding.
- She requests an additional $1,100,000 in funding to continue their service amidst proposed budget cuts.
- The testimony highlights how these programs enhance public safety, reduce recidivism, and promote economic vitality at a lower cost than incarceration.
- French-Marcelin underscores the link between sustaining these programs and the essential goal of closing Rikers for citywide public safety.
Megan French-Marcelin
5:12:15
Thank you so much, chairwoman, nurse, and members of the committee.
5:12:20
My name is Meghan French Marceline.
5:12:23
I'm the senior director of New York State Policy at Legal Action Center.
5:12:27
Today, I testify on behalf of the New York City ATI and Reentry Coalition.
5:12:34
The coalition is a collaborative of 11 service providers with decades of experience.
5:12:40
Coalition members offer a broad range of alternative to detention and incarceration programs, as well as reentry services to New Yorkers returning home from prison.
5:12:52
Our noncarseral.
5:12:54
Say that again.
5:12:55
Noncarseral community based programs include counseling and youth development, treatment rich housing and job skills training.
5:13:05
Coalition members offer services, especially tailored for specific populations such as women, young men, gender, nonconforming, and gender expansive folks, and people with mental illness.
5:13:18
Collectively, we serve upwards of 25,000 justice involved individuals each year.
5:13:26
City Council funding for these programs has been immensely important.
5:13:33
And that support will be even more critical this year as we prepare to continue to provide services amid the proposed funding cuts.
5:13:43
For our programs and despite an ever increasing need for our services.
5:13:49
Accordingly, we are requesting amazely $1,100,000 in additional funds for the members of our coalition.
5:13:59
ATI programs improve public safety and build healthy, vital, and economically strong neighborhoods.
5:14:07
These programs help move people away from criminal legal involvement by forging pathways to employment, secure housing, better health, and family stability with a wide range of interventions and programs.
5:14:22
Our services have been shown to reduce incarceration and detention, lower recidivism rates, and help New Yorkers achieve stable employment housing, and health.
5:14:35
Additionally, studies have also consistently shown that these programs yield significant cost savings when compared to incarceration, while simultaneously reducing crime rates.
5:14:49
The average cost of one of our programs is just 85 8500 per participant.
5:14:58
For what it costs to detain just one person at Rykers, we could serve at least 57 people through programs that don't just keep people out of jail, but also build communities.
5:15:12
If we maintain, as our coalition does, that closing rikers is essential to the public safety of this city, we must continue to scale the funding for these programs.
5:15:25
Thank you.