REMARKS
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams introduces legislation for college counseling program
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176 sec
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams addresses the committees on education and children and youth, highlighting educational disparities in New York City public schools and introducing Intro 700. This legislation aims to establish a program through the Department of Youth and Community Development to provide college counseling resources and support for high school juniors and seniors and their families.
- Williams emphasizes the segregation and resource disparities in NYC schools, particularly affecting Black, Brown, and disadvantaged students.
- He outlines the barriers to college attendance, including high costs and lack of access to quality school counseling.
- Intro 700 would provide comprehensive support for the college application process, including information on admissions, financial aid, and college readiness.
Jumaane Williams
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Thank you, Matthew.
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Good morning.
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My name is Jermaine Williams, public advocate, City of New York.
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My thank chairs Joseph and Stevens, and the members of the committees on education and children and youth for holding his hearing.
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New York City public schools are among the most segregated nation, which begins early in students education and persistent graduation.
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Students of more college is portion likely to attend under resource in overcrowded schools, and despite comprising 70% of the city's student population, received just a small fraction of specialized high school offers.
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Black and brown students as well as students with disabilities, English language learners, students experience in homelessness, students in foster care, and students living in poverty are less likely to graduate from high school than their more privileged peers.
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Some of the barriers to students attending college, including the highest high cost of tuition and education fees, the need for timely financial aid education, and lack of access to quality school counseling.
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The same aspires that we see in an achievement in our public schools are reflected in college with black brown and low income students having lower rates of enrollments and bachelor degree programs back bachelor's programs.
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Bachelor's degrees, attainment can differ by as much as 76% between neighborhoods, for example.
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A Center for an urban future report found that 89% of those living on the upper east side in Muscial Island had a bachelor's degree.
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Compared to 13% in Morse Heights in Mount Hope.
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High school counselors play an important role in access to college opportunities, but many under resource and overcrowded schools either lack a counselor or have too few counselors for their student population.
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According to data collected by the US Department of Education, high school seniors who talked one on one with the school counselor were more likely to complete a FAFSA attend college and enroll in a bachelor's degree program.
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For these reasons, I introduced intro 700 being heard today, which requires a department of youth and community development to establish a program that provides counseling resources and other support to high school juniors and seniors, and their families in applying to college.
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This program would provide general information regarding the college admissions process and college readiness, as well as a checklist of information required to successfully complete the college application, provide information regarding how to access and assemble the data and records required to apply to college, counsel students and families regarding college options, including tips on how to present a competitive application, refer students and families to resources regarding financial aid, scholarships, and other college funding options.
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And lastly, required BYC to engage in outreach to inform students and families about these programs.
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While not every student wants to attend college, we should be ensuring that all students have the opportunity and are fully equipped to have make the best decision for their futures, a public school baby myself from preschool.
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The master's is very proud of the public school system, but there's a lot more to do to make sure that people access what's available to them.
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I do wanna shout out CUNY and SUNY for making some recent changes and hopefully We'll get more students into college, but it's still a lot I wanna do.
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Thank you, madam Cheers.
