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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Caitlyn Passaretti, Senior Policy and Advocacy Associate at Citizens Committee for Children of New York
5:05:05
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155 sec
Caitlyn Passaretti from the Citizens Committee for Children of New York testified on various youth services funding needs, including after-school programs, runaway and homeless youth support, alternatives to incarceration, and childcare assistance. She urged for increased funding and rate adjustments across multiple programs to better support New York City's young people.
- Called for increased base rates for Compass Elementary and SONYC Middle School after-school programs
- Requested increased rates for runaway and homeless youth bed providers and restoration of funding for peer navigators and housing specialists
- Advocated for restoration of funding for alternatives to incarceration and reentry programs
- Urged city leaders to work with the state to secure additional childcare block grant funding to prevent loss of childcare assistance for thousands of children
Caitlyn Passaretti
5:05:05
Hello.
5:05:06
Thank you chair Stevens and the Children and Youth Committee for hosting this hearing.
5:05:10
My name is Caitlin Passereti.
5:05:11
I use sheher pronouns and I'm the senior policy and advocacy associate with Citizens Committee for Children of New York.
5:05:17
My testimony will address the needs for after school, runaway, and homeless youth, alternatives to incarceration, and needed state advocacy.
5:05:24
After school programs provide vital supports and care for our city's young people.
5:05:28
To ensure programs are robustly funded and providers are paid what they are owed, we must adjust the rates for Compass and Sonic.
5:05:34
In partnership with the Campaign for Children, we urge the city to increase base rates for Compass Elementary to $4,900 and for Sonic Middle School programs to 41 $4,150 in this year with the end goal of fully funding elementary and middle school programs in a new procurement in FY '20 '7.
5:05:52
Regarding runaway and homeless youth, we are grateful for the 100 beds funded in last year's budget.
5:05:56
However, we also need the city to increase the rates for providers, have not been updated since 2017, to $70,000 per bed.
5:06:04
This investment will provide safe temporary housing for youth who otherwise would be without a stable option.
5:06:10
We also urge you to restore and baseline the 1,620,000.00 for peer navigators and 1,500,000.0 for the housing specialists.
5:06:17
Having a trusted support person to offer advice, resources, and answers for young people experiencing homelessness is an invaluable resource.
5:06:24
Additionally, we urge you to support investments meant to prevent justice system involvement for young people.
5:06:30
Extensive research demonstrates the positive impacts of ATI and reentry programs, including lowering recidivism and crime.
5:06:36
However, the administration has cut $6,000,000 to these programs since 2023.
5:06:41
We are therefore asking for a restoration in baseline of 3,300,000.0 for the impact program, 2,600,000.0 for next steps, 3,800,000.0 for the Office of Criminal Justice for Alternatives to Incarceration Programs, and 8,000,000 for reentry programs.
5:06:55
Finally, we urge you to work with the state to secure additional funding for the city's childcare block grant.
5:07:00
According to ACS, New York City is on the verge of exhausting available CCBG funds.
5:07:05
This would result in 4,000 to 7,000 children losing childcare assistance each month.
5:07:11
It is urgent that city leaders work with the state to ensure city receives to prevent a dramatic drop in access to affordable childcare.
5:07:18
And then very quickly, the commissioner of ACS mentioned the increase in young people in secured detention centers, and we just urge that ACS needs to continue their advocacy for a waiver of hardship to the state because there is $1,500,000,000 for raise the age funding New York City is ineligible for unless we submit a waiver of hardship, which has not ever been done.
5:07:36
And so we're urging the council and ACS to work to get that hardship submitted.
5:07:39
Thank you for the extra time.
Althea V. Stevens
5:07:40
Thank you.