Michelle Avila
5:14:55
Good afternoon chair Stevens and members of the Children and the Youth Committee.
5:14:58
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
5:15:00
My name is Michelle Avila and I'm the director of public policy at Children's Aid.
5:15:04
At Children's Aid, we're committed to ensuring that young people in New York City have no boundaries to their aspirations and no limits to their potential.
5:15:12
We know a thriving city requires a strong ecosystem of programs that support children, youth, and families.
5:15:18
We hold nearly 50 contracts with the Department of Youth and Community Development for programs ranging from COMPASS, summer youth employment, adult literacy and more.
5:15:27
These programs are critical to the success of New York City's youth and families and continued investment in these services is essential.
5:15:34
For the FY twenty six budget, we are calling for the reversal of a $6,900,000 cut to the Compass after school system, and for the city to baseline 19,640,000.00 to the DYCD portion of summarizing programs for middle school youth.
5:15:48
To stabilize the after school system, we joined providers in urging the city to begin a phase in process for higher per participant rates in the FY twenty six, FY '20 '6 Compass and Sonic contract extensions by including the total of 154,324,800 in the budget.
5:16:08
We also urge the city to release a concept paper for Compass and to commit to fully funding both elementary and middle school programs in the new procurement process.
5:16:17
As both a summer program and summer rising provider, we urge the city to meaningfully partner with providers to address and resolve operational concerns with summer rising.
5:16:27
We also urge the city to address disparities in funding across summer programs, especially for center based programs, include beacons and cornerstones.
5:16:36
These community hubs often face lower reimbursement rates and limited slots despite high demand.
5:16:41
It is crucial to increase funding for all summer programs and expand program slots.
5:16:46
With respect to child welfare, we wanna highlight the importance of prevention services in the child welfare system.
5:16:51
We know these programs prevent families from entering the foster care system, and that 99% of families engaged avoid, at Children's Aid avoid foster care system involvement.
