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PUBLIC TESTIMONY

Testimony by Megan French-Marcelin, Representative of NY ATI/Reentry Coalition

5:14:43

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138 sec

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Megan French-Marcelin, representing the New York City Alternatives to Incarceration and Reentry Coalition, testifies about the importance of ATI programs and reentry services in addressing mass incarceration and improving public safety outcomes. She requests restoration of cuts and increased funding for these programs.

Highlights the effectiveness of ATI programs in reducing recidivism and generating taxpayer savings
Expresses concern over $12 million in cuts faced by ATI and reentry service providers
Requests restoration of cuts and an additional $2.4 million in discretionary funding from the city council

Megan French-Marcelin

5:14:43

Thank you so much.

5:14:44

My name is Megan French Marcelyn, and I am appearing on behalf of the New York City Alternatives to Incarceration and Reentry Coalition.

5:14:53

In New York City, our dependence on mass incarceration is at once a manifestation and a driver of systemic inequities that have devastated neighborhoods across all five boroughs.

5:15:08

And yet, this city is fortunate enough to have an ecosystem of service providers who are doing the backbreaking work of resourcing communities most devastated by mass criminalization.

5:15:23

This ecosystem of providers who work in front end ATI's and back end reentry services has been a model nationwide for how you get to a more equitable human centered justice system.

5:15:38

And we do this work with pennies on the dollar that the city allocates to the vastly over resourced Department of Correction.

5:15:49

Decades of research demonstrate that ATI programs are more effective than incarceration at improving public safety outcomes, decreasing the chance of future convictions, improving employment rates, and generating significant savings for taxpayers.

5:16:08

And yet, I sit before you today representing the aforementioned ecosystem who are now staring down $12,000,000 of cuts.

5:16:19

We know that the expansion of ATI's and reentry services alone will not decarcerate Rikers.

5:16:27

However, these programs are some of the most meaningful mechanisms we have to envision and scale a more human centered approach to public safety.

5:16:40

The current administration as well as the city council should be leading the charge to invest in them.

5:16:47

And in closing, I will say that we are requesting a restoration of the cuts and an increase from city council of $2,400,000 in discretionary funding.

5:17:00

Thank you.

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Testimony by Nadia Chait, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy at CASES