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Council Member Althea Stevens opens executive budget hearing for ACS and DYCD
0:03:18
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3 min
Council Member Althea Stevens opens the executive budget hearing for the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) and the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). She outlines the structure of the hearing, key budget figures, and main areas of concern including childcare vouchers, juvenile justice, and preventive services.
- ACS's FY 2026 executive budget is $2.9 billion, an increase of $122.6 million from the previous year
- Concerns raised about funding gaps for childcare vouchers and rising juvenile detention populations
- Focus on accountability, transparency, and meeting the needs of at-risk families and youth
Althea Stevens
0:03:18
Good morning everyone and welcome to today's executive budget hearing.
0:03:22
My name is Althea Stevens and I serve as chair of the for the committee on children and youth services.
0:03:28
The part of today's hearing the first part of today's hearing committee committee hearings is fiscal twenty twenty six executive budget for the administration for children services or ACS.
0:03:39
Thank you to the commissioner and his team for joining us today.
0:03:42
I would like to also acknowledge council member Salam has also joined us.
0:03:46
Following today's testimony and questions for ACS, we will hear from DYCD, and then we will hear public testimony on both agencies around 2PM.
0:03:55
Thank you all for the the advocates and community members who've joined us today as well.
0:04:01
I would like to take a moment.
0:04:03
I will keep my comments here brief as requested from the commissioner to keep his oral testimony brief so we can move to questions from council members.
0:04:12
ACS fiscal twenty twenty six executive budget is 2,900,000,000.0, a hundred and 20 2 point 6 million greater than the fiscal twenty twenty five adopted budget.
0:04:22
The executive plan includes increased investments for foster care, foster care, child care, and Promise NYC, but does not fully fund the address to address the funding gaps for children child care vouchers that we discussed at the preliminary budget hearing in March.
0:04:38
Without the resolution for the funding gaps for children for childcare vouchers, tens of thousands of families across the five boroughs who rely on those vouchers to access affordable childcare could lose their benefits.
0:04:49
Many families cannot afford the high cost of childcare without the ACS vouchers program and I but I do want to see and I do and I do don't want to see any eligible family lose their vouchers or deny a voucher.
0:05:03
Juvenile justice continues to be an area of concern to myself and this council.
0:05:08
ACS has seen its average daily population and juvenile detentions rise 22% in the first four months of this fiscal twenty twenty five compared to the same period during the fiscal twenty twenty four.
0:05:20
I would like to again better understand of how ACS is rolling out its preventative programs and working on keeping the city kids on track.
0:05:29
I will have similar questions for DYCD on how we ensure that young people are not ending up in our juvenile detention detention centers.
0:05:36
I also look forward to hearing how ACS is dealing with staffing issues as well as capital upgrades and conditions at the two secure fits facilities Horizon and Crossroads.
0:05:46
Today, we hope to discuss many of the budget's actions including executive budget plan, including ACS capital plan, the virtual programs such as vital programs such as childcare, close to home programs, promise NYC, and foster care.
0:05:59
I'm particularly interested in hearing how ACS is strategizing to meet the multifaceted needs of at risk families across the city and working to increase the utilizations of preventive services that ensures the health, safety, and stability of families and children.
0:06:15
It is the city's response it is the council's responsibility to ensure that the city budget is fair, transparent, and accountable to all New Yorkers.
0:06:23
As the chair of Children's Youth Services, I will continue to push for accountability, accuracy, and ensure the budget reflects the needs of the interest of our city's youth.
0:06:35
I would like to take this time now to thank both staff and committee staff for their help in preparing for this hearing.
0:06:41
Samu Hamid sitting here financial analyst, Julia Harmas unit head, Christine Yemen, legislative counsel, Elizabeth Arz, policy director in the entire 18 back at District 16, and I hope you guys are having a fabulous morning so far.
0:06:58
And at that, I will pass it back to my co chair Justin Burner.