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Q&A
SYEP Metro cards funding and transition to Omni cards discussed
4:10:45
·
176 sec
Council Member Althea Stevens inquires about the additional $11 million in city funding for SYEP Metro cards and the transition to Omni cards. DYCD officials provide information on the planning and implementation of this change.
- DYCD is surveying providers and working with public schools to determine the number of cards needed
- The agency anticipates switching to Omni cards this year instead of Metro cards
- Officials express uncertainty about whether the entire $11 million will be used in fiscal year 2026
- The transition to Omni cards is expected to simplify administration for both DYCD and providers
Althea Stevens
4:10:45
SYP Metro cards, the executive plan includes an additional 11,000,000 for city funding in fiscal twenty twenty six, and so I know that this is a program that we all love and we like, but are we looking at this to adjust something around around this because we do have the omni and I know myself and Rita really were working hard around the omni stuff and so just thinking about how are we looking to adjust that and taking that into consideration.
4:11:13
Are we still at a place where we need the full 11,000,000 and could you just give me some insight around that?
Valerie Mulligan
4:11:18
Absolutely, so we're actively surveying the providers right now and have also been for months before in anticipation of receiving this funding working with our partners at public schools to really understand which students would need access to a card.
4:11:31
So once we get all of our data back from the survey of providers, we're going to assess how many cards each provider needs based on what they think of the population that they have and we'll distribute them that way.
4:11:41
So we'll see how that shakes out in terms of what the financial need is and also to say we are anticipating especially because we got the funding earlier that we'll be able to work with the MTA to get Omni cards this year instead of Metro cards.
4:11:54
So we're really excited to finally be able to make that switch.
Althea Stevens
4:11:57
How many you would receive Metro cards with additional funding?
Valerie Mulligan
4:12:01
So the intention is always that any young person who needs one, meaning any young person who doesn't have a card from public schools, would have access to one if they want.
4:12:10
So that's our ultimate ultimate goal.
Althea Stevens
4:12:12
Yeah.
4:12:12
But how many do we have a number with that 11,000,000 and how many will receive it with that?
4:12:16
Like do we have a breakdown of that number so all hundred thousand would be able to get it in that sync and because I'm asking because we know that there's always kids even before the Omni that had school Metro cards and so I'm just trying to get an accurate number of like how many young people we've been serving with these this 11,000,000.
Valerie Mulligan
4:12:33
I do have the prior year numbers.
4:12:34
I can get you offline of how many we served.
4:12:36
We do expect that to be a little bit different this year because this is the first year that those Omni cards will be able to be used by the students over the summer.
4:12:45
So we do expect the take up rate to be different this year, we're just not sure what it's going be yet.
Althea Stevens
4:12:48
Do you anticipate the entire 11,000,000 will be used in fiscal twenty twenty six?
Valerie Mulligan
4:12:53
We don't know.
Christopher Lewis
4:12:55
Yeah.
4:12:56
We we can't answer at this point as as deputy commissioner Mulligan outlined.
4:12:59
There are there are a lot of changing factors on on how this is gonna be rolled out, but again, the key objective and target here is that these cards would be available to every SYP participant that that needs it.
Althea Stevens
4:13:10
What changes will the agency be making due to the sunsetting of metro cards by MTA?
4:13:15
I know you said this year because you're getting it earlier doing omni.
4:13:18
Are there any other changes that needs to take place?
Valerie Mulligan
4:13:22
No I think the shift to the OmniCard is going to make it much administratively easier for us.
4:13:28
We know it's a big ask of the providers.
4:13:30
They had to have several Metro cards per young person and track them while the OmniCard is going to make it much easier for us to be able to implement them.
4:13:37
But really that's the big shift, know from moving from metro cards to omni cards.