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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Ira Yankwitt, Executive Director of Literacy Assistance Center, on Adult Literacy Funding
5:14:53
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112 sec
Ira Yankwitt, Executive Director of the Literacy Assistance Center, testified about concerns regarding DYCD's funding for adult literacy programs. He called for increased baseline funding and continuation of council discretionary funding, highlighting potential vulnerabilities in the current funding structure.
- Requested doubling of DYCD's baseline funding for adult literacy from $12 million to $24 million
- Expressed concern about DYCD's $10 million expansion funding being termed as "initiative funding"
- Emphasized the importance of maintaining $16.5 million in council discretionary funding for flexibility
Ira Yankwitt
5:14:53
Good afternoon, Chair Stevens.
5:14:55
My name is Ira Yankwit.
5:14:56
I'm the executive director of the Literacy Assistance Center and a proud member of the New York City Coalition for Adult Literacy.
5:15:02
And I'm actually going to go off script because I want to devote my testimony to addressing a concern I have with DYCD's testimony earlier today.
5:15:13
I came here today to call on the administration to double the baseline funding for adult literacy programs funded through DYCD from $12,000,000 to $24,000,000 and to also call on the council to maintain its discretionary funding for both the adult literacy pilot and adult literacy initiative at $16,500,000 Earlier today we heard DYCD announce that they are including an additional $10,000,000 for adult literacy expansion funding in their budget which corresponds to previous year's expansion funding that was cut in FY '25.
5:15:47
But curiously, they referred to that funding as initiative funding which is historically the term used to describe the council discretionary funding.
5:15:56
My concern here is this, if DYCD sees itself as picking up that $10,000,000 in initiative funding that the council added last year, but only to use that for one year expansion funding, it makes those programs and that funding very vulnerable next year when we are presumably going to have a new mayor.
5:16:16
Meanwhile, if that means that the council does not continue its initiative, we lose the flexibility and the discretion that we've really enjoyed and appreciated through our partnership from the council.
5:16:27
So I come back to where I started.
5:16:29
The ask is for DYCD not just to add that $10,000,000 but to baseline it for their RFP funded programs, but for the council to also continue to maintain its $16,500,000 in total discretionary funding between the pilot and the initiative.
5:16:44
Thank you very much.