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New York City FY 2015 Adopted Budget - A Step Towards a More Equitable New York City

Last Thursday, Mayor de Blasio, Speaker Mark-Viverito and the City Council announced a progressive $75 billion budget that truly invests in health and human services and prioritizes the needs of millions of working class New Yorkers as well as immigrant children and families.

We applaud the Mayor and City Council for including the historic Communities of Color Non-Profit Stabilization Fund in the adopted budget at $2.5 million. The funding will be distributed to support the capacity and growth of non-profit organizations serving communities of color. The Fund is the result of more than two years of ongoing advocacy by a unique partnership across the Asian, Latino and African American communities. The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families worked closely with the Hispanic Federation, the NY Urban League, the Asian American Federation, and Black Agency Executives to fight for this initiative.

Jessica S. Lee, Interim Executive Director, stated, "The Asian Pacific American community makes up nearly 14% of the population and has the highest rate of poverty of all racial groups (29.9%). So many families struggle with language barriers and cultural differences, and they cannot just turn to the mainstream organizations for help. Our community-based organizations play a vital role ensuring that children and families can get the services they need. The Non-Profit Stabilization Fund will strengthen these organizations so they can continue to grow and expand their work."

We are also glad to see the City has invested $10.3 million to expand legal services and English classes for the immigrant community. These are vital programs for Asian Pacific American communities that help individuals thrive in the City.

This budget showed a commitment to New York City’s children with summer camp elementary programs funded at $17.5 million to create 22,000 slots and a $10 million by City Council to create additional child care vouchers for low-income families to ensure parents have access to high quality child care. We were also happy to see the City Council supported $15.2 million to create 10,700 summer jobs for youth to create opportunities to apply for jobs, create resumes and gain work experience in fields they are interested in.

CACF was happy to see progressive health measures included in the adopted budget with the increased enrollment in the Affordable Care Act. However, we were disappointed that Access Health NYC was not included as a new initiative to help expand health access and services to various communities in a culturally- and linguistically-competent manner.

In the coming days, CACF will release additional analyses of the budget. We once again thank the Mayor, the Speaker, and City Council for prioritizing New York City children and families in this year’s adopted budget, and we look forward to continuing to work together with the Administration and City Council to ensure a more equitable New York City.

To read the City Council's official press release click here.

Recruiting for 2014-2015 cohort of Asian American Student Advocacy Project (ASAP)

CACF is currently recruiting students to apply for the 2014-2015 cohort of our youth leadership group, Asian American Student Advocacy Project (ASAP)!

We are looking for youth (including graduating 8th graders) who will be attending a New York City public high school in Fall 2014. ASAP youth leaders are chosen from across New York City and represent the diversity of the Asian Pacific American community, and/or youth who have an interest in Asian American issues and education advocacy. They come from all different ethnic backgrounds including but not limited to: Vietnamese, Filipino, Japanese and Korean to Pakistani, Guyanese, Bengali and much more! Applicants are also diverse in culture, gender, sexual orientations, age, ability, class, and immigration history and life experiences. Through ASAP, our leaders have developed many different skills and gained valuable experiences as they work together on youth-led campaigns.

ASAP begins with an 8-day Summer Institute (August 2014) and takes place during the school year on Tuesday’s from 4:30pm-6:30pm in Lower Manhattan. It is open to all NYC public high school students interested in Asian American issues. English Language Learner students are also encouraged to apply! Interested students must complete the application in full and include a letter of recommendation. Upon completion of the program in the following June, participants will earn a certificate, a letter of recommendation, and a $250 stipend.

For more information, please contact Mitchel Wu, CACF Program Manager at 212-809-4675 x107 or mwu@cacf.org.

Click here for the 2014-2015 ASAP application.

CACF STATEMENT ON GOVERNOR’S ADOPTED FY 2014-15 BUDGET

Click here for CACF's budget statement.

MAYOR'S FY 2015 EXECUTIVE BUDGET IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Last Thursday, Mayor de Blasio released his $73.9 B Executive Budget, a budget that “takes a multi-pronged approach to lifting up the city’s economy and creating more opportunity for all New Yorkers.”

Jessica S. Lee, Interim Executive Director at the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families said “According to the Center for Economic Opportunities recent poverty report, in New York City, 29.9% of the Asian Pacific American community, the highest of any ethnic group, lives in poverty. With increasing rates in our community, any cuts of essential programs have a severe impact. We were happy to see that as Mayor de Blasio moves forward in labor negotiations, he has continued kept many of the vital services utilized by the Asian Pacific American community in the Executive Budget, however, we urge him to continue to invest in making New York City more equitable and accessible for all.”

With universal pre-kindergarten and middle school after-school at the core of the Mayor’s priorities, we ask he and the administration to ensure the implementation of the programs include sites that are culturally competent, language accessible schools and community based organizations.

While these programs are essential for all children and families, we were disappointed to see that there was no further investment in adult education; especially with the historic transition in New York State this year from the GED® to the new Common-Core aligned TASC™. This was the year to stand up for the immigrants and hard working adults that drive our economy and simply hope to build a brighter future for themselves and their families.

CACF was happy to see progressive health measures included in the Executive Budget, however, more needs to be done to address health inequities and disparities. Initiatives such as Access Health NYC would greatly expand health access and services to various communities in a culturally- and linguistically-competent manner, while improved community health planning will ensure that those on the receiving end of health programs have greater agency and self-determination of healthcare resources.

As the final negotiations fall on the New York City Council, we urge them to support the Communities of Color Platform and invest in a Nonprofit Stabilization Fund to improve capacity of community based organizations to ensure our most vulnerable populations are being served. We look forward to continuing conversations with the administration and City Council to ensure a more equitable New York City.

CACF STATEMENT ON GOVERNOR’S ADOPTED FY 2014-15 BUDGET

Click here for CACF's budget statement.

MAYOR'S FY 2015 PRELIMINARY BUDGET REFLECTS PROGRESSIVE AGENDA

On Wednesday, February 12, Mayor de Blasio released his $74B Preliminary Budget aiming to “put us on the road to giving New Yorkers a fair shot.” In the Asian Pacific American community, where 1 out of every 2 children is born into poverty and 1 out of 4 children do not graduate high school on time at all, cuts of essential programs have a severe impact.

Jessica S. Lee, Interim Executive Director at the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families said “We were happy to see that many of the vital services utilized by the Asian Pacific American community included in Former Mayor Bloomberg’s November Plan, continued to be baselined in the FY 15 Preliminary Budget. It is clear that Mayor de Blasio wants the budget to reflect a progressive agenda with funding to programs like the Immigrants Opportunities Initiative, the HHC operating subsidy, paid sick leave and funding for identification cards for undocumented workers.”

We are glad to see that education is at the core of the budget and we wholly support Mayor de Blasio’s plan for Universal Pre-Kindergarten and after school for all middle school students. We were also thrilled to see the baselining of the $144 million in child care and after school funding that Mayor Bloomberg cut and the council restored in FY 2014.

As Mayor de Blasio enters tough negotiations with the labor contracts, we ask him and the City Council to work together to keep vital services in the budget and we urge them to ensure the distribution of these funds is inclusive of organizations that are providing culturally competent, language accessible services to the city’s fastest growing community.

Talking Transition: Asian Pacific American New Yorkers Count

On November 22, 2013, Asian Pacific American organizations came together for a Talking Transition session to put forth recommendations to Mayor Elect de Blasio. The policy recommendations below include contributions from community members and Asian Pacific American leaders who provide services to the most vulnerable residents of our city, themselves often without sufficient resources. The recommendations are outlined below are those we hope Mayor de Blasio will consider in addressing the issues in the APA community, and we look forward to finding solutions with the new administration.

Click here for the policy recommendations.

CACF STATEMENT ON GOVERNOR’S PRELIMINARY FY 2014-15 BUDGET

On Wednesday, Governor Cuomo delivered his 2014 State of the State speech and emphasized the progress that the State has made over the last three years. In New York State only 50% of Asian Pacific American (APA) students are considered prepared for post-graduation plans. That number is more disparaging as the rates of APAs and college readiness deceases in urban areas like New York City. We are glad to see that the Governor continues to make education a priority and is taking an early action approach by standing behind statewide funding for Universal Pre Kindergarten. We urge him and the State Legislature to ensure that these programs are reaching Asian Pacific American students, especially the high English language learner population that fills our schools today. His New York Education Reform Commission is a step in the right direction and we applaud the Governor for his efforts to cut down racial and religious discrimination in schools.

We agree with the Governor that the elimination of health disparities must be driven by communities themselves. 1 out of 8 Asian Pacific Americans is uninsured, so we urge the Governor to prioritize that our community is part of the evolving Regional Health Improvement Collaboratives. In this new era of health care reform, community health planning is critical to ensuring a broad spectrum of stakeholders are part of an open public process to shape and improve the availability, accessibility, and quality of healthcare services in their community.

In the Asian Pacific American community, 78% are foreign born with the highest rate of linguistic isolation (43%) so we are deeply concerned with Governor Cuomo’s failure to mention the growing immigrant population in New York State and address the needs of our most vulnerable communities.

As we move forward in this new year, we look forward to working with our State leaders to ensure that the diverse and growing Asian Pacific American community is included in discussions around reform and ensure that our community’s needs are met.

CACF Congratulates First Asian Pacific American Appointment, Bill Chong, Commissioner of the Department of Youth and Community Development

The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) wants to congratulate Bill Chong, our new DYCD Commissioner. With a career dedicated to serving New Yorkers and improving the capacity of community based organizations, we are excited to work with Commissioner Chong to ensure effective community programs are given the resources they need to provide high quality youth and family programming.

As the nation’s only pan-Asian children’s advocacy organization, CACF has worked to develop strong relationships with agencies that interface the most with Asian Pacific American (APA) children and families. We would like to also congratulate Lilliam Barrois-Paoli, incoming Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, Carmen Farina, Schools Chancellor and Gladys Carrion, Commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services. In addition to Commissioner Chong, their experience and knowledge of government systems will help to ensure all New York City’s children have access to the quality services they deserve.

As Mayor de Blasio continues to name the leaders of the city, we urge him to continue to look at talented, dedicated Asian Pacific Americans who understand the needs of not only the APA community, but many of the city’s most vulnerable populations. Congratulations again to all of the newly appointed leadership and we look forward to working together in the future.

Asian Pacific New Yorkers Count: Awareness to Action

On behalf of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) and the Fund for Public Advocacy, it is our pleasure to present the report, Asian Pacific New Yorkers Count: Awareness to Action. This report is a direct response to concerns regarding a lack of data and misunderstandings surrounding the needs of the Asian Pacific American community, and the organizations that serve them. This report presents demographic information on the growth and diversity of the Asian Pacific American community, current services available to the community, and the gaps in services in meeting the needs of different segments of this community. We are grateful for the generous support of the Ong Family Foundation and the research support from the Asian American/Asian Research Institute at CUNY.

Click here for the report.

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