Funding Cuts for Youth Programs to Have Severe Impact in Sunset Park

The Governor’s proposed state budget for the 2011 fiscal year includes an $11 million funding cut for the Advantage After School Program and the elimination of  NY State funding for the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP).

These cuts would have a huge impact in Sunset Park: the Advantage After School Program provides funding for three of the Center’s school-based youth programs, including PS 1, PS 503/PS 506 and MS 136/MS 821. The Summer Youth Employment Program supports over 1,300 summer jobs for teens each year, including hundreds of counselor positions that are essential to the neighborhood’s free summer day camp programs.

On Wednesday, February 10, service providers and advocates testified at a hearing in Albany, urging lawmakers to restore after-school and SYEP funding. Read more from The After-School Corporation on its blog:

If the FY 11 budget is passed as currently proposed by the Governor, FY 11 will see the smallest state investment in after-school since 2000.

“Given the magnitude of these cuts, I worry that this could be the beginning of a dismantling of the statewide after-school system that’s taken a decade to build,” TASC President Lucy N. Friedman said. “These are daily after-school programs that are independent of school budgets. Parents have come to depend on them to engage their kids more deeply in learning and to offer them academic support, enrichments and healthy meals. ”
…

“Not only is SYEP good for young people, it’s also good for the economy,” said Gigi Li, Co-chair of the Campaign for Summer Jobs and Co-Director of the Neighborhood Family Services Coalition. “Youth typically spend the majority of their SYEP paychecks – they use the money to purchase items they need, such as clothes and school supplies, and help support their families. Since SYEP paychecks are going back into the community and helping to stimulate local economies, this is precisely the type of program we need to lift New York out of the recession.”

Advertisement