Brooklyn Kids Rally To Save Summer Programs Cut In Mayor’s Budget

Is summer camp for thousands of New York City kids in jeopardy?

Local Council Member Mathieu Eugene, who chairs the City Council’s Youth Services committee, along with youth and teachers from impacted Brooklyn summer programs, and advocates from the Campaign for Children, took over Brooklyn Borough Hall last Thursday to call on the Mayor and the City Council to restore funding for 31,000 summer program slots cut citywide this year.

The funding cuts would affect organizations that contract with the City to provide summer programs for middle school children.

Last week’s rally was “Brooklyn’s response to the failure to include funding for the programs in this year’s executive budget,” the Campaign for Children, a coalition of 150 early childhood education and after-school providers, said in a statement.

As many as 10,000 children in Brooklyn alone could be impacted by the cuts this summer, says the Campaign for Children. The programs “help to close the achievement gap, prevent summer learning loss, and keep children safe while parents work—especially for children in low-income communities,” the advocates pointed out.

According to Chalkbeat, the 31,000 summer seats under debate were funded as part of Mayor de Blasio’s after-school initiative for middle-school children, School’s Out New York City (SONYC.) The Mayor has since said that funding the SONYC summer slots was not viable in the long-term. The City reportedly provided funding for the slots last year on a “one-time basis.”

The City continues to fund other summer after school programs, but advocates released a report earlier this year saying that “a closer look at the seven Community Districts due to lose over 1,000 [SONYC] slots shows that nearly all of these communities have child poverty rates exceeding the citywide child poverty rate of 29.6%.”

Mayor de Blasio and the City Council are currently negotiating the 2016-17 City budget, which goes into effect on July 1st. Groups like the Campaign for Children say that because the school year is rapidly drawing to a close and summer is almost upon us, it will be difficult “to put engaging, high-quality summer programs back in place if funding for these programs is not re-committed soon.”

“Brooklyn families are running out of time to find a safe place for their children to go this summer,” added Gregory Brender of the Campaign for Children.

“I am disappointed that these vital educational programs – which help close the achievement gap and keep our children off the streets – were not included in the Executive Budget,” said Public Advocate Letitia James. “As the budget process continues, we will continue fighting to ensure that our children have every opportunity they need to succeed.”