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Of New York City’s 1.9 million children and teenagers, more than half are born into poverty, only 60% graduate from high school on time, approximately 80,000 need child care, 450,000 need out-of-school-time services, 329,699 have mental health needs, 24,823 have been abused or neglected and 12,313 are homeless.
Who speaks for them? since 1944, Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York, Inc. (CCC) has been providing a voice for children, especially poor and vulnerable children and children with special needs. As New York City’s only locally-based, multi-issue child advocacy organization, CCC stands up for children because we know that our future - and the future of our city - depends on it.
The dream of a healthy, vibrant and productive tomorrow hinges on Securing Every Child’s Birthright to be healthy, housed, educated and safe today. CCC helps make that dream a reality by mobilizing New Yorkers who are committed to making what is best for children a priority. Together, we champion children who cannot vote, lobby or advocate on their own behalf to secure the rights, protections and services they deserve. Together, we get policymakers to listen and act.
Working with thousands of New Yorkers, CCC is making New York City a better place to be a child.
- Expertise, research capacity and rigorous fact-based analysis relied upon by policymakers, professionals, parents, journalists and others in need of timely and accurate information about New York City children.
- Breath of focus which addresses all the key issues affecting children and families.
- Independence from government funding which allows us to develop impartial positions.
- Unique collaboration of experts, professional staff and citizen volunteers - both adult and youth - to research issues and advocate for change.
- Commitment to ongoing monitoring of programs, policies and budgets to determine their effectiveness and suggest improvements.
- Outreach to New Yorkers across the five boroughs through public education campaigns, policy reports and briefings, leadership courses for youth and adults, and e-advocacy.
Fact-Finding Analysis and Research
Our work builds from a base of facts that are collected routinely and reviewed rigorously.
CCC's Keeping Track of New York City’s Children is an authoritative status report on NYC's children and has become required reading for city and state policymakers. Keeping Track serves as an encyclopedia of child well-being - cataloging the facts and telling a story of what life is like for a child growing up in New York City.
Where there is little information on a subject, we develop task forces as vehicles to collect facts and create a record. To gain a richer understanding of the facts, we supplement our analysis of primary source data with our own independent qualitative research comprised of focus groups and one on one interviews with program administrators, service providers and service recipients.
Community Education
CCC makes the most of our analytic and qualitative research by sharing information with New Yorkers. We facilitate the use of our data among other child advocates, service providers, schools, foundations, reporters, community and civic organizations, as well as parent groups and government agencies. We conduct policy briefings for in-depth discussion of current topics. Our newsletter and e-alerts keep New Yorkers and our volunteers informed on a regular basis on policies, reform plans and emerging problems. We educate our volunteers on state and city budgets, training them to understand our priorities in the context of legislative budget negotiations. Our budget analyses are widely distributed and available online.
Advocacy
All of CCC's work comes together when we reach out to city and state elected and appointed officials and policymakers to urge them to create and implement policies, legislation and budgets that effectively meet the needs of children and families. Our advocacy involves a multi-pronged approach to draw attention to the needs of children: meeting with elected and appointed officials; developing and distributing budget and legislative recommendations; testifying at hearings and public meetings; and conducting briefings and press conferences on critical issues.
CCC also has an online E-Action Network to get information quickly to New Yorkers who can then contact key stakeholders - state and local elected and appointed officials. Our e-alerts bring timely information to this online community and our e-action campaigns provide e-advocates with the opportunity to take action on a shared agenda to improve the well-being of New York City's children.
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