For nearly 75 years, CCC has not wavered from itsrigorous reliance on facts, its uncompromising independence and its tenacious pursuit of justice for the youngest New Yorkers. Our unique brand of advocacy combines research, community education and advocacy to improve public policies that impact the lives of New York’s children, and to bring New Yorkers together in collective efforts to ensure that every child is healthy, housed, educated and safe.

This year was yet another example of how much we can accomplish when we work together to lend our voices to children. Our advocacy helped establish a framework to achieve salary parity in the early education workforce and end an inequity that has undermined the stability of the city’s birth-to-five system. We also secured baselined City funding for 100 Bridging the Gap social workers in schools with high populations of students who are homeless and additional funding to bring 185 social workers to other high-needs schools. We raised awareness around the undercount of young children in the Census and advocated to ensure that local and state funds were allocated to support community-based 2020 Census mobilization efforts. Our work was also instrumental in protecting state money for prevention services for youth at-risk and advancing a series of legislative reforms in New York’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

Our research and data continued to deepen understanding of child and family well-being and undergirded both our successes and the advocacy of our coalitions such as the Campaign for Children, Family Homelessness Coalition and Raise the Age-NY Campaign. This was accomplished by continued expansion of the tools and information available through our data resources on child well-being such as our flagship Keeping Track Online database and our signature Community Risk Ranking publication, as well as timely analyses on pressing issues and community-based assessments on the North Shore of Staten Island and in Elmhurst and Corona, Queens.

We mobilized tens of thousands of New Yorkers to champion practical solutions to the challenges faced by New York City’s children and families. We trained a growing cadre of adult and youth volunteers through the Community Leadership Course and YouthAction programming as well as in policy briefings, trainings and workshops. We also engaged New Yorkers at-large on a wide range of issues through our e-action network and social media, and achieved high levels of visibility across television, radio and online media.

Time and again, we are reminded that advocacy takes time, it takes persistence, but most of all, it takes you. These accomplishments are made possible thanks to the commitment of our Board and Advocacy Council members, the expertise of our staff and community partners, our generous donors, and because of the support of so many individuals who share our vision of positive change for children and families.