CCC testified about the impact the Fiscal Year 2015 Preliminary Budget would have on children and families served by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), Human Resources Administration (HRA), and Department of Homeless Services (DHS) at the City Council Finance, General Welfare, Women’s Issues, and Juvenile Justice Committees Hearing on March 24, 2014.

CCC’s testimony recognized the critical steps taken in the Preliminary Budget to expand and strengthen the City’s social service network for children and families.  CCC expressed gratitude for the baselining of funds for ACS, DHS and HRA services, including funding for child care centers and family child care networks, Teen RAPP, and emergency food programs, but also noted that the contracts with all of these programs expire on June 30, 2014.

CCC urged the Council to work with the Administration to extend all of the contracts for the City Council discretionary programs now baselined for one year, to give time to institute a more permanent procurement process that recognizes the value of programs long-serving the community.  In addition, CCC made several recommendations with regard to the Executive Budget and urged the City Council to support these priorities.  These recommendations included:

• Restore and baseline funding for the use of EBT in farmers’ markets and increase funding for emergency food programs to meet the increased demand and cost of food.
• Expand funding for programs to address the homeless crisis to ensure that shelters provide safe, clean and service-rich environments for children and families, restore and baseline City Council initiatives aimed at homelessness prevention, and work with the State to develop a new rental assistance program.
• Provide ACS with sufficient funding to address the structural deficit in its child care budget, use new pre-k money to age down the system to serve more children ages 0-3, and ensure the continuity of programs previously funded by the City Council.
• Ensure ACS has sufficient resources to meet new needs identified for child welfare and juvenile justice.