On Monday, May 19 CCC Senior Policy Advocate Caitlyn Passaretti gave oral and written testimony to the New York City Council Executive Budget Hearing on Children and Youth. On behalf of CCC, the testimony urges more investment to stabilize afterschool systems, increase child welfare prevention and child care access, support NYC’s Runaway and Homeless Youth System and justice involved youth, and more. 

Read the full testimony below.

Testimony of Caitlyn Passaretti, Senior Policy and Advocacy Associate
Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York 
Submitted to the New York City Council FY’2026 Executive Budget Oversight Hearing
Children and Youth Services Committee 
May 19th, 2025 

Since 1944, Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York has served as an independent, multi-issue child advocacy organization. CCC does not accept or receive public resources, provide direct services, or represent a sector or workforce; our priority is improving outcomes for children and families through civic engagement, research, and advocacy. We document the facts, engage, and mobilize New Yorkers, and advocate for solutions to ensure that every New York child is healthy, housed, educated, and safe.  

We would like to thank Chair Stevens and all the members of the City Council Children and Youth Committee for holding today’s important hearing on the Mayor’s FY26 Executive Budget. Below we include recommendations for how our City can improve access to youth programming and family services that are essential for supporting youth development and professional opportunities, economic security, and community networks.  

Invest in Youth Opportunity, Youth Services, and Workforce Development  

We believe every New York child deserves access to enriching, engaging, and high-quality afterschool programming. COMPASS and SONYC programs can offer art and culture, sports, experiential learning and academic support essential to children’s social-emotional development, health and wellness, and academic success across age ranges. These programs are also a lifeline for working parents who deeply value having their children engaged in programming while they are at work.  

We were pleased that the Administration included $21 million in FY26 to add 5,000 new K-5 afterschool seats, and commits to increase funding to $331 million by FY27 to enable the system to serve over 20,000 more K-5 students by FY28. Though these investments are a crucial step towards achieving universal afterschool, we remain concerned that this funding does not address the staffing crisis afterschool programs are experiencing due to low wages.  SONYC and COMPASS have both been deeply underfunded for years. Providers are being asked by the Department of Youth and Community Development to sign contract extensions that continue to perpetuate deeply inadequate rates that undervalue the workforce and further destabilize the afterschool system. 

CCC, in partnership with the Campaign for Children, urges the City to raise rates for COMPASS and SONYC providers, beginning with a phase in process of a halfway increase of base rates for COMPASS Elementary to $4900, and for SONYC middle school programs to $4150. The end goal must be fully funding elementary and middle school programs in a new procurement in FY27. This change would greatly improve the lives of providers and will also ensure programs are well resourced and robust for youth. The rates must be raised in FY 26 to support an increase in 5000 youth in programs and to ensure providers can offer robust programs.  

The Mayor also promised an RFP and concept paper for COMPASS in his recent announcement, and we urge the City Council to work with the Administration to ensure it is released timely. Moreover, that concept paper must include a model budget reflecting the rates referenced above, allowing the RFP process to begin on an equitable foundation. 

CCC believes it is essential to provide families with free and affordable, high-quality afterschool options for their children. These options can only be available and sustainable if the City commits to funding COMPASS and SONYC with adequate base rates. 

Enhance Summer Programming Efficiency 

We are pleased to see the one-year $19.6 million investment in the Preliminary Budget for Summer Rising. Restoring Summer Rising funding early in the budget cycle allows the City, agencies, and providers to address persistent issues that have plagued the Summer Rising programs. In addition to requesting that this funding be baselined, we urge the City to address the following operational issues to ensure summer programming serves families and youth as effectively as possible:  

• Allow CBOs to control enrollment instead of New York City Public Schools: Currently, NYCPS’s system does not successfully integrate with the program used by DYCD, making it challenging for CBOs to manage enrollment or update waitlists. Returning enrollment control to CBOs will allow them to enroll on-site and manage waitlists directly, thus ensuring available spots are utilized effectively.  

• Inconsistent Paraprofessional Staffing: The availability of paraprofessionals for the full duration of summer programming remains inconsistent, preventing students with disabilities from having the fun and fulfilling summer with their peers that they deserve. 

• Lack of Clear Communication: Communication between NYC Public Schools, the Department of Health, and CBOs remains unclear, especially regarding critical staffing needs, background checks, enrollment, and updated regulations. Improved coordination is essential to the smooth operation of summer programs. 

• Relocation of Programs: Relocating programs to new buildings, especially when CBO staff lack prior relationships, disrupts years of trust and collaboration between CBOs and schools, and can often lead to competition for space with other co-located CBOs. We recommend minimizing relocations and ensuring that adequate time and support are given to both CBOs and NYCPS staff to plan and acclimate to new settings.  

• Flexibility in Scheduling Field Trips: A key request from our programs is the ability to schedule field trips on days other than Fridays. Allowing Summer Rising programs, the flexibility to schedule trips on various days would enhance the overall summer experience for participants, providing a more dynamic and engaging program. 

Finally, we urge the City to implement summer programs that provide greater choice to families. It is inequitable that the only free option available for low-income families requires a summer school model, while many youth and families prefer full-time camp options with more flexible programming. We look forward to collaborating with city leaders to support and expand models that meet the needs of families and provide enriching programming for youth. 

Enhance Services for Systems-Involved Youth and Families 

Restore Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) and Supportive Programming for Youth and Young Adults 

Extensive research demonstrates the positive impacts of ATI and reentry programs, including lowering recidivism and crime.1 Moreover, for every dollar invested in ATI programs, studies estimate between $3.46-$5.54 in returns, in addition to reduced costs for the criminal justice system and better community health outcomes.2 

We are glad that the Executive Budget restored and baselined $7.6 million for Alternatives to Incarceration and $4.7 million for re-entry services. These restorations will ensure these programs can support New Yorkers through case management, therapy, housing, employment training and more. 

However, a number of critical prevention programs failed to receive restorations in the Executive Budget. We therefore urge City leaders to support the following investments in the FY26 budget:  

• Restore and baseline $3.3 million to the IMPACT program, an alternative to placement program for young people who would otherwise be sent to Horizons or Crossroads    

• Restore and baseline $2.6 million for Next STEPS (cut August 2023), which offered one-on-one and group mentoring within a cognitive behavioral therapy-based curriculum designed to help young adults make the attitudinal and behavioral changes necessary to avoid criminal activity and re-engage with education, work and community 

Deepen Investments in the Runaway and Homeless Youth System 

Numerous challenges currently face Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) in New York. The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) is mainly responsible for supporting this population; however, it is not uncommon for RHY to also be involved with ACS, DHS, and HRA in the efforts to find housing or social services. We must ensure that Runaway and Homeless Youth have access to more beds and more support. Since youth do not have a right to shelter and DYCD does not have enough beds for young people (especially older youth), many young people are driven onto the streets or into dangerous living situations. We therefore urge the City to increase the rates for providers, which have not been updated since 2017, to $70,000 per bed. This investment will provide safe, temporary housing for youth who otherwise would be without a stable option. 

Furthermore, we also urge the city to restore and baseline $1.62 million to maintain funding for the Peer Navigator positions and $1.5 million for the 16 housing specialists in the DYCD-RHY System. The housing and youth services systems are complex and convoluted, and it is critical to have a trusted support person to offer advice, resources, and answers for young people. 

Additionally, we echo the calls of the Runaway and Homeless Youth providers on the following investments to support this population of young people: 

• Baseline $1.03 million for Street Outreach and Drop-in Centers 

• Invest $1.63 million to support services for newly arriving youth and unaccompanied minors 

• Invest $625,000 for Youth-specific Immigration Legal Services  

• Invest $2.6 million for two Mental Health-Focused Transitional Independent Living Pilots. To address the significant mental health needs of RHY, we propose funding two pilot programs that include on-site clinical services and intensive case management. These programs will offer the specialized care necessary to stabilize youth with complex mental health challenges. 

Invest in Child Welfare Primary Prevention and Workforce Stability  

Fundamental to preventing child welfare involvement is investing in the primary prevention supports families need to be safe and secure, including housing, child care, healthy food, and economic supports.   

At the same time, families currently in the system struggle to access the services they need because the prevention workforce is in crisis.  

CCC and the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies (COFCCA) embarked on a survey project to understand the impact of the change from the 2020 ACS child welfare prevention contracts, the sustainability of the workforce, and the needs of families. Over 300 survey responses from child welfare prevention workers were collected. Based on preliminary review, we have found that:

Survey respondents also had the opportunity to expand on their experiences:  

• “…staff morale seems to be impacted by the delayed COLA hikes.” 

• “Many staff feel unappreciated for the hard work they do and not getting paid for it. Can cause staff to start looking elsewhere.” 

• “Delayed payments can lead to interruptions in service delivery, making it difficult to maintain consistency in family engagement and case management”  

To help ensure that prevention services can best serve children and families, we recommend the following: 

• Enhance child welfare prevention contract flexibility to allow providers the ability to aptly respond to different family circumstances  

• Invest in salary increases, scholarships and tuition assistance to help agencies sustain a highly trained and credentialed child welfare workforce. 

• Ensure that child welfare staff are paid competitive salaries and agencies are paid the true cost of services on prevention contracts.  

• Reform the current NYC procurement system to ensure timely payments to contracted agencies. 

Support Families in Need of Child Care 

Promise NYC provides childcare assistance to low-income families who may be ineligible for other, federally funded subsidized childcare. While we are grateful that funding was restored in the Executive Budget, it was only one year funding. All parents want a safe, high-quality, and culturally responsive place for their children to learn, and Promise NYC provides this option. We strongly support the City Council’s proposal increasing and baselining $60 million for Promise NYC to ensure that all families can access child care, while also expanding access to infants and toddlers ages 0-2 without eligibility requirements. 

Supporting Critical State Investments

Address the CCAP Funding Cliff That Threatens Child Care Assistance for Thousands of New York City Families 

In recent years, New York City and other counties have significantly expanded the number of children receiving child care assistance, and have used the Child Care Block Grant (CCBG) to fund this enhanced access.  CCBG funds are used to provide child care assistance to families on cash assistance; contracted child care for children 0-2 years old and 3-and 4-year-olds in extended day/year; and child care vouchers for low-income families engaged in work, training or other qualified activities.  

In February 2025, New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) shared that the state Child Care Block Grant (CCBG) funds will be exhausted as early as summer 2025.  This is due to a combination of significant and targeted increases in child care assistance uptake; increased market rates; and the re-institution of engagement requirements for families on cash assistance, which will increase the demand for child care assistance as parents return to work and training activities. Between June 2022 and February 2025, the number of children using low-income child care vouchers in NYC increased by over 700%. 

The City estimated that without additional funding, thousands of families would lose child care access. The city has already paused enrollment and set up a waitlist for vouchers for low-income families.  

The FY26 State Budget included $350 million for New York City’s Child Care Assistance Program. However, the state is statutorily requiring the city to spend at least $328 million on CCAP in order to draw down state funding (the city currently contributes approximately $53 million to the program). The City’s own estimates indicate that closer to $900 million is needed to meet the full need. It is therefore imperative that New York City not only meet the $328 million statutory requirement, but also provide at least $350 million to match the state’s investment.  

We urge City leaders invest at least $350 million  in the Child Care Assistance Program to enable the City to pull down the maximum amount of state and federal funding that supports child care vouchers for tens of thousands of low-income families. We also urge city leaders to work with OCFS to locate a permanent remedy for maintaining access to child care vouchers for families going forward. 

Raise the Age Waiver of Hardship  

Last fall marked six years since Raise the Age was first implemented across New York State, ending a shameful chapter in our history of prosecuting 16- and 17-year olds as adults regardless of the offense. Prior to the passing of this legislation, thousands of 16- and 17-year-olds were held in dangerous conditions on Rikers Island and other adult jails across the state. Moreover, these youth were systematically locked-out of age-appropriate services in family court programs designed to meet the needs of adolescents and avoid the barriers of an adult criminal record.  

Youth crime has consistently decreased since Raise the Age implementation in 2018. In New York City alone, since 2013 there has been a 48% decrease in adolescent arrests for serious offenses.1 Evidence from implementation across the State clearly shows how the law has improved community safety and youth well-being.  

Despite making up half of the state’s youth justice system population, New York City is currently excluded from accessing the Raise the Age funding because the City exceeds the tax cap prescribed by state law. However, it is possible to access this funding by submitting a waiver of hardship, indicating that our city and our programs need the resources that are available through the Raise the Age law. New York City accounts for half of the state’s youth justice system population and should be able to access more funding. However, Mayor Adams has yet to apply for the waiver of hardship, despite the administration’s claim that the current fiscal cliff necessitates drastic cuts to many of the supportive services and programs that are vital to New York City’s youth and families. 

It is critical to invest in programs and organizations that are serving our communities through youth development, violence-prevention services, and other alternatives to incarceration to prevent the necessity of further investment in the carceral system. We therefore urge the Council to work with the Mayor and the Administration to submit a letter with the waiver of hardship to allow NYC to be considered for the funding. This would be beneficial for young people and community-based organizations offering these services alike.   

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony.