Healthy

Support children’s behavioral health needs in schools and communities

• Baseline $5 million in funding for the Mental Health Continuum, a model for integrating a range of direct services to students with significant mental health needs in high-needs schools partnered with hospital-based clinics ($787,000 from DOE, $3.74 million from H+H, $472,000 from DOHMH)).
• Restore FY24 funding cuts to Council-funded Mental Health Initiatives, including Children Under Five, Mental Health Services for Vulnerable populations, and Autism Awareness; and maintain funding for Developmental, Psychological, and Behavioral Health, LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, and Court-Involved Youth (City Council discretionary funding).
• Invest $3.75 million to enable 50 existing school-based mental health clinics to maintain and expand on-site mental health services for students (DOE).
• Provide $3 million to create a new Youth Mental Health Initiative to provide flexible mental health services for youth programs run by CBOs, with a focus on out-of-school time (City Council discretionary funding).

Enhance access to anti-hunger programs and services.

• Increase funding for the Community Food Connection program (CFC) to $60 million and baseline funding (HRA).
• Invest an additional $150 million in Capital funding for the continued redesign of middle and high school cafeterias (DOE Capital funding).
• Restore $60 million to DOE’s Office of Food and Nutrition Services (DOE).
• Maintain $10 million for the NYCBenefits program to maintain all 36 contractors for the program, protect benefits enrollment and frontline positions, increase wages, and enhance internal systems (HRA).

Housed

• Fund and implement CityFHEPS eligibility expansion, which would remove shelter stay and housing court history requirements, preventing entrance into and expediting exits from shelter (DSS).
• Restore the 2.5% reduction to DHS, HRA and non-profit contracting agencies that were implemented in November 2024 Budget Modification, so public benefits applications can be processed in a timely manner and families can access housing and other supports (DSS).
• Invest $45 million for the Vacant Unit Readiness program, to make available the 5,040 vacant NYCHA apartments (reported to be vacant by NYCHA as of February 2024) available for families and individuals facing housing insecurity (HPD).
• Invest $4.4 million to increase the New York City Commission on Human Rights budget to $18 million in Fiscal 2025, to support voucher-holding households that experience income discrimination (NYC Commission on Human Rights).
• Invest $6.2 million to fund an additional 100 DYCD Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) and young adult beds (DYCD).
• Restore and baseline $1.6 million for the Housing Navigator positions to assist and connect homeless youth with safe housing (DYCD).
• Restore $1.6 million to maintain funding for the 16 Peer Navigator positions in the DYCD-RHY System (DYCD).

Educated

Continue the path to universal birth-to-five care:

• Restore $170 million in city tax-levy funding to early care and education (DOE).
• Invest an additional $45 million, for a total of $60 million, to create 4,000 full-day full-year seats (DOE).
• Invest $10 million to re-establish robust linguistically and culturally appropriate multi-media community engagement and enrollment effort to fill open, budgeted seats (DOE).
• Baseline $25 million for Promise NYC to continue serving undocumented families in search of care (ACS).
• Replace $96 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding for pre-school special education (DOE).
• Save education programs at risk of deep cuts as a result of the expiration of federal COVID-19 funding, including 450 school social workers ($67 million), restorative justice practices ($12 million), and Community schools ($55 million in expiring federal funding, $8 million in November PEGs, and $14 million in one-time city funds) (DOE).

 Support the needs of bi/multilingual and immigrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and students in foster care:

• Invest $5 million to guarantee bus service for students in foster care (DOE).
• Restore $4 million for the immigrant family engagement initiative (DOE).
• Restore and baseline $17 million for translation services and bilingual staff at the DOE (DOE).
• Restore and baseline $12.3 million to maintain 100 DOE Community Coordinators to support students experiencing homelessness (DOE).
• Baseline $3 million to add comprehensive services to the six new English Language Learner (ELL) Transfer School Programs in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn (DOE).

Safe

Focus investments in young families, youth development, year-round employment, and community resources

• Add $5 million to expand guaranteed income programs in the city for low-income mothers with infants as well as child-welfare and justice-involved youth (DSS, DYCD).
• Restore $6.9 million cut from COMPASS Afterschool programs (DYCD).
• Restore $19.6 million cut from Summer Rising (DYCD).
• Restore and baseline $33 million for the Learning to Work program (DOE).
• Invest $58.3 million to the New York, Queens, and Brooklyn libraries (this includes restoring the $22.1 million PEG, reinstates one shot funding of $20.5 million, and covers the $15.7 million subsidy from CC discretionary funding) (Libraries).
• Restore $2.6 million in funding for GreenThumb (Parks)

Promote community safety by investing in youth-led community-rooted initiatives

• Restore the $27.8 million cut to re-entry programming, including: $6.7 million for ATI programs, $13 million for Supervised Release, and $8 million for re-entry programming (DOP).
• Restore the $1.6 million cut to the Arches program, a transformative mentorship program to support 16-24 year olds (DOP).
• Restore $2.6 million cut from the Next Steps program, a mentorship program to support young people aged 16-24 (DOP).
• Invest $5 million for youth ATI/ATD programming through the Department of Probation (DOP).

Economically Secure

• Expand and Invest in Fair Fares to increase income eligibility to 200% of FPL and include $54.2 million in baselined funding, bringing the total baseline budget for Fair Fares up to $149.2 million, to ensure that low-income families have access to public transportation (DSS)