| Dear friends and colleagues:
As New York City continues to face unprecedented challenges with continued spread of COVID-19, the health and well-being of all New Yorkers remains forefront in our minds. I write today to give you an update on the measures CCC is taking to respond to the pandemic.
First, we want to inform you that, after much thought and discussion, we have made the decision to reschedule CCC’s 75th Anniversary Gala. Please note the gala will now be held on Thursday, September 24 at the same venue, (The Ziegfeld Ballroom, 141 W 54 Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues). This event accounts for nearly half of our annual budget, and we hope you will continue your support.
While this decision was necessary to safeguard the health and well-being of the entire CCC community, we want to assure you that we remain persistent in our advocacy. In these challenging times, New York’s children and families need us now more than ever.
COVID-19 is already impacting the health and well-being of New Yorkers across the city. We are actively leveraging our data, engaging the media, and spearheading advocacy to draw attention to needs and identify methods to address and reduce risk factors that predated the COVID-19 crisis but are profoundly exacerbated now – poor adult and child health; housing instability; food insecurity; inequitable access to the internet, education and care; and heightened risks of child abuse and domestic violence. Our work seeks to inform local, state and federal budget and legislative decisions. In order to make certain CCC remains a vocal and effective champion for New York City’s children, we continue to rely on your support and partnership.
Over the past three weeks alone, the entire staff at CCC has been relentless in working to keep the needs of children and families front and center through regular engagement of the media and of elected and appointed officials. To that end, we released a public statement calling on every level of government to take swift action to ensure that frontline health and human services can continue crucial operations and effectively respond to increased needs.
At the city level, we joined forces with our non-profit partners calling for a coordinated response to ensure that all nonprofit service providers receive planned financial support and the resources needed to be responsive to the communities they serve. The City Administration has thankfully engaged the non-profit community in ongoing discussions and has issued guidance clarifying which services are essential and how the city will support business and service continuity during this period of great uncertainty. This critical step forward protects the human services workforce from massive layoffs and creates the space in which to continue to function, albeit amid the current crisis.
We have partnered with our human services colleagues to call attention to the needs of the non-profit sector at the state level as well, and these discussions are ongoing. We have also leveraged our work with our coalitions and campaigns – the Family Homelessness Coalition; Healthy Minds, Healthy Kids campaign; Raise the Age-NY; and the Child Welfare Financing Coalition – to draw attention to the critical needs of special populations during this time including children who are living in homeless shelters, engaged with the child welfare or juvenile justice systems, and struggling with behavioral health needs. And lastly we have called on federal leaders to ensure that stimulus packages address the needs of the non-profit sector and advance specific proposals to address the immediate health care crisis, as well as increases in economic hardship, hunger, and housing instability, and heightened risk of domestic violence and child abuse and neglect.
As always, our research and data resources continue to inform how we and our partners understand and respond to the needs of children and families. We have released a new edition of Keeping Track of New York City’s Children, calling attention to the importance of a fair and accurate count in the 2020 Census. With these data resources in-hand, our team is working with partners on phone-bank call scripts and youth-led digital strategies to encourage all New Yorkers to do their part to ensure a fair and accurate count of all New York City children in the 2020 Census.
All of this work requires effective internal and external collaboration and partnership, and it is only made possible thanks to the generosity of our supporters. On behalf of the entire team at CCC, I thank you for your continued commitment to our mission to ensure that every child is healthy, housed, educated and safe. |
