[Music] good morning and welcome to today's New York City Council hearing fiscal year 2024 for the committee on finance at this time please silence all cell phone and electronic devices once again silence all cell phones and electronic devices if you have testimony uses submit for the record you may do so via email at testimony council.nyc.gov once again that is testimony at council.nyc.gov at any time throughout the hearing councilman Council staff or members of the public please do not approach the Deus we thank you for your cooperation chair we are ready to begin okay thank you sergeant good morning welcome to the 12th and final day of fy24 executive budget hearings I'm council member Justin Brannan chair of the committee on finance and today the entire day will be given directed towards public testimony which we look forward to I just want to start we've been joined by council members Marte osei Hudson Powers Lewis and Shulman as well as Lee and Carr uh since Monday May 8th this committee has conducted more than 67 hours of financial oversight hearings over 11 days in partnership with our colleagues on 21 committees taking testimony from over 30 Municipal agencies offices departments and Boards we've exercised our oversight of the mayor's proposed executive budget for the next fiscal year scrutinizing how it would allocate your tax dollars to ensure that your city remains a place that supports all New Yorkers as they live and work we've evaluated this document to determine if it will best position ourselves for the Times ahead while holding true to the principles and values which set us apart from anywhere else in the world both the speaker and I recognize the critical moment for our city as we turn to budget negotiations over the next month the council requires a budget that meets the needs of New Yorkers and protects against future risks both the city can't work with anything less I want to take this time to again express my sincere thanks to every last member of the finance division for the long days and serious work put into every report every question every briefing for this hearing process I want to thanks as well to the sergeant-at-arms and the I.T division for making these Council move smoothly every day who work hard behind the scenes to keep things moving smooth I'll now turn to committee Council Mike Toomey for some Logistics and then we're going to begin calling up panels thank you all for joining us today good morning and welcome to the public portion of the fiscal 2024 executive budget hearing I am Mike zumie councils of the finance committee we have nearly 300 persons signed on to speak today to assure that everyone gets to be heard we will be limiting spoken testimony to two minutes per person for in-person Testimony the Bell will sound notifying time has elapsed and for remote testimony the sergeant-at-arms will let you know when time has elapsed we will begin with in-person testimony until 1 pm after which we will alternate between one panel of in-person testimony and one panel of remote testimony for people testifying in person please fill out a witness slip from the front uh for the record and hand to the Sergeants if anyone needs translation services please inform the sergeants before speaking we will also accept written testimony to enter into the record for up to 72 hours after the hearing has concluded written testimony may be submitted to testimony at council.nyc.gov and maybe as long as you wish we'll now begin the first panel of witnesses first panel will be Henry garrido Pat Kane Leroy Barr Henry Rubio James Davies and Shirley aldebaugh you may you may begin when you're ready good morning um I'm Henry guerrito I'm the executive director of District Council 37 the largest Municipal Union in New York City representing approximately 150 000 city workers and close to 100 000 retired workers um I wanted to come here today in addition to what we submitted in in written testimony to ask for your help and to plead for your intervention as of last week we have 25 000 vacancies in the city of New York many many of which are in critical conditions uh in the same positions that we were touting workers to be essential so today for instance on my way here we got notified that the New York Police Department tends to eliminate 500 crossing guards from this budget out of 2000 that exist now that is not only one of the lowest paid positions in the city of New York but also they provided an important service for your constituency and I think part of the problem we have is the way they approach the Administration has had to get to a reduction in the budget I.E a PEC program we learn a second round of Peg was announced by the director of OMB touting the collective bargaining agreement recently reached by DC 37 and um and also the influx of migrants here to the city of New York and while we respect the um the position from OMB I want to remind folks that it is our dc37 members who are providing services to those migrants and so we were surprised to hear of the many Cuts we're here to talk about libraries we're here to talk about health care workers we're here to talk about people who work in the hospitals in the Parks we cannot continue with this level of shortness and I want to conclude by talking about Revenue producing titles that we have in the Department of Finance and elsewhere there was always an adage that you don't reduce those because it's the equivalent of cutting your nose to spike your face right now we have approximately 15 vacancies on Dov workers that could be generating permits we have about 20 vacancies in finance for tax collectors tax Auditors people who are generating Revenue by doing the work we have the same issue in the Sheriff's Department this is not good practice because we're losing millions of dollars in Revenue that the city could be using for other worthwhile projects thank you Mr chairman and rest of the members of the committee for your attention today good morning my name is Pat Kane I'm a registered nurse and I'm the executive director of the New York State Nurses Association nice new members who work in this in our City's 11 public hospitals and form mayoral agencies are fighting for a fair Union contract to stop the crisis of understaffing and high turnover that harms care for New York City's most vulnerable patients and Care also for our First Responders in the case of the mayoral agencies public Hospitals and Clinics are the backbone of Health Care in New York City they represent one-fifth of all inpatient beds half of all level one trauma care and almost half of all inpatient psychiatric beds our public sector nurses got this city through the pandemic treating the largest share of coveted patients providing 1.75 million coveted vaccines and preventing thousands of hospitalizations and additional deaths no private system was remotely capable or prepared to implement the public health infrastructure that saved New York when compared to New York City Health and hospitals our public Hospitals and Clinics also lost the most nurses and health care workers to covet one out of every two health and hospitals nurses got sick at work in the early months of the pandemic the majority of knysna members who died of covid-19 on the front lines were from the public sector although HMA are all members represent 35 percent of New York City members they accounted for 53 percent of the deaths that we experienced in our Union and we all got out there and banged pots and pans for our nurses and all the essential workers include our and call these people Heroes but New York City clearly is not treating them like Heroes right now nurses in the public sector and and by extension the patients and the communities that they serve are under resourced understaffed and underpaid we call on the administration of fully fund H and H R Staffing in this budget we're hemorrhaging nurses at least 40 percent quit before even making it one year on the job and go to the private sector where they can earn nineteen thousand dollars a year more public sector nurses care for our most vulnerable patients who are mostly black and brown and low income and the high turnover in crisis in understaffing is making it harder for them to serve these communities and give these people the care that they deserve we're just not doing enough to recruit and retain experienced nurses there is a simple solution that solution is pay equity for our public sector nurses pay Equity is an issue of Health Care equity and racial Justice New York City's public sector nurses need pay Equity to recruit and retain enough experienced caregivers to provide the best care for our patients and First Responders but instead of raising pay for these nurses New York City is spending 1.2 million dollars a day on temporary travel nurse contracts to fill these Staffing gaps last year the city spent over 549 million dollars on agency contract nurses three times what it would cost to bring our public sector nurse wages to parity with the private sector we're spending more money on keeping these wages low on travel nurses than it would cost to do what it takes to take proper care of these nurses and the patients that they serve we have over 2 000 vacancies in the private in the public sector not we've just been unable to fill because of the low pay much lower than the industry standard this is the number one way to ensure safe safe Staffing and instead of spending on temporary travel nurses who make up 25 percent right now of the nursing Workforce the city can raise pay of the staff nurses for a fraction of that cost staff are hospitals safely with local new york-based nurses that care for their neighbors and protect our City's essential public health system and workers patties need you to wrap Ty just need you to wrap up oh sure we can't have Health Equity for our public hospital patients without the pay Equity that we need to keep nurses at the bedside we do have a clause in our contract that's been inactive for a number of years we need to activate that Clause now we've been saying that for many years um and you know saw this impending crisis on the way but we're in a crisis situation right now with the shortage and all the money that the city's spending on travel nurses thank you very much thank you good morning my name is Leroy Barr and I have the privilege of serving as the secretary for the United Federation of teachers thank you finance chair Justin Brannan and thank you to the finance committee Members First let me thank you for your advocacy on behalf of the city's Educators and for your determination to fund our public schools and protect them from any unnecessary and disruptive classroom budget cuts as everyone in this room knows we cannot have a repeat of this past September when three quarters of our schools so that individual budgets cut I was heartened to hear Chancellor Banks say earlier this week that this four schools will be held harmless for their initial budget allocations compared to this year so that no school would get lower initial out locations we are here today to call for that promise to be extended to the full 2023-24 school year and not have schools face mid-year adjustments that mean enrichment the Arts and supports for newcomers get cut we are here today to call for the whole harmless promise to be extended for the full school year so that schools are not for us mid-year to share classroom teachers collapse classes and increase class sizes Educators parents and advocates for for decades for the class size reduction law that Albany recently passed this September the first 20 percent of New York City's classrooms are required by law to meet the new small class size thresholds by Doe's own estimates 39 of classrooms can today this minute meet those thresholds we need to preserve and build on that Albany has done the right thing and increased its funding for New York's schools to pay for the law that they pass we are here saying we stand with you as you work to make sure New York City does right by its public school students and Educators and does not cut school funding at any time next year thank you for your time thank you good morning I'm James Davis president of the professional staff Congress City University of New York uh first thank you chair Brandon for the opportunity to speak and thank you council members for your hard work during challenging budget negotiations I'm here to ask you to invest in the City University and to oppose the budget cuts that have been proposed by the executive we represent 30 000 faculty and staff at CUNY at 18 colleges and six graduate and professional schools and right now public higher education historic system in the city is at serious risk the recently finalized state budget includes 103 million in new operating dollars most of that will benefit the senior colleges budget cuts by the city would undermine the state support that CUNY received and hurt the community colleges the most as you know investment in CUNY yields immense dividends not only in the tax base and the earning potential of the graduates but also in the generations that follow in the families and the communities the federal pandemic relief funds for CUNY are about to expire so the cuts in the pegs are really excruciating after multiple pegs cuny's cumulative budget reduction from the current and prior Financial plans totals over 60 million dollars and that means the elimination of 363 civilian and pedagogical positions without Operational Support vacancies for full-time faculty advisors mental health professionals and others won't be filled students will receive severely diminished support towards their degree progress now the CUNY Administration has responded with a directive that each campus carve out five to seven percent from its fiscal 2024 budget that means hiring freezes a central vacancy review board so you have psc's updated priorities in my written testimony they highlight student supports and Advising services and this is one reason why we're really thrilled to see the council's support for 35 and a half million dollars in funding for academic advisors thank you for that um that's going to be essential to the success of the initiative that speaker Adams began with CUNY reconnect we're gratified to see that the mayor has now also supported CUNY reconnect so we really are urging you to remain bold during the budget negotiations for historic investments in academic advising I think I don't need to repeat the fact that only eight percent of cuny's buildings are in a state of good repair so we also strongly support the University's capital budget requests for 22.5 million dollars so in closing over the next few months tens of thousands of CUNY students are going to be graduating from our community colleges and all the way to graduate schools and they're going to enter the workforce and enhance their communities we are calling on you to honor their tenacity during these unprecedented times and invest in the next generation of CUNY students thank you okay [Music] thank you James go ahead good morning chairman Brennan and members of the committee my name is Shirley aldebaugh and I'm Executive Vice President of SEIU 32bj as you are aware 32j is the largest Property Services Union representing service workers across the East Coast with over 85 000 members in New York City I'm speaking to you today on behalf of 5200 cleaners and handy persons employed by New York City School Support Services to call on city council to fully fund our city schools including funding for schools cleaning and maintenance since the outset of covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 the importance of the vital services that these workers provide to our city has been apparent more apparent than ever these workers were on the front lines and put themselves at risk in order to keep students and staff healthy while schools were closed during the pandemic they became Resource Centers child care centers for children of First Responders food distribution hubs covet testing sites and more the schools facilities staff made this made sure that the schools could remain healthy and safe places for the community at large as we continue to emerge from our Global This Global Health Emergency schools cleaners continue to play a crucial role whenever schools spaces might be utilized to help confront unforeseen challenges that we Face including Sheltering migrants in their desperate time of need and we think that we think about the year ahead spending to ensure that New York City's public school buildings are clean and safe must be a top priority the administration commitment to reading and other education fundamentals can only be achieved in a clean and safe environment while there are no proposed Cuts in the mayor's budget for the next fiscal year there remains a significant Gap from the current funding levels to what a fully funded facilities budget should be if this Gap is not closed now it will continue to grow every year and school facilities May face Cuts in the future cuts and Facilities maintenance budget would have a detrimental impact on student learning and would impact the ability of staff to provide a clean and safe environment for New York City school students and faculty we believe that this year we have an opportunity to fix this problem and to make sure that New York City students continue to be educated in a clean safe and healthy environment thank you good morning good morning chair Brennan and distinguished members of the city council thank you for conducting such an important hearing today I am Henry Rubio and I have the privilege of representing the serving as the president of the council for school supervisors and administrators and on behalf of the 17 000 school principals assistant principals education administrators and early childhood directors we thank you for the opportunity to speak today now given the Monumental needs of our City's schools either due to the pandemic learning loss the need for greater Mental Health Services enrollment declines and the critical needs of our Asylum seeking students and the Investments that we need to begin to make now in order to ensure compliance with the State's new class size legislation we should be investing one billion dollars into our school system and not entertaining cuts we have several concerns you can find them in detail in our own testimony however Chief among our concerns is a foundational issue it's a foundational issue regarding paid parity for our early childhood directors as we all know early childhood directors do a vital job in preparing our children for kindergarten it lays the foundation for their entire education and by extension their entire career and for every dollar we spend on early childhood education we are um you know getting gained so many more in the future the success of the city's Pre-K and 3K initiatives are dependent they are dependent on the CBO directors who work tirelessly as a city face covid-19 pandemic and since March of 2020 the New York City early childhood education programs have been the lifeline of our City's families they served our communities as essential workers and often worked 10 hour days in person and provided the city the city's youngest and most vulnerable with the much needed sense of normalcy during a very difficult time as it stands now a city-funded salary for a professional is less than half yes less than half of what the Department of Education pays their colleagues in the DOE and 90 percent of these members these professionals are black and brown women of color this is egregious it's an egregious disparity that exists in our system that we must end today and now is the time and now is the place to rid this problem once and for all in the city council's response to the mayor's preliminary budget the council advocated for 46 million dollars toward pay parity we are deeply deeply grateful for that the council for the council calling for them to right that wrong just as you did last year unfortunately the council was unable to secure the funding during the final budget negotiations of last year we asked you today we implore you that you ensure this funding is finally included in the budget to support these incredible CBO leaders who we at CSA and their communities believe they are heroes thank you for your time and attention we look forward to working with you and thank you very much thank you all we've also been joined by council members Moya Ayala farius and Joseph as well as nurse and we have some questions from my colleagues as well I just first want to ask Mr garrito what in your opinion do you think the city could be doing better to fill some of those those 20 20 000 plus vacancies and thank you Mr chairman as you know uh District Council 37 launch a partnership with the Department of City Wire administrative services and City Hall to promote hiring halls and they've been extremely successful we've had it in several your colleagues District um and we averaging about 2 000 people coming to those hiring halls and in many instances we have to turn people away so I don't think it's really an issue of people not wanting to work we've seen that demonstrated in the lines that show up to all these we've had nine so far as a matter of fact this afternoon we'll be holding one in Flushing I think that we got a look beyond the issue of what in fact people can look in I think we have negotiated a salary suppression you've heard from my colleagues here how salaries is a big issue we are currently negotiating a remote work policy that allows us for flexible work look the the word of work has completely changed this nine to five 40 Hour Work Week doesn't work anymore we have to figure out how do we Implement Flex schedules to allow people to have more time for their families we started uh in this collective bargaining agreement the child care fund that was negotiated but that's coming from negotiations the city needs to do more in trying to recruit and retain Folks by looking at child care as a main issue especially when you have a lot of Industries where you have single women and First Responders and then lastly look the issue between flexible work schedule remote work paying folks better child care I think there's also has to be a push from this Council the process between by which the agency referred my position to 1B and then OMB rejects them back constantly whether it's because of salary or requirement that is not the way of moving forward in Staffing those positions you need to make sure that you know like a budget is a is a statement of values if you think if you appreciate education you're going to make sure that education is funded if Healthcare is your concern you want to make sure that Health Care is funded and I believe that we haven't followed that principle in this budget Pat could you give us an on uh Elmhurst Hospital are you talking about the resident strike yeah um we've been out there with the residents um I don't have an update today from the from the cir um you know we're very concerned obviously about the situation um and quite honestly our little bewildered you know in other places they've been able to do that I think everyone saw what we were able to do in the private sector and then you know all of us kind of raising people up especially at this time that was really critical um to keep people in the health care Workforce I mean it's really sad to see and from our perspective you know when you see and a lot of my colleagues here and I'm a CUNY graduate um you know you see folks um go to school in many cases you know especially in in the professions that that we're dealing with you know really raising up it raises everyone up right their family their community and then to see people face these kind of challenges um you know when it comes to being able to make a decent living and not being treated the same you know I think we can't talk about an equitable recovery without really you know addressing these issues because when we're undervaluing the workers that we're talking about we're really undervaluing the communities that they serve right um so we are very concerned about it and just really hope that our siblings are able to um to go back to work that's what we all want to do you know it takes a lot for especially health care workers to be outside the building and withholding their labor it really takes a lot what's the latest at Methodist um so uh Methodist which is now as you know part of the Presbyterian system um we are having a problem bringing that to settlement we have not served notice on the employer there we actually have bargaining um tomorrow we're hoping that um you know we see we definitely see a path forward there and like I said it's kind of no mystery you know I think from the beginning of the year we've seen what has to happen to keep our health care Workforce strong and retain these experienced nurses um you know and that's a facility again when it comes to Psychiatric Services they've only reopened half of those beds they have an open reopen the rest of them um you know and for the inpatient Psychiatric Services and you know and I know some of my colleagues here I've worked with on Hospital pricing that's a situation where we see the same prices in the Manhattan Hospital there as in the Brooklyn hospital when you go to those resources and look up the pricing so to think that you know the prices are the same but you're going to undercut the staff not provide the same kind of Staffing not provide the same kind of wages um you know honestly that that doesn't seem fair not just to the workers but to the to the patients as well Henry could you talk a little bit about last year at the FY 23 budget the council fought for 46 million dollars for increased wages for Pre-K and Day Care daycare workers special ed um you talk a little bit about the importance of pay parity for for your Early Childhood thank you uh chair it is extremely important in our early childhood system uh our cbo's are having difficulty retaining teachers and supervisors at this point right now our supervisors are actually learning earning less money than the teachers they supervise wow add insult to injury the uh the contract that we last negotiated for those supervisors allowed the city to pay them six percent above the teachers and the city won't even do that our early childhood directors are holding on waiting for this Council in this mayor to make a move many of them could reside today and go teach in a classroom and make more money but they don't want to do that they're happy leading their communities they're sponsoring boards and their cbo's are happy with them and it's very difficult for them to earn a living and our CBO Partners know that they're having a difficult time both recruiting and retaining folks and often when there's a position opening the doe they leave and they go to the doe they make twice as much money yeah um James because what's the cumulative amount of cuts to being threatened to CUNY cumulative is uh 61.5 million uh between the uh the the rolled over pegs and the proposed pegs yeah so as I said My Testimony it's about 360 uh civilian and pedagogical positions in total that are being eliminated through the vacancies okay I want to turn to my colleagues or questions we have a long day uh starting with council member osei followed by Shulman thank you chair I want to start with a question um about the cuts to to CUNY so you Dr Davis I know that the mayor is proposing millions of dollars of budget cuts to our community colleges how do you see that affecting some of our students most especially admissions to students knowing that CUNY is is one of our greatest you know systems to adding to the city-wide Workforce that we see here in New York thanks for the question council member um you know I'm so proud of the work that my members do and as somebody who taught for 18 years before I came into this position is extraordinary what happens at CUNY every day um but it takes resources and the community colleges are cut to the Bone right now um you know just for some examples your point you know the the investment in CUNY reconnect has been has been really dramatic right it's brought some 16 000 students who have college credit back to the colleges not only to the community colleges but it's especially beneficial for community colleges and the question really is what kind of what kind of schools are they going to come back to right are they going to be retained or are they going to stop out are we going to support them to graduation that takes additional investment so just to put it concretely you know it's it's very Stark is the library going to stay open for the students who can only attend on the weekends or the evening will they have access to Computing centers will they have academic advisors mental health supports I mean just all of the supports that it actually takes outside of the classroom to move someone through thank you thank you and Mr Barr what are you seeing in terms of the state's financial support compared to the city's support thank you uh council member oh say here's what we know to be true um the state has increased is share support for the City Public Schools unfortunately the city of New York its share has decreased the city is not passing it all onto our schools city-wise so the state share the state share of the budget New York City's budget went from 37 percent in fiscal year 2021 to 42 percent in fiscal year 2024. in the executive budget the city share dropped from 52 percent in fiscal year 2021 to 45 percent in 2024 and the executive budget just by those numbers alone they're getting more funding from the state but giving less funding to our schools and this has been happening under this new Administration yes sir so what what we're asking is that at the very least at the very least the extra money that we're getting from the state should be passed on to our schools for the people who are doing this work for the children who need this to to to to to to deal with the learning loss that has taken place for the last two three years and all of the things that we all know go into making sure that our schools work well such as lower class size right the campaign for fiscal activity money is a is is a fight that took place at the state for over 20 years the state finally funded that right what we're asking is that for all those funds all the funds that the state is now sending to this city to be passed on to our schools as well thank you and thank you chair member Schulman followed by Hudson I have a statement and a question so I first I want to thank all of you and your members for the excellent work that they do for our city and I also want to tell you that in the last two weeks of budget hearings of which I participated in in all of them the council's been relentless on the Staffing levels we've been relentless on um the budget you know the budget shortfalls and we've been Relentless and challenging the budget projections because the city projects much less Revenue than the council does one of the questions I want to ask each of you is what kind of participation in terms of a budget issue do the Asylum Seekers the migrants coming in present to all of you because that's been brought up to us on a consistent basis so we want to put this on the record for you well I I'm sure we want to talk about the schools but I could tell you that we have gone beyond the the proverbial taking Peter to pay Paul like that we're taking staffers that are working in City shelters to staff some of the new migrant centers staffers that work in an HRA processing you know New Yorkers who are here prior to the migrants coming in there's a huge waiting list on servicing right on Social Services we have a pro more than 25 000 cases a backlog um everywhere from the healthcare facilities to the schools to the even the libraries right we stretched too thin and this was the vacancies that we were talking about was without that number increasing exponentially we hurting councilwoman I I don't know how else to say it I went to a an agency three days ago where folks are sick and tired of him do mandated to work overtime and it was a young woman who said to me I haven't seen my child in a week mandatory over time is rampant and there's a cap on how much you can do in your pension so you're forcing people to do two and three jobs this needs to stop it's putting our New Yorkers at risk you know and we need to do something to push back and get those agencies staffing back up okay um I just just real quick it's obviously it's putting a strain on the public health system in a big way as if it wasn't already straightened enough right obviously this is the safety net for New York City the the system that takes care of everyone regardless as it is putting a big strain on the system and on our staff as well um and as Henry talked about between overtime the short staffing and just you know trying to manage all this temporary staff it's an additional strain on our workers and really puts the strain on on the newer nurses that we want to support as well I want to start my comments by saying that we take great pride in the fact that this is um a city where um people are welcome from all over the world we take pride in the fact that we sit in a city where our in our Harbor is a statue that's dedicated to the Open Arms um and and we accept the responsibility of having new families and new children coming to our city and into our schools but with that comes along a responsibility of the city of New York to make sure that our dedicated teachers who regardless of when children come into their classrooms and where they come from they become their kids and they want to do everything absolutely possible to make sure that they get all the teaching that they're supposed to have and give them what they need on a daily basis when you have an influx of children coming into your schools coming into your classroom mid-year you have to then provide the resources that go along with those kids as well you have to provide the resources to the families that go along with those kids because if they're not stabilized at home that are not stabilized in school buildings you can't just have a plan to put families into a gym and not really talk about how that's going to work in terms of the coordination with the school that's there there's this there's so much planning that needs to go into making sure that we do this right that we do this right for on on behalf of those families who have a right to come to this country and we we celebrate all of that but we have to do this um in a collective way to make sure that we're meeting the needs of those families and more specifically for us than these are those children and the people who serve them every day and we're not doing that well I would just add a couple of brief things in relation to to CUNY I mean immediately I believe that CUNY has resources that can be helpful and you should obviously hear from the community Administration about this but uh I think in terms of uh space I believe there's conversations with the city about CUNY helping to furnish some badly needed space for people to to stay we have obviously CUNY citizenship now program we have immigrants student support services but I also would take a step back echoing uh what what Leroy just mentioned you know CUNY was CUNY was started in 1847 and the number of immigrants of all kinds who have come through the doors of the city university is in the millions right now uh over a third of the students at CUNY uh were born in other countries so I know we're speaking here specifically about the challenge of Asylum Seekers and that's a real Challenge on the city's resources and infrastructure in the long term just want to see those students the young people who come whatever their documentation status may be whatever the outcome of their Asylum cases may be I know that just as the K-12 system wants to embrace them we want to see them in acuny classrooms as well they mentioned that the the the funds that the city got from the state that there's limitations on what they can use that for could you speak to that I'm not really sure what they testified to but I just I just gave figures clearly about how they they're not um sending all those funds that they're getting from the state into the classrooms um and they're earmarked for that so I can't really speak about what they testify to I can tell you what they've done compared to what they're currently doing so if not go into the classroom where is it going I don't have the budget in front of me I can't tell you exactly what you know because look this this as you well know there's lots of ways that you can fund this thing right it can go into a general fund it can be earmarked specifically for certain things what we know for a fact are the percentages that I just gave you right um and and that that is that is um a shortfall in the funding that the state is clearly sending to our schools specifically so if at the very least they would just match what the state's doing then we would be better off but that's a really good question that I think that we should ask them in terms of where those funds going because we want to know the same exact thing where are those funds going if the state is saying we we want to meet our responsibility and send increased funding to the city of New York on behalf of school buildings why why is that money not reaching the school system so that is an excellent question but I think that the that the people that you ask that question to may not be here at this point in time thank you okay we're going to give it to Hudson followed by firing chair I just want to say that I just got a text from CIO at the contract is settled with Mount Sinai and they're going back to work 7 A.M tomorrow morning [Applause] foreign thank you thank you so much um Mr garrido I'm concerned about the uh the the school crossing guards that you referenced in your testimony I actually just had a student in my district that was hit with a card thank God she's okay but it was certainly a harrowing incident so um what's the contracted salary you won for school crossing guards in this in this contract so we we were thank you for your question we were fortunate to raise the you know they were a minimum wage right 1545 we created a a supervisory title didn't exist before that allowed to streamline the use and the deployment of guards across the city of New York because we have deserts in which you have differences between the schools and the key Crossings the evidence is clear that in the absence of a guard in high volume intersections that's where you have the most accidents and Dot has uh clarified that to cut 500 out of 2 000 that's 25 percent now the memo for the patrols is 18 but in reality that's it's it's more it's taking more and so they say that they want to eliminate vacancies and the truth is vacancies because people don't want to apply right and then that's that hasn't been our experience we had a hiring hole for crossing guards that we had over 900 people showed up in one single day so so much for people not wanting to apply uh I think it's going to put kids at risk period and parents and families and that is not they cost so little that is not the kind of budget exercise where you want to cut from thank you and um Mr Davis you referenced this specifically uh or at least in the in the talking points a document that I have maybe not in your oral testimony but um and this is open also to anybody else who this might be relevant to but I'm just curious to know about food insecurity it's a big big issue across the city and so with some of the proposed Cuts how will that impact um your students and you know members of some of your other unions in terms of accessing the food that they need for themselves and their families yeah thank you for the important question council member it's shocking to actually learn and to speak to students at CUNY about the degree and the extent of food insecurity that they experience obviously the stigma attached to that but when surveys are done the rates are are shockingly high and I give a lot of credit again to my colleagues on the campuses especially during the pandemic who managed to keep some of the food pantries running but they're already running out of resources in order to keep the food pantries up and running uh and so you know in the same in the same vein as trying to assist with the housing insecurity the mental health issues that the pandemic has exacerbated I think it's a really important time now to look closely at you know where resources should be invested actually make sure students can get through their education and reach their aspirations thanks thank you thanks chair we've been joined by council members Brooks powers and Juan and now we have final question from council member farias thank you chair I've been talking hi everyone good morning I've been talking about this the entire budget cycle so I'm sure you're probably flagged already about what I want to ask regarding our doe and Doh School nurses and the pay parity issue that we have we know contract negotiations are a key critical point and and just you know dismantling some of the pay priority issues we have is looking to talk a little bit about that talk about what we're doing for or at least what you know we're attempting to do for the School nurses um and how we can solve that pay priority issue in lieu of the amount of students that we're receiving along with what we know with summer school and and the lack of School nurses we have around the city yeah thank you um so we are approximately 200 positions or 200 vacancies in the school nurse program uh the c37 represents about half of the school nurses the U of T represents of the other half there are substantial differences between the two in salary we've made some progress in the last round of negotiations we were able to fix a an equity issue of nurses in the Bronx for instance what we were able to raise salaries at the rate of ten thousand dollars because the vacancies were so high in the Bronx we're having similar problems in pockets of the cities in Queens now we're not able to recruit and retain because you know if you have the same credentials you go work for the position represented by the U of T you're going to make eighteen twenty thousand dollars more plus your Masters is going to mean more financially plus you can get longevity and then adding to the problem is the fact that dohmh has been also during a pandemic poached a lot of the nurses to send them to deal with covert related stuff it was a crisis we understand that but that would put an additional strain on on the nurses that we have we are losing them um the good news is that the city did in this round of negotiations with the union we didn't negotiate an Equity Fund that allows the nurses to apply for an equitable distribution they would this was in addition to the races and the signing bonus that you probably heard about so the School nurses are in that group that we would like to consider because of the huge recruitment problems that we're having in some parts of the city was this brought up and were there any discussions around trying to bridge that gap for School nurses yes the ohmh was part of the negotiations brought this issue we have a series of ideas that we'd like to present including the training and professional development to develop more nurses and tie them from CUNY to the school system there's a pipeline in there that we believe would be very helpful right but I think the issue of parity and paid equity even with this pay Equity Fund that we created it's going to be hard to reach because the differences are so high sure um especially um in in some of the Private School nurses that we provide also services to lero something we should follow up on it 500 million dollars that the city got from the state for smaller class sizes we should make sure we know where that money's going yeah so we're with you on that thank you and just just just to reiterate the point really um you know it's a five-year plan right is this A Five-Year Plan to reduce class sizes to the a uh level that we all agreed upon we know that the city of New York next year this coming year has over 39 percent um class size spaces where they can actually reduce class sizes without doing much right it's really a question of what happens in the outer years in the second the the second year the third year and the four-off year but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be making extensive plans right now and looking to still reduce class sizes even though you'll meet the limits of the law because it's not really about what you can do right now it's all those places where we know that class sizes are a lot higher than they need to be for our kids to actually maximize learning today right so why wait right so I think that we can use some of those funds even though they can probably meet some of the needs in the first year without doing much we should still be doing everything we can immediately because our children deserve better that's the point that we really want to make about that okay well I on behalf of you know the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers that you all represent we appreciate your partnership in this budget and we appreciate your time today thank you thank you thank you thank you very much calling up the second panel Joanne you Lisa Rivera Theo Moore Alice buffkin Gregory brender Randy Levine Nora Moran I'm start snow good morning council members thank you for giving the Asian American Federation opportunity to testify and join you the executive director of the Asian American Federation where we proudly represent the collective voice of more than 70 member non-profits serving 1.5 Asian New Yorkers as we look at the city's fiscal year 24 budget the pan-Asian Community continues to face a number of challenges from a slowing recovering a slow recovering economy to continued anti-asian hate yet Our member organizations have led the way in numerous service sectors and program organized and led by Asian American Federation and we are here to ask for your help we will send a detailed budget request but I want to share some numbers with you with our in our partnership with our member organizations our mental health programming resulted in 18 000 Asian New Yorkers gaining access to language accessible and culturally competent Mental Health Services last year we released the first ever online mental health provider database that prioritizes providers that speak Asian languages and I understand Asian cultures there are now over 200 providers and we continue to update that directory as you all of you know um New York has the highest rate of anti-asian violence in the country and many of you have been our biggest allies and our champions in the first year of our Flagship anti-hope against hate we have touched thousands and thousands of Asian New Yorkers we have distributed over 10 000 in language booklets reached over 50 000 people with our safety videos and booklets connected 36 clients to victim support services and trained over 2 000 community members in de-escalation safety awareness and physical self-defense and virtual and in language workshops along with the development of safe zones on the small business front our small business is constantly being contacted by small business owners from every Community who need help navigating a lack of information hostile inspection practices and inaccessible Assistance programs our small business assistance program is buckling because of the sheer volume we are grateful for your your allyship and we could ask that you continue to support the Asian American community and like I said before we will submit our detailed request and I looked I look forward to continuing to work with you good morning hello red lights on hello all right there we go good morning everyone thank you so much for the opportunity to testify today I'm Lisa Rivera president and CEO of nylag the New York Legal Assistance group staff are amongst the many legal and social service providers that are doing the essential work to support our communities work that as you know in many instances only exist because of the inequities disparities and obstacles that exist throughout the all the systems that our clients encounter we know that you have engaged in many executive budget hearings over the past month amid other challenges impacting the city's finances such as a late state budget City Staffing started us and the continued influx of migrants from the southern border despite these challenges we want to thank you for continuing to advocate for investment in legal services today I'm asking the city to increase that investment and address policies that are designed to help our clients but are becoming increasingly difficult to access many times you've heard me and my colleagues speak about the systemic inequities and failures that leave our communities and our clients with disparate access to Justice we connect people to life-saving benefits such as housing food educational opportunities we defend people against deportation eviction family separation and we support families and clients leaving abusive partners and help individuals facing crushing debt from predatory loans we are a Lifeline to New Yorkers in need the legal services and Social Services Community has been really sounding the alarm this year because we are in a dire funding and Contracting crisis we need the city's help a budget as you all know is a reflection of our values as such the city needs to invest more not less in initiatives that uplift and invest in communities that are in need at most now is not the time to pull back instead a focus on meaningful access to programs that defend and sustains one ability to access food stable housing safety and ability to work and receive a proper education is needed to address Rising inequality in poverty in New York investment in legal services and Social Services is an investment in New York City and addresses Public Safety we are asking that you uplift communities and families that are bogged down in bureaucracy because agencies are woefully understaffed and they do not provide families what they need to survive I'm calling on the city to invest invest in legal services these asks include a 25 increase in the personal budgets on our Baseline contracts so that our Advocates can afford to live in the city that they work fight they work for every single day funding that includes our costs for benefits and otps that rise even though we have flat Baseline contracts continuation of the workforce enhancement initiative on our Baseline contracts that you include Workforce enhancement on City discretionary contracts and increase to Legal Services for low-income New Yorkers initiative 350 million one dollars for right to council and lastly but not least further investment in Immigration legal services that address both the short-term and long-term needs of Asylum seekers in New York creation of programs that Center Community Education screening and pro se applications are only the first step we need a deep commitment for full representation for immigrants in New York these programs can be funded through a variety of city-based programming that already exist ioi action NYC rapid response legal collaborative or even new initiatives that really focus on the community a robust response must also include legislation that allows full representation at all levels when someone's facing Court without an attorney thank you for the opportunity uh good morning my name is Nora Moran I'm the director of policy and advocacy at United neighborhood houses we work with New York City settlement houses our written testimony has a lot of information in detail but I'm just going to highlight a little bit in uh in this portion um so we're deeply concerned about a lot of things in this budget we have four main areas of concern the first three are around cuts that the mayor is proposing first there's a 38 million dollar cut to the Department of Youth and Community Development which includes the Summer Youth Employment Program and the department for the Aging there's a 12 million dollar cut to senior meal programs on the Doe's Early Childhood division there is the rollback of the 3K expansion as well as a lack of salary parity for Early Childhood Educators and directors all of these pegs are being justified as under spending or under utilization but the mayor's management report actually cites increasing utilization over the past few years across many of these programs and we know from the providers that we work with that late payments low wages to staff are really making it hard for providers to maximize their programs and maximize their budgets and really you know intentionally starving these programs to then take a savings is very short-sighted and we really urge the council to look at Community need look at utilization and really push back against these cuts to make sure that we're not prematurely taking resources out of communities the last thing I'll say is that our last concern is around a Kohler for the Human Services Workforce Echo the concerns of the just pay campaign calling for a 6.5 percent Cola for Human Service workers those low wages are exacerbating a lot of the challenges that we see around you know vacancies and programs organizations just cannot find the staff in order to keep classrooms open run after school run senior centers and things like that the the last last thing I'll say is that we really want to push back against the dynamic that this budget is about supporting Asylum Seekers or funding anything else we are seeing that Asylum Seekers are you realizing Early Childhood programs are coming to after school programs they need a lot more than just housing and cutting other social service and safety net programs is only going to help only going to keep these folks you know from advancing and getting settled and you know getting jobs and things like that so thank you good morning uh I'm Theo Moore I'm the vice president of policy and programs with the New York immigration Coalition um so it seems that New York is at a Crossroads and how and and who it chooses to prioritize um when budgets are concerned unfortunately it appears that the administration is choosing to follow the path of many of the worst Executives around the country um using fake um scarcity to put austerity measures in budgets that harm the most vulnerable communities particularly black brown immigrant and lgbtqi communities across the city not only does this budget Target and punch down on those communities it seems to want to one-up the worst policies coming out of places like Texas and Florida it's like Florida bans books so the mayor's like I'll do you one better I'm going to cut budgets to all of libraries um and these libraries are essential they are are pillars to our communities and they are where many of our essential services like adult literacy esol classes digital literacy classes and programs which we which were also severely cut in the budget are housed we also partnered with libraries for our own program called key to the city and quite frankly we need libraries for those Services because we won't have any other place to house them if if they have to close their doors another example of doubling down on terrible policies with public education we see across the country to fight you know about critical race Theory and we know that the goal is really to render black people invisible um and it seems like the mayor once again decided uh that he wouldn't just ban curriculums but really cut uh education so severely that they can't even proper functionally like uh prop functionally properly and our children would be left without viable options so we need to fully invest in public schools in CUNY restore previous cuts from last year and invest in the expansion of L transfer schools that specifically support newcomer Asylum Seekers across the city we also need to restore the cuts to 3K and Pre-K programming while also so funding programs like the life project which help families navigate the overly complicated enrollment system we found that 80 percent of families who use the life project said that without that they would not have been able to enroll their children into 3K and Pre-K which means that when we talk about the amount of open slots it's not because people don't need them it's because they can't actually navigate the system to enroll their kids in 3K and Pre-K I also want to talk about you know as children continue to to readjust to in-person schooling we must acknowledge the difficulty and the trauma that folks are feeling we have to equip all schools with with the proper needs I mean that means putting social workers in all the schools so that they can better identify and address issues before the NYPD is needed and we need preventative human-centered life-affirming programs instead of reactionary measures that are a lot cheaper quite frankly than cops in jails and heal instead of call causing additional harm unfortunately none of these things can be accomplished by choosing budget austerity over meeting the needs of all New Yorkers we understand the need to be responsible and prudent but we have an opportunity to help New York fully recover from the pandemic in a way that not only provides a way forward but also is a model for the rest of the country and how we move forward in order to meet the overwhelming and unmet needs of New Yorkers whether they've been here for 50 years or 50 days we must act strategically and not in a reactionary manner thank you for the opportunity to testify good afternoon chair and members of the committee thank you for holding today's hearing and for the council's support of so many important issues for children and families in the budget my name is Alice buffkin I'm the associate executive director of policy at citizens committee for children a multi-issue Children's Advocacy organization we'll be submitting written testimony but in the time I have today I want to emphasize a few urgent issues impacting children and families in New York first I want to reiterate with so many before me and so many after me will say which is that the pegs from the November modification those proposed those cuts proposed in the preliminary and the executive budget will cause serious and deep harm to the systems that serve the most marginalized New Yorkers already understaffing on HRA has resulted in families unable to access food stamps cash assistance or housing assistance on time on top of that non-profits across the city particularly those in the early care and education space are waiting multiple months to be paid for services already rendered the city's focus should be on filling vacancies rather than limiting them on advancing a 6.5 percent Cola for the Human Services sector and ensuring timely payment of non-profit contracts so New York families can receive see the essential Services they need my remaining time I want to highlight several other pressing issues first we strongly support desperately needed mental health supports for young people including through baselining the mental health Continuum increasing funding for existing school-based mental health clinics and supporting very important existing city council mental health initiatives additionally I don't need to tell you that New York is facing a staggering housing crisis at a minimum our city must ReStore in Baseline 118 million dollars in rental assistance funding eliminate the 90-day shelter stay rule which I know this Council has strongly supported and create additional beds for runaway and homeless youth among other Investments to address the needs of young children and working parents the city must reverse the mayor's proposed cuts to 3K focus on converting school day school year ECE seats to extended day year-round options across age ranges and Baseline 20 million dollars for promise NYC to allow Child Care access for undocumented families and finally our city must support all the city students including by baseling 5 million dollars to guarantee bus services or comparable transportation for students in foster care thank you for your time today and pleasing my written testimony for additional details and additional recommendations thank you thank you for the opportunity to speak with you my name is Randy Levine I'm policy director of advocates for children of New York at a time when there are significant unmet needs for students we are deeply concerned that the executive budget would cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the New York City Public Schools budget including through a peg of 305 million dollars described as a re-estimate of fringe benefits but which reflects a pot of funding the DUI has been using for a variety of purposes we are particularly concerned that the following three programs included as priorities in the council's response to the preliminary budget are on the chopping block with funding that will expire in June unless extended in the fy24 adopted budget five million dollars for the mental health Continuum the first ever cross-agency partnership to help students get access to expedited mental health care in school four million dollars to help immigrant families get important information about their children's schools through phone calls hard copy notices and information campaigns and 20 million dollars for promise NYC so children who are undocumented can access Early Learning programs with the youth Mental Health crisis and the increase in newly arrived immigrant students the need for these programs has only grown the council played an instrumental role in securing funding for them last year and we can't eliminate these programs now instead of cutting funding the city should be investing to address pressing needs of students three million dollars to bolster the six new English language learner transfer school programs ensuring they can support recently arrived immigrant youth 85 million dollars to expand school-wide restorative justice practices to reduce the use of suspensions address students underlying needs and keep them in school five million dollars to guarantee appropriate transportation for students in foster care so students are not forced to transfer schools when they are removed from their homes and families and 50 million dollars to provide preschoolers with disabilities with their legally mandated Services given that ten thousand preschoolers went the entire year without receiving at least one of their mandated services such as speech therapy our written testimony has more information about each of these priorities thank you very much thank you so much for the opportunity to testify and for everything that the council members have you been doing to support early childhood education in New York City my name is Gregory brender I'm here on behalf of the daycare council of New York we are the membership organization of New York City's Early Childhood provider organizations and we have over 200 or sites throughout the city every in every neighborhood where people organizations are providing high quality early childhood education we are deeply dismayed that this budget takes a big step backward for early childhood education in New York City especially at a time when New York city has the capacity and the moral imperative to do the right thing for New York City's children we strongly support the seven proposals put out by the city council's black Latino and Asian caucus in a February 28th letter signed by 31 of the city council members to reform the system and I wanted to highlight a few of the key aspects we need to believe Nest need to be addressed in this budget first we need to pay providers on time early childhood writers are continually not being paid on time and just this week we've heard from several organizations who have missed payroll hard-working people who are coming in every day caring for New York City's children are simply not being paid for the jobs that they're doing Um this can be addressed we have in our written testimony several ways to improve this including increasing the advance to 75 which is the amount providers are allowed in their contracts and improving the systems uh for invoicing moving over to the city's HHS accelerator system second it is time we move to salary parity for the Early Childhood Workforce uh Early Childhood workers directors teachers support staff they are all paid significantly less than their counterparts in public schools and their underpayment as a legacy of discrimination against work that is has been historically performed by women and is still in New York City performed primarily by women and women of color the collective bargaining agreements for teachers directors and support staff have all expired and in this budget the city must take action to fund collective bargaining agreements that bring the benefits and salaries of the workforce in early childhood programs to parody with the public schools including longevity increases and other benefits that many Early Childhood staff Miss finally we need to make it easier for families to access child care families trust community-based organizations who they work with and they are unable to access the programs that they are eligible for just by going to a community-based organization we need to make these reforms including restoring promise NYC so that undocumented children can access child care and making it going to the full extent of what the state will allow in order to allow families to access access extended day Extended Care thank you so much for all you've done for Early Childhood we're really counting on the city council's leadership to make this a better budget for New York City's children thank you joined by council member Brewer and we have questions from council member Joseph thank you and good morning to you all um just two questions wanted to find out and let everyone else know how important is it for the programs that are about to be sunset to be Baseline in in the budget grams has only grown at a time when there's a youth Mental Health crisis we can't afford to eliminate a key program that is supporting students and helping them get access to expedited mental health care in 50 High needs schools staff has been hired and baselining the program is essential to ensuring its long-term success and stability and then I'll just say quickly we also have seen an increase in the number of newly arrived immigrant students and families we've had more than fifteen thousand immigrant students enroll in our city schools new this year and so this is certainly not the time to be cutting funding for the Doe's immigrant family communication and outreach program if anything we should be baselining and expanding it and promise NYC for the first time providing access to all of the city's early childhood education programs for children who are undocumented we need 20 million dollars just to maintain the current capacity not to mention serving additional children anyone else no and on the grounds for our students with disabilities what are the issues they face with busting especially our students in foster care we've heard from families hundreds of families this year about challenges with bus service and that really spans a wide range of issues for all students for students with disabilities for students who are homeless for students in foster care we and our Coalition partners are focused this year on pushing for an additional resource and additional investment for transportation for students in foster care in particular because that is an area where the city does not yet guarantee bus service or other door-to-door Transportation the law says that the city has a legal responsibility to provide transportation so that students in foster care don't have to change schools when they are placed in foster care or move foster homes but right now you can read it right on the Doe's website it says we will either give students in foster care a bus or a MetroCard for a second grader who's been placed in foster care a MetroCard often is not sufficient to allow them to continue going to their school thank you chair council member Brewer followed by Lee thank you I've been listening so I appreciate everybody's testimony I have two questions number one um we're constantly hearing from the administration that you know the Pre-K is not populated therefore we have to cut so I want to get your comments on that because it doesn't compute for me of course if you don't tell people they don't know about it and they're not going to enroll so I want to hear about that and then second some of you talked about the housing I know there'll be others but I am concerned I want to Second what Christine Quinn has been stating over and over again we need of course the 90-day rule which the city council has supported to go away but also we need I think the vouchers to be increased I think that would take care of a major housing challenge those are my two questions the vouchers and the black supposedly of persons participating in the early childhood the Pre-K question and I imagine a few of my colleagues will have comments on that as well um so the under enrollment is really because the enrollment procedures and enrollment process are broken the city has stopped its Outreach closed its Outreach teams that were doing intensive Outreach and there really needs to be a multilingual Community targeted approach so that families in every neighborhood of the city know what they're eligible for we also need to make the process of enrolling easier we can start doing that by allowing community-based organizations to directly enroll families because there are families who have more trust for community-based organizations that they've had long relationships with and you know they see a sign and a Wonderful Child Care Center or family child care home and they say want to put my kid there and it's a lot easier than going through a process with the centralized enrollment system so if we increase Outreach and if we make it easier for families to enroll and go through processes to be deemed eligible for extended day programs I think you'll see a lot more of where that need is and just one piece to add on that I fully agree with everything Gregory said about enrollment procedures um part of the equation is also Staffing so we have providers in our Network who cannot open classrooms because they do not have the staff in order to do it safely and to meet ratio and so on paper it looks like oh no one wants this 3K service but in practice people do and the providers cannot operate we see the same Dynamic happening in youth programs on paper it looks like there's no demand for after school but in practice it's that the wages for after school staff are often minimum wage you can make a lot more working in jobs that are a lot less labor intensive than taking care of children and so it's very hard to hire competitively and it looks like you know parents don't want or need after school when we know that's not the case it's simply that we need to open these programs safely with the right amount of Staffing and that's been very very difficult to do lately uh let me just add in so for for our community it's especially hard navigating New York City system you know there are language barriers there are cultural barriers um and quite frankly New York City is a whole lot for someone especially when they just arrive into this country so there there is extra care um and time needed to really helping families and individuals navigate the system you know a system that quite frankly if you're born and raised New Yorker you start trying to figure out 3K and Pre-K as soon as your child is born um and for folks who have just newly arrived like they have not had that time they have not really adjusted so you need extra um care and then quite frankly you need the involvement of the community-based organizations that are trusted in the neighborhoods to really be involved in helping to navigate and enroll that system and that's why you know programs like the live project and other uh programs are extremely effective and needed with respect to your question about City FEPS and other benefit programs our clients are struggling to access benefits that they need quite frankly including One-Shot deals City thefts and cash assistance we have seen with our clients HRA is systematically failing to process applications recertifications failing to conduct eligibility interviews either a failing to reach out to clients or maintaining a phone system that our clients can use to call them back failing to index documents submitting by our clients and social service providers that result in delays wrongful denials and inadequate benefit levels City FEPS needs to be increased it has to be something that the city provide it prioritizes investing in systems and Personnel to actually process applications to meet with our clients is needed in order to address the delays and failures expanding eligibility for programs like City thefts is obviously very critical as the city grapples with increasing homelessness and lacking shelter capacity um someone mentioned earlier about eradicating the 90-day rule obviously that is something that seems like a common sense solution for folks that are looking for stability and have a pathway they've already been found eligible for temporary housing and DHS there's no need for them to wait 90 days for them to be able to look for permanent housing so that same effect that they are also rules within the shelter system that makes families have to recertify every 10 days there was a covet easement that allowed folks to make a very simple phone call but now that Cove amusements have ended they now need to go back in person which means that our clients now have to take off a day off work keep their kids out of school because they will be there all day and will not be able to pick up their children at the end of the day and so they are comments and solutions for a lot of the issues that our clients are facing but it does go back to the city agencies are not staffed enough and they really need to be able to go through the backlog of cases and then address the dire need of folks that are now accessing benefits and never thought that they needed to before one additional point if that's okay um I'll just say that our organization recently did a study where we spoke directly with families about their early care and education needs and speaking directly to them it is clear the need is there but as everyone has been saying it's a desire for child care that meets their specific needs whether it's extended day full care it's needing information about what's available and it's simplifying the process for actually accessing these Services whether that's Outreach or sort of the simplification of decentralized enrollment all these other solutions that people are proposing so I think it's very clear when you talk to families what their what their needs are and I'll say one one piece on the housing is that in addition to what was previously said there are other ways totally agree on increasing the the eligibility criteria around federal poverty level but we also have things like requirements around chronicity requirements around having a housing court eviction proceeding before you can enter and get City thefts we have issues like you need to come in through DHS in order to get city FEPS but we have lots of young people included but also families who may be coming in through as domestic violence survivors maybe entering HPD and that pathway and is not as accepted as coming through DHS so there are some other things we can do to look at the pathways through which families and and individuals can access City thefts better thank you very much you're awesome council member Lee followed by Lewis comment and then question um so I just first wanted to say coming from the non-profit side of things working with you guys for many years I just wanna for the room for folks that already know but we need to highlight again the important work you guys are doing to really serve our city the most vulnerable populations in our city and you guys are really doing such incredible work on the ground and doing more with less which shouldn't be the case and so we you know have it's our goal to help you guys as much as possible and we understand a lot of the challenges that you face and one of the challenges and this leads into my question that I want I sort of know the answer but I want you guys to State it for the record and also to talk a little bit about your Coalition and your organizations around the issues with the timing of the Contracting piece because I also think that's a huge issue for a lot of non-profits especially the smaller ones that serve very specific culturally linguistically sensitive communities that don't necessarily have funding to float and so if you could speak to the average time length of how some how long some of these contracts get delayed in terms of registration as well as payout and how many of these organizations struggle to pay staff and in a world where we know already like you guys are saying staff are underpaid and then for them not to get paid on time is an even bigger issue if you could speak to that a little um so you know in terms of registration contract registration and payment it depends a lot on the agency I will say in our experience we've seen things get slightly better with registrations with agencies like dycd difda or NYC aging um Big Challenge areas Remain the Department of Education and DHS and then in terms of payout wide range we and I know Gregory alluded to this we know providers in the early childhood space as well as Community School providers who contract with the doe who sometimes have been waiting for a year on payment um which is a very long time and if you are a single issue organization you're just doing ECE um you know that that can really impact your payroll and ability to pay folks um so you know we've certainly seen I would say generally some improvements outside of the doe we still have a lot of challenges with the doe both in early childhood and other doe contracted services but I'll let um colleagues speak to other agencies I'm less familiar with um council member Lee I'd like to add this is Julian uh I apologize that I couldn't be there in person um I you know as you know many of the nonprofit organizations that we work with are small and so they don't have any reserves so if they don't get paid they you know they don't get defending they don't get they don't get to pay their staff yet they continue to perform these services so it really is that is the one common um feedback that we do get from our our members that we need to get the funding faster the contract comes late um oftentimes even with our own experience and the contracts come as the year is ending um and so it's a real challenge for us to be able to stay on top of all the the requests the the work many of our nonprofits are small they there is no way for them to continue the work but yet you know they're not equipped to be able to have um Finance you know fiscal staff who can constantly talk to the city and so many people are wearing many different hats and that's a huge challenge for our community and I think that's something that I really appreciate you um answering that question and I did want to um my camera uh I had a little sound problem but I didn't want to ask address the question about baselining some of these Services you know for many communities um on you know for instance on Mental Health our community this is all new issue for our communities it's not the fact that the issue that hasn't existed um but we've been written out of the funding we've been written out of having um access to resources and so for many of our communities especially communities of color um getting getting even a small grants even a small amount of funding from the council is a huge deal to us and it really is a life-saving um pipeline for us to do programming work the city has the our our mental health database our mental health work is funded out of private dollars but it would be great to be able to have funding from the council to be able to and Baseline it sure that's a pipe dream for communities of color but it'd be great for us to be able to get funding to even launch a program because as one of my colleagues said our communities will go to their trusted non-profits to be able to access Services you can there the language of access is a real issue and the reality is that our communities will community members will always go to their nonprofits for the information and so we need to figure out how do we fund all the people who are actually providing the services not just providing non-profit service services but doing the service of the government I think that's what we need to talk about um I just want to provide just one example of how difficult it is um you know running a program and and actually getting uh paid or or reimbursed um aside from all of the other work we do we were the the main organization um that was funded for the uh um for the Ukraine uh response initiative uh Yuri um along with with nylag this is a program that we started you know we hear a lot about a Visa a lot about Asylum Seekers coming from the from the southern border you know depending on who you talk to 75 to 90 000 um individuals who have come to New York from the southern border since last year we've gotten over 20 000 folks from the Ukraine in New York City since last since the uh since the invasion last year I mean we've been servicing those those communities as well we started along with along with nylag this program last April um has and have yet to receive any funding for our work so that is over a year since the program started and that is like indicative of quite frankly how funding rolls with you know pretty much any program whether it's the mayor's side the council side um doe d-y-c-d like you can pick the agency and quite frankly you know the organizations are really debt funding and as an executive in an organization I have to make the decision whether I provide the services or what I do internally around you know hiring providing raises promotions like what we do for our own staff you know as far as like the trauma that we're dealing with you know because we have to be out there in the community and we have to make those decisions on a daily basis and quite frankly usually we decide to provide the services to the community and it's really at the detriment of the internals of the organization themselves I just Echo that it's specifically in early childhood we really have reached crisis proportions with the late payments this was part of what led to the closer of Sheltering Arms um and here we are um almost at the end of fiscal year 23 and there are providers who are months and months behind there are even some providers uh trying to get payments from fiscal year 2022. um so it really has um hit a level that it's affecting the quality of programs and their ability to stay open what we see sometimes is quite frankly some contracts that are registered timely but then payment after that 25 allowance is not does not happen and so then we are trying to then provide services for nearly over a year or one fiscal year into another fiscal year trying to still catch up and then a new 25 shelter allowance and so then what are we doing here and so what the resulting factor is as like as everybody else is speaking on this panel is that we have to make really hard decisions and for nylag we're taking out loans to make out pay make our payroll we have to make these tough calls each and every time trying to see whether or not we will get our invoices approved even after registration and the back and forth that's necessary even to get that hat to get that moving is quite onerous on our staff we have to build our finance department just to keep on track of billing and invoicing the hours that they have to spend going back and forth on documents that we've already submitted months ago but now there are questions it does feel like there are tactical delays within the City agencies to not pay us on time because of their perhaps their cash flow issues as well but assets providers are now faced with issues of do we have to cut back Services because we may not be able to keep taking out loans to keep fronting the city for the very programs that we are mission centered and want to keep providing thank you for sharing the very real examples um that you guys struggle with every day and that this along with pay parenting are two of the biggest ones that we need to try to fight for so thank you council member nurse thank you chair I actually um had many of the same questions as council member Lee and Brewer so I'll yielded my time gray I wanted to ask um the doe stated that there are thousands of extended day and extended school year seats that are unfilled throughout the city and because of that they're scaling back seats do you think that's a wise move I don't think so especially as there are opportunities with Outreach to fill these seats and there is increased State funding for extended day extended year we are at risk of turning money back to the state when there are families who are really desperate for care so I think increased Outreach improving our ability to include improving our the process to check families for eligibility and enroll them more quickly allowing presumptive eligibility where a family can be in child care while they're waiting for their eligibility check will all help to fill these seats it would be a huge problem and a real step backward for the city not to have these long-standing organizations providing the child care that we know so many families need I'll just I'll just say again I'll reiterate when you talk to families and you ask them what they need they say we need slots that work for me and so I you know this disjoint between what the administration is saying it doesn't match with what we we hear directly from families and I think many of us do and you know echoing everything Gregory said in terms of of increasing the ability to get you know let let families know about what's available and get them into Services um you know again I just think that's out of sync with what we're seeing from families on the ground thank you all very much for all your work thank you calling up the third panel Marion Parkins Vermont Pierre Sarah down Shaina Marston musu King yeah begin whenever you're ready you can be good good morning thank you for having us my name is musu King I am a registered nurse at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx I am also the knysna local bargaining vice president at Lincoln representing my amazing and courageous nurses we are fighting for a fair Union contract that stops the crisis of understaffing and high turnover at our city public hospitals H confirmed that they spent over half a billion dollars on travel nurses in 2022 that's more than three times what it will cost to bring our wages to parity with the private sector each day that goes by the city is losing money from keeping our pay so low and every day our patients are suffering the consequences I work in the emergency department a typical day is very hectic because there are Never Enough nurses to do all the work that needs to be done in the critical care zone of the emergency department we have five nurses so we should have five nurses so each nurse can safely care for two critically ill patients but usually each nurse has six or seven patients instead that's not safe my number one concern is safety for our patients and safety for our nurses when patients get frustrated with long wait times or delays in care they take it out on us we are trying to take care of everyone at the same time and that's enforceable at as the number one level trauma center in the Bronx we have ambulances bringing people in all day and night nurses tried to cover each other's patients and fill in all the holes but it can feel impossible I have seen very ill patients get fed up and walk out of the emergency room short staffing leads to a cycle of frustrated nurses who quit because they can't give patients the care they are trained to give every week we have nurses quit it's not sustainable right now we have more temporary agency nurses than regular staphnosis in the emergency department more full-time staff nurses are living more than before since the pandemic this is the worst I've seen it during the worst of the covid-19 pandemic there were days that I was scared to come home after my shift because I was afraid to get my family sick especially my youngest daughter who was only one and a half years old with multiple heart defects I was only after all that we have gone through it's shameful that the city isn't paying us enough to keep qualified nurses on the job I am tired and I am concerned I care about my community in the Bronx and want to deliver the best care but I feel like we are at a Breaking Point health and Hospital needs to come to the table and deliver a fair contract that will retain and respect nurses they need to pay us fairly we work just as hard as the Private Hospital nurses and we need to earn a respectable salary that helps support our families without having to work two or three jobs which is not an option for me because I have a sick child at home we need to earn enough that nurses don't leave after six months or a year it's constantly New York still too much to keep nurses pay so low thank you good morning my name is Marion Perkins I am a registered nurse at Harlem Hospital and a member a broad member of the New York State Nurses Association I want to thank the council for taking the time to hear from me today I strongly encourage the city to direct more funding toward New York City H and H we are in a staffing crisis the words of the covid-19 pandemic has ended both heavy patient loads continue Staffing is the worst that I have ever seen in my time as a nurse we have more agency nurses working in our hospitals than staff nurses we hire new nurses but they leave quickly for higher salaries and less stressful work environments at City hospitals not enough staff means worst care for our patients there are long Waits or emergency department is swamped sometimes patients choose to leave before receiving the care they need on our Med search Florida nurses have to scans the patient do all the blood works and handle emergency we are doing the work of nurses and ancillary staff medication orders must be confirmed before they come back to us incorrectly during the height of kovit travel nurses were brought brought in but not trained to provide proper care this double the workload on our staff nurses there are times when staff nurses care for 30 patients at a time there is no acknowledgment that we are working on the staff management is disrespectful when dealing with staff to provide safe quality care to New York City we need enough nurses at the bedside we need permanently trained staff not expensive short-term travel nurses that cost the city too much just last year New York City spent a shocking half a billion dollars and temporary travel nurse contract there's three times that what is it would cost to raise our wages to be competitive with the private sector New York City is bleeding money while our public has Hospital Hemorrhage nurses there is a simple solution to stop this crisis pay priority now it's not only the right thing to do for nurses and or a patient is it's the fiscalic responsible thing to do for New York City Pay parity and fair working condition are both vital for recruiting and retaining nurses from the communities we serve our patients can't afford for New York City to delay cycling a fair contract for nurses thank you for your time today hello good morning thanks to the consulate and the chair for hearing from us today my name is Shaina Morrison and I'm a registered nurse and a proud member of knysna I work at Rikers Island correctional health for over five years today I want to share my testimony about the challenging conditions that nurses currently face at Rikers Island due to the shortage of nursing staff as we speak the nursing shortage at Rikers Island is at an all-time high and it is creating unbearable working conditions for us nurses we are constantly overworked over stressed and under and under supported we are stretched to the Limit and it is affecting our mental and physical health working at Rikers Island is challenging to say the least the lack of nurses means that we have to work in extremely stressful and unsafe conditions we are forced to take on more patients than we could handle which meant that we have to rush through our work and cannot provide the care that our patients need in a timely manner we are also constantly worried about making mistakes or missing something important which put our patients lives at risk we are expected to provide care for an overwhelming number of inmates some of whom have serious medical and mental health conditions that require constant attention we have at times one nurse covering two mental health units totaling over 50 patients we have one nurse working in our clinics at times um caring for medications narcotics responding to Medical emergencies performing wound cares administering injections performing lab work and Vital Signs attending to admissions and discharge supervising the non-licensed staff expected to answer all phone calls create patient medication call down lists expected to assist medical providers at every beck and call and expected to complete all documentation in a real in real time we're expected to work 12-hour shifts without breaks at times sometimes or several days in a row which makes it challenging to provide quality Care despite all these challenges we continue to do our best to provide or care for our patients we are committed to our work and we want to make a difference in the lives of these inmates but we cannot continue to work under these horrid conditions the lack of nurses also means that we are often asked to work overtime sometimes at several days in a row this situation makes a work-life balance extremely challenging as many of us suffers from burnt out and exhaust and exhaustion it is time for the city to take action and address the nursing shortage at Rikers Island we need more nurses more resources and better working conditions we need to be supported and valid for the work that we do we can continue to work under these inhumane conditions and we deserve better we deserve safe Staffing ratios we deserve pay parity between the public and private sector we know that the city can afford pay parity for public sector nurses they spent more than three times what our raises would cost on temporary travel nurses last year over half a billion dollars it feels like the city is robbing from Peter to pay Paul nurses deserve better and our patients deserve better thank you Sarah down I'm a nurse practitioner at Kings County Hospital I'm a member of the New York State Nurses Association I've been working for health and hospitals since 2017. first as a bedside nurse and now as a nurse practitioner the nurse understaffing crisis puts care for my patients at risk if we have a patient that needs an immediate therapy requiring a one-to-one nurse to Patient ratio that care sometimes gets delayed because we don't have enough nurses I've seen a patient in acute renal failure who emergently needed dialysis but there weren't enough nurses so that dialysis treatment had to be delayed this is not a theoretical issue that patient could have died from having their treatment delayed could take a minute and think about yourself in that situation as a patient because that may one day very well be the case and this is all because we don't have enough nurses it creates a moral crisis when you have to choose which patient gets care because there aren't enough nurses to meet all of our patients needs when you never know if your patients are going to get all the Care that they need in any given day it leads to burnout among nurses and an unending cycle of understaffing and high turnover we need a fair contract now that includes pay parity with the private sector New York City can afford to give us raises they're spending more on temporary travel contracts to fill Staffing gaps than it would cost to give us raises we need to retain staff nurses nurses are leaving our public hospitals in droves to work in the private sector where they can make twenty thousand dollars a year more in their first year and work in hospitals With Better Staffing and more resources why would anyone choose to stay in a higher stress job for less money when they have other options that's why nurses don't stay with us over 40 percent leave before they even finish their first year last year as my colleagues have said the city spent over half a billion dollars on temporary travel and there's contracts and that's more than three times what it would cost to make our wages competitive with the private sector so we could fill the Staffing gaps ourselves with nurses who want to live and work in our communities for the long run this is about funding Health Care by New Yorkers for New Yorkers it should be a no-brainer that our system should be funded in a way that's self-sustaining in a way that will enable New Yorkers to live and be healthy where staff can work without getting burnt out and quitting after six months where patients can heal without falling victim to the Public Health crisis that is short staffing frankly it's disgraceful after how many bodies we bagged during covid after how many lives we saved that New York City doesn't treat its nurses better than this we need to pay parity now for nurses for our patients and for New York City thank you good morning my name is Berman Pierre I'm a member of the New York State Nurses Association and the registered nurse at Henry Jakarta Specialty Hospital where I've worked for a year it is a nursing home for patients that need highly Specialized Care I'm here today to implore the city to direct more funding towards NYC hnh we are in a serious staffing crisis one that is made worse because we cannot return nurses I myself am trying to hold out as much as I can but I love my job I'm a dedicated I'm dedicated and care about my patients I'm a nurse by choice this was a calling working at a public facility in itself it's calling because we believe that everyone should have access to Quality Care no matter their ability to pay or who they are right after I accepted the job at Carter I was offered a job at Montefiore the salary was considerably more I turned it down because I had already accepted the offer to work at Carter where I knew that I had a real opportunity to make a difference I took pride in the fact that the CNO that hired me said that they needed a nurse like me to be a church nurse on the for under on the vent floor I was told recently by my supervisor that they were proud of me that have survived a holy here here let that sink in what that means is that hardly anybody makes it a year many don't many don't get that much further than their initial orientation as soon as they see what the job really entails the leave it was chaos from day one I was expected to cover 32 patients with one other nurse and two CNAs imagine a number of events going off at the same time and needing immediate attention then on top of it you are being called to float toward the floors to handle admissions that take a lot of time and documentation we also need to be there for the families of our patients who are advocating for their loved ones whom they want to see get the best possible care I know I would want the same but what can you do in a situation where you have half of the workforce you need for things to warn the way the should it's really hard to have to apologize all the time to patients and family members even with forgoing my breaks it's just impossible to get everything done by the end of the shift they are wonderful nurses that have been be waited and investigated because shows are short staffing preventing them from being able to attend to an issue when they were dealing with five other ones at the same time I believe in the mission of hnh but it's getting harder and harder for me to sustain my physical and mental health we are nurses who are who care a lot but we don't want to be martyrs in a system that is broken our loyalty to hnh needs to be met with dignity and respect parody is essential to retain enough experienced nurses we should be able to take care of our families while caring for yours hns nurses are mostly black and brown like me I love my community and want to serve it I see myself in my patience I don't care where they come from or what language they speak economic justice issue and the racial justice issue if New York City truly cares about racial and economic Justice you will do the right thing and give public sector nurses pay parity now thank you for your time today [Applause] thank you all so much thank you for your testimony today thank you all right we've also been joined by council member Krishna we'll Now call up the fourth panel Chris Mann Eric Lee Joelle balham Schwann Ruth lowenkron Terry Troya and Dr Jeannie D costly okay you may be you when you're ready good morning to the council and specifically to chair Holden and members for the committee on Veterans thank you for the opportunity to testify my name is Dr Janine costley I'm the senior vice president for transitional services at The Institute for Community Living better known as ICL ICL helps New Yorkers with behavioral health challenges live healthy and fulfilling lives by providing comprehensive housing Health Care Recovery Services and shelter services to some of the most vulnerable members of our community first thank you to chair Holden for his support of Ico Borden Avenue veterans shelter it's the only veterans residence dedicated to Veterans experiencing homelessness it's the largest in the Northeast chair Holden's leadership with the Department of Veterans Services has helped us secure upgrades to sleeping Arrangements across the facility and has helped us to establish meaningful relationships with our Community Partners in GrubHub ICL has moved over a hundred veterans into permanent housing in fiscal year to 2022 over 115 veterans in supportive and independent housing in fiscal year 2023 thus far and our newest Supportive Housing Development includes 20 units for veterans but so much more needs to be done according to the D according to DHS the New York City shelter census is higher than it has been in decades many veterans are among them and despite this great need the mayor's executive budget proposed 2.5 up 2.5 cut to DHS and DSs the cuts would cause devastating impacts to critical services like Mental Health Care substance abuse care job and job training and this is unacceptable Additionally the Human Service Workforce particularly front line workers in our shelters are woefully underpaid as a result the turnover levels are astronomical and we struggle to hire staff and we struggle to maintain staff the mayor's executive budget did include flexibility for providers to adjust salaries but it did not include a much needed 6.5 Cola increase percent excuse me 6.5 percent Cola increase for Human Service workers we urge the city council to support shelter programs like icls Borden Avenue veterans residents and to strongly oppose the cuts to DHS and DSs and to invest in Human Service workforces to get our veterans off the street and homeless individuals into housing we need the council and mayor's support to do the right thing by our vet by our veterans and I just thank you for the opportunity today thank you hmm good afternoon my name is Eric Lee I'm director of policy and planning for homeless Services United homeless Services United is a coalition of mission-driven homeless service providers in New York City thank you for the opportunity Hsu is extremely grateful to speaker Adams Deputy speaker Ayala and chair Brannan as well as members of the council for the being Star Wars champions of homeless services safety net and defending the right to shelter for families and individuals um thank you to speaker Adams and Deputy speaker Ayala for your statements at the May 8th General Welfare hearing faced with the crisis of rising homelessness and an influx of Asylum Seekers the city must do more to strength and not cut the homeless services safety net the city rightly has a moral and legal obligation to shelter everyone in need and the city must prioritize adequate resources to the shelter system to fulfill these obligations so that everyone has the choice to go to a safe place I urge the council to not approve the DHS provider flexible funding peg in the mayor's budget which would cut 2.5 percent from all DHS and HRA contracted shelters and programs this cut would eliminate vacant positions thereby reducing services within shelter drive up higher caseloads for remaining staff and just lower the level of services in general my written testimony has more detail on how some of that would actually look within programs I'm extremely grateful to be joined today by a number of staff from HSC member organizations like ICL and Chris from when he'll be speaking next um we need a minimum of 6.5 percent Cola for City contracted homeless service and Human Services providers within the FY 24 budget given that our programs are struggling with record high turnover and vacancy rates and we would also like to see parity between city employees and City contracted DHS and HRA non-profit staff Hsu also endorses the rental assistance package that's comprised of intros 229 878 893 and 894 which would taken together would help more households avoid shelter as well as quickly exit shelter into permanent housing which could create more shelter capacity to assist Asylum Seekers by preserving service-rich shelters investing in the non-profit Workforce and strengthening rental assistance program the city can be positioned to better assist established as well as new New Yorkers in their time of need thank you for the opportunity to testify good afternoon thank you chair Brandon and to the esteemed members of the city council committee on finance for the opportunity to offer testimony today and thanks to the entire Council for your partnership and my name is Chris Mann I'm the director of policy and advocacy at win the nation's largest provider of shelter and services to families with children experiencing homelessness when operates 14 shelters and nearly 500 Supportive Housing units across the five boroughs last night uh 6500 people called whim win home including 3 600 children wind is working tirelessly to contend with the worst homelessness crisis since the Great Depression however the homeless shelter system in New York City is at its Breaking Point in this year's budget we're asking that you prioritize solving rather than just managing this crisis by including funding for mental health services and family shelters increases in provider contracts and salaries additional aid for Asylum Seekers and expanded access to vouchers and obviously protecting the right to count right to shelter this past year when worked alongside council member Eric bocher to help draft and pass local law 35 mandating mental health clinicians and shelters for homeless families with children unfortunately the executive budget only included 1 million far less than the estimated 12 million Wynn believes it'll take to actually implement the first phase of local law 35. we implore the city to allocate the full 12 million in this year's budget to ensure effective implementation wind provides wraparound services that are only made possible by a tireless crew of hundreds of essential Human Services Workers their pay is grossly inadequate for the life-saving services they provide to the city wins a proud member of the just pay campaign and along with the folks here we're demanding a 6.5 Cola at an estimated 200 million um and I've submitted a written testimony with with far more but I just want to conclude by saying we fully support the city FEPS Bill package look forward to seeing that past and I just want to say it's so critical that the fy24 budget invests in essential Services focuses focusing on solving rather than just managing the crisis thank you thank you all very much thank you we've also been joined by council member Sanchez now called the fifth panel Donald Nesbitt remotely dilcie Ben Carmen de Leon and Joe peleo einstarts now Donald Nesbitt time starts now good afternoon I was I was actually be trying to get on me enable to uh thank you for the opportunity uh Council um Donald Nesbitt Executive Vice President for local 372 New York education employees District Council 37 Aspen I'm here today to provide testimony on the maze proposed budget on behalf of approximately 24 000 members who represent who represent um our school children um under the leadership of Sean D for Christ Wildlife first 22 represents before messenger services to provide uh assistance and services for our public school children uh to to make sure that they are learning ready our school closing guys make sure that the children for us the street safely in the morning and afternoon commutes our school lunch employees unloaded and serve full every day including the Summers they continue to defeat both students and the community when mer when emergencies around they did do an opinion I was kool-aids or with students all throughout the day engaged in numerous activities to support our educational development of our students and help the children get to their buses at the end of the day our community titles paracordators School neighborhood workers and power professionals work with parents to navigate the Department of Education and work with the Department of homeless services to make sure children get to school and have a place to sleep at night our Substance Abuse Prevention and so made to Health in a mental health needs and substance abuse gun violence and bullying as well as gain prevention and mediation many members of local 372 also are members of the community in which they work in are they are neighbors our students and their families and some are parents to the two school children themselves uh I I want to uh first uh say thank you to the to the council uh and speak on uh uh first uh retirement automatic enrollment currently uh our members are not allowed to um to have an optional choice of joining a pension system our members of 55 percent uh uh 55 of of our members that actually joined Birds um 71 percent of female average age is 36 years old and average salary is 31 000 or less um New York City should awful automatic enrollment to the board of advert retirement system due to these things it's actually good for the city as the city is when these same employees decide to retire financing for this can be paid by the actuaries report which shows that the eight billion dollar Cliff that the city will not have to pay any gifts to come um in the in the next 10 years um as Investments have been well have done well at the time system today there was a report issue throughout the NYPD and that this could be cut to I'm sorry if I'm breaking up and I apologize uh there was a uh something that was circulated throughout the n1rpd that this uh should be cuts of almost 500 school crossing guards and we pushed back at that they are already more vacancies um that need to be filled for the safety of our children um school lunch employees we're asking that there's an increase of that there is a thousand of school crossing uh school lunch employees that are on higher As Time expired already understand um I have submitted the written testimony I'm sorry for my reception being shaky uh but I've submitted the testimony um a written testimony for the council and I thank you all for your time thank you thank you Donald good morning I'm chairman Brandon and the fellow council members my name is Dulce Ben I'm the president of local 1505 DC 37 representing close to 1 000 City Park workers also known as cpws as well as seasonal workers who primarily work in New York City Parks and Recreations department all five boroughs performing cleanup and conducting maintenance in all um city parks I was him watched during the preliminary budget hearing and I'm back today requesting funding for the 100 CPW staff positions in the Parks Department and my testimony at the preliminary budget Hearing in March I requested a additional 1000 Junior entry level positions to add to be added to the Parks Department these positions could be a pipeline for many people to gain full-time employment for um working for the city the city council heard our request and included an additional thousand entry level positions and parks and then in response to the mayor's physical year 24-hour preliminary budget it was disappointing to see that the mayor did not include it in this physical 24 um executive budget furthermore we could not have we wouldn't have to come back every year requesting the cpws positions in the parks department were funded at one percent of the city's total budget if this were to happen many of the budget requests would be fully funded and we would not have to engage in this budget dance every year now the weather's beautiful outside the parks um are being heavily utilized it is critical to have City Park Brokers and seasonal workers more than ever there's plenty of work to be done to maintain and clean these Parks day in and day out on behalf of my members I want to thank our partners in the play fair coalitions for always standing with us and advocating alongside for us for more funding for parks and pushing for the one percent for Parks we will not stop until we get there lastly I would like to thank the city council for working with us to restore Parks workers positions in recognizing the hard work of my membership thank you for opportunity to testify today and I'll be happy to take any questions if you have any thank you okay I guess I'll go next okay thank you city council people for having us here my name is Joe puglio I am the President of local 983 we represent the urban park rangers the parks enforcement officers the associate Park Service workers and all the city seasonal AIDS okay for the last 20 years we've been advocating one percent for Parks um you know we're not there yet we wish to be there sooner than later this would probably alleviate a lot of the issues that we have here today we have a lot of Park usage in our parks for various reasons and I think all of you know why our Parks need workers they need them now okay um the salaries that are out there are not as competitive as they once were for for our our Parks people you could work at Chipotles you can work at Starbucks for the amount of money that our members make and uh with the work that they perform a lot of them unfortunately would rather prefer to be an air-conditioned environment rather than be on the beach and deal with crowds and things as such last week alone we lost nine parks enforcement officers why did we lose them because the salary structure does not permit them to stay they are pre-qualified for all sorts of other law enforcement positions they go to State Police they go to NYPD they go to Suffolk County they go to Nassau County they are the pick of the bunch when it comes to law enforcement we need to keep them we need our numbers to go up we cannot have the skeletal crew in our Parks our Urban Park Rangers are always subjected to the final moment for them whether they know they have a job or not and for the next year we need the funding we need the funding now and we appreciate all the efforts and help that you've done in the past but we need more now thank you again I appreciate your time just turn your mic on oh thank you good afternoon city council uh chairman Brennan thank you my name is Carmen de Leon I am the President of local 768 of the professional and Healthcare Division I am a respiratory therapist and I'm also a lifelong citizen of New York City I am here today on behalf of the members of DC 37 my local as well and I need to I guess State here that um we need pay parity and why do I say that I say that not just for those in the health care uh profession but all across my local is an Eclectic local when you go to sit down in an eat in a restaurant my member has been there to inspect it to make sure that it is safe for you to eat your water supply is helped and and maintained by members in my local uh Rikers Island we provide Mental Health Services through licensed creative arts therapists social services and so I'm here to say that I am bleeding out members to the private sector my members I have dental assistants who receive the pay increase but it is way below where they should be uh their pay increase I had looked it up one of my members as a dental assistant went to forty five thousand dollars from about 37.38 a single parent with two kids on that salary they're below the poverty level and how do we as a city say that these workers my members are valuable if they are living below the poverty line I'm also concerned about the cuts to the city services because those things will impact my members members of mine during the pandemic had to choose whether they could stay and do mandated overtime or whether they had to go and pick up their child because the local libraries were not available to them because their kids after school will go there until they come out from work or someone will come and pick them up or an after-school program that holds their child until 5 5 30. so these things are important services not just to the communities but to the workers of the city they provide these services that allow my members to be able to go to work open schools that open early in the morning at 7 30 allow my members that have to be at work at eight o'clock in the morning to be able to drop their kids off and report on time so these Services across the board are important when you talk about cuts to CUNY those things will affect my members there are only two Respiratory Care programs and they are BMCC and Bronx I'm sorry Westchester community colleges so when you talk about cuts to those programs you talk about the impact that then overflows into the care that one might receive at a hospital because when you put the burden on nurses to now become a respiratory therapist or to have to clean the patient you increase their patient load and their time and the quality care that you or your loved ones may receive at the hospital when you talk about social services and and my social workers that work in all facets of the city you're talking about Mental Health Services that may not be able to be given promptly or properly because they are overworked and when I say overworked they're carrying caseloads of a hundred or forty that's unheard of so I'm asking you here all today to please as much as you can fight for the city workers fight for the start restoration of the funding for these vital Services thank you for your time I appreciate it also thank you we've also been joined by council member Baron Joe how many pep officers do we have right now uh probably 200 and something now because the numbers are drastically declining and that we're not able to hire it up in time um the like I said the level of attrition has skyrocketed because of all the other opportunities that are out there and available for them I mean we're working on a contract you know we're trying to um you know have some City matching funds which I hope allr will allow us to do that'll that'll help a little bit but I don't think it'll solve the problem we need more uh people in the Parks itself and I'll I'll work on with city council with all our to see if we can you know at this next contract get get them some increments in in the middle of their careers because that's what they usually they come on they uh basically have fifty thousand dollars but they don't see any dramatic increases uh to later on in their in their career and at that juncture they start to turn around that age where NYPD won't take them anymore and these these other police so I want I want to make it more attractive to them we appreciate any any help that that you could provide with us on that but definitely the beaches are going to be crazy you know this summer uh have all the influx of the migrants in in our parks and we don't have the federal funding we had during covet so that means we're going to be down a couple thousand people that could have been available to us previously and with the influx of these new people coming into our Parks you know it's it's gonna it's gonna be a real struggle to say the least thank you councilman Jose thank you for your testimonies the only question I was going to ask is how is the dc37 contract that I think was was recently signed how is that going to affect in the pay of some of these Parks workers okay I was referring specifically to the urban park rangers pep officers they're considered uniforms so they have a separate Napata contract from dc37 so we actually negotiate directly with them as opposed to collectively with all the other titles so I'm hoping that olr you know we will be receptive and allow what they do with like the police officers and give us an extra percentile or so you know to make it more attractive and maybe you even use some matching funds in in the percentages you know so so it would motivate them to stay rather than leave they all love the job you know it's just that they see what's outside and what their qualifications are and the training that we provide them you know makes makes them too attractive to to other people you know and then they gobble them up because they're basically pre-screened you know for for other for other jobs and you don't have to worry about um you know how to perform and the contract benefited my members my members are there I have more members in um Parks than any other title and um we are the maintenance operations the cpws are are mostly out there doing most of the work alongside Joe members but they started my people started um got an 18 at 18 an hour with the contracts and we appreciated that but it could never be enough um I have over a thousand members I have members that are homeless they work for the City of New York which I think is a shame okay I've been here over 34 years I made 46 000 last year okay um they don't pay us enough to do what we do but we do it my members do it every day okay and um they do it and they come back and they do it over and over again but the contract did raise the minimum wage to 18 an hour which is still not enough okay you got to remember one thing you if you got a family and I got people that have families I don't have my kids are grown but I have people that have families how do you support your family on forty six thousand dollars a year that's because I've been here my memories they haven't been here that long only make 30 something thousand I think it's like 36 37 you know it's sad that we work for the City of New York and that we are struggling like this and we have to struggle to get to work the child care services that was put into the contract um into the um to the budget um I thank you all for that because it really helps my members but it can never be enough 18 an hour um people at McDonald's got more than we got and during covet um everybody and they and their kids ran to the Parks Department um everybody was out there we had toilets overflowing I had six of my members that died because we had no choice but to go to work we can't work from home we have maintenance and operations but my people came out here and did it every day and I got to thank the place Fair Coalition because I can show you the garbage pile up the urinals that were powered up I can show you thousands of people in the Parks I can show you the garbage that wasn't picked up this is what we do every day okay I got people here in 100 degree weather with lawn mowers weed whackers like I said this is what we do every day and when the summer gets it gets when it comes up I got more people coming out into the parks so we need the help I got people 40 50 years old shoveling snow okay this is what we do but we're not getting paid enough anyway you cut this all right but I do thank you for what y'all did for us in the budget I thank you for that I'm sorry just want to say one more thing um when we're also talking about parity we have to talk about parity with the private sector and the reason why that is is because we're losing a lot of city workers workers that have been generational their grandparents their parents themselves were told to come work for the city you're going to have a good job okay and I can tell you right now when I came in I'm a brand new president I'm two and a half years in all right and I looked at the salaries of the city workers and I couldn't believe it my first priority because I knew what I knew from my profession was to get us as close as we could to the private sector the minute I did that the private sector got another raise I am bleeding out social workers I am bleeding out respiratory therapists I'm bleeding out exterminators who go do rat and Mosquito Abatement for the city okay so when we don't have parity with the private sector you want these hiring Halls are great but once people start to understand that they can go make money somewhere else they are out the door I have social workers in the hospital who will stay a year get that experience fresh out of school and then go to the private sector I I can't keep up I have HR Director saying to me please can you look at hiring social workers dental assistants and respiratory therapists as of today there is an expected shortage of respiratory therapists until the year of 2025. if those programs in CUNY get cuts for funding that is going to lead to even bigger shortages within my field the nursing field and so forth so we you know we want to run a good City people come to this city I have immigrants who come from other countries to get health care from our New York City hospitals okay they will get the money together to fly to get health care in New York City and that says a lot but restraining the system and we're not even going to discuss the Asylum Seekers who need all types of health care so I really am urging the council and the mayor's office to take a look at parity pay you know we we had an equity panel I'm thankful that we had that money come again to the city and to DC 37 but let me Excel you what that parity pay is a respiratory therapist gave me after I put my life on the line during the covid pandemic during the H1N1 pandemic I've been a therapist for 21 years they gave me 685 dollars that was it that's not parody for me that didn't even that doesn't even cover my groceries and some of my my utilities now when you take a look at it based on the way prices I blinked I went to the supermarket One Day stuff was that I bought was 35 is now 70. so we need to look at this and I understand that we're basing it on inflation and the inflation rate is going down but it's not enough there's no recovery and please understand historically DC 37 members have taken zeros on our contracts in order to be able to stay employed and help run this city and since that time there has been no real catch-up this is the first contract that we've gotten that has gotten some real catch up but it's not enough in today's given economy thank you for the time absolutely and thank you to the three of you for for testifying not only do we need to look at parity pay but you know New York City alone is this is a city of 112 billionaires right there needs to be a wealth tax on those who are using some of the public goods that you all you know work within whether it's our Parks our public spaces as a whole you know the money exists here in the city it exists here in the state um you know there's so much that that that you know we could do but also our state Partners can do in terms of providing you all your members and the federal and the federal and the federal of course uh the the pay that that you deserve so thank you for being here today thank you thank you all so much thank you give your call after next [Music] we'll call the next panel Daniel Clay Robert Ramos Olivia Duong and Rafael espinol I'm gonna try to do this in two minutes so just give me some leeway um thank you to the city council members for this opportunity to speak on an issue that is dear to my heart education my name is Robert Ramos I am the President of dc37 local 205 I represent 3 000 daycare workers throughout the five boroughs as a product of the New York City public school system and educator for 21 years and a father of three young men I understand the impact equality earlier childhood education and K-12 education can make on people's lives how it is an instrument for Upward Mobility how we can transform families and communities for the better with all the levels of Education under attack throughout the country with teachers and schools being censored New York City must do better we must increase early childhood education and K through 12 funding so that our children can learn to think critically fight for fight for social justice become our future leaders and build a better Society finally I want to ask the mayor and the city council to honor early childhood education staff and educators who were deemed essential workers during covet and worked tirelessly to keep New York City children safe while their parents helped to fight covet and keep the city running Early Childhood teachers and staff who are mainly women and people of color underpaid compared to their counterparts in the doe we're working longer hours all year round we asked that the city council allocate increased funding for early childhood education into the budget which the mayor failed to do so this will allow the city to negotiate in good faith a fair Collective body agreement that includes pay parity for teachers wage increases for support staff the reinstitution of longevity and vacation days as well as other important items it will also honor early childhood education teachers and staff thank you thank you [Music] good afternoon chair Brandon and fellow council members my name is Olivia dewang and I am the President of local 3778 of representing of DC 37 representing 300 civilian NYPD professional titles such as criminalists City research scientists Architects and engineers I'm here to highlight a group that doesn't get a lot of Spotlight but has been providing essential Public Safety Services in the background for a long time the forensic scientists or criminalists working at the NYPD police Laboratory the criminalists of the police laboratory of the NYPD detective Bureau are forensic scientists who analyze different types of evidence involved in an alleged crime such as drugs latent fingerprints gunshot residue Firearms Etc using accredited scientific methods we provide investigative information to detectives in our scientific findings to the assistant District Attorneys across all five boroughs as well as the federal government criminalists also testify in court as expert witnesses to the results of our analyzes Our Testimony educates juries to make informed and fair verdicts throughout the pandemic criminalists were deemed essential workers for our role in public safety and we answered the call council members there is an urgent need for a new laboratory building currently there are just under 400 employees forensic chemistry Firearms analysis crime scene departments that work out of a five-story building in Queens built in 1930. originally a department store refitted as a College University and most recently a chemical laboratory the current facility is outdated and in a state of constant repair and disrepair I believe testimony from our former Chief of forensic investigations division given a few years ago mentioned how urgently we need a new home millions of dollars have been put in and continue to be put in just to ensure the roof does not leak our operations have long outgrown that space provided for our testing needs for example we have analysts analyzing bulk control substances in a small closet size room for weeks at a time we have laboratory spaces where they're up to 20 people in a room and constant traffic flow around Fume hoods where Hazard chemicals are being used our lounges are overcrowded not able to accommodate staff having lunch or breaks no training in meeting spaces are difficult to coordinate I asked the committee to consider my testimony for this item in the NYPD capital budget on behalf of the civil servants who are rarely seen or heard but make a profound impact to Public Safety in New York City in spite of the many facility challenges we Face my colleagues have strived to maintain the highest quality and integrity of their own forensic work for the citizens of New York City every day chair Brandon I will submit a more detailed version of my written testimony for the record and I thank you for the opportunity to speak today thank you thank you chairperson Brennan and members of the city council for the opportunity to testify before you today my name is Rafael espinal and I'm the proud Brooklyn native and the former city council member of the 37th District which is now represented by the amazing Sandy nurse I feel incredibly fortunate to speak before you today as the president and executive director of the Freelancers Union but before I begin I just want to express our solidarity with dc37 and all the public service workers who are advocating for uh pay equity and all of the necessary needs that they need to provide quality work for all New Yorkers freelance Union is the largest and fastest growing independent worker organization in the country in New York City which is our home we represent over 50 000 Freelancers working in a diverse number of essential Fields such as service providers accountants health care workers media workers and artists in 2019 in a survey conducted with the mayor's office immediate entertainment we found that 30 percent of New Yorkers were performing freelance work offering Valley skills efficiency and on-demand labor to New Yorkers small businesses and larger companies currently the number of independent workers is rapidly increasing as more individuals are seeing the benefits of the work let's not fail to mention the immigrants like my parents or the Asylum Seekers arriving here every day who turn to freelance work to help them assimilate to our city financially the street vendor the domestic worker the general contractor the small business owners in Bay Ridge and in East New York independent work offers individuals higher wages schedule schedule flexibility and freedom management however without the necessary support or representation independent workers face a myriad of challenges when creating and maintaining a successful career the Freelancers Union with this non-profit working today helps bridge this vital Gap in support and resources of providing insurance benefits legal training advocacy and Community to these workers Freelancers Union has also fought for and won protections for freelance workers like the nation's first Freelancers and free act to protect folks from non-payment right here in the city but we're not stopping there our goal is to create independent workers Financial Services team that will be dedicated to providing free support for Freelancers in filing taxes and other financial support needs in addition we intend to enhance the safeguarding measures for our members through the establishment of a legal services division dedicated to addressing concerns including contract matters licensing copyright and non-payment issues and we are currently seeking the council's backing and facilitating development of these initiatives we also run a Freelancers Hub in partnership with Mom which is a free co-working space in Brooklyn that provides Freelancers the opportunity to book a free desk be able to network build community have direct access to our workshops and legal and financial clinics if the covid-19 pandemic taught us anything it's that now more than ever independent workers need access to the support and resources that can foster successful solo careers in order to meet growing needs of our community we turn to the city council to provide additional support for independent workers through the low-wage worker support legal services for the Working Poor and the job training and placement initiatives we're extremely grateful for the leadership from the council and the speaker and we respectfully urge to support for you all to support these programs in fiscal year 2024. so thank you very much for the opportunity to testify on behalf of Freelancers Union and New York's 1.3 million Freelancers thank you thank you all so much thank you for your testimony thank you next panel is Lucy Sexton Lisa gold Charlotte Martin Christopher durasin me David freudenthal Sheila Lewandowski and Rosalind Barber the after which we will call up a remote panel the first remote panel will be Andy Minges Alice buffkin Susan Lerner Sean CT young tidy Abreu and Andre Ward you could begin when you're ready whichever start left to right whatever you want sure go ahead good morning not anymore good afternoon my name is Sheila Lewandowski I am co-founder executive director of the Chocolate Factory Theater in Long Island City Queens and council member Juan's district and council member thank you chair thank you chair um I would just want to start with I think austerity for me is code for oppression and I would like us to stop using that term I understand what it is to have to live on a budget I live on a budget I grew up in dirt poor where we had no water and heat in New York City but austerity is a way to oppress people I am here today with my colleagues to you know for to ask for first time in history adding 40 million dollars to the Baseline funding for the Department of cultural Affairs invest in additional additional 10 million to more equitably and fully fund the city's cultural ecosystem to be split equally between cigs and the CDF grantees but I do want to come back to my words about thinking about austerity moment now is critical the mayor and you are in positions of power to share to Define a narrative of what New York City stands for does it for to we further starve our economy and our people starving the Beast and oppression and austerity all go together and you guys know better than I do the history of starving the Beast and what it means culture and its expression through the Arts is a way to build greater equity and shared responsibility for the future of the city we uplift each other's stories Beauty songs dances Gardens and through that we keep transforming the city into one where all you know all trickles up and not down and throughout as opposed to trickling down like what spills down only to get into more graphics on that culture in New York City is one of the major reasons hybrid and virtual workers will choose to continue to live in New York City and have their children be taught here in New York City and why red fridges and migrants come many of whom we had at the Chocolate Factory on Mother's Day who didn't want to leave because we were their living room that day um culture is one of the main reasons they stay we do not ban books here we do not ban dances we do not ban Expressions makeup anyway I just please fund culture it is for all of us and it is why people live and stay here it's our economy too you want to transform buildings into more housing people aren't going to live there if we don't have an identity of this city thank you hello hi um uh chair Brandon uh members of the of the committee uh uh I'm David freudenthal I'm from Carnegie Hall I'm here today testifying on behalf of the cultural institutions group um and our chair Coco Killingsworth um well I just want to start by saying uh Sheila said it and there it is that captures the our case I want to thank you for your past support for arts and culture across the city and the cig joins with our cultural colleagues to ask that your budget reflects the value that our institutions bring to our city um uh as you heard it's all about the base the uh the 40 million that was added adoption um in 23 we urge that that be restored and baselined and the the additional 10 million to be split between the evenly between the cig and the program groups um uh this is is key to create more stability and Equity within our sector um we also urge the restoration of all the council initiatives please ensure that the organizations can our organizations can develop and maintain their workforces sustainably um culture as Coco said Coco uh the culture is the very as is the very heartbeat of our city we're Community anchors for employment for Commerce for social connection uh we're the load star of our City's economic revitalization our continued growth um we are essential Human Service Providers with our partners in government our ranks of the cig include some of the most vital cultural science and artistic institutions in the world we're the core of the cultural economy that we and we make New York the greatest city um uh the diversity of our offerings is our greatest strength and and we strive to create Equitable cultural opportunities for New Yorkers in every Borough there's no part of our City's life that we don't impact Parks schools businesses the return on our institutions is outstanding we hope to be able to continue that work with your support I have to include um how much our sector is struggling at this point we're not back to where we were in 2019 and we Face severe impacts to our programs and services if this essential funding is left out of our budget out of the out of your budget this year and we're left behind We Stand ready to partner with you to meet the challenges that our city faces thank you good afternoon chair Brandon chair I say thank you my name is Lisa gold and I'm the executive director of the Asian American Arts Alliance and we are a 40 year old nonprofit service organization that works to ensure greater representation equity and opportunities for aapa artists and arts organizations across all five boroughs of the city I'm here because I want you to know that I'm counting on you to ensure that arts and culture or funding is included in the budget priority list and that you Champion that you Champion a baseline increase of 40 million dollars for the Department of cultural Affairs and allocate an additional 10 million to that Baseline to stabilize our organizations you know ensuring equitable distribution of dcla funding to ensure that bypoc organizations like ours disabled lgbtqia plus and older communities historically underfunded organizations that comprise and service these populations they need to receive the financial support administered by dcla internet Equitable fashion we all know that culture is the Envy of the world our culture is the Envy of the world and it's a major economic driver for generating thousands of jobs and it is the engine that powers the tourism in New York City and we know that the Arts make a smart investment in our city as they lead to improved outcomes in health mental health physical health education and safety for all of us an example like our community the API Community is under attack I mean physically literally and through the power of the cultural the council's cultural immigrant initiative we were able to give 30 artists microgrants to present acts of creative care for their Community empowering both the artists and their communities we reached more than 50 000 New Yorkers through this program and it was traditional folk songs in language videos dance workshops working with Senior Communities this is the power of the Arts and so I want to thank you for your continued support of A4 and the cultural community and all of our cultural workers API and not that contribute so much to to our city so please ensure that the New York cultural sector continues to be the Envy of the World by funding dcla at an appropriate level for a world leader and culture thank you hello thank you for holding today's hearing chair and council members my name is Charlotte Martin I'm the director of access initiatives at the Intrepid Museum in this capacity I have the privilege of overseeing the Museum's veterans access initiative that includes a range of programs and resources for current and former service members and their families I want to take a moment to acknowledge the general financial support of the city council committee on Veterans over the years through the veterans community development initiative I want to thank them for the ongoing effort to connect veterans with one another and with cultural resources like the Intrepid Museum at the Intrepid Museum our mission is to advance the understanding of the intersection of history and innovation in order to honor our heroes educate the public and Inspire future Generations centered on a former aircraft former Navy aircraft carrier we have long engaged veterans through Veterans Day and Memorial Day events such as Fleet Week happening right now a robust volunteer program and free event admission for veterans in Fall of 2015 we also launched free family programs that welcome active military families looking for an opportunity to explore the city recently returned veterans looking a way to spend time and reconnect with family and older veterans sharing their experience with family members for the first time we started offering free tours for a pts support group at the Bronx VA and we now offer free in-person and virtual tours to any veterans organization we soon expanded to offering Intrepid after hours winter evening programs exclusively for current and former service members with behind the scenes opportunities veteran-led Community workshops cater dinner and plenty of bonding across branches service areas and post post-service experience thanks to city council funding we're able to schedule these more regularly and bring in high quality veteran artists and performers and open up to a wider audience we also began offering special veterans plus programs including film screenings performances Pride events and others we've benefited from special trainings from Community Partners and the advice and feedback of our Council of Veteran advisors we've also other recipients of city funding including stage vets Josephine hair projects and others have been crucial partners and advocates for their constituents and as part of Fleet week we actually have we're excited to offer Premier performance of Exit 12 Dance Company truths colliding that'll bring together veterans military family members and refugees who've been shaped by experiences of war and our goal is to sponsor is to Foster Community Connection community and connection both in person and online among veterans including those who frequently feel excluded from traditional veteran spaces including exploring narratives that we have not previously been able to do such as their upcoming program on the contributions and experiences of lgbtq service members and Military children the veterans community development initiative has been crucial to the growth and impact of the Museum's programs for veterans and their loved ones and respectfully asks that the committee of the council advocates for the continuation of funds for this initiative as as it is more important than ever thank you good afternoon Jim and Brandon and members of the finance committee my name is Christopher Simi director for government Community Affairs for the Wildlife Conservation society and a member of the coastal institutions group thank you for the opportunity to testify today this budget season we've seen the culmination of our increased activity and need for our services grow by Leaps and Bounds during and after the pandemic I echo my colleagues request that the 40 million adopted at um in a FY 23 be restored and Baseline at fy24 and an additional 10 million to be split evenly between the cig and our program group Partners to create more stability and Equity within the sector our 34 institutions alone employ over 11 000 full and part-time staff including 5 000 union members they live here contributed to the communities where they live and work include our CDF partners and you'll see that every neighborhood in New York City is impacted by the culture in our community that is asking for your leadership beyond the economy our ability to Pivot and meet emerging needs quickly and skillfully when called upon cannot be overstated and that agility can only be maintained with consistent and sustained funding we've partnered with the city time and time again during crises during the pandemic during the creation ID NYC and currently we're exploring ways to help with assignment Seekers that are meaningful and impactful we provide an array of programs and services with specific communities and demographics to personalize institution-specific work one example WCS loved the effort to bring eight science-based cigs together forming site Network the council has enabled us to support teen internships for youth with a focus on populations historically underrepresented in stem-based careers collectively we provide over 900 paid internships at NYC Youth and looking to increase that number to 1200 by next year 74 percent of our interns are youth of color we serve stem Career Development Centers supporting young New Yorkers as they build their stem skills professional experience and social capital Workforce Development initiative is the first of its kind in New York City providing paid internships with wrap around services for thousands of Youth throughout our city personally I'm a man from Brownsville and aspired to become a public servant but today I serve in a different purpose of great need to ensure those who look like me and you access the available resources of renowned institutions that we thought we did not belong in before now we are here ensuring access opportunity and advocacy thank you for the opportunity to testify and your leadership as the city rebounds on the pandemic and Rises to higher Heights thanks I'm Lucy Sexton I'm with the city's largest cultural advocacy Coalition New Yorkers for culture and arts chair Brandon Council we know that you are all dealing with so many critical issues in this budget and we are here today to say that culture is also a critical issue we have heard about the Mental Health crisis among our children right I'm going to reference one program Queen's World film festival in a public school in Queens dealing with a fifth grader who was selectively mute and he not only engaged in the film program he got up when there was time to show it and he talked on the microphone to his whole school the principal bursted to tears she said in five years I have never heard him speak so when we say that art helps with mental health it is real you talk about the migrant crisis I ask you to look at organizations like the Clemente Center in the Lower East Side and many other organizations across the city who are not only providing clothing and other material goods for newly arrived migrants but are also producing cultural programs by them and for them because housing is super super important and culture is what makes a community culture is what makes it home this is critical work I also will say that you know we know you're facing a tough budget we are Revenue generators Broadway brings in hundreds of millions of dollars 54 billion dollars in tourism income Broadway is one of the leading uh attractors of that no less than nine of the shows on Broadway right now were generated from New York's non-profit theaters new the city needs Broadway to bring in that money Broadway needs the non-profit theaters to bring them the work and the non-profit theaters need you to keep us going and to keep that pipeline going not only generating money but generating jobs for New York artists I also want to say that we are helpful to keeping the tax base here I lived through the 70s when the middle class was leaving why are people going to live here in New York City when they can work anywhere remotely they're going to live here because their kids can take dance classes down the street because they can go see shows at night because they can visit fantastic museums and Gardens and zoos on the weekends so I ask you to invest in us to stabilize our uh cultural ecosystem because we are critical to our neighborhoods to our communities to our cities to our economies to our emotional health the Baseline will add if not been increased in a decade we can no longer live in this will we get it will we not we'll be able to have this job next year we'll be able to fund this Workforce next year or will it go away will that program for uh kids who are Street Dancers and they were had a program at Gibney across the street at uh give me dance to train them in how to do stagecraft and how to learn how to do you know lights and make their work for the stage that program went away right it was a great program it is exactly what we need to take kids like Justin Neely and others dancing in the in the Subways and build them into the the infrastructure of our cultural economy we need those programs and we need them to be stable thank you so much good afternoon thank you Lucy for your words and my name is Kate Madigan I'm here on behalf of the public theater to encourage you to make the Arts and Cultural funding a significant priority in this budget as Lucy said um the Baseline has not been increased in over a decade this is incredibly problematic as the cost to provide services has steadily increased as we've said um and these include audiences are not returning at the higher levels as they were before the pandemic production costs are higher due to extreme inflation and supply chain issues still lost Revenue due to pandemic related cancellations and postponements of engagements is high our commitment to free programming relies on donors who are impacted by the current economic environment as well so the public and others cigs and CDF recipients are part of this reality what is at stake is the survival of our organizations and our programs such as the public we produce free Shakespeare in the park which has been um in production for the past 50 years 60 years served millions of people with hundreds of extraordinary Productions featuring the greatest artists of our time all for free the Public's downtown Astor Place offerings include an annual slate of new plays and musicals from Dynamic artists as diverse as a city we live in that also go on to Broadway and countless Community engagement and emerging artist programs that serve seniors Youth and everyone in between and dozens of neighborhoods scattered across every Borough these programs and other colleagues programs generate thousands of jobs for cultural workers and serve almost half a million New Yorkers each year there's not a part of New York Life that cigs do not impact from our parks to our schools to our businesses every part of our city benefits from the work of the cultural sector the return on your investment in our institutions is outstanding and we hope to be able to continue our work with your support as a representative of the cig I joined with my colleagues and peers across the city and respectfully but firmly I said the budget reflects the value of our institutions and our partners at the department of cultural Affairs bring to our city thank you thank you chair I know that the sigs or their cultural institutions and the cultural institution group stepped up during the covet crisis how can culture continue to be a partner in the city's response to the migrant crisis that we're seeing right now um I would say that the um as you heard um uh in all of our testimony we uh it is in our DNA to be partnered with the city in serving New Yorkers many of them uh in high needs situations with free programs with a whole host of services we are eager to to be in that role with the city you're you know your first mandate is you know it's food and shelter you know there's a crisis with what is it 600 people come in today this the scale of this is is massive but there is a role for culture for you know for for the uh um you know one of those parents do with their kids you know to go to a you know to to go there's uh to go to a uh you know to a garden on their free day to go to one of Carnegie Hall's family free Family Programs it's it's really it's about how we I think how we package that how we uh give it to you to be communicating to to as part of your engagement with the Asylum Seekers we think that there's lots of opportunity for us to be partners with you in the space just as we did with covid and and I just want to add to that you know while the immediate need right now is um housing and food we also must reckon with the fact that they will be here for a long period of time and so their their children will be going to our schools their families will be coming to our institutions our their youth will be entering the workforce in a couple of years right and so our cultural institutions really serve at the at the precipice at the Forefront and providing these opportunities for these Asylum Seekers sure is we're using the term cigs and the entire cultural sector responded to the crises of the past few years as well as currently I mean the Chocolate Factory is not a cig I think of Queensborough Dance Festival in Queens Asian American Arts Alliance and many of us who are not cigs we also distributed food clothing we have served you know done programs with and for the different communities including the migrant communities that are here now so we are all working together I just want sometimes with language we lose sight of everybody together and I will just add that when you talk mental health and and my my co-parent uh is with the city's be heard program um uh going out and dealing with mental health crises all the time and she says she is seeing more and more of mental health crises in the newly arrived migrants these people have been traumatized they have been through hell excuse my language um and the things which connect you with joy with Community going to a place which is playing music which is allowing you to meet your community we meet people who already live here that is a critical part of keeping people sane and safe and integrating them into our city and I know that the cultural sector also provides thousands of jobs and even good paying union jobs for the people of our city I wanted to ask what impact would an increased Baseline have on your Workforce I'm going to jump in and just back that up for one second um the CR the the the the the sector right now is in crisis I am talking to large organizations who are talking about cutting 25 of their Workforce I mean cultural anchors I am talking to large theaters that are talking about doing a third of the programming they were doing pre-pandemic I'm talking to everyone in the sector who is facing deficits you then have smaller groups which were already fragile and not funded enough and they are really falling off the cliff we had a crazy CDF cycle this time people got defunded people are ready to fall off that Cliff you know we have always said that recovery is going to be this this ramp and relief has run out and we are not up the ramp yet so we are going to start falling off that cliff and so yes stable funding will allow us to continue to build on what the funding you gave us last year and allowed us to keep some jobs but believe me the sector is in crisis right now and it's it's a problem councilmember Baron followed by Brewer uh thank you very much I'm a strong supporter of cultural institutions I believe culture is a weapon and I think it's a weapon for Liberation and not just for sustaining ourselves in this place here and I also want to say that speaking truth to power is too much racism that permeates all of our institutions in New York city so when we do fund we want to make sure that black not diversity not minority but black black everybody say black no I'm just kidding I'm just kidding I was you're not supposed to speak out that's a mistake sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry Mr chair I get carried away but on the real side you know a lot of our we had to start the theaters of color years ago because we were not included in all of this and in the theaters of colors it has grown from 800 000 to 5 million and eight to fifty four but we have to maybe very very mindful in each one of our groups you know Carnegie Hall bam and even if you put a black at the head of it doesn't mean that all the stuff on the bottom is coming to the black communities so we just got to make sure and be very sensitive to that having said that this city is not in the economic crisis it tells you it's in they have a surplus in this budget not a deficit a surplus in this budget and had enough to pay the police four percent increase they had enough money that had enough that y'all behave because you're going to get me in trouble and I'm just kidding do what you want to do um on a real serious side this is a republican austerity budget and there is a hundred and six billion dollars in the budget they have 4.4 billion unexpected Revenue and then they have 8.3 billion in a Reserve account cultural institutions we need to double what you're getting just to make up for what happened during the pandemic and what needs to happen further so I'm going to fight hard for it I know the council members up here we're going to fight hard for more money but put the pressure on your mayor put the pressure on the mayor so that the mayor can understand that culture is a weapon it's a weapon for Liberation it's a weapon for economic Liberation it's a weapon for cultural identity so people can know who they are and where their place is in society so I'm going to support you a thousand percent and I'm let's just keep the struggle going let's keep fighting for what we deserve and they're not doing you a favor it's your money thank you councilmember Baron I just want to say quickly lift up the work of Museum U Museum you examined all of the cultural organizations of color across the city determined that it would take actually a hundred million dollars to fund them accurately we have been saying for long saying we need one percent of the city's uh budget to go towards culture because it is a crime that we still have a lack of funding to the community the organizations of color serving communities of color that need it most so yes please let's stop talking about austerity and let's talk about one percent of the uh budget going to culture thank you councilmember Brewer thank you I just want to check on the uh 40 because that's what you got last year you need another 50. I understand that just just a couple of you um does that get you to where you were last year we always want more money I'm not going to deny that but I'm also realistic so I didn't know between the some of the larger or smaller organizations if that is able to keep you at least where you were last year is that the 40 million be baselined and I know that you have limited power to do that but that's why we're fighting for it so that we can no I understand there Baseline we don't make a decision as to who gets it do you know that no okay so when it's Baseline then the mayor makes a decision as to who gets it right now when we don't Baseline the city council decides just so you know thank you um and we have asked for 10 million on top of that because we were we were quite clear that what the the the the CDF granting this year showed was that we do not have enough to fund the whole sector so that is that is a step in the right direction it is not enough I understand that but we are I've been around a long time so I understand that but I'm just trying to under so the 40 plus the 50 is uh baselined or not is what you feel you could stay more or less what you were last year is that a correct statement okay thank you good just to to jump on that thank you for the clarity also um it will get us based on Public Funding from the city to where we were last year it will not take care of all the private funding or other funding that is right thank you thank you all very much thank you for your time we're gonna begin the first remote panel Annie Mingus Alice buffkin and Susan Lerner and shauncey young and tidy Abreu then Andre Ward after which we will call up the next in-person panel Sophie Anderson Janine gazone Michael cisiski Darren Mack Ali Finn and obia free remote panel will start with Andy Mingus you can be in when you're ready your time will begin um thank you for the opportunity to testify on the main on the mayor's executive budget my name is Annie Mingus and I am the vice president of government and community relations at Good Shepherd Services we operate 94 programs that support over 33 000 Children and Families across the Bronx Manhattan and Brooklyn Good Shepherd provided testimony before the contracts Youth Services general welfare and education committees during the preliminary budget process and my written testimony will capture all of our priorities in those areas we testified on procurement reform needs restoring the 38 million dollar cut to the ycd ensuring youth experiencing homeless as an aging out of here have access to City FEPS that runaway homeless youth programs are fully funded that Doe is fully funded to address unmet needs such as transportation for children in the foster care system and to ask the council to restore funding to 52 Community Schools and the amount of nine one six million today my testimony will focus on the needs of for the adopted budget to include an investment in the Human Services sector to address the Staffing crisis severely impacting our ability to support children families and communities across New York City child welfare agencies are experiencing a staffing crisis and reporting a turnover rate of 49 for Frontline staff and 24 for caseworkers across the state during the general welfare committee I testified that the LA the HCS ACS had a posted a position for Youth Development specialist that the starting salary was 47 000 and after five years that increases up to 60 000 along with a 2 500 science bonus we cannot afford this the Department of Education also posted a position where they were paying social workers 65 000 uh dollars and after five years that increased to over ninety nine thousand dollars we call on the council to negotiate a budget that includes the just pay priorities thank you for the opportunity to testify next is Susan Lerner your time will begin hi um good afternoon thank you for uh this hearing I'm Susan Lerner I'm the executive director of common cause New York and I am testifying today um not in specific detail on particular budget numbers but with the message that it would be a false saving and a disservice to the New York City residents to cut the budget of the agencies which provide oversight it's an essential function to have oversight over the executive and historically we know that various administrations have tried different attempts to uh limit oversight functions uh either by firing inspector generals but also by trying to consolidate oversight agencies and most specifically continually trying to cut down on their budgets so we have grave concerns over the proposed reductions and resources and Personnel to the conflicts of interest board the Department of investigation the office of the Inspector General for the NYPD and the Civilian Complaint review board um not only does uh weakening oversight really undercut The public's trust in government it is a fiscally irresponsible effort because cutting down on waste um and on corruption in agency saves the city money directly by ensuring the taxpayer money is not being wasted and also in ensuring that there are fewer lawsuits that the city has to defend and then ultimately settle or pay out as we see repeatedly in the lawsuits that are brought on the basis of uh really questionable uh conduct on the part of the police so it's a false savings it undercuts the Public's uh confidence in the effectiveness of their government and we urge you to ensure that these oversight agencies are adequately funded thank you next we'll hear from Teddy Abreu your time will begin thank you chair Brennan and all other committee members for the opportunity to provide testimony my name is tidy Abreu and I am the senior director for policy and social impact at Hispanic Federation a non-profit organization seeking to empower and Advance Hispanic communities through programs in legislative advocacy as New York responds to the influx of Isis from the southern border we must ensure that the budget includes culturally and linguistically responsive supports to receive those newly arrived with open arms first it is urgent for the city to invest in hiring more staff for trauma-informed mental health workers in schools we ask that the budget includes 14.1 million for schools to hire additional social workers and guidance counselors we asked for additional funding to ensure that these social workers and guidance counselors are trained and culturally relevant and linguistically diverse practices secondly we ask that the budget includes baselines of at least 3.3 million dollars for shelter-based Community coordinators at New York City public schools at a time when the number of students living in shelter has grown especially with the surge of Asylum Seekers the city should increase its efforts to ensure students in shelter can access high quality education and lastly we advocate for the allocation of four million dollars to support Outreach for immigrant families in ways that are culturally and linguistically sustaining as well as the allocation of 10 million dollars for the support of early childhood education and care for incoming migrant students since August 2022 nearly 32 000 asylees have come to New York from Central and South America and so you know we're really hoping that the city can provide additional materials services and faculty that English language Learners need for academic success we really think that these investments will help all of our city city students including Asylum Seekers enrolled in City Schools thank you so much for your time thank you we'll now hear from Andre Ward your time will begin yeah thank you chair Brandon the members of the committee on finance for the opportunity to provide testimony today my name is Andre Ward I'm the associate vice president of the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy At The Fortune Society they've been around for about 55 years offering re-entry services and providing doing advocacy work for people that are impacted by the criminal legal system and FY 2022 we served about 10 000 people across our program including 2 700 people held in our city jails and every day nearly 1700 people across 200 housing units and seven jail facilities engage in our group session um ranging from hard skills training Etc and we also offer a range of skills to support them with their successful re-entry our staff are uniquely qualified to build trusting transformative relationships based not only on their individual experience and training but also because they are employed by mission-driven community-based organizations built on an ethos of compassion and care you know fortunate lies all individuals discharged from our city jails in 2022 and are eligible for transitional services and discovered that those that we work with in the jails were five times more likely to enroll in our services after being released than those who did not And yet when we think about this and the DLC executive budget hearing on May 19th docs obviously is looking Doc is looking to interrupt those programs by obviously cutting those programs out and so we know how very important it is to make sure that the very people that are serving team people on Rikers Island are supported in the way that they need to by competent people we have people have graduated from our program successfully who went through our programs on Rikers Island they're now working they're employed they've graduated from colleges Etc and as we move toward the mandated closure of Riker's album in 2027 we must invest in the kind of program the services that would safely reduce our city jails populations that includes investing in the workforce that performs those vital functions that are on record dollars your time has expired so thank you for this time to testify and you can have a more extensive understanding what I've discussed in my written testimony thank you councilmember Brewer um for fortunate society as you know the mayor cut the 17 million for as you I think you referenced us now um and then we were told that you know it's not a problem because the persons who work for correction can handle it so I know we're short on time here today but I don't feel that that's going to be a workable solution so I just want to know if you could say quickly really specifically how your services are slightly different than correction obviously lived experience and I could come up with some others but the obviously Pope is that people don't return to Rikers and the the goal may be much better achieved with your workers I think despite the Good Deeds of Correction workers could you be specific dear council member I think bro thank you for that question you know I mentioned the example of one of the people who had come through our program in fact two of them one of whom now who is employed who is working who has housing who is doing really well and living a life of contribution and then the second person who actually came through our jail-based programs who was now staff who just recently graduated from NYU those two examples taken together demonstrates the effectiveness and impact that our staff who work in docs um has on the people that we serve and at the root of all of it I think council member girl you know it's about building this level of trust and we feel that doc staff won't have that kind of capacity to build the level of trust needed to get people to be able to transform their lives to go back into the world thank you oh councilman nurse sorry sorry I just wanted to clarify with these Cuts is Fortune Society now will not be providing will not be contracted to provide any service on Rikers Island programs will have a negative impact on the people that they serve and obviously the staff there don't have the kind of capacity to engage in but that's exactly right councilman requests okay thank you I just wanted to clarify thank you all very much Now call up the next in-person panel Sophie Anderson Janine gazon Michael cesiski Darren Mack Ali Finn and Obi afrie maybe again I want to start for left to right whatever you'd like go ahead is this on sorry first timer dear chairperson Brandon and council members of the finance committee my name is Obi afrie I'm an organizer with the legal defense fund on behalf of the legal defense fund we thank the committee for this opportunity to provide testimony regarding New York City's Public Safety budget we submit this testimony to urge city council to eliminate funding for strategic response groups and invest increased funding into communities that have been most negatively impacted by policing practices in New York we are deeply concerned by srg groups presence in New York City as a specialized unit that notoriously uses forced arrests and dangerous tactical strategies such as peddling demonstrators as they exercise their first amendment rights in New York and elsewhere specialized units like srgs have a history of the Discrimination abuse of power and a lack of accountability the human toll of this unit measured by the trauma and physical injury Afflicted on demonstrators has been astronomical as for the financial cost it is unacceptable that New Yorkers pay hundreds of millions of dollars through the budget as well as lawsuits to fund policing practices that curtail and surpress their constitutional rights the NYPD estimates that it allocates 68 million dollars of its budget towards srg groups that number is strongly disputed by Community Advocates who assert that srgs consumes an additional 65 million of centrally allocated expenses for a total cost of around 133 million dollars in the interest of justice and Equity srg should be disbanded and this funding should be directed towards Community Driven initiatives that actually promote safety health and well-being for our people city council should prioritize funding our youth replacing the 215 million dollars that was taken away from schools in the FY 2023 budget this should include 75 million to City Schools to hire 500 community members into supportive positions including youth Advocates parent coordinators parent professionals and community outreach coordinators y'all can read the rest of our advocacy through our written testimony because we have a lot more to say thank you [Applause] my name is Ali Finn I'm an organizer and a researcher with the surveillance resistance lab a New York City non-profit that fights against corporate and state surveillance systems as one of the greatest threats to democracy racial Justice economic and migrant Justice as the mayor's budget Cuts essential Services as we have heard all day the budget also represents an unacceptable increase in the nypd's budget and continuation of policies of criminalization including some of the units like the srg most responsible for day-to-day violent and discriminatory policing surveillance and suppression of public protest the city currently spends at least 29 million on the NYPD a day according to the end according to nightclub and this budget will only increase that what does that reflect about our city and Who We Are I want to focus on some of the money that could be redirected there is a massive bloat within the nypd's budget and the 24 2024 budget massively under counts the nypd's total funding for the year the CBC estimates that it under counts the budget by 1.6 billion dollars for overtime and raises that were agreed to by the city this also does not include federal counterterrorism grants from the Department of Homeland Security including something called the urban area security initiative our joint research last year exposed how these funds expand militarized policing and fuel a massive influx of surveillance equipment under a banner of emergency response and counter-terrorism into our city with little public scrutiny these numbers are not in the adopted and preliminary budgets hiding another potentially over a hundred million dollars in funding for the NYPD budget in the past these funds have gone towards the domain awareness system a 24 7 live feed of surveillance data on New Yorkers across the city you can read more about the impacts of these Technologies and our testimony but I just want to call on the city to redirect this budget bloat to True Community Safety Solutions reinvesting in critical services and to strengthen its policies to protect New Yorkers from Ice including passing improved detainer laws that restrict cooperation between City agencies and ice and restrict the mass extraction of New Yorkers data that fuels both NYPD and Isis surveillance targeting and attention of our communities thank you so much thank you good afternoon my name is Michael zazitzki assistant policy director with the New York civil liberties Union the nyclu has repeatedly testified before this Council as to the need to reduce our over-reliance on and over resourcing of the NYPD and we're here to do that again today but rather than committing the resources needed for more robust investments in homelessness Housing Services mental health education and youth services our City's Library System the mayor's executive budget asked these agencies to make do with less while largely preserving the nypd's bloated budget as we heard the fy24 budget projects 10.8 billion dollars in spending on the NYPD which is an under account as we heard for the failure to account for overtime as well as the recent CBA so that translates to more than 29 million dollars a day in that 10.8 billion dollars figure that we're spending on the NYPD this budget funds involvement in areas that run completely counter to achieving true Community safety including the strategic Response Group the vice enforcement division the continued policing of New York City students young people unhoused New Yorkers and it's just not the right approach to actually deliver real Community safety that New Yorkers need so over the past few weeks the nyclu did something a little different we launched a museum of broken windows a pop-up exhibit an art space that asked New Yorkers to engage with the toll that 29 million dollars a day actually takes on our ability to deliver the services that would lead to a safe and thriving City that we dream of and we encourage visitors to our Museum to write out their dreams for how to actually achieve that what are the services what are the supports they wanted to see that would actually make them feel safe in their communities and we'll scan all of these in and include them in our testimony but these are the more than 560 cards that New Yorkers filled out telling us how to better spend that 29 million dollars a day what would make them safe they told us it would be more funding for education for youth services for support to actually keep people in their homes and getting New Yorkers stable permanent and affordable housing they told us they wanted to see increased investments in parks and Community spaces that would actually make their communities more livable more sustainable what they told us by and large though was to not keep them safe is our increased investment in and Reliance on police setting so we'll send these in we encourage the council to take a look to at the the dreams that are contained in these postcards and really take them seriously and negotiating this budget with the mayor we don't need to keep increasing our investment in and Reliance on policing thank you thank you chair and committee members my name is Darren Mack I'm a co-director at Freedom agenda uh one of the organizations leading the campaign to close Rikers I want to thank speaker Adams and other council members who have named the undeniable truth about Rikers it is not serving our city and it undermines public safety Between 1979 and 1980 incarcerated men at Greenhaven Correctional Facility conducted research that came to be known as the seven neighborhood study it revealed that over 75 percent of New York State's prison population came from Seven New York City neighborhoods the South Bronx Harlem Lower East Side Bronzeville breakfast stavison East New York and South Jamaica that reality remained the same in the 90s when I spent 19 months on Rikers Island as a teenager and it is still the same today today over 6 000 people are languishing on Rikers Island mostly from these same communities these communities have historically deprived of resources and then criminalized for trying to survive a recent report from the data collaborative for justice showed that black New Yorkers are jailed in New York City at 11.6 times the rate of white New Yorkers and a number of people in city jails with a serious mental illness has increased 38 percent since December 2021. our members who have loved ones at Rikers are often faced with the pain of watching their physical and mental health deteriorate while their case is dragged on for years without resolution it is past time to do something different but instead the mayor is trying to take us backward New York City spends 350 percent more per incarcerated person than the jail systems in Los Angeles or Cook County Illinois mostly because of unusually high Staffing ratios and yet people in DLC custody are subjected to the some of the worst jail conditions in the nation still the mayor has resisted any vacancy reduction among dlc's uniformed staff while agencies that provide housing Health Care youth services and education are all facing massive cuts the Administration has also proposed ending their contracts with outside program providers to save a measly 17 million dollars less than it is than they spent on overtime just last month according to the independent budget and I conclude there's no staff shortage at Rikers but there is an accountability shortage New York city has the only jail system in the country with more offices than people in custody but doc leadership has enabled officers to abuse sick leave and to and refuse to work in the post most necessary to provide services to people in their custody and that I shall see the city council should make sure that in this year's budget we actually do what the mayor says he wants to do which is invest Upstream to address root causes by doing that we will make our city safer we will reduce the jail population and we will stay on track to close Rikers thank you and I'll submit my testimony on my full testimony at some point thank you thank you chair and esteemed council members my name is Sophie Anderson and I'm here today representing the center for justice Innovation formerly the center for core Innovation over the past months my colleagues have testified at appropriate hearings to discuss necessary Investments to improve the justice system and the many sectors it intersects with from Public Safety to mental health to housing security I've submitted my written testimony detailing the full scope of our budget requests but I want to use the brief time we have today to focus on the most urgent issues looking ahead to 2027 just four years from now we've committed to safely closing Rikers Island jail by reaching a daily population of 3 300 but currently we've only been able to reach mid 5000s and in fiscal year 24 that population is projected to increase to 7 000. the center has identified several modest Investments to build trust with New Yorkers around programs that reduce incarceration when adequately resourced supervised release permits a program Grant defendants a chance to await trial and Community while maintaining jobs and stability rather than in jail simply because they cannot afford bail compared to fiscal year 22 we're seeing fiscal year 23 contracts reduced by 10 percent while caseloads for the most intensive group and category of cases are already double the contracted amount we asked for restoration to those prior levels at a minimum we're also seeing increased referrals for defendants who plea into alternatives to incarceration programs across all five boroughs atis can provide accountability and Supervision in contrast to time on Rikers Island the more expensive option where we know that criminogenic risk factors grow we request expanded resources to sustain our success at these prior rates and to deal with the incoming increase in case volume as we try to lower the jail population finally many of these initiatives are supported in their pilot stage by a five hundred thousand dollar Innovative criminal justice programs Council award that allows us to rapidly incubate and measure these approaches for expansion or handle lengthy contract delays that we experience with the city this year we asked cancel to expand this funding an amount not raised in over a decade despite the center more than doubling in size thank you for the space to give a global view of the center's priorities good afternoon committee chair Brennan and members of the committee on finance my name is Janine gazone and I work for the Crime Victims Treatment Center I appreciate this opportunity to speak today on behalf of the New York City sexual assault initiative of vital collaboration between five diverse victim Services programs across New York City including the Crime Victims Treatment Center cvtc has provided healing services to victims of interpersonal violence completely free of charge since 1977 and remains at the Forefront of this work partnering with the organizations in the sexual assault initiative enables us to reach survivors across New York City who face barriers to support regardless of which borough they reside in in fiscal year 24 we are humbly requesting funding in the amount of 2.5 million to be distributed equally between our five programs the sexual assault initiative was first funded in 2005 by the speaker and at cbtc established much needed programming for male survivors of sexual assault childhood sexual abuse and intimate partner violence before Council funding cbtc treated about a dozen men per year now male identifying survivors make up over 20 percent of our client population Which is far higher than the national average for programs like ours we offer individual trauma-focused Psychotherapy and four different groups specifically tailored to male survivors including those who are incarcerated Council funding allowed us to create Outreach materials designed to lessen the shame that so often survive surrounds male survivors and our Outreach efforts have been so successful that the demand for our services continues to increase we recently took on Statewide coordination of New York's Priya program and continue to build Partnerships with Correctional Facilities including NYC docs and Rising grounds youth facilities in Brooklyn and the Bronx we will continue our efforts to build out infrastructure and Council funding will support ongoing efforts to break down existing barriers and provide these life-changing services to individuals incarcerated in City facilities funding from this initiative has also allowed us to expand services to new hospital emergency departments in Brooklyn and Queens two areas that are extremely underserved when it comes to sexual assault intervention we aim to use Council funding to bring Equity to the boroughs and ensure that where you are assaulted does not dictate your path to Healing support through this initiative does not only make a profound impact on the nearly 6 000 people who come to our offices each year it makes a profound impact on their families friends and communities it shifts policy it shifts system this is how change happens and funding the sexual assault initiative at 2.5 million in fy24 is how the city has a direct opportunity to be part of it thank you for your time council member Jose thank you chair the first question I have is in regards to the srg um I forgot your your name but I would love to ask this question to you last week we had a public safety Hearing in the commissioner was here and she stated that the Strategic Response Group was a well-trained group used to combat terrorism and your experience and the experiences of nightclub legal observers at what Gatherings do you typically see the NYPD dispatch the srg I'll also allow also the awesome people sitting up here with me to hop in as well but well trained is laughable let's let's get that out of the way right now when you think about the civilian ccrb complaints srg officers receive a ccrb complaints at six times the higher rate than normal officers and of those complaints I think it was the nightclude data that pointed out from like 2015 to 2021 66 of the people who submit those who plates were black and if you think about the areas that are going into it's not even that they're just being used in protesting spaces they're being used to curb gun violence which does not make any sense that does not make any sense they're being deployed in areas designated as high crime areas these are lower socioeconomic black and brown communities and oftentimes the things that they are actually arresting people for are misdemeanors this is broken windows policing so no the idea that these are well-trained groups that are just being used to sporadically break up harmful protests is just a fallacy and I'll just add I mean we've seen some of their training documents they're trained in violent aggressive crowd control tactics and their training is biased at its core their training talks about um the types of you know violent versus non-violent protesters and all of the violent examples it's racial Justice protesters BLM protesters they don't they don't at any point mention white supremacists proud boys any of that it's all their focus is on uh suppressing First Amendment rights and in particularly targeting black and brown people as evidenced in the misconduct data that we've seen the higher rates of complaints the higher rate substantiated misconduct and the higher rates of substantiated use of force misconduct in particular and what actions have you seen on the ground that triggers the dispatch of the srg yeah the srg is um deployed to you know what the NYPD will say any kind of large-scale gathering but we've seen them deployed to small scale Gatherings too and we've seen deployments that are you know from our perspective in part motivated by the actual uh content of the speech of the folks that are there to protest um so we've seen them show up at large-scale rallies we've seen them show up to smaller Clinic defense uh protests we've seen them show up um to actually be deployed to enforce encampment sweeps of unhoused New Yorkers and actually arrest on House New Yorkers who are being targeted by the NYPD during those encounters so they're deployed really whenever the NYPD wants to really Step Up escalate a response to the protesters of their that they're there to police and um if any legal observers or any of you could could speak to this have you seen the srg use any de-escalation tactics or do they usually go do they usually go straight to kettling the the srg are escalators in Chief whenever they show up at a protest we'd expect to see them make the situation worse not better and then the last thing that I'll say is that you know we are seeing cuts across many of our agencies Department of Education our libraries are seeing a 36 million dollar cut in this public safety hearing last week you know the NYPD we're asking for I believe 32 million dollars for two helicopters uh in capital funding um after 2020 I feel like there's been a backlash uh it stems from the right and then also you know moderate Dems obviously picked up these talking points that fighting for any type of budget Equity meant defunding the police and because of that I feel like a lot of people have turned a blind eye on doing the right thing and fighting against cuts and continuing to allow money to be thrown at the NYPD so I please urge you all to continue to engage and pay attention to this budget that's coming up this is a 106 billion dollar budget bigger than 147 States in this country and we need folks to be as civically engaged and involved and aware of what the powers of our government are doing thank you we actually have to testimony from one more person for this panel Jorge Muniz Reyes yes Amigos Unos criminales is NYPD ice ATF MTA DHS d-s-n-y-e-c-s-r-g Perot Sonos hombresistas srg strategic Response Group foreign has lived here for more than 30 years working free in this land called Puebla York which you call Sunset Park Brooklyn I have also worked for more than 10 years as a speaker in your government your bad criminal government I have worked for the for City Hall and also as a speaker of this Municipal Council and today I came to speak the pure truth today we are surrounded by France fellows and yes we have to speak clearly between enemies some racist criminals that control this bad government and we choose legislators called Democrats you're protecting every year in this Municipal funding you take away our bread our books our education and more to protect a fun a budget Without Limits for the violent police to protect a gang addressed in blue that protects Rich takes from the poor and attacks the street vendors that attacks and attacks those who sell to survive as Democrats you protect the violent police that attacks black lives like Jordan Neely young people who dance in the trains to gather whatever they can in order to eat and pay their bills at the end of the month every day we use more than 29 million dollars of our Public Funding to criminalize the poor communities to criminalize communities of immigrants like that of Sunset Park this gang uses different names in English it can be NYPD ice ATF MTA DHS dsny srg but all of them is the same racist men that for centuries have wanted to kidnap and imprison our people what used to be of those wearing white masks now they do it even with black faces and with guns from this government to maintain this corrupt Army last Easter your bad government brought an army of police that attacked us in Central Park on the 9th of April Sunset Park on April 9th and they endangered mothers and children because they wanted to say that a group together in the park eating without permits from the government are criminals what we need to protect Sunset Park is not additional police it's freedom and a land to live and make our homes in order to protect that corrupt police the srg Strategic Response Group or any name that you want to use oh sorry please stop protecting that corrupt police called the srg or strategic Response Group or any name that you want to use and please protect our communities like that of Sunset Park within your budget uh questions from council member Baron followed by nurse I want to thank all of you for your testimony I couldn't agree with you more but I want to ask your opinion of our bill I have a bill out the community power Act that's calling for the replacing of the Civilian Complaint review board with an elected review board coming from the people coming from the people what you feel about that also we need an independent prosecutor to prosecute police not a special prosecutor and Leticia James office the attorney general who prosecutes no one so we need to make sure that we fight for an independent prosecutor and not a special prosecutor the language is important because when you say special it gets into this unspecial neighborhood called the attorney general's office and no one gets indicted the other pieces on Rikers Island we got to make sure that when we're talking about shutting it down that it's not transferred to six billion dollars worth of inner city uh prison jails because in the last budget before last I think it was six billion dollars to build four jails in the inner cities the problem on Rikers Island is not space we don't have Speedy trials if we had Speedy trials RoR release on your own recognizance Nobel no cash bail for minor offenses peaceful people who are pre-trial detainees are not guilty they're not they haven't committed any crime they pre-trial detainees so we gotta transfer the folk on Rikers Island to their homes they need to be out of their pre-trial detainees and they haven't committed a crime and bail is not supposed to be used as a punishment to keep you in jail to make sure you don't commit another crime when you may not have been committed the crime in the first place so I mean these are some very very important issues and yes we need to the Strategic Response Group has got to go it has got to go it's violent is more violent than the people on Rikers Island and it has to go because that is a a group that is terrorized in our neighborhoods and also the renamed giuliani's Street crime unit that has to go to the same unit different name same game so we have to make sure that these things are are taken care of and I couldn't uh agree with you more on your positions on social justice chair and thank you panelists um one I just want to congratulate my clue on the museum that was really great and I wish it was able to stay open longer um as in this role what I've seen is that we often are relying on organizations like you who are doing that research to help us fill in the transparency gaps when PD comes here we ask questions particularly about the surveillance piece we can never seem to get full dollar amounts activities and even within the our council's budgeting process it's very opaque so can I have two questions but the first one is can you can you kind of expand on how much resources it takes your organizations to help fill in these gaps for us I can start and maybe all you want to jump in as well um it takes a lot I mean you know we we do a lot of work with foil requests that often get denied by the NYPD which leads to appeals which leads to litigation which is a lot of expense and can take years to actually Force the disclosure of some really basic information and there was an entire effort in the city council to make this easier the council passed the post act back in 2020 to require the NYPD to actually disclose its full surveillance Arsenal what tools it has how much they cost what information is being collected and their compliance thus far has been laughable they've really defied the core language and spirit of the post act and are still withholding a lot of that information so it's still back to us to continue to try to force the issue and come back to the council and hopefully see if there are ways that we can complete some of those data gaps and and actually hold the NYPD accountable to the laws that this body has passed yeah thank you so much council members also for your continued work to support these efforts uh I think Michael you put it so generously and and diplomatically um feels like all the resources in the world um are not going to force the NYPD to be truly transparent um or even to approach an iota of of accountability um and I would rather see you know our city resources devoted to the services that hundreds of people have been speaking today that they need I also just want to highlight that so much of this happens within the budget but so much of it also happens outside of the budget especially with the acquisition of surveillance Technologies and as we push for transparency within the budget I encourage us to also push for legislation and other policies that will prohibit the use of these Technologies regardless of how they are acquired we see corporate Partners to the NYPD uh like Clearview AI uh like Amazon's ring providing free access to our most intimate information the New York police foundation a private entity um we don't know the scope of how much money they have given to the NYPD for surveillance Technologies so just as we push for this transparency that will never come from the NYPD within the budget process we need to actively proactively legislate for policies that prevent this use and prevent the mass extraction of New Yorkers data by entities outside the NYPD the corporations that work in partnership with the NYPD but also other City programs and private vendors um that are part of the surveillance web even though we might not see them to be thank you I apologize I just wanted to briefly answer council member Baron your question that you had proposed about the ccrb if just really quickly and just wanted to highlight that while a civilian elected ccrb would be a powerful statement it means nothing if their NYPD has the ability to ignore those recommendations like it does for 90 percent of ccrb recommendations I agree I agree and I think that so I just real quickly that's not a now bill if you read our bill it doesn't go back to NYPD they have the prosecutory power investigate investigatory and prosecutory power is not like the Civilian Complaint review Bill where it goes back to the commissioner I understand and thank you for that and I just wanted to highlight because a lot of the city agencies that have been used to do that kind of accountability like the dois oig who recently released the report on gangs policing highlighted overwhelming racial disparities and then pointed as a recommendation that they did not find any of these to be harmful to these communities you understand that but don't confuse it with our bill that's what they do the bill that we're talking about is independent from that it has an independent prosecutorial office and it has an elected Civilian Complaint review board with all the power in that board to prosecute and investigate an independent officer board when it's higher than the lower crime so different than anything that exists well hopefully we can have a hearing on it I was just like to finish my line of questioning um but yes we agree it's it's embarrassing that the council has no ability to call into question and get the transparency it needs on how our public dollars are being spent to surveil us and then at the same time we have to fund these organizations to do the research to fill in the transparency Gap so we have this really bad Circle um based on your research can you share if you know or have any idea what percentage of the entire surveillance Network and apparatus that is here is looking at or focused on white supremacists white Christian nationalists fascists or other hate groups because again it seems like we're relying on you all to be tracking these groups and their prevalence and growth here in the city so if you have any information you could share on that uh I don't I don't have an exact answer to that but um that is not the trend that we see um looking at both uh NYPD and other agencies as well as again their their corporate surveillance Tech and big Tech Partners um they focus on who they perceive to be a threat right and that has changed over time the founding of the Department of Homeland Security after 9 11 funneled billions of dollars into the surveillance and policing of particularly Muslim Arab and South Asian communities that was particularly and continues to be particularly harmful in New York City black and brown neighborhoods across the city low-income neighborhoods queer and trans people uh racial Justice protesters these are whom are being targeted I don't know the exact numbers that's not something we've looked into exactly in terms of white nationalists and white supremacists but my educated guess is that it is very very little again because who is perceived to be a threat and who is not thank you councilman sorry I just have one more question last week again at our hearing with the commissioner the commissioner was proudly boasting about how the NYPD is making some headways on investing in new technology for civilians so the the robo dogs the uh the rocket ship type things in your research have you I know there was some talk about some potential violations of surveillance law uh with these new technologies can you speak to any of that if there's any research on your end sure um so the the post act has been mentioned that requires uh disclosure and impact in use policies of surveillance technology used by the NYPD they have routinely violated the spirit and the letter of the post act for these quote-unquote newer Technologies like the robot dog you know that this has not been issued um but overall I would say we have a extreme lack of Regulation across the board at the local state and federal levels around the use of surveillance Tech it's not only about transparency we need to actually limit and prohibit the use of these Technologies and the post act does not it was an incredibly important step but it does not go that far so there is very little structure to hold the NYPD and other agencies and private actors to account for deploying these Technologies the last thing I'll say is a lot of these Technologies are actually procured or tested through measures that bypass public oversight shot spotter the so-called gunshot detection technology which increases over policing in black and brown communities was brought to the city through a demonstration project rather than a more traditional procurement process that would have allowed for public and city council oversight and that's just one example thank you thank you sir and I'll just add you know on the post act piece I mean the the rollout of the the digit dog the new K5 robot that is something that the NYPD what they should have done under the law was actually give a substantial amount of public notice before those actually got rolled out and put draft policies up on their website that you know we can review we can comment on they're supposed to respond to doesn't prevent them from actually rolling forward with it um but even that minimal step of basic notice and transparency is something that the department just turned their noses up at so it is I just want to Echo the the call that Ali made earlier you know the transparency piece it is important they should be following those laws but we do need to shift the conversation more towards taking away these tools entirely putting in place bands Banning technology like face recognition which we know the department has operated for years that is biased it's flawed it has no business being used by law enforcement or any other government agency these are the actions that we actually start taking to take away the actual power itself from these agencies councilmember caban okay thank you all so much we're going to begin with our next remote panel Tanisha Grant Ursula young Leoni hamson Michael rantz waigai masele Betty garger and Terry West hello my name is Tanisha Grant I thank the finance committee for having this very important hearing um again my name is Tanisha Grant and I am the executive director of parent support and Paris New York pspny is the social and racial Justice um Grassroots organization most of our funding comes from the community we serve I am here to speak on behalf of the community that um on behalf a community that again my organization serves when we talk about the proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 we have more we have more cons than Pros we are concerned about the cuts of funding to public education CUNY Pre-K adult literacy Services libraries Social Services Health Care Services mental health care services and Housing Services I'm sure that I I missed a couple of one but you get the gist of what I'm saying um for years we have heard that New York City does not have the money um every year it's a new word this this year is pegs and fiscal cliff we know for a fact that New York City is one of the richest cities in the world not in the country in the world it is a staple of the whole world all right a financial base for a lot of things so it is very confusing to the community that I serve that we don't have the resources to fund everything that I just said and more instead we have an Administration that is um adamant of cutting services that people vitally need um if the pandemic has taught us anything if anything good has come out of the pandemic it has taught us how underserved our community truly is um we ask that you really fund community-based organizations because a lot of people call themselves community-based organizations but are not community-based organizations we ask that you stop mayor Adams for cutting out to our community and we ask that you hold them accountable for all the mismanagement of funds that is current is happening every day and lastly I will say that we are a hundred percent behind um councilman Charles Baron um bill for Community power act we need that now we need the power to be put back into the hands of the community when it comes to the police and we need them defunding and resources straight to our community thank you for listening to me thank you Nexus Ursula Young time starts now arcella Young okay we will come back next is Leoni hamson time starts now thank you for holding these hearings today uh we have concerns about the proposed budget cuts and those already made though we're relieved that there's supposed to be no cuts to schools initial budgets next year according to the doe mid-year adjustments I.E funding givebacks may be required some of those funding streams May prevent schools from hiring the teachers they need to lower class size or keep class sizes low for example not a penny of the additional 500 million in contracts for excellence funds will be dedicated specifically towards class size reduction but instead is supposed to provide teacher training and expand the number of ICT classes there's also a proposed 24.5 million cut for vacancy reduction that will likely lead to a further loss of K-12 teachers already we've lost over 4 000 teaching positions full-time K-12 teaching positions over the last four years and we don't want this trend to continue especially given the new mandate to lower class sizes after the council voted to approve the budget last June many members realized this severity of the cuts and their devastating impacts on schools but now the council has an opportunity to make things right by restoring the cuts made to schools in next year's budget we also are especially concerned to the huge cuts to the capital plan according to the city's class size reduction plan it'll cost 30 to 35 billion in New Capital funding to provide sufficient space for smaller classes we believe this estimate is vastly inflated for reasons that I go into detail in my uh written testimony but there's no doubt that more space will be needed to lower class size especially in the most overcrowded neighborhoods and districts like yours chair Justin Brannan and yet rather than increasing the funding for new schools they're the school construction authorities proposed cutting about 2.3 billion dollars and over 22 000 seats out of the plan compared to the plan approved just in June 2021 nowhere in the nearly 900 pages of the capital plan is the new law ever mentioned thank you for your time today I hope you will work hard to make sure that this Capital plan is expanded otherwise we may be forced to put in trailers which I think is the last thing that anyone wants at this point thank you next we'll hear from Michael rantz I'm Starts Now great thank you all so much um and I'm also with class size Matters uh to pity back off of what Laney was saying uh the cost of meeting the class size caps in the new law would be considerably less in the speed greater if the doe accelerated the rezoning of the elementary schools and revamped the admissions process in middle and high schools more equitably allocate enrollment across all schools this would also likely create more diversity across schools and enable currently under enrolled schools to have more sustainable budgets yet apparently the doe is not considering this option again we urge the city council to project any Capital plan that fails to include expanded funding for new capacity so that schools and the most overcrowded communities and exceed the new caps within the time frame managed mandated by the law finally so that no one is again misled or confused about the potential level and future impact of doe overall budgets and school level funding we urge the council to require more transparency from now on in budgeting and Reporting including two new units of appropriation that reflect School level funding as a subset of the existing general education and federal education U of A's otherwise it will continue to be impossible to know in advance how much the post-cuts will affect school budget Staffing and programs now again thank you all so much for the ability to testify today uh one pager follows with our budget priorities on the written testimony sent to you signed on to as well by New York City kids pack the alliance for air quality education and the Chancellor's parent advisory Council which represents all the bpas in New York City thank you so much thank you next we'll hear from wogai Maselli hi I'm Steve now I'm just here with some of our youth food Advocates who will be testifying virtually a little bit later so I will not be testifying today thank you okay next we'll hear from Betty garger hi everyone I'm in your achievement of New York and we are the largest non-profit organization in the greater New York area dedicated to creating Pathways to economic empowerment for young people from kindergarten through 12th grade our mission to educate and Inspire young people helps them understand the economic world around them plan for their financial Futures and make the most of their potential we provide tens of thousands of student learning experiences each year and most importantly at no cost to students or schools and we are seeking to expand our impact to ensure that our program is accessible to more students primarily in low and moderate income School communities throughout the five boroughs when we had the pandemic we acted swiftly to redesign our options which included virtual delivery we've now returned to in-person activities but we use what we learned and we continue to offer virtual program options such as ji Inspire virtual which is a career fair and we can reach more students than ever we also just this two months ago opened a permanent site-based location in Brooklyn for our ja Finance Park which helps really understand students understand budgeting credit scores everything that they need to really gain their own economic empowerment we really thank the city council for their support and we ask for you to continue supporting us so that we can offer more programs like these to students throughout the city financial literacy entrepreneurship work for Force Readiness are not part of the required curriculum in New York state schools and especially for students at underserved and high need communities this lack of exposure to basic sound financial information can compound existing barriers to success at Judy achievement we work to empower these students by helping them develop responses all right and I just want to thank you all for your support and actually urged the council respectfully to continue to expand these allocations for fiscal year 24 on behalf of the more than 50 000 students we serve every year thank thank you for this opportunity thank you next we'll hear from Terry West time starts now good afternoon chair Brennan and members of the finance committee my name is Terry West I'm the director of government contracts and school Partnerships at New York Edge I'm here today to ask that you prioritize New York edges fiscal 24 city-wide funding requests we are seeking for the first time 250 000 under the council's social and emotional supports for students initiative we are also seeking 1.2 million dollars under the council's after-school enrichment initiative an increase of two hundred thousand dollars over last year this would be our first increase in 15 years New York Edge is the largest provider of school-based after school and summer programming in New York City serving 30 000 students in over 100 schools throughout the five boroughs and employing 1500 Educators artists Sports Specialists and more the overwhelming majority of our employees reside in the communities they serve social emotional learning is integrated into every element of what we do and we have been recognized as the largest after-school provider in the nation offering social emotional learning supports Council Citywide funding enables us to enrich and expand our school year and summer programs and has allowed us to develop and Implement new unique and engaging programs for our students in the past sustained Council funding enabled us to become one of the city's largest providers of college access programs New York Edge it's students its families are extremely grateful for the council's 30 plus years of support the time has come however where increased funding is vitally needed unlike our contracts with dycd and other agencies our Council discretionary contracts are not and have never been eligible for Cola increases this is making it increasingly difficult to attract and maintain quality staff and to continue to offer the wide array of stem SEL Visual and performance Sports health and wellness and College and Career Readiness programs that we are known for to students in underinvested communities across the city your support advocacy on behalf of our FY 24 city-wide funding requests is needed and greatly appreciated thank you very much for this opportunity to testify thank you Final Call for Ursula Young time starts now okay we're going to call up our next in-person panel Adam Ganser Kieran Elaine Sarah Williams Emily Walker Francine Rogers Adriana Alia sumru and Ryan Mahoney oh wait okay uh sorry you may begin when you're ready hi there hello thank you uh for the opportunity to speak today my name is Adam ganzer and I'm the executive director of New Yorkers for Parks we co-founded the play fair Coalition with the league of conservation voters in DC 37 which now stands at more than 400 organizations across the city all focusing on advocacy advocating for our City's Parks we're also behind the one percent for Parks campaign uh you've heard from dc37 about the uh on the ground reality of their uh work conditions and how our parks are faring um I'm going to put it a little bit more bluntly with some larger context uh the city's support of our Parks has been abysmal for 40 years we're talking about a 40-year austerity plan some quick data points New York City spends Less on our Parks as a percentage of the budget per capita and per acre than all of their major cities this is the densest city in the United States what's more the parks agency over the last 40 years has continued to see its share of the city budget within the Old City compared to other City agencies while NYPD the Department of Corrections sanitation and the department of Ed have all seen budget increases of 130 percent or more since 1980. Parks has seen an increase of just 70 percent uh more to the point this year alone the city is spending more on NYPD overtime at 670 million than it spends on our Park system what has this resulted in in an equitable Park system parks that rely on inferior maintenance and safety strategies because the agency simply doesn't have enough staff the lack of funding has a disproportionate and inequitable impact on the millions of New Yorkers voters who can't afford to live near parks that get private investment it's time to invest in forward-looking policy with our parks that will make the city and its residents healthier and safer rather than the annual budget crumbs at the edge of the table we're calling for a meaningful investment first and foremost we're calling for one percent of the city budget for Parks more specifically we're looking for 1 000 Baseline new junior level maintenance positions more Park Rangers and pep officers investment in natural areas and our forests also we're calling on the council to reinvest in the play fair positions that it used to fund this is 280 positions across lines that are so critical when we're seeing Peg Cuts year after year just as an example in the last year and a half we've seen 500 positions eliminated in The Parks Department we are very appreciative of the council's support of our platform and we hope to see that same from the mayor thank you good afternoon my name is Alia sumero and I'm the deputy director for New York City policy at the New York League of conservation voters uh thank you chair Brandon and members of the committee on finance for the opportunity to testify today nylcv believes it is imperative that the city's final FY 24 budget prioritizes efforts to move us towards Park Equity zero waste environmental justice reliable and affordable transportation and more allocating sufficient funds toward these initiatives as well as prioritizing and streamlining agency Staffing and hiring can help us to create a more sustainable resilient and Equitable future for the city and its residents we have submitted longer comments but I'm going to outline a few of our high-level priorities as Adam and members of DC 37 already outlined were co-founders of the Playfair for Parks Coalition and we stand with the rest of the coalition to demand the city allocate at least one percent of the city budget for parks for the protection and maintenance expansion and promotion of the city's Urban and Forest increasing our Parks budget is an issue that intersects with many issues Equity workers rights climate environmental justice public health and more additionally as members of the forest for all NYC Coalition we urge the city to fully fund the urban forest for both capital and operational expenses in this year's budget next for sanitation the city has been behind schedule on meeting our zero waste goal of reducing the amount of waste we send to landfills by 2030 so it is imperative that the city take bold action the city must allocate robust funding and Staffing for programs such as Citywide curbside Organics Commercial Way Zone law implementation city-wide waste containerization and recycling programs for housing and buildings local law 97 the city must fully fund the implementation and dob Staffing and hiring we're also a member of the New York City coalition to end lead poisoning and we stand with Advocates calling for more funding for agencies such as HPD and dob to conduct inspections next we also just want to quickly highlight that for transportation New York City must fund the New York city streets plan and then for nycha the city must prioritize finally bringing up nycha to the 21st century and prioritizing sustainability and resiliency initiatives thank you and we look forward to working with you all good afternoon my name is Emily Walker and I am the senior manager of external Affairs of the natural area's Conservancy thank you to chair Brannan and the members of the committee on finance for the opportunity to comment on the proposed fy24 budget for NYC parks our natural forests and wetlands comprise 12 000 Acres fully one-third of the city's Park system and are the only places where over 50 percent of New Yorkers go to experience nature our forested natural areas make up 24 percent of our city Parkland totaling 7 300 acres but in a report released this spring we found that only 0.7 percent of the expense budget for NYC parks has gone toward the maintenance of these lands to put it another way imagine that all of Central Park was forested with this level of Staffing there would only be four people working there today we reiterate our support for dedicating one percent of the city budget for parks and ask that the city council and the mayor commit full funding for the playthrough budget platform we are grateful to the city council for calling on the administration to Baseline the 2.5 million allocated in the FY 23 budget but we want to recognize that to properly maintain and care for our natural forested areas and wetlands we believe in investment of 3.5 million is needed in the FY 24 budget we were thrilled with the mayor's recent 2.4 million dollar addition to the fy24 executive budget toward connecting and formalizing over 300 miles of trails in our Parks however we know that this allocation is a small proportion of the funding needed to properly maintain restore and activate our natural areas despite this new allocation we want to note that if the FY 23 funding is not restored the 44 seasonal staff that are currently funded to engage in Forest restoration maintenance and plantings will be terminated at the end of June and the work of NYC parks to manage forests across more than 35 Parks will come to a halt the allocation of 3.5 million in fy24 would support the retention of these 44 seasonal staff as well as the addition of five seasonal staff to support Public Access improvements in Wetlands resilience we view this funding as a critical complement to support the executive budget Trails funding allocation it is imperative that the fy24 budget includes 3.5 million to continue care of our natural areas and we stand with our colleagues today in strong supportive play fair calling for the full reinstatement of funds that were cut from the Park's budget last year thank you good afternoon I'm Sarah McCollum Williams executive director of green gorillas a non-profit that supports Community Gardens and activates youth engaged in food and environmental justice across the city special thanks to chair Brennan and all of the committee members here today in a 2018 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association researchers found that for people living near Green spaces feeling depressed significantly decreased by 41 percent and self-reported poor mental health showed a reduction of 62 percent they included that neighborhood physical conditions have been associated with mental illness and may partially explain persistent socioeconomic disparities in the prevalence of poor Mental Health Green Space is provided by Community Gardens don't just beautify neighborhoods they have the radical potential to create health wealth and resilience within them Community Gardens provide some of the same benefits as Parks but beyond that they provide strong additional benefits in the form of neighborhood food sovereignty and education around healthy eating despite these powerful benefits Community Gardens and the essential work undertaken within them are underfunded and their potential centers for powerful systems transformation are often overlooked on behalf of community gardeners across the city I urge you to increase funding for Green Thumb by investing 4.8 million dollars to support a variety of asks that I'll include in my written testimony we understand that the city is facing uncertain Economic Times but we urge the city council to prioritize impactful programs and restructure operations to preserve Services the long-term health of New Yorkers will be severely compromised if the city balances its budget by reducing critical Services unnecessarily a recent report from comptroller bradlander shows that one area for possible savings is reducing overtime worked by the city's uniformed employees his report showed that the city spent 1.5 billion dollars on such overtime last year including 43 percent of that over time which went to the police department organizations like the citizens buddy budget commission and the city's independent budget office have additional practical ideas that could be implemented without stripping core services from New Yorkers we stand with our colleagues in the Playfair coalition to urge mayor Adams and the city to make good on the commitment that mayor Adams made to fund NYC parks with one percent of the city budget our health depends on it thank you hello and thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony today my name is Ryan Mahoney I'm the president and principal biologist at Gotham bat Conservancy Wildlife Conservation organization located here in New York and I'm here to speak on behalf of our organization and as a member of the forest for all NYC Coalition the forest for all Coalition is dedicated to justly and equitably protecting maintaining expanding and promoting the urban Forest within New York City and we at Gotham by Conservancy Champion the conservation and restoration of habitats in the wake of environmental challenges with a deep commitment to the natural world and a passion for preserving biodiversity it was just the other day international biological diversity Day celebrated at the UN but we strive to create a brighter future for specifically bats and the ecosystems that they inhabit here in New York first and foremost I would like to urge the council to fully fund the urban forest in this year's budget both for Capital and operational expenses the urban Forest is a vital piece of public infrastructure that plays a significant role in enhancing the well-being of all New Yorkers however it has been long overlooked and under-resourced perhaps for the entirety of most people's hears lifetimes hindering its ability to accurately serve our communities the National Forest Service estimates that New York City's Urban Forest is made up of about seven million trees of various Heights Health statuses and life stages the forest removes approximately 1100 tons of pollution from the air annually in New York stores 1.2 million tons of carbon and removes 51 000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere here in New York annually our forest has an estimated compensatory value of 5.7 billion dollars in addition to all of these services that the forest provides to us all it also serves as an invaluable Habitat to Wildlife including one of New York City's most iconic animals bats as the gotham-back Conservancy we are particularly concerned about the preservation of bad habitat within the urban Forest that's playing a crucial role in our ecosystem As Natural pest controllers and the unsung heroes of nocturnal pollination they contribute to the overall all health and balance of our environment and unfortunately the challenges that they face within our region and within the urban Forest are significant they have severely impact they've been severely impacted by a fungal disease first identified in the state of New York causing massive population declines across the entirety of North America since 2007. New York state has experienced specifically some of the highest mortality rates in the urban Forest that we have here in New York serves as a critical refuge for these bats affected by the disease furthermore habitat loss and degradation poses an additional threat to bat populations as urbanization continues to expand natural habitats are being fragmented and destroyed leaving bats with limited spaces to roost forage and raise their young our Urban Forest provides vital Sanctuary for bats in our region offering diverse opportunities to roost insect Rich foraging grounds and important breeding habitats it's worth noting that New York City's Urban Forest is not only a refuge fruit bats in general but specifically for endangered species of bats including the northern long-eared batch which we recently identified last week as being present in the Bronx um given the challenges that the critical role that bats play in our ecosystem it's imperative the city council commits sustained funding to the urban Forest adequate resources will enable comprehensive conservation efforts including habitat restoration public education opportunities Community engagement as well as Pathways to environmental and scientific employment opportunities that the city lacks by investing in the urban Forest we can support the recovery and long-term survival of bat populations while also providing preserving the ecological Integrity of our city and enhancing the valuable environmental services that we are provided with every day thank you hello my name is Adriana I'm a climate organizer with Sunrise movement NYC and a 17 year old public high school student education policing and the environment last year this city cut funding for two out of those three things and I'm sure we can all guess which two mayor Adams and politicians like him who proselytize about austerity argue that there simply isn't enough money but that is a Lie the doe will receive an extra 493 million dollars next year from the CFE lawsuit and in addition the IBO has estimated that New York City will end fiscal year 2023 with a 4.9 billion dollar Surplus and as of early February the city's cash balance was at 14.6 billion dollars including Reserves last year this governing body cut funding for public education by 215 million dollars my high school lost 194 856 despite increased enrollment I was in the room with my principal when she explained that we had to pinch pennies and cut down on student-run clubs one of the few things that bring us joy in the midst of an acute student Mental Health crisis the parks department budget last year was below one percent of the total budget commitment that the mayor had made on the campaign Trail and in fact last year's budget enacted three percent cuts across the board to almost every city agency except of course the NYPD I am here today to ask why is there always money for violence and Terror but never for our communities never for our schools why does this city fund unlawful units like the Strategic Response Group which counter peaceful protest with deadly force why does this city actively empower the police force to abuse and assault black and brown New Yorkers and why does this city use our tax dollars to Dole out over bloated overtime pay a projected 740 million dollars this year and spend unbelievable sums 121 million dollars last year in lawsuits resulting from officers who simply couldn't keep their hands to themselves this city has the money to restore the cuts made to essential Services last year and this body has the power to do so budgets are documents of morals and values and I am here today to ask where are yours [Music] [Applause] council member Krishna well thank you all so much as advocates for your testimony today that was both powerful um and highlighting the clear needs that we have here in our city too um I I would like to also call special attention to the parks groups that are here um both for your work every single day to take care of our green spaces across our city and to advocate for more funding and I just wanted to be clear before asking my question too you know the as we stated in our executive budget hearings and preliminary budget hearings this year last year the call for one percent for our budget for city parks not only is something that is not novel or radical but it's catching us up to other cities across our country but on top of that that is something that this mayor explicitly campaigned on and stated the importance of parks and taking care of our parks and so it is shocking that we still are fighting to make sure that we are getting there we have the highest budget for Parks last year but it's nowhere near what it needs to be and we expect to see a stronger commitment from this Administration when it comes to taking care of our green spaces a commitment that is so far not materialized despite the stated promises and commitments for several years now on that note one question I have is our Council budget response called for 1 000 city parks workers which would be an investment as you all have testified to in our Parks workers and the staff who are the Beating Heart of our Park system and I just open it to any of you all on the panel too to just uh give some testimony as to what would having a thousand city parks workers for our parks department do to address some of the disparities that we're talking about here and to address the maintenance issues that we see in our parks I uh Adam ganza from New Yorkers for Parks I mean there's a couple things that that really this starts to address first is just a general shortage of Staffing I think we heard earlier testimony on the number of Pep officers which is now down close to 200 that's 200 pep officers to monitor 30 000 Acres of Parkland across the city the other thing is that over the last 40 years the parks department has gone from a model where you had Parks workers stationed in each Park to mobile Cruise which means that groups of four or five Park workers are driving around the city to multiple Parks uh during their shifts getting there and then not coming back for three four days or five days we're looking for more Parks workers to be stationed in Parks which increases certainly their eyes on the park for cleanliness but also more engaged with the communities that are surrounding those parks to to be in responsive to the community needs and and Public Safety needs and those are just two examples I mean you're talking about levels of Staffing now that are thousands fewer than what they used to be in the 70s and the 80s and we're playing catch-up both with the numbers and with the models that they're using thank you Adam and I just wanted to also um acknowledge that the Playford Coalition at the orchestra Parks I put out an excellent report highlighting these disparities between uh Parks Investments by other cities and how we in New York City have some of the least amount of dollars spent uh in our Park system uh just in comparison to other cities across the country um Adam isn't it correct too that over the last 40 years last year's budget Assad there's been a steady decline in public dollars and public spending for our City's parks yes that is true we you know in in the 70s we were funding parks at close to 1.5 percent of the city budget after the fiscal crisis and into the 80s it went down to 0.5 percent which is where it's hovered ever since and and actually it got worse two three years ago during the pandemic when parks department was cut by 85 million dollars and our Parks were in the worst situation that they'd ever been in since the parks department was recording that um I think the the issue is that we're we're continuing to negotiate based on last year's situation rather than zooming out and saying what does the Parks Department need what do New Yorkers need the one percent for Parks campaign is exactly that looking at other cities models maintenance models and just general Common Sense looking at how inequitable the city's Park system is where if you live around a park that gets private funding you live in a beautiful Park and that may be your experience you might think the rest of the city's Parks looks like that but for the millions and millions of other New Yorkers that don't have that luxury that's not what they're experiencing and so isn't it a fact and your testimony too that one percent for cities Parks is not only catching up New York City to other cities across our country but it's actually returning New York City to what it invested in our Parks uh 50 years ago at this point that's exactly right and I mentioned in my earlier testimony that the parks department has we've not just fallen behind other cities we've fallen behind other agencies most of the other agencies in the city seen growth in the last 40 Years of above 130 percent whereas the parks has just grown the budget has just grown by 70 percent parks department is essentially a boots on the ground agency you need people you need people to be in the places where they're working and we don't have that right now despite what the commissioner and the mayor say we just need more people absolutely and and this it's shocking to think about how we're looking at returning to the 1970 standard um and again highlighting how this is not anything novel or radical but frankly uh bringing back uh Parks Investments to what they have and wouldn't you also agree that as this public spending has gone down over the last seven decades or so um the importance of parks as a central spaces for New Yorkers has only gone up especially in the last several years given this pandemic uh absolutely first of all you've seen the population of New York City grow by many a million people over that same 40 years we haven't had a significant increase in the number of parks over that same period of time so just generally there's more people in our Parks during covid you saw exponential increases and that hasn't uh petered off we did a survey about six months ago Park stewards were saying they're seeing you know 10 to 20 percent more people in their Parks during busy season but what is maybe surprising is that's extending throughout the year the the city it's a warmer place people are outside more during the year than they used to be and there's I mean frankly we're healthier people now than we were in 1970 they're we're not out smoking cigarettes on the corner we're in our Parks jogging and so I think there's a real need that is not being met by by this city and it goes directly obviously to the inequity that we've talked about but it's just also a quality of life what are we here for we're here to be spending time in cultures we've heard from other Advocates but also being able to live and survive in a in a city where Green Space is abundant and well maintained with our with our children and families and communities and my final question uh for the for the rest of the panel too whether it's Leo conservation voters the forest fall Coalition is we've talked about the importance and this Council has talked about the importance of a 30 tree canopy cover by 2035 and how crucial that is not only for making sure we have trees and shade across our city but for our climate to combat the urban heat island effect um and to address huge disparities where many low-income communities of color don't have the tree canopy or shade they need and it results in much much hotter climates than other wealthier parts of the city that have far more as far as shade goes and cooler temperatures wouldn't you say that if we had one percent of our budget for city parks that that would go a long way in helping to ensure that we had a 30 tree canopy cover by 2035 and that we could maintain the trees critically not instead of just planting them also maintaining them wouldn't having that budget help with that too um thank you for the question council member my name is Emily Walker I'm the senior manager of external Affairs at the natural areas Conservancy one thing I'd like to highlight for the natural areas Conservancy we have obviously a very large interest in our natural forested areas which um as I mentioned in my testimony are 24 of the entire like Parks portfolio while they're you know a relatively small amount of maybe city land relative to the rest of the built environment we've done research that has found that 69 of the carbon stored in New York City is stored through our natural forested areas and yet the level of investment that we see in the care of these lands is incredibly paltry as Adam has mentioned the budget for Parks overall is like so paltry to begin with so to have such an increasingly small amount going to the care of what is a really crucial asset and in an era of increasing climate change and we're seeing that you know year over year these impacts in our neighborhoods to not invest in protecting our forests and our Wetlands which we're losing six acres of each year is really shocked talking and you know the amount that we're asking for is Pennies on the dollar relative to the entire city budget to care for at the very least our natural forested assets um I'm not going to speak so much to Street trees that's not our area of expertise but as a member of the force for all Coalition with many of my colleagues here today I know that reaching that 30 goal will obviously include the public realm and our public parks but it will also require private land and I think that's the challenge that um you know the Coalition is eager to work with the city council on and I'll turn it over to any of my other colleagues who might want to add to that yeah uh thank you uh Aliyah sumero from the New York League of conservation voters uh I agree with everything they said and I just want to emphasize that it is so important to increase the tree canopy coverage throughout the city because so much research has shown the correlation of neighborhoods that were previously redlined and the tree canopy coverage so this is for us for all you know really tries to emphasize that this is an equity in environmental justice issue and we want to try to Advocate that the city prioritized tree canopy and environmental justice areas and neighborhoods that don't have tree canopy coverage and isn't it fair to say that the tree canopy for New York City a substantial part of that also is within nycha and the trees and tree canopy of nycha yeah definitely and part of it is preserving and you know maintaining that thank you uh just close by saying that as we're hearing today the importance of our Green Space is the importance of the funding for for our parks and our tree canopy the importance of nycha and our housing and how it's connected to our Parks if this Administration besides words cares about these issues cares about our green spaces cares about nysha and states its goal to fund parks at one percent or more then it's time that we see that money backing up those words so thank you all so much for your work thank you all so much thank you we're gonna begin our next remote panel Jen gabori Nancy Cardwell Benjamin Watson and Kayla Velez time starts now uh then our which we followed by our next in-person panel Christopher Hanway Jamel Henderson Brianna Patton Williams Linda Hoffman Eileen Mayer Lauren Schuster Lisa daglian Nyla amarou and Anna krill and begin with Jen gabori I'm sorry the in-person next in-person panel will be Christopher Hanway Jamel Henderson Brianna Patton Williams Linda Hoffman Eileen Mayer Lauren Schuster Lisa daglian Nyla amaru and Anna krill remote panel can begin with Jen gabori time starts now launcher Brandon BNT members and members thank you so much for your endurance today really appreciate you being here listening my name is Jen gabori I teach I teach courses in gender and politics at Hunter College where I also serve as BC CUNY Chapter Chair here um we've heard today across the session about the need to resist the head cuts and James Davis talked about the 60 million dollars in cuts that CUNY might receive but of course it's not enough just to think about the restoration of those cuts we really need money beyond that and are encouraging you to stand strong and push against austerity budgeting as we've heard across the day um what it's not just going to be enough for us to uh to resist those cuts we have existing vacancies and what we know is that we can hire workers at CUNY um right now the vacancies we need are things like financial aid advisors lab techs to set up stem courses Writing Center staff support for English language Learners um admin workers to keep their program growing including people in DC 37 I have a dc37 worker about eight feet away from me right now now um and there are positions that are not filled and I'm really concerned about the positions that are not filled right now and what it would mean for us to sustain more cuts one of the really sad things about what happens at college is people come into college and then leave College without a degree and it's a real tragedy of Institutions that is preventable on our end and it is in fact the cost of austerity there is nothing intuitive about enrolling in a course of study or sorting through financial aid work people need advising to do that and so we are here to encourage you to invest in advising um going beyond the things that that you were going to do you know going Beyond resisting the pegs we encourage you to invest in advisors um to help us we know that when you invest buy it thank you so much thank you so much thank you next is Nancy Cardwell time starts now Nancy Cardwell next we go to Benjamin Watson time starts now Benjamin Watson next we go to kila Velez Prime Starts Now good afternoon uh chair and Council team my name is Kayla dero I am going to speak on behalf of all CUNY students but especially CUNY veterans and Military members as a peer mentor under the kova program which is the central office of Veteran Affairs I want to go back to a lot of the discussion that was mentioned this morning about homelessness and food deficiency and shelter and protection about their mental and emotional health as a peer mentor that is our job and that is why we are here asking for assistance you will see more in depth on the um testimony that I sent uh via mail uh but we want to serve our students as diligently as we can and in New York City and worldwide we always say we defend our veterans we protect our veterans we want to serve our veterans but yet there's not much we're doing for our veterans especially those that are coming back into civilian Hood so we do ask for assistance for transportation for housing for again health services financial literacy to help them because New York City is a high priced City and many of our veterans need the help not just financially but mentally emotionally and with the community so again to wrap it up quickly for the next speakers please help CUNY please help kova continue to grow because we're not doing it for us we're doing it for the next Generations and I'm speaking as a chapter 35 recipient and daughter of a Germany served veteran and a Korean war vet granddaughter so thank you for your time and again more in-depth information help us help CUNY you want to say that you're military friendly help us be military friendly and supportive thank you for your time last call for Nancy Cardwell or Benjamin Watson time starts now councilmember Rose yeah just a comment um about veterans and I I see a couple of veterans that are here today um you know your chair uh did not have a preliminary budget hearing um which was completely disrespectful to Veterans of the city um you know I have black Veterans for social justice within my district and I just want to make sure that you all know that you know your your chair of your committee should be fighting for you to have both preliminary budget hearings and executive budget hearings so glad to see you all here today you know we will definitely advocate for all of you I will continue advocating for you know my black veterans within my district but just to let that stay on the record okay I will now call up the next in-person panel Christopher Hanway Jamel Henderson Brianna Patton Williams Linda Hoffman Eileen Mayer Lauren Schuster Lisa daglian Nyla amaroo Anna krill as a reminder to all people testifying we are accepting written testimony in full if your remarks are going over two minutes uh it can be submitted up to 72 hours after the hearing is concluded at testimony at council.nyc.gov thank you you can begin when you're ready good afternoon my name is Anna Krill I am a two-time breast cancer survivor and the founder and president of Astoria Queens sharing and caring thank you chair Brannan Health chair Shulman my council member kavan and all the members I am here today to ask that you support our request of 250 000 under the cancer Services initiative an increase of approximately one hundred thousand dollars over our FY 23 allocation this would be our first increase since the creation of the initiative sharing and caring was founded 29 years ago to address the needs of Queens women living with breast dental and ovarian cancer it was our position then and remained so today that Queen's cancer residents should not have to leave the borough for Quality cancer treatment care and support Through The Years our reach has expanded and now we serve women and men with all types of cancers we are a One-Stop Grassroots community-based organization which provides free bilingual Supportive Services to Queen's cancer survivors their families caregivers and community members we strive to reduce fear and eliminate cultural barriers in order to promote early detection and treatment as well as to improve access to life-saving services with Council funding we assist approximately 4 000 individuals a year over the course of the past two years we have provided programming in 11 of the 14 Queens council districts while the majority of those we serve reside in Queens we have also assisted cancer survivors from all other boroughs no one is ever turned away please help us to continue to assist cancer survivors their families and to try very hard to detect cancer at its most earliest stages so people can survive and live thank you thank you good afternoon uh chair Brennan and the members of the New York City Council it is an absolute honor and privilege to be here before you and true Service as I serve as a New York City Council regional board chair for the citizen action of New York I'm here to stand and on behalf of the members to really call out and encourage you as a members of this Council on this committee to stand with the people in supporting investing and increased investments in the everyday City agencies that help the everyday New Yorkers move forward we have a mayor right now whose narrative is to force out born and bred New Yorkers who are literally trying to navigate our City's changing environment we have a narrative that while he is of CUNY he is cutting CUNY we have a narrative that while he says he stands for hunger and mental health and homelessness and other things that are affecting the daily lives of New Yorkers he is telling us and letting you all know that the city agency that needs to be 100 immune from all of these things is the NYPD and we want to we were here to encourage you all to let you know that the funding that is needed for people like myself who live in nycha a proud resident of Kingsborough houses in Brooklyn those who are in foster care those who are looking to seek an opportunity to excel in public education those who are looking an opportunity to have true affordable housing instead of misinterpreting that word where there's construction being built all around and it's not for the everyday born and bred New Yorkers the New York Times issued an article saying that 200 000 black New Yorkers left not because they wanted to but because they could not afford the cost of living here and yet we are still being faced back here with these same situations where one 11 billion dollar budget 40 NYPD is being pushed and promoted where the common uh funding that is needed for the everyday people are being silenced so I'm here on behalf of the members of citizen action of New York the people of nycha and the everyday hard-working unionized organized educated and galvanized people of the city of New York we are encouraging you all to stand with the people as we continue to fight and push for our city thank you good afternoon my name is Eileen Mar I'm a civil rights union leader from vocal New York a social worker and a survivor of domestic violence for which I was criminalized and incarcerated for rather than helped I am here to urge you to rather than offer over fund the NYPD including the Absurd srg unit which are nothing more than a glorified overpaid group of racist thugs rather use that Monies to fund education domestic violence Services mental health health library alternatives to incarceration re-entry and violence interrupter programs these programs have been scientifically proven to improve scientifically proven to improve lives communities families and incarcerate continued investment in the srg as well as other absurd NYPD programs is nothing but a money pimp they stand around play it on their phones then when an opportunity arises for them to kidnap a person of color a mentally ill person or someone of a lower income bracket and use abusive and racist and inciting remarks to try and create a false violent situation and when that doesn't work they resort to physical violence especially the so-called banned or unused kettleing it is beyond deplorable I've been kettled by the NYPD srg in four situations so I call bull that they when they say they don't use it when I was experiencing domestic violence that led to my incarceration I pleaded with the NYPD and was laughed at one officer said that's what you get for being in an interracial relationship only he used a different word that officer is a lieutenant with the srg now and toy dogs I'm an animal trainer I know the importance of real canine in many First Response Fields including police work and firemen but seriously if they want a toy dog Fisher-Price has a few in their selection and finally just stop it with Rikers it's it just it's it's that's another Money Pit just put the money back into decarcerating and finally it was really difficult to get in here today they said that there were no spaces but when I came in there were like 40 open shares so I'm just curious why that happened but thank you [Applause] foreign thank you good afternoon chairperson Brandon and members of the New York City Council finance committee I am nayela amaru director of policy and campaigns at the Human Services Council a membership organization representing over 170 Human Services providers across the city HSC takes on this work so our members can focus on running their organizations and providing direct support to New Yorkers we thank the city council for the 60 million Workforce investment in the previous budget however the workforce investment is not a true Cola we ask that you pay us what we are worth provide a 6.5 Cola estimated at 200 million for all contracted Human Services Workers in the FY 24 budget and announce a multi-year agreement that matches that of DC 37 that just achieved a five-year deal I must also emphasize that a cola included in the budget needs to be a percentage because only a pot of funding means providers cannot rely on what percentage they will actually get for their workers we need a full 6.5 Cola included in the final budget the Human Services sector is a critical Workforce essential to the Social and economic fabric of the city yet the city continues to disappoint by voicing that it is committed to equity while paying poverty level wages for Human Services Workers who are 70 women and 75 percent people of color with roughly two-thirds of full-time workers earning below the 2019 near poverty threshold while the sector has grown funding has not government calls and non-profits to be like businesses and partners in helping to solve our most pressing social issues all while not treating non-profits like a business or partner when Silicon Valley Bank failed the government response was immediate as its closing put millions of taxpayer dollars at risk however in response to the closure of Human Services non-profit Sheltering Arms the administration stated that they are working hard to clear the backlog then the city announced substantial investments in the NYPD officers with nothing for Human Services Workers in the preliminary budget this lack of action in divestment is dangerous and the sector cannot continue to participate in an unjust system the city must act now to show its commitment and receive the just pay they deserve and so we ask that you Pace what we are worth provide a 6.5 cost of living adjustment this sector is at a Breaking Point without government investment providers will have to make a difficult decision about how and if they will be able to work with government to serve their communities because this system is too flawed to continue thank you for the opportunity to testify and I look forward to continuing our work with the city council to support the just pay campaign good afternoon I'm Linda Hoffman president of New York foundation for senior citizens and I want to thank you Mr chair and the members of the finance committee for the support that you have provided for New York foundation for senior citizens Citywide home sharing and respite care program on behalf of our board of directors we would deeply appreciate your ensuring the continuation of our program by supporting the provision of two hundred thousand dollars from the speaker's Citywide budget an allocation from your individual and borrower delegations discretionary budgets within the next city budget our respite care services provide affordable short-term In-Home Care at the low cost of 17 an hour paid directly to the home care workers by frail elderly who are above the Medicaid level and are attempting to manage at home with the help of others caregivers and thereby prevent their need for nursing home care although the cost of private agency Home Care is thirty dollars an hour our respicare services provide the lowest at lowest cost and highest quality Home Care at Seventeen dollars per hour and free of charge in emergency situations during the past 42 years we have provided over 12 000 older adults city-wide and many more thousands of their caregivers with respite care services plus jobs for hundreds of certified home health aides our free home sharing Services match adult hosts with extra space in their apartments or houses to share with responsible compatible adult guests in need of affordable housing one of the match mates must be over the age of 60. during the past 42 years we have successfully matched over 2500 persons in 1250 shared living arrangements I'm meeting with the commissioner of Aging Lorraine Cortez Vasquez this Tuesday for guidance on how we might obtain additional program funding plus extend our home sharing services to Asylum Seekers through HRA this program is a win-win it prevents institutionalization and thereby saves the city's significant Medicaid dollars and I really hope and pray that it will be possible for you to assist us ensuring that we can continue this program city-wide hopefully by having speakers funding at 200 000 which is a was 150 last year because we really need this funding this year especially this year and allegation allegations from your individual and borrow delegations within the city's next budget and thank you in advance for hopefully helpfully providing these desperately needed funds thank you hello I'm Brianna Payton Williams I'm the communications and policy associate at Levon New York thank you for the opportunity to testify today live on New York's members include more than 110 community-based organizations that provide core Services which allow all New Yorkers to thrive in our community as we age when I last last testified on this budget we were ringing the bell on a divestment from Older Adult Services throughout the city with inflation costs crippling organizations and a growing wait list for Home Care and case management now the crisis is only worsened with additional cuts to key services including the home delivered meals program and older adult centers with the proposed 12 million cut from the mayor yet we know the Aging population in our city is growing and the need for services will continue to rise and so this budget must be a turning point in our City's Aegis Tendencies to cut Aging Services and instead we need to actively invest in creating a better a better place to age for all of us and therefore live on New York recommends the fall following investment Investments many of which were championed in the city's preliminary budget response and we joined HSC and other organizations today calling on the city to just pay all Human Service workers a livable and Equitable wage poverty level government contracts have left Human Service workers severely underpaid for years and so we call on the city to establish fund and enforce a 6.5 percent Cola for all human services contracts we also encourage the city to invest an additional 29.4 million to address the unmet needs for older adults through the dipta services and this includes investments in technology as well as investments in the case management and Home Care wait list as well as additional investments in technology and Communications and marketing we also encourage the city to allocate funding to develop a thousand units of affordable senior housing per year as well as increase the reimbursement rates for the Sarah program and lastly we encourage the city to invest in additional 2.6 million for the support RC seniors discretionary initiative as well as continue to fully fund all discretionary initiatives as well and so to truly make New York a better place to age where we can all thrive in community we must build a true caring economy that supports all New Yorkers as we age regardless of our background more information can be found in my written testimony but thank you for the opportunity to testify today and on Zoom Lauren Schuster time starts now good afternoon and thank you finance chair Brandon and members of the finance committee for the opportunity to testify today my name is Lauren Schuster I'm the vice president of government Affairs at Urban Resource Institute URI is the largest provider of domestic violence shelter services in the country we provide shelter to more than 2 200 domestic violence survivors and families experiencing homelessness each night as the city feels the strain of the growing homelessness crisis so too do our staff who are being asked to do more with much less in addition to the fact that the budget does not include a 6.5 percent Cola for Human Services Workers it also passes down a 2.5 percent cut to Providers disguised as an efficiency measure this cuff if implemented would result in fewer staff supporting our clients as they recover from trauma rebuild their lives and secure permanent housing the burden on our staff has the potential to lead to significant service disruptions to our clients the vast majority of our Workforce are women and people of color many of whom work two and three jobs to support their families and rely on at least one form of Public Assistance to make ends meet they deserve just pay a 6.5 percent Cola without cuts to our sector we are grateful to the council for including three million dollars in the budget for micro grants for survivors of gender-based violence and we urge the administration to include six million dollars in the final budget to fully fund the program finally we know that domestic violence continues to be one of the leading causes of homelessness in New York and across the country URI works at the intersection of homelessness and DV and we are rely rely on Dove funding to do so we appreciate the council's previous support of our economic empowerment program with Dove funding and we hope that the council will continue to to support uri's Eep program along with our Pals AP rap and legal assistance programs URI has submitted detailed testimony we really appreciate the opportunity to testify today and we look forward to continuing our work with Partners in the city to provide accessibility stable and Supportive Housing to every person who needs it thank you thank you Lauren thank you all for your testimony we've also been joined by council members Velasquez and Williams I'll just I also just want to correct for the record uh it was mentioned earlier before that we did not have a veterans executive hearing uh budget hearing but we absolutely did I was here and I chaired it thank you thank you we'll now go to the next Zoom panel Adrian Alfred Salvatore lapizzo Leonard Williams Brendan Gibbons and Tori Lyon I'm start snow we'll begin with Adrian Alfred okay moving on next to Salvatore lapizzo hi Starts Now knows uh moving on Leonard Williams I'm stars now hello can you hear me yes we can hear you okay I can't okay uh I'll start the video hi my hi good afternoon my name is Leonard Williams uh I am currently president of the Vietnam Veterans of America chapter number 32. we would like to see support our veterans initiative added to the budget of fiscal year 2024 with an increase in funding this would allow every council member to designate funds to Veterans organizations and Veterans Services I know our city I know our city council members already do and should be able to designate funds uh to help with betterment services this goes a long way for for people to appreciate the service and sacrifice we veterans deserve before signing a blank check for the freedoms most people take for granted today most of us get out of the service and go about their lives being proud of their military service we don't ask for anything in return we get a job we get a job with benefits get marriage start a family and believe we can resume a normal life soon after we have the realization that's not happening we shrug it off and say to ourselves I'm okay and then years past and we realize we do that we do need mental health care uh we turn to the VA and usually get denied because time has passed when I came home from Vietnam I filed for PTSD and was denied I turned alcohol for the next 20 plus years and I am blessed to have a wife who stood by me and have and I haven't had a drink since or drugs since 1986. I am one of the lucky ones many veterans aren't as lucky or as fortunate as me and they end up homeless and or incarcerated councilman Bob Holden chairman of veteran services and councilman for my Vietnam Veterans Chapter in Mass but New York those firsthand and is doing all he can to help us veterans deserve this and a lot more this isn't a handout we earned it we'd like to see an increase in a budget for veteran services City Council Members understand and work with us to overcome the obstacles we encounter listening and understanding veterans everyday problems is a huge is huge for our Mental Health it gives us the feeling of being recognized and appreciated that we accomplish something and deserving of a thank you for serving our country funds are available already for through city council members for different services for the seniors the transportation to and from doctors visits neighborhood cleanups and cultural events Etc increase funding for veteran services and support our veterans initiative through City Council Members is necessary for veterans Mental Health thank you for the opportunity for allowing me to address my personal experience and the needs for all veterans in New York thank you thank you next Brendan Gibbons time starts now okay next uh no Brandon Gibbons like Tory Lyon time starts now come back around Salvatore lapizzo time starts now okay uh last call for Adrian Alfred time starts now okay we're going we're going to move on to the next in-person panel it's gonna be Let's uh call up Shirley Wang Elizabeth porzella and Olivia Ariza and Joshua fan foreign hang on one sec sure uh just uh so just to repeat uh yeah Shirley Wang Elizabeth porcella and Olivia Ariza and Joshua fan and Josh was he's on his way in thank you you want to go right to left left to right stage left thank you for that um good afternoon chair Brannon and council members I'm Anna liliza I'm the director of youth leadership at Community Food Advocates and first of all we just want to thank you for your support of school food we know that this Council has been champions of school food for many years including our fight for Universal preschool meals in 2017. so um thank you so much for that we're here once again to just continue to encourage the council to support the enhancement of all middle school and high school cafeterias we're very encouraged to see the 200 million mentioned in the priorities of this Council and I'm going to yield the rest of my time to their young people you'll see my full testimony but we just want you to hear from our young people as well thank you so much foreign hello good afternoon I'm Eliza porcella a current senior at the international Baccalaureate school for Global education and a member of the youth food Advocate since 2020 I'd like to begin by expressing our gratitude for 50 million dollars of our budget requests being included in the mayor's executive budget it doesn't go unnoticed and now so many more students will be able to enjoy an enhanced cafeteria environment however we aren't on advocating until all students have equal access to those enhancements I'm here to advocate for an additional 150 million in funding to be allocated for cafeteria enhancement for all New York City public middle and high schools School food is imperative to a successful school day for the average student the New York City public school system boasts 1.1 million students the great majority of whom rely on school food aside from just eating school lunch cafeterias are also supposed to be a safe and comfortable environment where students can take a break from thinking about classroom assignments students deserve an environment where they're able to focus on tasks other than schoolwork and get the nutrients they need to sustain a healthy lifestyle as someone who often relied on school food when my mother didn't have time or had to go to work I've always wanted to see improvements that allow the next generation of students who need School food to be happy and not hungry we have effectively achieved considerable Improvement as a result of cafeteria enhancement that does make me feel like future Generations will get the nutritious and flavorful food that they need and deserve the results speak for themselves at Hillcrest lunch participation increased by 20 after cafeteria enhancement and roughly the same was seen at Far Rockaway High School at Edward R Murrow High School the increase was 30 after enhancement just recently I was listening to my classmate and friend tell me how jealous she was of her brother's enhanced cafeteria telling me about the booth seats and the options that he can eat within his dietary restrictions all students deserve to feel respected by their cafeterias and they deserve equal access to those kinds of exciting new initiatives like plentiful options and more Dynamic seating arrangements and through the added funds that's achievable thank you for your time thank you good afternoon council members my name is Shirley Huang and I am a junior in bitwood high school located in District 22. today we we ask you and speaker Adams to help support us in urging the mayor to fully fund cafeterian husbands for all middle and high schools a Muslim complaints the school food has an unwelcoming cafeteria environment and need to be renovated from a teenager's perspective I believe most kids my age and younger want appealing food and peeling space and since school cafeterias in New York City are not modern enough and enhanced cafeteria serving hot and cold meal items that are readily accessible is very necessary this school year many students indeed got meals from time to time cafeteria seats have been filled up rather than students cramming to get to library for a more aesthetic Vibe and ongoing story that me and my young food Advocate partner with sophana developed at the groundwork and has cafeteria approximately 65.7 percent felt that the rehab cafeteria would contribute to a welcoming environment with zero percent disagreement that it didn't 85.8 percent agreed that the lying wait time to get food in the cafeteria is short hence our research shows that enhanced cafeteria creates a welcoming environment focusing on inclusion the importance of school food extends to sustain students and reducing their hunger from a long day to understanding that good number of students do not have the financial means to purchase food or bring lunch from home every day it's extremely critical for students to get nutritious meal that follows the USDA guidelines and to allow them to socialize in a comfortable setting that is again only relevant when the enhanced cafeteria becomes Universal for our school the 50 million in the mayor's executive budget is a major step for enhanced cafeteria across the city we can expect at least a 35 increase in launch participation the changes in enhanced cafeteria experience have been parented six years ago and now extending all New York City public schools for this design is the choice of equity we are counting on you chair brand Brennan council members and speaker Adrian Adams and continued support and urging mayor Adams and Chancellor Banks to fullest fund cafeteria enhancement for all middle and high schools thank you good afternoon chair Brandon and City Council Members my name is Joshua fan and I am a junior attending Flushing High School in Queens I'm a youthful Advocates member and we hope that you will support us in urging speaker Adams to fully fund cafeteria enhancements for all middle and high schools we would like your continued support to increase implementation of enhanced cafeterias throughout schools in the city in order to improve the school food system for all students encourage more students across the city to participate in school lunch as will also provide healthier and better food options to students we all know that food insecurity is a common issue within the city and an improved School food system will ensure that students who come from families that struggle with food insecure to receive nutritious meals to prevent hunger throughout the school day I believe that the imminent implementation of enhanced cafeteria will be an essential investment into the future of this city as every young mind deserves a healthy and nutritious meal to help nourish their developing Minds adding on three three months ago my own school cafeteria finished undergoing the enhanced cafeteria updates and I have noticed that my school lunch participation is much higher students have much more dietary options I have heard a lot of positive feedback from students across the school about the enhanced cafeteria and student at my own school student council has noticed these positive changes and have joined in support of our cause to enhance school cafeteria so that every New York City Public School receives these much needed benefits like our own cafeteria because of this we would like your support to fully fund the renovation of all middle schools and high schools throughout the city into enhanced cafeterias in order to meet the nutritional needs of young and developing minds and to help bridge the wealth gap between all children within our city thank you so much for your time and we hope that you will take this resorts to her next we'll hear from nafisa patawari Wesley Wu siriani Ayu Lee Chan and Faith Jones good afternoon sir Brennan and members of the council I'm Faith Jones and I'm currently a sophomore at Brooklyn Technical High School and a member of Youth Advocates I'm here today to ask for your support to bring cafeteria enhancements to all NYC middle and high schools as you may know currently NYC students face the issue of inaccessibility when it comes to school food this might be surprising because free lunch has been available in students two students since 2017 however outdated cafeteria's inefficient lunch lines and lack of choice can make school food inaccessible this is detrimental as school food is important for once education and well-being youth food Advocates have been advocating for this issue since 2020 and we still haven't been able to reach the goal of all middle and high schools to have enhanced cafeterias in three years we were able to achieve cavity enhancements for 92 schools and funded 100 more schools with the resources consequently leading to an average of a 35 increase in participation in school lunch and a three times increase in the available fruits and vegetables for 136 000 students however about 400 more schools still need the funding for for the renovated cafeterias this means a majority of the 1.1 million students in the NYC public school system are depleted of a suitable eating environment and critical nutrition as this is a critical issue in the present time I urge you to assist in in solving the problem now um additionally instead of passing the issue onto the Next Generation this issue should be solved for the current students in the public school system right now that are right now students are struggling to figure out where their next will come from or how many hours left in the day before they get to go home to eat personally I went to see this I want to still be in high school and be able to experience the fruition of adequate cafeterias in all middle and high schools I would love to hear the stories of fellow students being impressed and appreciative of their new renovated cafeterias in addition to hearing the Improvement of the lunchroom experience as this is an integral part of the school day it's imperative that you support us in obtaining the 200 million dollars in funding for cafeteria enhancements as this is the issue of equity and NYC schools that should be attended to now rather than allowing the opportunity gaps for students to grow thank you for your time thank you good afternoon council members my name is nafisa patwari and I'm a 10th grader at Brooklyn Technical High School and a member of the ACT club I'm here today to support youth food Advocates and requests for 200 million of dollars in funding to be added to support cafeteria enhancement to all high schools and middle schools in New York City school lunch is a crucial topic to be discussed as it is so essential to the school days of the hundreds of thousands of students in the city not only does it feel to keep them going throughout their day but lunchtime acts as a break for their students a time that they can look forward to and relax despite school lunch being free for all New York City public school students there's still an accessibility regarding the cafeteria many schools don't have cafeterias that allow for a social atmosphere and many cafeterias don't have multiple meal options for their students it's critical to address this as school lunches improving will benefit students in many more ways than just having nutritious food by renovating cafeterias students will be more excited about their school day as they'll know that they have a designated time and place to talk to their peers this time is also necessary to avoid burnout especially in high school when students have rigorous academic demands additionally including more choices will allow more students to be included and able to eat lunch at school variety is a very important part of a healthy diet so by implementing that at the educational level students not only get more meal options but also a more accurate spread of healthy eating I personally have IBD a chronic Digestive Disease this means that my dietary options can be limited and I frankly don't have the time to pack my own lunch every morning I'm lucky that my school has multiple meal choices but not every kid can say that and that's simply not fair it's crucial to include these choices in all schools around the city to make lunch accessible to as many students as possible due to these factors I'm requesting that 200 million dollars I put into funding the enhancement of cafeters in schools around the city it is essential that schools get the support to feed and nurse their students while keeping them healthy both physically and mentally thank you for your time thank you good afternoon everyone my name is Lee and I'm a junior and a member of active Community Teamwork Club at Brooklyn Tech today I'm here in support of Youth Foods Advocates and to speak on behalf of all our students and children from middle school to high school in regard to improving our school cafeterias in both accessibility and presentation although some schools have been redesigned to fit modern standards there's still tons of more schools that need this funding I live in Queens and I practically grew up in an elementary school there comparing the cafeteria in that school in my current school I would much rather eat in a cafeteria that looks like tuck presentation is important especially for young children the more appealing a cafeteria seems to you the more they'd want to spend their time there is what further stimulate the desire to dine and socialize with other people during your lunch time Furthermore with more variety of food being served the consumption of meals within schools would increase if these two points are implemented in more schools not only what engagement increase between students and cafeterias where children's academic aspect would also be boosted as an important part of our city this Council can help change this more varied and appealing cafeteria food leads to more Children's consumption more children eating would mean that overall academic rates go up and that there's a directly as there's a direct correlation better academic grades lead to a much further advancement in our education system and the development of Minds for our future generation with your support we can ensure these conditions improve for all our cafeterias with funding being prioritized on a revamping of schools we could ensure Equity across all NYC schools so that this benefits all students allowing them to receive the essential nutrients that they need in order to be able to succeed in school thank you for your time foreign good afternoon council members my name is Wesley Wu and I'm currently a sophomore who's a member of the ACT Club at Brooklyn Technical High School I'm here today to support youth food Advocates and share with you why I know it is urgent to provide cafeteria enhancements for all NYC middle schools and high schools in middle school I had a standard cafeteria my friends and I had to wait 20 minutes in a long line of students to get lunch when we finally did get food the long lines made it so unappetizing that we threw it in the trash right away and spent the rest of the day as mine was zombies the cafeteria was crowded which meant we had to eat next to the bathroom or go hungry because every other place in the school was also crowded with people not wanting to stay in the cafeteria if we were lucky enough to get a c in the cafeteria it would be next to other students and it would be and it will create an incredibly awkward environment that made it impossible to have a conversation my experience in high school has been a better experience I no longer have to wait for lunch and long lines and while the food still isn't perfect it's not as unappetizing as it was back in middle school and despite the high population of Brooklyn Tech I can find the place in the cafeteria to talk with my friends without an awkward atmosphere I no longer have to go to the bathroom to eat lunch compared to middle school I find myself wanting to eat lunch in the cafeteria more often and feel more excited for lunch however students continue to face many experience similar experiences like those at my middle school when students see long lines they are discouraged from getting lunch well at a healthy cafeteria environment students aren't able to socialize as well and have to spend their lunch at unsuitable places like the bathroom without appetizing and nutritious food students don't get the energy they need to learn efficiently it is essential for students to have good lunch experiences in order to do well at school and all of these factors prevent them from being so thank you for prioritizing the 200 million dollars toward cafeteria enhancements in your budget response I was glad to hear from you food Advocates that there is currently 50 million dollars in the budget and I hope you continue to support the full funding because I know from my own experience it will greatly improve students lives thank you for your time good afternoon chair and members of the committee my name is siriani dewa Ayu and I'm an urban planner designer and researcher and my work focuses on the link between public space public health and transformative Justice thank you for this opportunity to testify alongside the brilliant Community Food Advocates youth food Advocates lunch for Learning Coalition they're amazing in support of enhanced student-centered cafeterias in all New York City middle and high schools to date NYC doe has redesigned 92 cafeterias serving over 136 000 students in middle and high school approximately 100 more cafeterias are in the works because of these phenomenal folks this is critical work and it has just begun so far only one third of cafeterias serving middle and high schools are completed or funded now is the pivotal time for NYC to commit 200 million in capital funds to reach every high school student and medical middle school student in the city cafeterias can and should be Community spaces redesigning all middle and high school cafeterias at NYC Public Schools will have a major impact on the health and well-being of people across the city in fact it already has begun high school students with redesigned cafeterias experienced a 35 increase in lunch participation with four to five times more fruits and vegetables served each day while reducing food waste if all high schools receive the enhancements L for L project projects that 30 000 more high school students would participate daily cafeteria redesign supports social emotional health and counteract stigmas by creating student-centered public space the seating area is student-centered with more welcoming comfortable social seating such as booths and high tops the redesign moves away from institutional long tables and benches students feel good and there are clear visual signals that the food is changing for the better how our middle and high school cafeterias and NYC Public Schools shared spaces where our young people come together break bread nourish in community how their design is fundamentally a health and education Equity issue let's keep the momentum going thank you thank you all last members of this panel Ashley yang simran bagum Armin Khan you send Liu Anthony Wang and Yasmine benia you may begin when you're ready whichever order you like good afternoon chair Brandon and council members and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak with you all my name is Yasmine monia and I'm a senior at Francis Lewis High School the largest public school in District 26. I believe one of the most prominent issues with school food is outdated cafeterias which contribute to the stigma surrounding School food for many middle and high school students the image of a school cafeteria extends little Beyond a large room with rows of long rectangular tables and long lines but as our learning tools and classrooms become updated over time why should our cafeterias remain stuck in the past at the start of this school year at Francis Lewis High School an enhanced serving line was installed as the year draws to a close there are some things I've learned about enhanced cafeterias that I would like to share the new serving lines feature modernized displays that mimic a deli style experience this makes the food seem more visually appealing and makes the cafeteria environment a more welcoming and inviting one by displaying food in a manner that that students are familiar with and love the cafeteria feels less institutional and more attractive you don't feel like you're going to the school cafeteria to eat School food you simply feel like you're getting to eat food enhanced cafeterias improve the school food experience by prioritizing student Choice fast service and socialization among students which will help significantly in removing that stigma that we that we students often associate with school food in fact at my school the updates have resulted in about a 33 percent increase in Daily school lunch part participation the student council on my school has even signed the yfa sign-on letter to show their support for the enhanced cafeterias us youth food Advocates at yfa are grateful for the 50 million dollars of our budget requests being included in the mayor's executive budget and we hope that the rest of the 200 million dollars can be included so that all New York City middle and high school students can enjoy the benefits of a modernized cafeteria as a senior I will be leaving the New York City public school system in the next few weeks and as I cross that stage in my graduation cap and gown I would love to see that the entirety of the next generation of middle and high school students enjoy an equitable welcoming cafeteria environment that truly embodies a student-centered space after all success starts with our school community and the spaces they create for their students to thrive thank you for your time um good afternoon chair Brandon and council members thank you for allowing us to speak in front of you today my name is Ramin Khan and I currently am a sophomore in the Brooklyn Latin School I live in District 28 and have been in public school my entire life today I come to here to speak to you about supporting enhanced cafeterias in public school and I've spoken to my student council leadership who also support the initiative so while you only may see me sitting here before you I come with the support of my whole student body of 823 students school is supposed to be a place where students feel affirmed and valued academically and socially in school food accessibility is also a factor we are thankful for this Council support and that the mayor mayor's executive budget also included 50 million dollars as a major commitment however I urge the city council the speaker and the chancellor and the mayor to allocate full funding for improved cafeterias in all middle and high schools at my school Brooklyn Latin the recent upgrade to the cafeteria has resulted in Faster lunch lines in a more positive lunchtime atmosphere with reduced wait times I've observed more in students getting lunch and other food options investing in a better school food now will lead to a better experience for all students in the future accessing School food is difficult for many students due to the limited options and scheduling issues at Brooklyn Latin since the enhanced cafeteria update there have been more students coming in and out of the cafeteria to get lunch I remember walking into the cafeteria when it reopened for the first time and my friends were so shocked with the changes all around me I could hear students exclaiming about how different and new the cafeteria felt to them and when I asked them if they would start eating more in the cafeteria they were all up to the idea as of three months after the update there has been a 20 increase in the participation for my school and the cafeteria has been seeing a consistent increase in students taking and eating lunch the atmosphere has become more enjoyable and positive and it makes the students feel like they're having a place to relax and belong in I'm asking you to continue support supporting the funding for all middle and high schools cafeterias who received enhanced cafeteria model updates with the entire amount of 200 million dollars with your support with these for these changes students like me could feel affirmed and valued and know that we are the focus of why we are all here today we need your support to bring big change thank you good afternoon sir Bennett and council members my name is using Liu I live in Queens and attend the East West School of International Studies I am a junior and I appreciate you listening to all of our students today and appreciate your support first we appreciate the 200 million dollars that were requested was included in Council priorities hereby on behalf of our youthful Advocate members and leaders I extend our utmost gratitude to you and council members we do acknowledge that the mayor has included 550 million in the executive budget and in this regard I would like to express our gratitude again I would like to bring up the positive effects of the Investments on school cafeteria we have relevant data from three different high schools Hillcrest High School Far Rockaway campus and Edward R Murrow High School these data were from 2017 until this school year these datas were recorded at the same time every year we do observe that there is a clear gradual increase in participation percentage in school lunches this shows that the fun in school cafeteria is definitely worth the money being financed because we do see that people do appreciate the enhanced cafeteria even five years after the original enhancements regarding the data and achievements I want to underscore the importance and value of fun in school cafeteria this is definitely worth all of us to make this increase in cafeteria participation increase in every high school we hope you and speaker Adams continue to push for the full 200 million to include all high schools and middle schools to receive a better school lunch experience and increase participation and decrease student hunger thank you for your time good afternoon chair Brennan and the members of the committee my name is Anthony and I'm currently a sophomore at Hunter Science and the MLK campus and I live in district one with around 20 percent of my community in poverty I understand the importance of school food with for students in these households while it is not a secret that school of food has not been the best regarded food it is what the students need in a study conducted by feeding America in 2021 nearly 1.5 million New Yorkers now experience Foods insecurity including one in four children this is not to mention the pandemic's effects on parents and Guardians life savings and jobs hunger is an urgent issue that ours in our city that our schools can help address but the lack of variety presentation of food or simply the taste of school food turn many students away from the system the result is that our kids go hungry and perform worse at school as a you food Advocate I had the opportunity to present to other students about the solution and the impacts of enhanced cafeterias presenting the hunger issue and the issue with the current cafeteria system to teens for food Justice had led to a wider range of reactions many were shocked that the 35 percent increase in lunch participation While others were in awe of the restaurant-like cafeterias that had given School cafeterias New Life enhanced cafeterias not only improved the visual appeal to students they also have the Merit of making the lines shorter in my campus with a small school of only 300 students some days the lunch line can be as long as 35 to 40 minutes making time for students to eat around 5 to 10 minutes I want to request more funding to renovate all cafeterias and place further emphasis on the students experience in the cafeteria I am grateful for the initiative led by the 50 million dollars already dedicated to this cause thank you for your time questions from council member Brewer followed by nurse thank you very much so my question I know MLK campus very well so I know that you're hopefully will get your cafeteria renovated fairly soon if my calls get are successful and you obviously have the Hydroponics which is wonderful but generally I want to know from others what it is there's obviously the construction that's one aspect and the food improve dramatically is it a combo that makes it so successful that's my question because and also if your school was one that people went out for lunch which is a lot of the schools does it help bring people into lunch so that they stay in the school those are my questions um in terms of the construction time for my school in Brooklyn Latin we have a shared building but the but they did the renovations over the weekend so none of the students had to sit out for lunch so it was all done in the span of three days and it was all completely refurbished by the time you came back to school by the end of that um by the beginning of that week it was the food better as a result or was it just a construction Improvement um I would say they're giving they're giving the same items but there's a variety of the items being offered because there's more vegan and vegetarian options and the packaging for the food seems more appealing so I see more students grabbing it to eat at lunch anybody else I'd say that the presentation of the food is what changes dramatically and that's what students like to see it kind of reminds them as I said of like a deli so it's more engaging it's more fun to get lunch it's not as institutional as those long lines with the Lynch ladies serving your food it's more like it gives you more self-autonomy I would say thank you councilman nurse uh I didn't have a question I just wanted to thank you all for coming down and all the students who took time to write testimony and wait all day this is how it works takes a really long time to get down here and just thank you for being Advocates and I hope that you continue to raise your voice past high school it's always really um it's always a very different tone when we have young people come and just you know going through these hearings all the time when you do come it really makes a difference and we remember it so thank you for for being here thank you thank you all so much it's a it's a great program thank you um okay so I just have to say for the record we cannot take any new registrants for Testimony today we still have several hundred waiting to speak who signed up during the advance period 24 hours ago so uh the cutoff was four o'clock thank you we're going to the next remote panel uh Marge Curran followed by William Quinones Chan Henry Leslie segars Lorenzo Brooks Nicole mcvinwah Thiel izunza and Natalie interiano begin with Marge current time starts now hello everyone my name is Mark Curran and I'm a case manager at cucs which is a non-profit providing homeless Outreach Services to single adults in Harlem and Upper Manhattan as well as housing and supportive services to homeless and formerly homeless New Yorkers I'm also a proud member of District Council 37 and organized a union at cocs with my co-workers we are currently negotiating our First Union contract with cucs management thank you chair Brannon speaker Adams Deputy speaker Ayala members of the council for allowing me to testify today I'm here to urge the council and administration to not approve the proposed 2.5 percent provide our flexible funding cut to DHS and HRA contracted programs and instead include a cola of 6.5 percent for homeless services staff and the city's fiscal year 24 budget I have been working at cucf Street Outreach since 2018. as a case manager I engage with people sleeping outside to build a trusting relationship with them so that we can work together to end their homelessness I have first-hand experience about the importance of our clients having a long-term relationship with the same worker I have moved some of the most entrenched members of the homeless Community into housing because I consistently showed up for them far too often co-workers who are passionate about the job leave Outreach because we're not paid enough low wages have led to high turnover at cucs which ultimately hurts our clients and prolongs their homelessness now is not the time to reduce homeless Services I urge the council to not adopt the provider flexible funding Peg which will harm services for our clients and instead include a 6.5 Cola for homeless service workers I believe in the work that I do at cucs Street Outreach and I am proud to serve the Street Homeless Community cucs workers to make sure that we can continue to help our fellow New Yorkers in need thank you for the opportunity to testify today thank you now hear from William Quinones time starts now good afternoon can everyone hear me yes I hear you yes good afternoon all president thank you Council for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the cola and the increase necessary to serve the people of New York City my name is William Quinones and I'm a human service worker here in New York City presently worked at cases which is Center for alternative sentencing and employment services we provide a array of services and you guys are all welcome to visit the site to see the tremendous work that we've done in the community continue to do in the communities of people and and the lives of people as a human service worker I along with my colleagues provide essential services in our community and here's a brief description of my daily duties although we offer wide array of services this is just some a part of some of the things I'm doing presently as I speak I'm actually outreaching a few homeless individuals to provide them and connect them with service that I sent you uh for their health and wellness and uh other things that they need because they are connected to families in our community that are thriving so we offer housing referrals we offer psychiatric and hospitalization for individuals we offer Employment Services uh as well as education and multiple other resources even though Human Service Providers help connect New Yorkers with life-saving resources employees at Human Service agencies receive low wages that barely cover the cost of living like New York City our work is necessary between New York City's economy and safety we deserve to be paid fairly under the city contracts for our labor my non-profit like so many is funded by the city contracts and these contracts set to salaries for myself and my colleagues a 6.5 Cola would raise the salaries of City contract and Human Service workers who align with inflation and allows to better service ourselves as well as New York New Yorkers in our districts and communities because of the lack of lack of cola Human Service workers generally make about twenty thousand uh Public Service workers so again folks police support government contracts Human Service workers by ensuring that the service Cola is including upcoming budget at an estimated cost of 200 million thank you so much thank you now hear from Chan Henry time starts now hello good afternoon chair Bannon and member members in the human service sector for the past five years I currently work as a housing specialist at Urban Pathways a non-profit homeless service and Supportive Housing provider as a housing specialist I work in a drop-in center a critical service contracted by eight DHS that accepts walk-in clients experiencing Street homelessness I work on the front lines of moving people from the street into permanent housing I love my job and I know that the work that I do makes a difference and I am fortunate to see that difference every day in my clients to see people grow and obtain the life that they want is rewarding to witness and it drives me to keep doing this work I recently began pursuing my MSW at Hunter College so I can continue growing my skills to further my to further help my clients and I care about this work deeply however the human service sector is in crisis the rates of our wages set in government contracts is insufficient and they have not matched the rising cost of living the result is that staff cannot afford to work in the programs that serve New Yorkers in need we are facing a high turnover and vacancy rate which affects the services we can provide our clients the impact is burnout among the staff that do stay who take on extra work the pandemic made the challenges our clients already faced more difficult to address add into the burden on workers to ensure our clients obtain stable housing and other essential services yet I do not make enough to sustain myself as the main funder of services and thereby the main driver of Human Service wages we need the government to do more my organization cannot fundraise itself to Fair wages we also cannot afford to make cuts on our contracts a 2.5 cut to contract staff lines is an unrealistic ask for an already okay thank you for the opportunity to testify today and for your continued support of the human service sector thank you well next hear from Leslie siegers time starts now good day chair Brandon and the members of the committee my name is Leslie segars and I am a director of Social Service at Urban Pathway a non non-profit homeless service and Supportive Housing provider I've been working in the human service sector for over 20 years I've been a client care worker a case manager a supervisor I am now the director of social services at Safe Haven before I worked at the human service sector I worked at a nursing home for seven years I had always been called to the helping field I do this work because it's meaningful to see lives that we can change my goal is to help people break cycles of poverty and struggle I firmly believe that just because one right now is someone that's hopeless doesn't mean they have to stay in a hopelessness State I am committed to continuing to build my skills so I can help people turn their lives around and leave this state of hopelessness I completed a master's degree in social and social work in 2020 it was shortly after that I'd be getting my current position at Urban Pathway but Human Service workers across the sector including myself and my colleagues are not sufficiently valued for the work we do every day we are facing a high vacancy rate frequent paranova of staff and real challenge with staff trying to survive off our wages I am currently facing the issue myself as I work to keep up with the rising costs of living while paying back student loan that I took out so I could be more effective in the work I do City contracts set the salary for myself and my colleagues and we need the city to step up and provide Human Service working with the 6.5 percent to match inflation and allow us to support ourselves as we support New York while we are in the desperate need for a cola to hire staff and the PE the peg to DSS is being passed down to the providers this will require DX programs like the safe haven I work in to cut 2.5 from our budget by eliminating vacant positions entirely we do not have staff vacancies because positions are not needed we have them because contracts do not pay enough eliminating because this position will permanently increase the workload for already over a burden staff I'm a dedicated hard worker and I am too poor to be rich and too rich to be poor and I employ this committee to include 200 million for a 6.5 Cola in this final year 2024 budget as we step forward to help the Human Services I thank you for your time and I thank you for having me thank you when I hear from Lorenzo Brooks time starts now good morning Sherman Brennan and members of the committee my name is Lorenzo Brooks and I work as a case manager at Urban pathways I worked at a DH at a DHS fund itself a safe haven program which serves as a first step for men who are experiencing chronic Spirit homeliness to come inside many of our clients are living with a mental illness or substancy use uh disorder and many have experienced trauma I am proud to work with people on their first steps towards housing I have worked in the Human Services sector for over six years essential Human Service workers like me earn one of the lowest raises in New York's economy due to the chronic underfunding from New York City Government contracts as a predominant funder of Human Service contracts government is the main driver of our wages male items has highlighted safe havens as an effective model for addressing Street Holiness and I can't agree more but without funding for our Workforce these programs cannot be effectively staffed the high turnover rate is the primary complaint of our of our clients who are negatively impacted when they build a relationship with the staff member only to see them leave this pass for every case every case manager at my site besides myself left for different jobs with better pay I was the only case manager there for several months my caseload increased multi-fold impacting the quality of services we can provide and the ability of our clients to take critical