NEW YORK — A coalition of organizations in New York denounced this Tuesday that immigrant families will face several obstacles for their children to have access to early education and care in a safe place due to the cuts proposed by Mayor Eric Adams to the new budget of the city.
“Mayor Adams, keep your promise,” they chanted during a press conference where participants held up signs with messages like “Increase access to early childhood education” or “Mayor Adams, stop breaking promises.”
The New York Immigrant Coalition, which led the protest, said they are calling for $4 million to expand the Linking Immigrant Families with Early Childhood Education (LIFE) Project, designed to meet the needs of families who they do not speak English.
These funds would be used to support the initiative’s outreach, application process, and enrollment for 3- and 4-year-old children from immigrant families.
According to the NGO, almost a third of all parents of children under five in this city have limited English proficiency.
The activists stressed that at a time when the immigrant population is increasing, it is important to expand the project so that all the children of the new arrivals have access to early education.
The groups are also calling for a $20 million investment for the Promise NYC program, created in 2022 by the Adams Administration to provide child care assistance to undocumented children. The original allocation for the program was 10 million.
“Parents need affordable childcare to be able to work. Access to affordable childcare saves lives,” said activist Nadeem Almánzar of the Chinese American Planning Council.
Promise NYC is a city-funded program that pays for child care providers chosen by the family, and will expire on June 30 if funds are not allocated.
The program, announced in December and which came into force last January, is implemented through community organizations and provides services in this first stage to at least 600 children.
“Twenty million is about a fifth of one percent of the budget… (but) for undocumented preschool-age children, it’s a game changer,” said Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán.
Her counterpart Jennifer Gutierrez called on the Administration to work with the Council and activists to defend immigrants.
The City Council (local legislature) is evaluating the new budget, which goes into effect on July 1. According to what Gutiérrez told EFE, 40% of the new arrivals have children under five years of age, so the expansion of the project “would be of great benefit to them.”
For its part, the NGO Se Hace Camino Nueva York announced that it launched today a campaign on the networks in which it will invest “thousands of dollars” to denounce Mayor Adams’ proposed cuts that affect several areas except the Police.
2023-06-14 03:33:11
#condemn #York #budget #cuts #affect #immigrant #children
