UNITE is a partnership of the Coalition for Homeless Youth and YouthNPower: Transforming Care at the Children’s Defense Fund-NY. The UNITE Project’s mission is to transfer power to young people and to hold systems accountable to dismantle the silos and fill the gaps that perpetuate the intersection of the child welfare system and youth homelessness.
The CDF-NY Week of Action Toolkit provides leaders like you with valuable resources to help promote the importance of advocating to our New York elected officials to pass a State budget that prioritizes marginalized children, youth, young adults, families and their communities in the areas of economic mobility, health equity, youth justice and child welfare.
As a co-founder and leader of the statewide Lead Free Kids New York coalition and an organization whose policy priorities include such issues as economic mobility, child welfare, youth justice, and health equity - issues all rooted in poverty and which impacts child, youth, and family housing stability - the Children’s Defense Fund-New York (CDF-NY) appreciates the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee for the opportunity to submit testimony for this Joint Legislative Public Hearing to discuss the Executive Budget for Housing.
We urge you to include the Child and Family Wellbeing Fund, currently included in the Child and Family Reinvestment Act advanced by Assemblymember Hevesi and Senator Brisport in the FY 2023-24 Budget. The Child and Family Wellbeing Fund advances the health and development of all New York’s children by investing resources in communities that have been historically disenfranchised and targeted for government intervention through the CPS system.
Today, as a part of its celebration of the life and world-changing legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., renowned civil rights activist and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history, the Children’s Defense Fund – New York (CDF-NY) releases its Fiscal Year 2023- 2024 Legislative and Budget Agenda, titled Prioritizing the Needs of Children, Youth and Families: New York State Budget and Legislative Priorities.
As communities of color continue to navigate the triple crises of COVID-19, inflation, and systemic oppression rooted in racism, our State elected officials must do what is just, which is to put New York on a strong path to a just equitable recovery by centering and prioritizing the needs of the youngest New Yorkers along with marginalized children, youth and families in the FY 2023-2024 Budget and Legislative Session in ways that center their physical and mental wellness and economic health, thereby enabling them to have joy and to thrive.
Mired in last-minute negotiations to roll-back recent criminal justice reforms, including Raise the Age, the final State Budget is a disappointment for children, youth and families. While we cannot overlook important new investments in child care and health care for new mothers, the budget still failed to prioritize our children.
