Wall Street, New York, April 17, 2023 -- Elected Officials and leaders from anti-poverty, health access, anti-hunger, education, human services, and faith-based groups joined New Yorkers in protesting outside the New York Stock Exchange while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy delivered a speech outlining negotiating terms for lifting the federal debt ceiling.
We, the 70 undersigned faith-based, child advocacy, social justice, environmental health and justice advocacy, and philanthropic organizations, write to you to collectively implore you to make bold and critical investments towards combatting and ending the racial, environmental and moral crises of childhood lead exposure and poisoning in New York. As a co-founder and co-leader of Lead Free Kids New York, a growing statewide coalition of individuals, groups, and organizations working to end childhood lead exposure and poisoning in New York, the Children’s Defense Fund - New York (CDF-NY) stands alongside our partners in urging State Budget investments and policy solutions for childhood lead exposure in housing and other settings within marginalized communities.
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.
The Children’s Defense Fund¬ – New York (CDF¬-NY) strongly supports and respectfully urges passage of S. 277A (Gounardes) / A.4022A (Hevesi), which would combine and strengthen the Empire State Child Credit (ESCC) and State Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to create one more inclusive and generous Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC).
