Advocates for Children of New York works on behalf of children who are at greatest risk for school-based discrimination and/or academic failure due to poverty, disability, race, ethnicity, immigrant or English Language Learner status, sexual orientation, gender identity, homelessness, or involvement in the foster care or juvenile justice systems.
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Spotlight
AFC’s COVID-19 Education Recovery Plan and City Budget Priorities
Spring 2021 | On March 23, 2021, we testified [PDF] before the City Council Committee on Education on the preliminary budget, outlining our prorities for an ambitious education initiative to direct the largest one-time federal investment in education in our nation’s history. Click on the links below to learn more about each of AFC's advocacy... Continue reading
Advocates Call for DOE Office to Support Students in Foster Care
05.04.2021 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) and The Legal Aid Society released a report highlighting the urgent need for the Department of Education (DOE) to launch a small office focused solely on the needs of students in foster care. Currently, the DOE does not have an office, team, or even a single staff member dedicated to... Continue reading
AFC Testifies on Youth in Shelter and the School System
04.16.2021 | Today, AFC is testifying before the City Council Committees on Education and General Welfare about the importance of having an intentional, targeted plan to support students in shelter as the City decides how to use its historic influx of education funding. Read our testimony [PDF] Continue reading
AFC Urges DOE to Follow NYSED Guidance and Extend Eligibility to Students at Risk of Aging Out
04.15.2021 | Today, Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to new State guidance strongly encouraging school districts to provide over-age high school students the opportunity to return to school next year to finish meeting requirements for a high school diploma,... Continue reading
AFC in the News
Advocates Urge To Make Someone Accountable For Educating Foster Kids in NYC
05.05.2021 | Bklyner | “It’s been three years, and we’ve been pushing this for a while,” says Erika Palmer, the supervising attorney at AFC who worked on this report. “With the federal and state funding the DOE will be getting, we think it’s a particularly perfect time for them to move forward with this.” The advocates are urging the... Continue reading
DOE needs an office solely for students in foster care, advocates say
05.05.2021 | amNY | Out of the city’s 1.1 million public school students, roughly 6,000 are in the foster care system, according to a recently released report from Advocates for Children of New York and the Legal Aid Society. Most students in foster care are Black and come from the city’s poorest neighborhoods. These students face numerous... Continue reading
Schools are sending kids to virtual classes as punishment. Advocates say that could violate their rights.
05.04.2021 | NBC News | After attending in-person classes for four weeks last fall at the Zeta Charter School, across the street from his apartment in northern Manhattan, Raynardo was banished to the school’s virtual classes for failing to wear a mask and follow other Covid-19 safety rules. The family’s lawyer, Michael Athy, a staff attorney... Continue reading
As NYC budget grows, advocates warn kids in foster care are getting left behind
05.04.2021 | NY Daily News | In a report to be released Tuesday, lawyers from Legal Aid Society and Advocates for Children argue for a dedicated DOE foster care office modeled on the agency’s approach to supporting homeless students, which involves a citywide office and borough-based support staff. “Someone who knows those laws, how to train... Continue reading