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
More than 30 Organizations Call on the City to Meet Its Obligation to Students in Foster Care
07.08.2022 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) joined more than 30 organizations to call on the City to honor its commitment to fully staff a DOE team dedicated to meeting the unique educational needs of students in foster care, and to meet its obligation under law to provide busing for this population. The City has the chance to... Continue reading
AFC Testifies on DOE School Budget Cuts
06.24.2022 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York is testifying before the City Council Committee on Education and Committee on Oversight and Investigations regarding our deep concerns about school budget cuts. Read our testimony [PDF] Continue reading
Limited English Proficient Parents Need Additional Assistance to Access Information about their Children’s Education
06.09.2022 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) released a new data analysis, More than Translation: Multi-Faceted Solutions for Communicating with NYC’s Immigrant Families, estimating that more than 329,000 public school students do not have a parent who speaks English fluently and calling on Mayor Adams and the City Council to... Continue reading
More than 200 Organizations and Individuals Call on NYC to Continue Funding the Mental Health Continuum
06.06.2022 | Today, Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) joined more than 200 organizations and individuals in calling on Mayor Adams to invest $5 million to continue the Mental Health Continuum, an innovative, evidence-based model for supporting students with significant mental health needs by integrating a range of direct services and... Continue reading
AFC in the News
Mayor Adams says NYC ‘betrayed’ kids with disabilities following Daily News exposé
07.18.2022 | NY Daily News | Just 9% of students who started ninth-grade in District 75 went on to receive diplomas within six years, according to the Independent Budget Office. Students in the specialized district were more than 10 times as likely than their peers in traditional schools to be handcuffed by police in school between 2018 and 2020,... Continue reading
How NYC sets up kids with emotional disabilities for failure: ‘I had more kids in the correctional system than I had graduates’
07.17.2022 | NY Daily News | But for thousands of kids with emotional disabilities sent to District 75, it often serves as little more than a holding ground, according to interviews with 10 current and former district families and staffers from multiple schools. “It’s become outrageous what’s happening on a large-scale basis,” said Dawn... Continue reading
New York City Advocates Repeat Calls to Staff New Schools Division for Foster Youth
07.13.2022 | The Imprint | “It’s really important to get these folks in place in time for the beginning of the new school year so that they can begin to support students,” said Erika Palmer, supervising attorney at Advocates for Children. “We don’t want another school year to go forward when this is still a big struggle. Students are being... Continue reading
Summer Rising gets off to a stronger start, but still with some bumps
07.12.2022 | City & State | As for students with disabilities and those living in temporary housing, transportation remains one of the biggest barriers, according to Randi Levine, policy director at Advocates for Children of New York. Last year, bussing was only offered at the close of the day’s academic portion, which meant many of these... Continue reading