News & Media

05.15.2014 |  This Saturday, May 17, marks the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared that separate is inherently unequal in public education. The words of Chief Justice Earl Warren ring as true today as they did in 1954: “In these days it is doubtful that any child can be reasonably expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.”

As we celebrate this great moment in our history, we also recognize that we still have much work left to do to ensure equal educational opportunity for all children. In recent decades, schools have become more segregated, not less, and a recent study found that New York State has the most segregated schools in the nation.
 

School integration, 1955. Barnard School, Washington, D.C.
U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress.

As we see every day in our work at Advocates for Children, the promise of Brown remains unfulfilled. For example:

• Starting at age 4, children of color are disproportionately suspended, expelled, and pushed into the school-to-prison pipeline—though research has yielded no evidence that they have higher rates of misbehavior than their white peers. 
   
• Black children are disproportionately referred for special education services and disproportionately classified as emotionally disturbed or intellectually disabled. 
   
• In New York City, less than three in five Black and Hispanic students graduate high school in four years—a rate about 20 percentage points lower than that of white students.

We’re proud to be part of the ongoing struggle for educational equity and racial justice, whether it’s by helping individual families access the services their children need and deserve; filing litigation to improve education law and policy; pushing for positive approaches to school discipline that keep kids in school; or breaking down barriers that prevent immigrant parents from participating in their children’s education.

Thank you for joining us in the fight to protect every child’s right to learn.

Kim Sweet
Executive Director

05.08.2014 | Thank you to everyone who supported our 2014 Spring Benefit! More than 650 guests joined us on May 7 at 360° to celebrate another successful year at Advocates for Children, as well as the accomplishments of this year’s honorees, Eugene Ludwig and Al-Yasid Johnson. This year's event was our most successful yet! In addition to the generous support of our sponsors and ticket buyers, we raised another $50,000 last night to enable us to serve more families on our Education Helpline.
 

Eugene Ludwig, recipient of the 2014 Jill Chaifetz Award, with Al-Yasid Johnson, recipient of the 2014 Education Champion Award, and past student honorees Stash, Khiry, and Zio Jr.
 

AFC Board President, Eric Grossman of Morgan Stanley, with honorees Al-Yasid Johnson and Eugene Ludwig; Executive Director Kim Sweet; and Jamie Levitt, AFC Board President from 2004-2013.

04.10.2014 | We would like to thank everyone who called, emailed, and rallied in support of making full-day Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) available for all four-year-old children in New York City. We are very pleased that the final state budget includes a dedicated funding stream with $300 million this year to expand full-day UPK in New York City. Now we need your help to spread the word that it is time for families of children born in 2010 to apply to Universal Pre-K programs for September! 

UPK at Public Schools:
Parents can apply to UPK programs located at public schools by completing a centralized application form online or in person at an Enrollment Office by April 23rd. Parents should rank their choices for UPK programs at public schools on one form. Admission for these programs is not first-come, first-served. The online application is available in English and Spanish, and the application form that gets returned to an Enrollment Office is available in 10 languages. Staff at the Enrollment Offices can also use a phone translation service to assist families speaking other languages.

UPK at Community-Based Organizations:
Parents can apply to UPK programs located at community-based organizations (CBOs) by contacting each CBO directly and completing an individual application at each CBO. The application process for CBO programs is ongoing, and we advise parents to apply early to any CBO programs. The application form that gets returned to each CBO is available in 10 languages.

Parents may apply to UPK programs at public schools and at CBOs using the two different application processes described above.

All families of children born in 2010 may apply for UPK. Preschool students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that recommend Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT) services or related services may receive these services at their UPK programs. Preschool students with IEPs that recommend half-day special classes or half-day special classes in integrated settings may participate in UPK classes for the rest of the day.

The list of UPK programs, including the new full-day options, is available on the Pre-K website or at an Enrollment Office.

Translated versions of Pre-K Admissions resources are available on the following pages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Urdu. 

03.24.2014 | Today, AFC will testify before the City Council General Welfare Committee about the importance of providing adequate funding for high-quality early childhood education programs for young children from low-income backgrounds. View testimony [PDF]