AFC works to change education policy so that the public school system serves all children effectively. We publish policy reports and data analyses, testify at the City and State levels, speak out in the press to bring attention to the challenges facing the students and families we serve, and join with other advocates, parents, youth, and educators to call for change.
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Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement in response to the announcement of the Fiscal Year 2025 city budget agreement.
Today, AFC and the ARISE Coalition (coordinated by AFC) are testifying before the New York City Council Committee on Education and Committee on Finance regarding the FY 2025 Executive Budget and the FY 2025–2029 Capital Plan. Our testimony calls on the City to sustain funding for several critical programs that are still on the chopping block and to invest $1.25B to make more schools accessible.
Today, AFC is testifying before the New York City Council Committee on Children and Youth and Committee on Finance, regarding the need for continued funding for Promise NYC. Promise NYC increased access to early childhood programs for children who are undocumented, but the Mayor’s Executive Budget does not include funding to continue this vital initiative.
The Fiscal Year 2025 budget must save education programs that are providing critical support to some of New York City’s most marginalized students and families.
AFC testified at the New York City Council Preliminary Budget Hearing on Children and Youth about the need for continued funding for Promise NYC, which provides early childhood education and for children who are undocumented.
AFC submitted testimony for the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2024–2025 Executive Budget Proposal regarding the need to significantly invest in Early Intervention (EI).
On the one-year anniversary of Mayor Adams’ press conference announcing he would guarantee that every child who needed a preschool special education class would have one by the spring of 2023, Kim Sweet, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), issued the following statement.
AFC testified before the New York City Council Committee on Women and Gender Equity regarding Int. No. 941-2023, and the importance of early childhood education and care in New York City.
AFC testified before the New York City Council Committee on Immigration and Committee on Women and Gender Equity regarding early childhood education, calling on the City to extend funding for Promise NYC in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget.
This June 2023 data analysis shows that 37% of all preschoolers with disabilities—a total 9,800 children—went the entire 2021–22 school year without receiving at least one of the types of services the DOE was legally required to provide, a systemic violation of students’ rights. The report analyzes DOE data, which likely significantly understate the magnitude of the problem, and makes recommendations for needed changes moving forward.