Coalition of Progressive Orgs Announce Budget Demands that the City Can’t Compromise on; “These are the People’s Budget Hardlines”
Coalition of Progressive Orgs Announce Budget Demands that the City Can’t Compromise on; “These are the People’s Budget Hardlines”
New York, NY — Today, The People’s Plan NYC, a coalition of 80 grassroots and labor groups fighting for a city budget that delivers dignity, care, and justice for all New Yorkers, rallied to call on the City Council to work towards a final budget that funds essential programs.
While the Mayor’s Executive Budget was a welcome reprieve after years of austerity budgets, there remain gaps in the budget that will let real New Yorkers fall through the cracks. It is unacceptable that the City plans to keep funding Department of Corrections vacancies, hire over 580 new police officers, and write a blank check to NYPD overtime while essential programs go unfunded.
The coalition is calling on the City Council and the Mayor to ensure that the final budget that is passed in 19 days closes these critical gaps. The programs outlined below are nonnegotiable items for progressive orgs and the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers that rely on these essential programs. They include:
Early childhood education & child care
- Clear half the CCAP child care waitlist — $500M
- Contribute to the Childcare Workforce Fund — $170M
- Restore key K–12 programs: Learning to Work, SEED, restorative justice, mental health — $76.3M
CUNY
- Fill vacancies; restore full-time faculty and staff — $264M
- Hire 352 advisors — $74M
- Free transit for CUNY students — $24M
Housing
- Drop the current legal appeal and deliver on the CityFHEPS expansion reforms
- Fully fund Right to Counsel — $350M
Transit
- Expand Fair Fares — $330M
Mental health
- 8 additional Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) teams — $22M
- 4 new Forensic ACT (FACT) teams — $2M
- Outpatient competency restoration pilot — $1.7M
- 60 new residential treatment beds — $3M
- Restore crisis respite centers + 4 more — $6M
Diversion & reentry
- Scale alternatives-to-incarceration programs — $10M
- reentry services — $10M
- Court-involved youth programs — $6.9M
- Transitional housing, 150+ units — $20.3M
Immigrant New Yorkers
- Immigration legal services — $85M
Climate
- Subsidies for small homes to electrify off gas boilers — $10M
Civil rights enforcement
- Restore the City Commission on Human Rights — $25M
Divestment
- Cut Department of Correction vacancies (–$95.6M)
- Keep NYPD funding flat and cut overtime. The city plans to hire over 580 new police officers and is writing a blank check to NYPD overtime while essential programs go unfunded.
“We understand that the city is being squeezed financially this year, and we commend the Mayor for moving us beyond an austerity budget to baseline essential services like the Parks Department and libraries,” said Zara Nasir, Executive Director of The People’s Plan. “But the current budget still has gaping holes in the city’s safety net. The Mayor should fulfill his promise to keep the NYPD’s budget flat and eliminate vacant positions at the Department Corrections. Instead, the mayor should allocate the hundreds of millions of savings by doing so to essential services like legal services for immigrants who are the backbone of the city’s economy; shelter for homeless teens; and funding for early childhood education and care. We’re calling for a just budget and New Yorkers won’t accept anything less.“
“New York City can afford to invest in programs that work. The Executive Budget cuts some vacancies for uniformed officers at the Department of Correction, and that’s a good start, but more than 700 vacancies remain. Eliminating them could free up $96 million – that could more than cover the costs of scaling up life-saving programs like IMT, ACT, crisis respite centers, and low-barrier housing,” said Darren Mack, Co-Director of Freedom Agenda. “The budget also includes funding for 580 more police officers, at a time when NYPD is arresting more and more people who need housing and mental health services. Hiring more police will not address the reasons why people are sleeping on the subway or stealing food, but it will consume funding that could be used to address their needs. We cannot afford another year of arresting and jailing our neighbors who need housing and healthcare, and then acting surprised when they cycle back through Rikers.”
“New York City is undergoing a crisis with child care: tens of thousands of families are struggling to find care, and providers are struggling to make ends meet, earning so little that some are shutting their doors,” said Smitha Varghese Milich, Director of Campaigns and Organizing. “The state budget provides no funding for workforce wages to meet the overwhelming demand within New York City, so it is now up to the city to move towards universal child care in an equitable way, prioritizing low income families and children who need it the most, and paying providers a dignified and thriving wage. The state has failed to meet the moment for New York City, and so the city must step up and include funding in this budget to clear at least half the child care waitlist, and increase pay for family child care providers.”
“Immigrants keep New York City moving. Despite comprising 36% of all residents and nearly half of the workforce, our communities face unprecedented attacks from federal overreach and the affordability crisis. New York City must act with urgency,” said Vladimir Tlali, Senior Policy Strategist at the New York Immigration Coalition. “Today, we call on the NYC Council and the Mayor to invest fairly and strategically to protect all New Yorkers from the worst crisis of our time. We urge the FY27 NYC Budget to allocate $188M for immigrant New Yorkers, including $85M for Immigration Legal Services. By investing in immigrant communities, we can create a truly inclusive and welcoming New York City for all.”
“We need a City budget that addresses the needs of the most marginalized New Yorkers. Everyone is talking about affordability, but affordability for who?” said Neil Berry, a leader at VOCAL-NY. “Too often those of us with the least are not even considered in these discussions. We are asking the Mayor to work with the council to secure CityFHEPS expansion, free fares and the expansion of fair fares and to cut the NYPD budget to fund housing and care.”
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