“For three years, grassroots organizations and unions, the City Council, and ordinary New Yorkers have had to fight — tooth and nail — just to restore what should never have been taken away by Eric Adams in the first place: funding for CUNY, childcare, education, enrichment programs, and library services.
Three years of our organizing and pressure campaign forced Eric Adams to give back money to New Yorkers. We are proud of the wins we secured this year:
- Key Public Education Programs: $93.3M mostly restored (programs like restorative justice, mental health continuum, community schools, school support workers, arts and summer programming, and college preparatory programs)
- Full restoration of CUNY operating funds: this includes $94.5 million for the restoration of funding cut in prior plans and $15 million for operational support
- Childcare and early education: $222M includes restorations to 3K and Promise NYC, special education preschool, and extended full day early education seats, and outreach
- Immigration legal services: $78.4M for legal services and rapid response funds to safeguard Immigrant New Yorkers from Trump’s mass deportation scheme.
- Crisis services: $34M for the Council Progressive Caucus’ plan to expand peer-led crisis teams, fund mental health and substance use care, and support first responders.
- Libraries: $2 million to expand 7-day library service to 10 additional branches citywide
But let’s be clear: the Mayor deserves no credit for restoring budget cuts that he made in the first place. Mayor Eric Adams’ last few budgets took childcare seats from children and parents, shrunk course loads and academic support for our CUNY students, and left families scrambling when libraries closed on weekends. Worse, the mayor did this against the will of the City Council and nearly every other city elected official, who vehemently opposed his cuts.
We thank the City Council for their tireless advocacy on behalf of New Yorkers and for their work to win all of these investments for our communities. And special thanks to the Progressive Caucus for their work to secure funds for crisis services and safety programs.
But our wins do not change the fact that the city budget process is broken and undemocratic. Time and again, this Mayor has made unilateral decisions — cutting essential services, threatening programs New Yorkers rely on, and forcing this Council to negotiate from a deficit rather than a shared vision for our city.
It’s time for transformative structural change — not just to win restorations, but for local democracy, the future of this city, and the people we serve. We need budget reform that rebalances power and gives the City Council the tools to do its job and New Yorkers the ability to protect our communities from political games and short-sighted austerity.
From today onward, the People’s Plan will be organizing New Yorkers to win the transformative reforms we need to win more for this city and ensure that essential services aren’t at the mercy of rogue and unaccountable politicians like Eric Adams ever again.”
The People’s Budget coalition members issued the following statements on the FY26 budget:
Council Member Alexa Avilés, Immigration Committee Chair, said “I am proud that, for the first time since I was elected to the City Council, we will pass a city budget that does not merely restore cruel cuts from the Adams administration, but goes further to create true gains for working-class New Yorkers. We will fund immigration legal services, early childhood education programs, public safety that’s responsive to the needs of New Yorkers, and expand library services. While the federal government attacks cities like ours, who are actively resisting their fascist and racist agenda, we will always be a proud immigrant city, upholding the rights, safety, and dignity of all New Yorkers–and our budget reflects that. We are bringing to fruition gains that will help to make New York City more livable and affordable for all working-class New Yorkers.”
James Davis, PSC/CUNY President, said “After cuts of $96 million and more than 500 full-time jobs lost since FY20, the New York City Fiscal Year 2026 budget is the righting of the ship. PSC members have been teaching, advising, counseling, and supporting students with inadequate resources. This funding enables CUNY to build back positions lost to vacancies, and hiring should start now.”
Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo, Co-Chairs of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, said “The FY26 budget passed today by City Council represents a small step toward a brighter future for working New Yorkers, thanks in no small part to the efforts of DSA-endorsed Council Members Alexa Avilés and Tiffany Cabán and allies in the Council’s Progressive Caucus. We celebrate the advancements toward real community safety achieved by the Crisis to Care campaign, the critical influx of money for immigration legal services, and new funding to support Trans Equity Programs. However, these investments still pale in comparison to what New Yorkers really need, and every cent was won in spite of Eric Adams’ gross mismanagement and years of cruel austerity. New Yorkers know that this is not “the best” our city government can deliver. The current budget process is broken and incapable of delivering the transformative improvements that working people need. We look forward to a Zohran Mamdani mayoral administration that will bring democracy back to City Hall and make this city a place that everyone can afford.”
Co-Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Education Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari said “Last year Speaker Adams declared, we needed to pass a budget that wasn’t about restoring cuts and this year we did. This is a budget that will impact the successful trajectory for the children of NYC from childcare to higher education. Big shout out to Chair Rita Joseph for her persistence and commitment to getting so many education priorities baseline like 3K and preschool special education classes. Yet, there is still progress to be made, particularly in restorative justice practices where there was not enough investments. In early education, it is particularly heartening that the city budget includes enough funding for the child care assistance program (CCAP) to meet the maintenance of effort state requirement, to ensure that families do not lose access to the program. The pilot program for the infant and toddler is a small, but significant test of how we envision universal access to child care should work statewide. Clearly there is more work to be done, but this budget is a testament to the work that has been done by parents and community members to elevate the issues that New Yorkers are facing.”
Darren Mack, Co-Director of Freedom Agenda, said “For the past three years, New Yorkers have seen thousands more people with mental health needs sent to Rikers, where they do not receive the care they need, and in the worst cases, don’t make it out alive. Yet the Mayor has been resistant to increasing funding for evidence-based interventions, allowing our neighbors to spiral into crisis and the jail population to balloon while the Department of Corrections budget bloat and mismanagement continue unabated. Had the services funded by this budget been in place three years ago, we could have seen public health and safety increased, and lives saved. The investments the Council achieved are a down payment on the City’s legal and moral obligation to shrink the jail population and close Rikers.”
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