As protests against police brutality continue for a ninth straight day, many student activists across the city are calling on officials to shift funding from the NYPD to programs that support youth. The calls come as New York City Council members grapple with how to balance a budget that’s facing a $10 billion shortfall in tax revenue due to the coronavirus and the economic devastation that’s followed.
As part of his executive budget, Mayor Bill de Blasio has proposed cutting more than $827 million from the New York City Department of Education’s $34 billion budget. He also plans to eliminate the Summer Youth Employment Program that serves 75,000 young people between the ages of 14 to 24 and is estimated to cost roughly $124 million.
But students have excoriated the mayor for slashing three percent of education funds, compared to a 0.39 percent cut to NYPD. School aid remains uncertain for the coming school year, however, as the state’s enacted budget also provides the Governor with the power to impose additional mid-year cuts to state aid to localities, including school districts.
De Blasio is calling for less than $25 million in cuts to the NYPD, which has a budget of just under $6 billion. Asked at his Friday news conference if he’ll be cutting the NYPD budget by $1 billion, de Blasio said no.
“I don’t believe it is a good idea to reduce the budget of the agency that is here to keep us safe and the agency that is instituting Neighborhood Policing that involves officers deeply engaged,” said de Blasio, speaking on the Police Department’s four-year initiative to foster better community and police relations.
On the Brian Lehrer Show soon after his news conference, de Blasio justified the cuts to SYEP, adding it was a result of the coronavirus crisis that forced nonprofits to close and have employees working from home. “That was what ungirding that decision,” said de Blasio. “We’re definitely going to put a lot of resources on youth initiatives.”
Councilmember Donovan Richards, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, told Gothamist that the NYPD’s budget was being reviewed line by line to determine where the cuts make the most sense.
“We’ve heard the billion-dollar price tag, but we have to be able to strategically and factually go through these line items because NYPD also, a lot of times, intermingles federal and state dollars as well. So we’re trying to figure out trying to find the perfect medium on how we redistribute what I like to call the redistribution of resources back into communities,” said Richards, who has the restoration of SYEP in mind.
In addition, students say it’s time for schools to cut ties with the NYPD by removing the police who serve as campus “safety agents.” Instead, they want to see the city invest in school-based mental health and restorative justice programming.
There have been calls for “counselors not cops” for years, and de Blasio announced a new agreement with the NYPD last year to reduce arrests in schools while emphasizing conflict resolution.
But students see a new opportunity for change amid the massive outcry against violent policing. The Minneapolis Public Schools terminated a contract with the city’s police department this week, and is now working on a new school safety plan.
“We cannot keep overfunding the NYPD, and ruin the future of the youth by under-investing in education,” said Meril Mousoom, a junior at Stuyvesant High School who works with the Dignity In Schools Campaign.
Her group held a “theatrical” mock budget hearing that satirized the mayor for what they see as a deferential relationship to the NYPD. “We are trying to use this time to get police out of schools,” said campaign member Eliana Martinez, a junior at Talented Unlimited High School. “Because that way we’ll be able to fund so many other things that are important.”
More actions are planned in the coming days. On Saturday, members of MORE, a caucus within the United Federation of Teachers, will hold a rally and march starting at the union’s headquarters.
On Monday, organizers are calling for statewide protests against Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed cuts to education.
Groups that work with students said restoring funding for SYEP was crucial as the school year winds down.
The complete dissolution of SYEP has devastated Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, a 78-year nonprofit that usually processes more than 2000 SYEP applicants from Bronx youth each spring. Liza Perez, director of workforce development, noted that “a lot of connections are lost” from the proposed eradication of the program.
“We’re just afraid that the impact is going to be on the fact they don’t have any type of work experiences that they’re going to get this year through this program. There’s going to be a loss of income as a result. And as a result, unfortunately, in many of our communities families rely on the income that the students bring in over the summer for food, for bills. Many of the students utilize the income from this program to purchase school supplies and school clothes for the following school year,” said Perez. “With so many things up in the air, there’s not going to be a lot for students to do.”
Students usually earn a maximum $2250 after six weeks of SYEP work, according to Perez. On top of SYEP, the Department of Youth and Community Development sponsors a Youth Grow Learn program, where students who found work through SYEP are eligible to extend their city-funded work during the school year, allowing them to make extra money. That too has been cut.
In April, MMCC joined a contingent of other nonprofit organizations across the city in sending a letter to the New York City Council urging the body to restore the cuts. They wrote the cuts are especially damaging to communities of color who are once again “shortchanged in public policy decisions.” They were initially met with silence.
But now New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is “laser-focused” on restoring the cuts, according to Chalkbeat. “We need to figure out what those options are,” Johnson told the publication.
The funding cut proposals can profoundly impact Nadeera Hassan, a 19-year-old living in the Bronx with her sister and single mother. Last year, Hassan signed up for SYEP, and was later assigned to the Edenwald Community Center not too far from her home.
“That was my first job where I had experience working with kids, building my skills, building patience,” said Hassan, who added she built relationships through SYEP. “It was nice because I got to meet new people, interact with them, learn stuff, because it’s actually helping me with my career.”
For the last two years she’s been saving money for college to help her mother who works as a customer service representative. But as Hassan prepared her paperwork for another year with the program, COVID-19 upended her plans.
“That would’ve been more additional monies from the previous savings,” said Hassan, who’s slated to attend the University of Vermont in September, with an interest in studying psychology.
She’d like to see SYEP restored even if the work is done virtually.
“I feel like we should just do something remotely because a lot of people are depending on it,” said Hassan, adding she worried the protests would continue all summer if there were no opportunities for young people.
Perez agreed: “I’m just afraid that the students are not going to have anything to do. They’re going to be unemployed. And I’m just afraid there’s going to be an increase in crime, and increase in teen pregnancy.”
Meanwhile, educators are concerned about the impact of the budget cuts facing schools this fall. About $100 million of the proposed cuts are slated to come directly from school budgets.
Chancellor Richard Carranza told council members at a budget hearing last month that students will likely face larger class sizes next year, even though public health officials recommend smaller classes to allow social distancing. “There is no meat to cut, not fat to cut. We are at the bone,” he said.
Hundreds of teachers and principals have signed a letter demanding investments in education, ethnic studies, counselors and anti-racist curricula.
