Over 300 clients and staff members from the six Lower East Side Settlement Houses – Chinese-American Planning Council, Educational Alliance, Grand Street Settlement, Hamilton-Madison House, Henry Street Settlement, and University Settlement Society – gathered at Grant Street Settlement last night to protest harmful cuts to child care, youth programs, and senior services proposed in the State and City budgets this year.  

If passed, advocates claim that the cuts will result in the loss of thousands of after school program slots (over 13,145 from City cuts alone) and over 6,000 summer jobs for New York City youth; the elimination of over 3,300 child care slots and reduced capacity at child care centers across the City; and huge cuts to senior centers, home delivered meals, and case management services for frail older adults and the homebound elderly.  Youth development programs are reportedly facing a $28 million cut at the State level and an over $23 million cut at the City level.

 “After school is important to me because sometimes I need help with my homework and my parents don’t always understand it because they speak Spanish,” said Giselle Gutierrez, a 9 year old in the Grand Street Settlement’s after school program, Project Cool. “If you cut Project COOL or any other after school, then students like me will have a hard time with schoolwork and parents won’t have a place to keep their kids while they’re at work. And a lot of kids will be bored and lonely with nothing to do when they leave school!”  

 “The Educational Alliance Edgies Teen Center is my second family and my safe place to learn and grow,” said Maranda Sloan, a 16 year old participant in the Edgies Teen Center at Educational Alliance.  The Edgies Teen Center would be eliminated next year if Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to ends funding for OST Option II programs is approved.

“I am a Chinese immigrant,” said Xiao Qing Li from the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC). “When I arrived in this country, I felt lost. CPC helped me gain confidence, develop relationships, do activities, and discover what I wanted to do.”

Margarita Ortiz, a participant in a senior program at Henry Street Settlement, highlighted the importance of senior services which are also threatened with significant cuts in the City budget. “The NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) program is our survival,”
 she said. “If we get sick they help us. If there’s an emergency they send a nurse, and they provide lots of activities so we won’t be isolated or lonely. Without the program, we couldn’t stay in our homes.”   

Participants urged State leaders to generate the revenues necessary to avoid devastating cuts to human service programs, through the use of federal stimulus dollars and progressive income tax increases. “At this time of economic crisis, we need our government leaders to step up and protect critical programs. We’re asking that those who can afford to pay contribute their fair share,” declared Margarita Rosa, Executive Director of Grand Street Settlement.

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