Tell Mayor Bloomberg to Save Early Childhood Education and After-School Programs in NYC

ACTION ALERT:

Support Early Childhood Education

1.   Tell Mayor Bloomberg to Save Early Childhood Education and After-School Programs in NYC

2.   Thank President Obama for Proposing His Early Childhood Education Initiative

3.   Thank State Legislators for Protecting Early Intervention

1.   Tell Mayor Bloomberg to Save Early Childhood Education and After-School Programs in NYC

Background: Mayor Bloomberg’s budget proposal would cut more than 47,000 children from child care and after-school programs.  The city’s subsidized child care programs are often the only opportunity that low-income children have to participate in an early childhood education program.  High-quality early childhood programs are critical to school readiness and school success.  The city’s Out-of-School Time (OST) and Beacon after-school programs give children a safe, educational setting to attend after the school bell rings.  Advocates for Children has joined the Campaign for Children to oppose these massive cuts.

Take Action:

1.        Send an E-mail: Click here to send an e-mail to Mayor Bloomberg and city leaders opposing the cuts.

2.       Then…;

a.        Tweet: I sent a letter to @MikeBloomberg asking him to save child care and after-school!  Send yours: http://bit.ly/Zy9qR2 #Campaign4Children

b.       Post on Facebook: I sent a letter to Mayor Bloomberg asking him to save child care and after-school!  Follow the link to take action with the Campaign for Children: http://bit.ly/Zy9qR2

3.       Attend an Event with the Campaign for Children:

a.        Lower East Side Town Hall Meeting: Thursday, April 18^th at 6pm, P.S. 134/P.S. 137, 293 East Broadway

b.       Queens Rally: Wednesday, April 24^th at 4pm, Queens Borough Hall, 120-55 Queens Boulevard, Kew Gardens

c.        Brooklyn Rally: Tuesday, April 30^th at 4pm, Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street

For a list of other events taking place across the city, please e-mail Randi Levine at rlevine@advocatesforchildren.org

4.        “;Like” the Campaign for Children on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Campaign4Children – and follow the Campaign on Twitter – https://twitter.com/#!/childrennyc – using the hashtag #Campaign4Children

5.        Forward this alert to others who may be interested in taking action.

To read Advocates for Children’s most recent testimony regarding these cuts, click here.   To learn more about the Campaign for Children, click here.

2.   Thank President Obama for His Early Childhood Education Initiative

Background: This week, in his budget proposal, President Obama proposed a dramatic expansion of early childhood education programs for children from birth through age five.  His plan would expand voluntary home-visiting programs that offer support to parents of young children, expand high-quality child care for infants and toddlers, and expand high-quality prekindergarten programs for four-year-olds.

Take Action: Click here to e-mail President Obama to thank him for proposing this comprehensive plan to help children enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

3.   Thank State Legislators for Protecting Early Intervention

Background:As part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Early Intervention (EI) program provides evaluations and services to infants and toddlers who have developmental delays or disabilities and their families.  In his 2013-2014 Executive Budget, Governor Cuomo proposed restructuring Early Intervention to link EI services with health insurance coverage.  Among other provisions, the budget proposal would have allowed a health insurance representative to be part of the team that develops a child’s service plan and required children to be evaluated and served by evaluators and service providers within a child’s health insurance network, without a clear process for obtaining an exception.  The budget also proposed changes to the EI evaluation system.  We are pleased that the Legislature rejected the proposed changes, protecting access to EI services.  Thank you to those of you who contacted your state legislators during the budget process!

Take Action: Call or e-mail your state legislators and thank them for protecting Early Intervention in the state budget.  A sample e-mail is below.

To reach your state legislators, call the Senate switchboard (518-455-2800) and Assembly switchboard (518-455-4100) and give your zip code.  Alternatively, you can find your NY State Senator here and your NY Assembly Member here.  E-mail lists are available here (Assembly) and here (Senate).

Key legislators include:

Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried:

GottfriedR@assembly.state.ny.us or 518-455-4941

Senate Health Committee Chair Kemp Hannon:

hannon@nysenate.gov or 518-455-2200

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver:

Speaker@assembly.state.ny.us or 518-455-3791

Senate Co-Leader Dean Skelos:

skelos@nysenate.gov or 518-455-3171

Senate Co-Leader Jeffrey Klein:

jdklein@senate.state.ny.us or 518-455-3595

Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair Herman Farrell:

FarrelH@assembly.state.ny.us or 518-455-5491

Senate Finance Committee Chair John DeFancisco:

jdefranc@nysenate.gov or 518-455-3511

Sample e-mail:

Thank you for protecting access to Early Intervention (EI) services for infants and toddlers with developmental delays and disabilities.  I am glad that the Legislature rejected the harmful changes to EI proposed in the 2013-2014 Executive Budget.  For example, the Legislature rejected the proposal to allow health insurance representatives to participate in EI service plan meetings and the proposed restrictions on evaluators and service providers available to serve children based on children’s health insurance coverage.  Early Intervention services are cost-effective, and the Legislature was right to reject changes that would have made it harder for young children to get the services they need.

For more information and updates, please sign up for the Advocates for Children of New York listserv or contact Randi Levine at rlevine@advocatesforchildren.org.

Forward this alert to others who may be interested in taking action.

Brought to you by:
Andrea Anna Lella CEO & Program Director
Families Helping Families Resource and Recreation Center
“We Believe In Angels”
www.fhfnyc.org