The excellent education news web site Chalkbeat reported April 16:
As New York City students lament the loss of school for the remainder of the year, their options for summer also look grim, with public pools closed and city-funded summer camps and a youth jobs program canceled
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed budget announced Thursday slashes a host of summer programs for low-income students as the city expects a huge financial hit to its coffers. Those cuts include after-school programs that operate summer day camps. The city says these programs might not be safe given the coronavirus crisis, but cutting them could pose significant challenges if New Yorkers are still practicing social distancing and trying to keep families indoors.
The mayor has not said how the city will handle summer school, though the education department is creating “all sorts of scenarios,” including online summer learning....
The Roosevelt Island Beacon will be hosting a virtual town meeting regarding the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) loss of funding as of June 30, 2020. This budget cut directly effects our ability to host summer camp. As of now, there will not be a RI Beacon Summer Program.
The Roosevelt Island Youth Program is ecstatic that Summer Funds will be restored and that we will be able to offer a full range of services this summer. We are thankful for the overwhelming community support of letters, emails and phone calls to the Mayor, Council Speaker and our local Councilman Ben Kallos.
Council Member Ben Kallos commitment to restoring these funds was incredible and all residents of Roosevelt Island should thank him because without his quick response and leadership on this issue we and 70 other programs would not be celebrating today.
All New York City families deserve access to fulfilling summer programming and I am proud to have fought to restore funds for our Roosevelt Island youth. When the funds were initially cut, I wrote a letter to DYCD and the Mayor demanding that they be restored and rallied at City Hall for their return. Whenever summer programming is threatened, I will fight alongside our families.
I am proud to have helped ensure that students will have a place to learn and play this summer.
Here's text of 5/21 letter sent by Mr. Kallos to Mayor de Blasio and DYCD Commissioner Bill Chong in support of restoring RIYP Summer Camp funding.
RE: Roosevelt Island Youth Program Beacon
Dear Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Chong,
Many residents of Roosevelt Island have contacted my office to express concerns over the defunding of the Roosevelt Island Beacon summer programs. On behalf of this community, I ask that you reinstate the Reconciliation Funds so that many more youth can attend these invaluable programs.
Roosevelt Island Beacon summer programming has been essential to so many families on Roosevelt Island, especially those who cannot afford camps. According to the Roosevelt Island Youth Program, they were notified by the Department of Youth and Community Development officially that they would receive Reconciliation Funds this summer. On May 8, they received an email stating that the money would be redirected to schools with bigger challenges. The Youth Program registered 194 youth with an additional 50 on the waiting list based on the original allocation. With the new allocation, they inform me that they would only be able accept 70 students. Therefore, they would have to turn away 174 children interested in enrolling, including 124 students who had already been accepted.
Restoring funding to the Roosevelt Island Beacon summer programs would be in line with your commitment to support afterschool and summer programs for students from all backgrounds.
If the program had to shrink, it would be a heartbreaking turn of events for the community. Parents rely on these programs to provide engagement and opportunity when they cannot afford traditional summer programming. I implore you to restore these funds, and look forward to working with you to resolve the issue for the constituents of Roosevelt Island.
Sincerely,
For the last month, DYCD has been pressing us to register as many students as possible for our Summer Camp, and were promised an additional reconciliation funds for it. In accordance, the Roosevelt Island Youth Program / Beacon conducted an aggressive campaign and registered 194 youth, with an additional 50 placed on a waiting list based on the allocated grant. In addition, our staff worked hard to create a detailed work scope curriculum (we call Around Your World in 7 Weeks).
However, last week DYCD sent us a distressing message alerting us that the promised budget will not be available to us. We are now forced to turn down over 170 applicants, even after they were promised a place to go this summer.
As you are well aware, all Private Summer Camps stopped accepting registrations months ago, and the parents of our self-contained community are left without any viable solution. The RIYP is the only available source for a Summer Camp, especially when our community is struggling to offer our youths a safe haven, away from street trouble and crime.
UPDATE 4/26 - Here's text of 4/21 letter sent by Mr. Kallos to Mayor de Blasio and DYCD Commissioner Bill Chong in support of restoring RIYP Summer Camp funding.
RE: Roosevelt Island Youth Program Beacon
Dear Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Chong,
Many residents of Roosevelt Island have contacted my office to express concerns over the defunding of the Roosevelt Island Beacon summer programs. On behalf of this community, I ask that you reinstate the Reconciliation Funds so that many more youth can attend these invaluable programs.
Roosevelt Island Beacon summer programming has been essential to so many families on Roosevelt Island, especially those who cannot afford camps. According to the Roosevelt Island Youth Program, they were notified by the Department of Youth and Community Development officially that they would receive Reconciliation Funds this summer. On May 8, they received an email stating that the money would be redirected to schools with bigger challenges. The Youth Program registered 194 youth with an additional 50 on the waiting list based on the original allocation. With the new allocation, they inform me that they would only be able accept 70 students. Therefore, they would have to turn away 174 children interested in enrolling, including 124 students who had already been accepted.
Restoring funding to the Roosevelt Island Beacon summer programs would be in line with your commitment to support afterschool and summer programs for students from all backgrounds.
If the program had to shrink, it would be a heartbreaking turn of events for the community. Parents rely on these programs to provide engagement and opportunity when they cannot afford traditional summer programming. I implore you to restore these funds, and look forward to working with you to resolve the issue for the constituents of Roosevelt Island.
Sincerely,
The mayor proposed shutting seven Beacon programs in July 2012, including the one on Roosevelt Island. Council Member Lappin is against eliminating the Roosevelt Island program, and will fight to keep it open during budget negotiations this year....
It appears for now that the Roosevelt Island PS/IS 217 Beacon After School program has been saved from elimination. Yesterday, I asked Roosevelt Island NYC Council Member Jessica Lappin:
I understand the the Roosevelt Island Beacon After School Program has been saved and is not on the list of programs that may be closed.
Is that true?...
Ms. Lappin's office responded today that she is:
... relieved that the Roosevelt Island Beacon Program appears to have been taken off the list for closures.
The seven Beacon Programs that may be eliminated are:
Borough School Provider
Bronx IS 192 Phipps Community Development
Brooklyn IS 259 Heart Share Human Services
Manhattan PS 198 Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center
Manhattan MS 414 Hudson Guild
Queens JHS 190 Queens Community House, Inc.
Queens MS 158 Samuel Field Y
SI Tottenville HS Jewish Community Center of Staten Island
NY 1 has more on the possible elimination of some Beacon After School programs.
UPDATE 10:20 PM - Roosevelt Island resident Jonathan Kalkin adds:
Image of NYC Beacon Program Cut Hearings From Jonathan Kalkin
I testified to the New York City Council that the Beacon Youth program on Roosevelt Island was only blocks away from the new Cornell Technion campus and that this program would be a great opportunity for the university to work with the Beacon program on a number of potential projects.
I said they already had worked with the science community via STEM. I also stated that the potential mentorship opportunities between the university/technology/science communities were not only possible, but needed to fulfill the university/NYC goals to make New York City a tech center of the world. I then went on to explain how Steve Jobs and Bill Gates both had access when they were young to the technology and science community (Jobs with HP at age 12/Bill Gates in 8th grade had access to a GE mainframe computer). I said that entrepreneurs usually don't like to listen to authority and sometimes the brightest minds combined with the entrepreneurial spirit can either make a teenager successful if they have the right role models around them or that kind of personality can easily go down the wrong path if they don't. I pointed out that Roosevelt Island has a diverse population and that as a minority entrepreneur myself it was very important to me to have role models to look up to and that sometimes you need to see someone like you that is successful in order to believe you can do it yourself.
I'm sure that our Council Member Jessica Lappin, Roosevelt Island Youth Program Director Charlie Defino and many others worked day and night to make sure that the Beacon program stayed open and they should be thanked for their hard work. I think that years from now we will be using some breakthrough technology that some young man or woman on Roosevelt Island invented. I'm looking forward to it.
The mayor proposed shutting seven Beacon programs in July 2012, including the one on Roosevelt Island. Council Member Lappin is against eliminating the Roosevelt Island program, and will fight to keep it open during budget negotiations this year.
Last week I sent the following inquiry to Ms. Lappin's office:
I understand a document is being circulated by the Youth Alliance, which mentions a number of programs at risk due to their location and youth poverty levels which includes Roosevelt Island Beacon After School Program.
What is it about the Roosevelt Island Beacon Program location and youth poverty levels that puts the program in jeopardy of being eliminated?
Any other comment regarding the Roosevelt Island Beacon Program status?
Received this response from Ms. Lappin:
We don’t know for sure which Beacon programs would close. But based on past experience and the formula the city already using in allocating funds for other after school programming, it is fair to assume that the one on Roosevelt Island would be included. For your information, the criteria included in the city’s formula include youth poverty levels, percentage of English language Learners, and the # of participants in state subsidized child care.
I am a firm supporter of the Beacon program in our community and have been talking to the Chair of the Youth Services Committee and the Finance Committee about saving our program on Roosevelt Island - and those in the rest of the city.
There will be a City Council budget hearing in the Youth Services Committee on March 15th at 10am at 250 Broadway on the 14th Floor. Users of this program and other interested parties should come or submit testimony if possible.
... The New York City Youth Alliance, a group of non-profits, compiled a list of 16 Beacon Programs potentially facing closure. Eight of these programs are located in Queens....
... According to a representative from the mayor’s office, the possible closure of services such as the Beacon Program is attributable to “painful funding decisions.”
“We are committed to providing the quality programming on which so many rely, and will work within our means to continue to provide them,” said the representative, who alleged that the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) will eliminate seven Beacon programs in the interest of saving approximately $2.1 million in the 2013 Fiscal Year.
DYCD has undergone measures to investigate the effectiveness of at-risk centers, analyzing population and socioeconomic data. This process has not yet been completed.
The Roosevelt Island Youth Program's 10 to 15 year old ladies volleyball team showed off their new uniforms this week during practice, coaches Paul Hardy and Ernest Keith have been working with the girls since October to learn the rules and be ready for game play. The girls meet Wednesday and Thursday 4PM to 6PM to practice and will soon start playing league games, if you are interested in joining come by the school or call 212-527-2505 after 3PM for additional information. This is just one of the many activities being held at the Roosevelt Island Youth Program so com-on get involved. A picture of the team is below, lets wish them luck!
As reported last week, the Roosevelt Island After School PS/IS 217 Beacon Program is in danger of being eliminated by proposed New York City Budget cuts.
Images From Roosevelt Island Youth Program - Standing from left to right -Coach Earnest Keith, Maria Meriton, Emily Hanley, Nonya Khedr, Michelle Davis, Yacine Ndiaye, Eunate Martinez, Tateanna Johnson, Linda Mkapa, Coach Paul Hardy.
Sitting from left to right- Jenny Siguachi, Elisa Castillo, Jesca Emmanuel, Tiffany Gonsalves, Tanji Jarvis.
Beacons are school-based community centers serving children, youth, and adults. There are currently 80 Beacons located throughout New York City, operating in the afternoons and evenings, on weekends, during school holidays and vacation periods, and during the summer.
Typical activities for youth include:
* Literacy activities
* Tutoring
* High school/college prep
* Math clubs
* Photography
* Basketball
* Chess
* Martial arts
In addition, Beacons commonly offer adult programs, including:
* General Education Diploma (GED)
* English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
* Parenting Skills
* Family Relations
* Tenant Education and Advocacy
More than half-a-dozen city centers that offer free after-school, GED and immigration services are on the chopping block — and half of the ones most at risk are in Queens.
The city plans to cut funding for seven Beacon programs by July 1 and that’s causing panic among parents and advocates.
No announcements have been made on which of the 80 city centers, based in public schools, are to be shuttered.
“It’s going to be a huge loss,” said Gigi Li, co-director of the Neighborhood Family Services Coalition, which opposes the cuts.
“Families are really going to have to think about how they’re going to be able to maintain an income while their kids are in a safe space,” she said, referring to the free after-school and summer camp programs....
The mayor proposed shutting seven Beacon programs in July 2012, including the one on Roosevelt Island. Council Member Lappin is against eliminating the Roosevelt Island program, and will fight to keep it open during budget negotiations this year.
Some of the Roosevelt Island kids who use the PS/IS 217 Beacon program ask Don't Close Our Beacon.
Roosevelt Island is a mixed income, racially diverse waterfront community situated in the East River of New York City between Manhattan and Queens and is jurisdictionally part of Manhattan. The Roosevelt Island Tramway, which connects Roosevelt Island to the rest of Manhattan, has become the iconic symbol of Roosevelt Island to its residents.
The Purpose of this Blog is to provide accurate and timely information about Roosevelt Island as well as a forum for residents to express opinions and engage in a dialogue to improve our community.
