Bummer summer for city kids

NY Post

For NYC kids, this summer will be a bummer.

With the last day of school next Friday, the city has ended outdoor, recreational, and job programs for youths of all ages.

“Hundreds of thousands of NYC kids who have been cooped up for three months may have nothing fun to do,” said education consultant David Rubel. “Kids need outdoor play if they’re going to come back to school in September ready to learn.”

Thanks to Mayor de Blasio’s budget cuts and coronavirus restrictions, the popular Summer Youth 
Employment Program, which gave jobs to nearly 75,000 teens and young adults in 2019, has been been eliminated as of now. Officials are scrambling to find funding.

The dire news comes after students have been stuck at home since mid-March amid the Covid-19 shutdown, with laptops and iPads replacing in-person classes.

The Department of Youth and Community Development has wiped out an array of programs that offered arts, sports, games, and field trips enjoyed by 100,000 young people last summer.

Mayor's budget is no good, but the council will pass it anyway

From the Observer:

Despite promises that the “budget dance” is over, City Council members today said that the mayor’s proposed city budget would mean waiting lists for seniors services and library program cuts—while other agencies like the NYPD rack up big overtime bills.

“Let me be clear, the days of the budget dance are over, and as Finance Chair I reject any notion of the budget dance,” Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras said today, insisting this year’s fight was different from previous tangles over closing firehouses and libraries. “However, the administration has failed to reflect in the executive budget funding for many of the Council’s priorities, such as senior services and youth programs.”

Excuse me, but why is "the budget dance over" if there are objectionable things in the mayor's budget? Why do we have such a lazy and spineless city council?

Why are we spending money on this?

From the Times Ledger:

The city Department of Youth and Community Development has identified the recipients of three $200,000 stimulus grants designed to help Queens’ immigrant day laborers.

The department announced last week that the Make the Road New York organization will receive two of the grants and the MinKwon Center will receive one, which they must use to help first-generation immigrants hone their employment skills, become familiar with their rights and more.

Day laborers are some of the city’s lowest-paid, most neglected workers, and they often have little knowledge of their rights or the means to improve their employment situations.

“We definitely think the neighborhoods, Jackson Heights and Woodside, Queens, are a crisis center in the economic collapse,” said Saduf Syal, project coordinator for Make the Road New York’s community workforce project. “Day laborers congregate in these areas, often with no knowledge of their rights, the proper wages or safety precautions. So, yes, the need is definitely there.”

Make the Road New York will facilitate programs to offer services to these under-served workers in Jackson Heights and Woodside, while the MinKwon Center will focus its efforts on helping workers in the Flushing area.

The grants are three of six being disbursed throughout the city through the economic stimulus package — two are also being distributed to groups in Brooklyn and one will be awarded in Staten Island.

The MinKwon Center is a rare organization in that its work targeted low-wage immigrant workers most often ends up benefiting Asian Americans, unlike Make the Road’s, which often reaches mainly Hispanic populations.

Are we checking for green cards before spending tax money on this?