New York, NEW YORK (July 1, 2024) --  The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) issued the following statement on Monday, July 1, 2024 on behalf of its over 90 AAPI-led and -serving member organizations in response to Sunday’s vote by New York City Council on the New York City Budget.

“CACF, including our Asian American Student Advocacy Project (ASAP) Youth Leaders and members of our 18% and Growing campaign, have spent months advocating for a NYC Budget that is fair, equitable, and supportive of the City’s most marginalized. 

This year’s budget fight was incredibly difficult as we pushed for funding for programs that support students, families, and new arrivals — many of them from immigrant and limited English proficient backgrounds — across New York City. Our communities watched as funding for essential education programs were continually put on the chopping block and then either threatened with complete closure or drastically reduced services.

Due to the strong advocacy of our 18% and Growing Campaign members through hearings, meetings, and rallies, we are thankful to see restoration of funding to the following initiatives championed by CACF: 

• $5.06 million to the AAPI Community Support Initiative, which supports AAPI-led and -serving community-based organizations who are providing life-affirming, linguistically accessible services

• $3.7 million to the Communities of Color Nonprofit Stabilization Fund, a City Council-funded initiative that provides capacity-building support to Black, Latino, and Asian American Pacific Islander-led nonprofits.

• $3,620,210 to Access Health NYC, a city-wide initiative that funds community-based organizations (CBOs) to provide education, outreach, and assistance to all New Yorkers about how to access health care and coverage.

Additionally, over the past year, CACF has been honored to be an active member of the Emergency Coalition to Save Education Programs and we have worked closely with NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ Office, Education Committee Chair Rita Joseph, AAPI families across the city, and our ASAP Youth Leaders to ensure the voices and needs of NYC public school students are heard by decision makers in City Council. We thank Speaker Adams and the NYC Council for fighting alongside us as we worked to successfully restore so much of this funding. 

After meetings, town halls, and budget rallies diligently attended by our ASAP Youth Leaders, the following educational program funding that greatly impacts our students and families was restored:

• $12M to Restorative Justice initiatives

• $5M to Mental Health Continuum 

• $14M to Community Schools 

• $4M to Immigrant Family Communication and Outreach

• $3.3M to Student Success Centers

• and more!

This budget season has come to a close, but as advocates our work is not over. While we have made enormous strides in recent years, the push for budget equity for NYC’s AAPI communities will continue. CACF, alongside our Youth Leaders and our 18% and Growing campaign, will continue to uplift the needs of AAPI New Yorkers and the importance of funding critical, life affirming initiatives for ALL New Yorkers in the months and years to come.”

For more information, please contact Lakshmi Gandhi, CACF’s Senior Communications Coordinator, at lgandhi@cacf.org.

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