Press Room

"As a parent, I'm glad that we have reached a point where this level of re-opening could be possible in September - we all know that in-person learning is our best educational tool. As a policy maker, I know that it's critical we approach this announcement, and this pending step, with caution, and ensure that we spend the next several months increasing vaccination and access while decreasing transmission in order to achieve this goal in line with medical guidelines.

"When over a third of families are still hesitant to allow their children to return to the classroom in person, it is incumbent upon the city to engage with communities to both ensure safety and assure hesitant New Yorkers of that safety. It's similarly crucial to make clear that measures and protections will be provided equitably. We now have the resources to help ensure that students' mental and physical well-being are prioritized and protected, and the city must begin to implement these strategies now in order to build infrastructure and trust. 

"As we have seen again and again since schools first went remote last March, the state of the coronavirus pandemic is constantly changing, and the school plans that changed with it created an untenable situation. Even now, as the Governor suggests he may again bigfoot city action with state policy, our leaders are still engaging in the back-and-forth bickering that has created confusion throughout this time. In moving ahead with its goal, the city needs to have a contingency plan for any problems that arise - and for meeting the needs of the most vulnerable - and parents, students, teachers and school staff have a right to see that plan well before we head back to school in the fall."

"Eid Mubarak to all in the Muslim community marking the final day of the holy month of Ramadan today. As people across our city break the fast this evening, I want to encourage everyone to celebrate safely as we continue to combat the pandemic.

"While New Yorkers work together to recover from the hardships of the past year, Eid al-Fitr serves as a reminder of our obligation to lift one another up and serve and support each other. I have seen such compassion and community over the last year, and I know that spirit of service and shared strength will continue among our Muslim brothers and sisters and throughout the entire city. The lessons and principles of Ramadan extend beyond the month itself, and the importance and prominence of cooperation, charity, self-reformation, and community service must extend beyond the pandemic and through the recovery, throughout New York. 

"I hope that Ramadan was a powerful, spiritual time for all who practice Islam. I see the pain that the Muslim community is feeling in this moment, across the world and in New York City, and I pray that peace, blessings, and light are granted to all on this holy day of Eid al-Fitr and beyond."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams called for expanded investment in youth programs, including the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program, and others, during a hearing of the City Council Committee on Youth Services on Thursday morning. He emphasized the need for this investment as part of a Renewed Deal for New York City in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Given the pandemic's impact on our personal lives over the last year and the fact that we are on a path to fully reopening as a City, we have to take into consideration the extent to which young people want to be out and active this summer, whether in a job or internship, or hard skills training, or recreational programming, or just getting the essential skills that people need," said Public Advocate Williams."Young people do not want to be idle; they want to be engaged."

"While the Mayor's Executive Budget is proposing an increase of funding in youth services, there were cuts to certain programs in the preliminary budget proposal that need more, not less, investment," he added. "Even besides the pandemic, we generally seem to be applauding ourselves for restoring cuts, when in fact we should have been asking for more funding from the beginning, not just restoring the cuts that were made." He called for SYEP capacity to expand beyond pre-employment levels to 100,000 slots, which could constitute a universal program.

Public Advocate Williams also highlighted his support for funding and strengthening both the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program, saying "We need to do better in ensuring that every homeless young person has a place to sleep at night until they transition into permanent housing," and adding that he hopes the the newly initiated Unity Works program will be codified into City law as a way of ensuring these critical services will remain available for the LGBTQI community for many years to come.

Read the full statement as delivered by the Public Advocate below. TESTIMONY OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON YOUTH SERVICES - EXECUTIVE BUDGET HEARING MAY 6, 2021 Good morning, Thank you, Chair Dromm. Yes, I believe our class did stir up a bit of trouble these past few years. Good trouble, as they might say. But I want to say thank you Chair Dromm for those kind words, and the enormous work that you did as the chair, put forth some pretty impressive budgets. So congratulations on that. I'm looking forward to another one this year. Hopefully, last year's was a bit of an anomaly and we'll make up for what we did. And Chair Rose, as was mentioned, you did an amazing job as the Youth Chair so thank you for all of that. I want to lend myself to all of the words you both said about the staff as we go through this last budget so congratulations, and hopefully we can do some more damage as was mentioned in this budget coming up here. As was mentioned, my name is Jumaane D. Williams, and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. Again, I want to thank both chairs and the members of the Committee on Youth Services for holding this very important executive budget hearing today. 

Last week, the Mayor announced the Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2022. As part of the financial plan, the City plans to allocate roughly $549.4 million towards the Department of Youth and Community Development. The Administration has  taken the  right steps to provide additional funding to guarantee more opportunities for our youth. The Mayor's plan to restore $186 million in funding to the Learning to Work and Arts Programming, and provide $200 million to Summer Rising to accommodate 190,000 youth this summer. Summer Rising gives young people in grades K through 8 the ability to participate in academic and recreational activities throughout the summer, while providing high school students with the opportunity to engage in programs offering work experience and internship opportunities, such as the Summer Youth Employment Program, also known as SYEP. Speaking of SYEP, it is important to highlight the additional $13 million that will be invested to add 5,000 spots to CUNY Summer Youth Employment. I am pleased to see the Administration is demonstrating a commitment to ensuring more young people will engage in professional development, community building, and social emotional learning activities this summer. I appreciated Commissioner Chong's words in the last hearing that he was going to do more to push these funds to be restored.

While the Mayor's Executive Budget is proposing an increase to funding in youth services, there were cuts to certain programs in the preliminary budget proposal that need more, not less, investment. Even besides the pandemic, we generally seem to be applauding ourselves for restoring cuts, when in fact we should have been asking for more funding from the beginning, not just restoring the cuts that were made. I am curious as to whether or not the Administration will provide additional funding to the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program, or RHY. At the preliminary budget hearing held by this Committee in March, I, along with others, stressed the importance of RHY with respect to our homeless youth, especially those who identify as LGBTQI, and how the Administration's proposed decrease in funding by 3.3 percent at the time was unacceptable. Even though the executive budget's funding allocation for this program is closer to the amount of the previous fiscal year, I would like to reiterate that the City needs to be investing more money into RHY. At that same hearing, Commissioner Chong explained the funding, albeit decreased, will support 813 beds and 8 drop-in centers for runaway and homeless youth. With a homeless youth population of nearly 4,600 individuals, 813 beds is simply not enough. We need to do better in ensuring that every homeless young person has a place to sleep at night until they transition into permanent housing. I'm calling on the Administration to designate more funding to DYCD specifically for the RHY program. The intention is to not only increase the number of beds, but enhance the services. Although more investment needs to be made in providing shelter to our runaway and homeless youth, it is good to see that the City is making efforts to provide them with access to more social services and job opportunities. Last month, the Administration announced a partnership with the NYC Unity Project and the Ali Forney Center, which is the nation's largest LGBTQI homeless youth service provider, to launch the NYC Unity Works program. Starting this summer, Unity Works will admit 90 young people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. The three-year program will provide homeless youth with jobs skills training and career development opportunities; help them access public benefits, food, and clothing; and administer mental health support. The Unity Works program will be extremely beneficial for our LGBTQI runaway and homeless youth, and I hope this initiative will be codified into City law as a way of ensuring these critical services will remain available for the LGBTQI community for many years to come.

Given the pandemic's impact on our personal lives over the last year and the fact that we are on a path to fully reopening as a City, we have to take into consideration the extent to which young people want to be out and active this summer, whether in a job or internship, or hard skills training, or recreational programming, or just getting the essential skills that people need. Young people do not want to be idle; they want to be engaged. SYEP will likely provide 70,000 spots this year, which is still below the program's pre-pandemic enrollment number of 75,000. The availability of 70,000 open spots also means not every young person who applies will be accepted. Nevertheless, every youth who applies should be given an opportunity to participate in an alternative program. At the last budget hearing, youth advocates pitched the idea of SYEP Unbound, which would ensure every student who is not selected for SYEP is enrolled in a program that provides increased access to financial literacy workshops, seminars on résumé-writing, and youth town halls. There is a lot of potential for this type of program to happen because the physical locations of high schools and colleges can serve as sites for career readiness programs and skills training workshops. I fully support this idea, and I am again calling on DYCD to make this kind of initiative a reality. Just because a young person does not get selected for a summer job opportunity does not mean they cannot learn how to write a cover letter, how to interview for a job, or learn about coding, web design, or graphic design. This program is doable; we just have to think beyond the scope of what has been done in the past and look at what our young people can achieve in the future.

In closing, I would like to say that while this year's SYEP program is on track to meet pre-COVID enrollment levels, I hope, I would like to see an enrollment of 100,000 slots, which would be closer to a universal SYEP program. At the last budget hearing, Commissioner Chong said DYCD would accommodate this number if additional funding became available. If the Administration chose to make the funds being used to increase the NYPD's budget, and designate them towards DYCD, I am certain SYEP could accommodate 100,000 young people. It's a matter of what this Administration chooses to prioritize. I look forward to hearing how Commissioner Chong plans to serve our youth this summer given the proposed allocation of funds from the Executive Budget. I want to also align myself with the chairs' request for Work, Learn, and Grow. 

At last, I do want to make sure that every youth program we put forward, from DYCD or the DOE, includes mental health. I want to lift up the 13-year-old boy who was found hanging in his home yesterday. We are all suffering from trauma from the last year. That young boy left a note. He said "Good-bye, I love you guys so much. But life is too hard. I don't blame any of you guys. Don't let the school do an assembly about this." These are the people that we need to remember and focus on. Our young people need assistance, just like the adults do. So I'm asking everyone in their programming to remember this, because hurt people hurt people. And sometimes too often, they hurt themselves.

Violence and suicide is up in New York City; it's up across the nation. I also lift up Jamaal Abner, who committed suicide when we were younger. I remember he was a young man; it always stuck with me. I need people to think about the amount of pain someone is in, to take their lives. We have a duty here to provide the infrastructure needed to service them. That 13-year-old who took his own life is a demonstration of how many different places he was failed. Let's do right by him, and so many others who are suffering. Thank you so much. Peace and blessings to you all.

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after Governor Andrew Cuomo signed S.830B into law, which restores voting rights to parolees, post-incarceration.

"While states across the country attempt to further restrict access to the ballot, New York is progressing, reversing its history of antiquated voting laws thanks to years of dedicated work by advocates and affected communities. The state legislature passing this bill, and the Governor ultimately signing it, are crucial steps in that movement. Automatically restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated individuals will be enormously consequential for thousands of New Yorkers now able to more fully participate in and determine the direction of their communities. This law also aids in informing newly eligible people that their rights have been restored, educating and empowering would-be voters. 

"It's not enough to catch up, however. We need to advance - to extend voting rights to incarcerated New Yorkers, as states like Vermont and Maine already have, and provide greater access to the ballot to people inside prisons and jails pretrial. While politicians across the country are engaged in a systematic effort to limit the voice and voting power of communities of more color, we must do all we can in New York to end a pattern of over-incarceration and underrepresentation."

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the removal of many COVID-19 capacity restrictions, effective May 19th.

"Well over a year into the pandemic, our leaders have still not learned key lessons on clarity of message and caution in health measures. The Governor's May 19th reopening announcement undercuts the Mayor's July 1st goal announced just a few days ago, and seems designed to do so. The Governor's back-and-forth bigfooting leaves New Yorkers struggling to keep up and businesses struggling to comply, and has already cost lives in the past.

"Enacting complicated new ordinances on short notice, without clear health data presented as justification, undermines confidence that these decisions are being guided by public health and not politics. When the science indicates safety - such as finally restarting 24/7 subway service - these reopenings can be celebrated. But when it does not - such as bringing city workers back in-person or lifting most capacity restrictions in just over two weeks - those decisions should be scrutinized and leadership questioned."

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his plans to fully reopen New York City on July 1st.

"Throughout this pandemic I've been repeatedly concerned about closing too slowly and reopening too quickly. It's critical that we follow the science and put public health above politics - a standard we've frequently failed to meet. But I've also been clear that it's critical to feel - and to fuel - hope.

"Goal-setting is good - as long as we're willing to adjust that goal as circumstances shift. The July 1st designation is an ambitious but reasonable target to put forth, an aspiration that will need evaluation as we move forward with a concerted effort to increase injections and slow infection. I believe New Yorkers can meet this goal and this moment - if we continue to follow public health guidelines and get vaccinated. At the same time, we will also have to be honest, in the coming weeks, about whether we have succeeded in time for this deadline."