DC FY16 Budget Update: Big Wins for Youth Programs

While the final budget vote happens on May 27 at 10am (watch here: http://dccouncil.us/videos)

Afterschool

DC Trust: The Committee on Health and Human Services, which oversees the Trust, committed an additional $2 million to the Trust’s baseline budget. With this additional funding, the DC Trust will be able to fulfill the majority of their grant commitments to afterschool programs. Much of the funding, $1.6 million, was moved over from the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, thanks to Councilmember Mary Cheh. Councilmember Yvette Alexander filled the resulting gap with just over $400,000 through reallocating funding from within two different health agency budgets. Although advocates originally pushed for an additional $2.5 million, the resulting $2 million is a huge win for afterschool programs and speaks to the power of our members and the community speaking up to testify on behalf of their life-changing programs.

DCPS: The Committee on Education did not find the $6.5 million to stop the cuts to DCPS afterschool, which will result in a cut to 25 cluster coordinators within the DCPS Out-of-School Time Office. The committee budget report rationalizes the cut with the following explanation, “DCPS has assured the Committee and school communities that there will be no reduction in service levels to families in FY16.” However, the committee report went on to say “The Committee also encourages DCPS to monitor this situation throughout the summer and utilize reserve funds, if necessary, to fill any gaps to service to families that may arise as a result of funding challenges for CBOs.” In other words, since DCPS insisted there was no need for the money that was cut, the chair of the committee, Councilmember David Grosso, was not in a position to fill that cut. We will continue to work closely with Councilmember Grosso to monitor the situation and offer on-the-ground feedback from CBOs and schools.

Youth Homelessness

Single Youth: Funding for homeless youth services remains stable at $1.3 million by the Committee on Health and Human Services in an effort to properly scale initiatives through data-informed measures. Advocates supported this funding mark and are continuing to collect data on homeless youth with the newly established Coordinated Intake System. Through the collected data, advocates and DC agencies will have a greater understanding on the investments needed to stabilize homeless youth and guide them onto a path of self sufficiency.

Youth-Headed Families: The mayor’s allocation of $40 million to replace DC General through FY17 was confirmed by the Committee on Health and Human Services.

Parenting Minors: The Committee on Transportation and the Environment, under the leadership of Councilmember Cheh, moved $500,000 to the Committee on Health and Human Services to enhance services to minor headed households. As a recent Washington Post article illustrated, homeless minors with children have few housing or service options. The pilot will begin to fill the service gap for homeless, parenting minors who do not experience levels of abuse and neglect that warrants CFSA involvement and cannot access adult shelters because they are under 18.

Youth Workforce Development

SYEP Evaluation: During a Committee of the Whole legislative session, the Council approved an amendment introduced by Councilmember Elissa Silverman to require DOES to produce and publish basic information on SYEP participants, including long-term employment outcomes and participation levels at various points in the program. The amendment also lays the groundwork for the development of a rigorous SYEP evaluation to determine a baseline of program quality and identify opportunities for effective interventions within program design and delivery. Along with an amendment introduced by Councilmember Jack Evans to cap SYEP enrollment for youth 22-24 at 1,000 slots, an SYEP evaluation will go a long way to ensure that Mayor Bowser’s additional investment in SYEP of $5.2 million will be used effectively to engage youth 14-24 in a quality career exposure and work readiness training experience.

UDC Funding Restored: In a letter to Council outlining revisions to her proposed FY16 budget (called the Errata Letter), Mayor Bowser included the restoration of $3.5 million to the University of the District of Columbia. The mayor also committed to working with the UDC flagship and the community college to ensure that this investment will benefit programs that place DC residents on career pathways.

Disconnected Youth

Expansion of Kids Ride Free: At the Committee for Finance and Revenue budget oversight hearing for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), Committee Chairman Jack Evans expressed concerns about Mayor Bowser’s expansion of Kids Ride Free to rail. The Committee’s budget report stated that the Committee is “analyzing the funding sources for the School Transit Subsidy program to better understand the administration and distribution of the proposed $7 million for Kids Ride Free”. After discussions with Councilmember Evans’ office, DCAYA is confident that the funding for Kids Ride Free is indeed secure, and the Councilmember will work to ensure the sustainability of the program.


SLED Remains Stable: While the Committee on Education expressed their commitment to the maintenance and continuation of the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLED), the needed $1.36 million was not secured to fill the gap left by an expiring federal grant. However, the Committee and DCAYA received assurances from OSSE that a reduction in personnel-related funds will be absorbed internally through efficiency and prioritization and SLED will not suffer as a result. DCAYA will continue to monitor SLED’s operation, but we are confident in OSSE's commitment to maintain the system.

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook,SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.

"Step Up, Door's Closing"

Budget Hearings for FY16 are (for the most part) complete! Now the DC Council is reviewing testimony, striking deals, and collaborating with colleagues as budget markup moves into full swing.

Like most years, transportation is a hot-button issue, and if you were one of the poor souls stranded in Virginia on Monday, you know why.

However, while commuters are reeling over being late to work because of metro delays (a completely valid concern), low-income residents are still struggling with how to afford efficient transportation to and from school or work.

The #dcfy16 budget makes things a little easier for DC families by allocating $7M to expand the Kids Ride Free program to include rail.

— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) April 13, 2015

If this initiative passes the DC Council budget markup, low-income and disconnected youth will have a greater chance to connect to opportunities across the DMV!

In DCAYA's study "Connecting Youth to Opportunity: Better Understanding the Needs of Disconnected Young People in Washington, DC," youth reported spending an average of $120 a month on transportation for school and work.

. @DCAYA Of those youth we've served since our opening, nearly 75% have identified transportation as a barrier to eeengaging in education!

— ReEngagement Center (@DCReEngagement) May 13, 2015

While this barrier was significantly reduced with the establishment of Kids Ride Free in 2013, the initiative did not include rail and only served youth 21 and younger. As a recent Harvard University study points out, transportation is the #1 barrier to economic mobility.

The effect of transportation on social mobility is stronger than factors like crime or elementary-school test scores http://t.co/25Cdzd6Ma3

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 8, 2015

Also, as DC continues to grow, more and more low-income residents are traveling farther distances to get to work.

The less money a worker makes, the longer their commute time probably is. http://t.co/r3T8kADCXa pic.twitter.com/FkAQITg7Fg

— DCist (@DCist) April 29, 2015

Increasing access to affordable transportation is key to supporting a sustainable pathway to the middle class. This is why DCAYA is so excited about the Kids Ride Free expansion to rail!

However, the initiative only serves youth 21 and younger. Older youth who often face compounding barriers (childcare, homelessness, criminal record, etc) while striving to obtain their diploma, must still overcome the financial burden of transportation.

Older youth reconnecting to edu travel far - yet are not included in Kids Ride Free: http://t.co/e9JuI3uPkQ pic.twitter.com/hwOv6smsas

— DCAYA (@DCAYA) May 13, 2015

Help us educate the DC Council and promote a modest extension of the Kids Ride Free program to include youth through age 24 who are connected to a Local Education Agency (LEA). This small budget increase of an estimated $704,705 to Kids Ride Free, would have a huge impact on youth struggling to complete their education and become a contributing member of the community.

Be sure to thank Mayor Bowser (@MayorBowser) for the Kids Ride Free Expansion and tweet to Councilmembers: Phil Mendelson (@VoteMendo), Vincent Orange (@VOrangeDC), Anita Bonds (@AnitaBondsDC), David Grosso (@cmdgrosso), Elissa Silverman (@tweetelissa), Brianne Nadeau (@BrianneKNadeau), Jack Evans (@JackEvansWard2), Mary Cheh (@marycheh), Brandon Todd (@brandonttodd), Kenyan McDuffie (@kenyanmcduffie), Charles Allen (@CharlesAllenW6), Yvette Alexander (@CMYMA ), and LaRuby May (@LaRubyMay) to support the success of older youth!

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook,SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.

Face the Truth: DC Trust Budget Reduction will Hurt 2,391 Students

In past blogs, DCAYA has talked a lot about the DCPS afterschool budget cut and the effect it will have on the afterschool infrastructure by laying off 25 DCPS-OSTP coordinators.

Read more about the DCPS budget cut: Budget Cuts to DC Afterschool Programs

Sadly, the damage to afterschool programming doesn’t stop there. The DC Trust did not receive $2.5 million for their afterschool grants in the proposed FY16 budget. These afterschool grants support 78 youth-serving organizations across the District. Programs like DC SCORES, Higher Achievement, and Words, Beats, & Life, Inc., are just a few DC Trust grantees who will lose funding if the $2.5 million is not restored.

The impact these organizations’ have on a students’ development goes beyond just words. View the faces of the children and youth who may lose their favorite afterschool programs if funding is not restored and sustained for future budget cycles.

Budget Blog Part II

Today’s blog comes to you as Part 2 of our team’s analysis of Mayor Bower’s proposed DC Budget for 2016. The Mayor’s proposal is now before Council where, through a series of upcoming public hearings and advocacy meetings, it will be debated and revised by Council Committees before it goes to a final vote.

Last week, we brought forward our concerns about the DCPS afterschool budget. Now we would like to turn our analysis to older youth services and system-level investments. We encourage you to take a look at our analysis and then testify about your particular concerns at DC Council budget hearings.

Please note that our analysis will become more nuanced as we are able to clarify details about the budget. To keep up with the latest information, sign up to our mailing list.

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Response to DCPS's "FY16 Afterschool and Extended Day Overview"

Photo courtesy of Kid Power, an afterschool and summer program.

After our last blog on the cuts to afterschool funding, DCPS released a statement attempting to clarify the afterschool funding for next year. Unfortunately, the data and explanations they offer in this new statement still seem to indicate that afterschool programming will be reduced.  

We spent time today working with DCPS to understand their statement and the difference between our analyses. One problem that we identified together is that the internal budget documents they are using do not reflect the same numbers as the Mayor’s budget. While we understand that school-based funding can be prone to frequent readjustments, we do hope that in the near future we can all be working with identical, clear information at the school level, and the aggregate level. DCPS has been gracious in helping resolve this, and we both are committed to continuing dialogue about this important issue affecting students and families. We are also committed to helping them improve their data and analysis as they do the difficult work of budgeting for a myriad of variables.

Moving forward we hope that DCPS, along with the DC Council - who has the power to change this budget - will take a closer look at the quality of the data and analysis leading to cuts in afterschool programs.

Here are our top concerns specifically regarding the most recent DCPS statement on afterschool funding. These have been shared with DCPS and we have included updates from them where applicable.