Over the past year, Four Freedoms Democratic Club has advocated for increased funding for NYC public schools supporting FFDC resolutions for increased public school funding and expanded arts education with a focus on saving critical education programs at risk of elimination due to sunsetting federal stimulus funds. To help public schools avoid the devastating impact which would result from loss of vital education programs funded with expiring stimulus funds, Four Freedoms joined the Emergency Coalition to Save Education Programs (the “Coalition”), calling on elected officials to find funding to sustain these programs. FFDC’s advocacy included working closely with the Speaker’s office and Education Committee Chair to raise awareness of this issue and inclusion of arts education among impacted programs, meetings with elected officials, testifying at hearings, outreach to elected officials through phone, email, text, and postcard campaigns, and organizing community participation in town halls and rallies.

FFDC’s advocacy in collaboration with the Coalition helped to ensure continuation of vital education programs on the chopping block due to expiring federal funds and achieve a final city budget that made a significant investment of over $700 million for education programs funded with stimulus funds. These programs that were preserved provide critical support for education of the whole child and include social workers, psychologists, arts education, community schools, shelter based-coordinators, 3-K, bilingual programs, translation services, Summer Rising, and literacy and dyslexia programs. We deeply appreciate these investments.

FFDC thanks the Speaker, Education Committee Chair, and the Council for prioritizing public schools in the city budget and for keeping up the fight to save vital education programs. We also thank the FFDC members and community members who made calls, sent emails, texts, and postcards to elected officials making this campaign successful. We look forward to continuing to work with elected officials and education advocates to increase funding for NYC public schools addressing the needs of students and their families.

Budget celebration, with Education Committee chair Rita Joseph, policy staffers,
the ED of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable, & coalition members