Are You STILL Looking for the Right Day Care For You?

Thank you again Team Tish parents, advocates, and day care institutions for making our Day Care Fair a success!

For anyone who is still searching for day care options, and is looking for private, public-private, and non-ACS-funded day cares, please see this helpful list in the surrounding areas of Brooklyn: http://achildgrowsinbrooklyn.com/childcare/daycare. A great site to search for through the larger pool of day cares is The Savvy Source Additionally, Child Care Inc. can help you find a day care that is right for your individual needs.

thanks,
teamtish

P.S. 221 Needs Color Printer

Perhaps you or someone you know may be able to help P.S. 221 procure a color printer for their school. If you can help, please contact the parent coordinator, Philton Lewis at 718.756.0122.

Thank you,
team tish

Opposition to Mayoral Budget Cuts:

Council Member Letitia James opposes the Mayoral Budget Cuts proposed, as outlined below:

Service cuts proposed in the Mayor’s November Plan (PEGs)

New York Police Department [NYPD]:	COST OF CUTTING THIS SERVICE
Elimination of the January 2009 Police Academy Class and limiting the six subsequent classes from FY10 through FY12 to 2,000 hires each	$252.2 million in FY09-12
Department of Health [DOH]:
Closing an East-Harlem STD Clinic	$426,000
Elimination of Oral Health Program; 44 oral health sites throughout the city will close as a result	$4.4million
Administration for Children’s Services [ACS]:
Childcare co-payments will be increase for non-public assistance families. Weekly minimums will increase by $2 per child	$1.8million in FY09; $8.7million in FY10+
Increasing Level I Supervisor Caseloads; the agency will reduce the child protective services staffing model by 127 positions. This will require Child Protective Level Supervisors to carry a full caseload, focusing on more complex investigations	$3.7million in FY09; $3.8 million in FY10+
Eliminate payments for the Living for the Young Family through Education Program [LYFE], which supports pregnant and parenting students enrolled in DOE schools by providing childcare and referral services	$1.6 million in FY09; $3.2 million in FY10+
Department for the Aging [DFTA]
Suspend the Senior Center RFP--Opposed by the speaker and most Council Members and advocates for seniors.	$117 million
Elimination of social adult day care, which would close all non-medical adult day care services to fewer than 200 individuals with cognitive or physical limitations	$1.2 million in FY09 $2.4 million in FY10+
Elimination of elder abuse prevention contracts	$425,000
Human Resources Administration [HFA]
Elimination of HASA Homemaking Re-estimate	$250,000
City University of New York [CUNY]
Elimination of “Jobs to Build On” (a council initiative)	$250,000
Department of Youth and Community Development [DYCD]
Reduction of Out of School Time (OST) Slots	$3.2 million
Reduction of Work Hours in Summer Jobs for Teens program	$1.7 million

SENIOR CHRISTMAS PARTY!

Team Tish is back from the Thanksgiving holiday, and getting happily back to work! The season is upon us, and Council Member James is happy to be joining State Senator Velmanette Montgomery in sponsoring a Senior Christmas Party at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. Click the flyer below to enlarge:



When: December 10, 2008. 11AM-3PM

Where: Brooklyn Masonic Temple
317 Clermont Avenue (corner of Lafayette Avenue)

The buses will leave from Ft. Greene/Grace Agard-Harewood Senior Center, Willoughby Senior Center, Farragut Senior Center, and Greene Avenue Houses. Please call (718) 260-9191, or (718) 643-6140 for further information.

The Brooklyn Day Care Fair!!!

Thank you to all the Child Care Centers, various referrence and referral groups, and other Early Childhood Services that came out to greet and inform parents. Parents from all over Brooklyn were able to walk through the gorgeous Luntze Commons (thanks to LIU's Brooklyn Campus, that lent us the space for the event) gathering information about Child Care.

Even with all the work the centers put into setting up their tables and disseminating information to the parents of young children, ACS still informed at least one day care that we know of that they would be affected by ACS' most recent budget cuts. It is important that we continue to work together to provide for parents and children in our community!!!

Blogs We Love: Council Member Vincent Gentile

We wanted to make you aware of Council Member Vincent Gentile's blog here: http://www.vincentgentile.blogspot.com.

Council Member Gentile posts about things happening in 43rd District (which includes Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and parts of Bensonhurst), events the Council Member is sponsoring, and information on his policy initiatives (basically, the same stuff we do!). His blog is, like our own, open to public comments.

Team Tish supports fellow bloggers (especially bloggers who make use of free services!), which may not be the most aesthetically-pleasing, but allow public funds to be put towards the needs of constituents.

Thanks for being a blog-lover,
team tish

HealthCare and You: Part II SENIORS AND YOUNG ADULTS

Two groups that Council Member James is particularly focused on are the youth and senior communities, who are often outside of the work force and therefore may have a harder time securing proper and affordable health insurance. Please note that the information below is meant to be a continuation of the prior healthcare information posted.

Seniors:

-I’m sure many of you are aware of the Department for the Aging (DFTA) services RFP, which is an RFP that would centralize senior centers. The proposal calls for a 3% budget cut between FY08-09, a decrease in the number of senior center case managers (from 32 to 23); and the possible closings of some of the 323 senior centers in the City. Council Member James has joined many of her colleagues in calling for a delay of the RFP, and feels that modernization does not necessarily equal centralization, and that local centers are best equipped- when properly funded- to provide services for seniors. Furthermore, once these resources are absorbed, they may be lost to seniors in the future. Anyone desiring further information on this matter should contact our City Hall office at (212) 788-7081, or call 311 to contact DFTA.

-In the meantime, Council Member James, Speaker Quinn, and other members of the City Council encourage seniors to contact both the Mayor's office and their local Council Member. To do so, please print and fill-out the letters below (click images to enlarge):





-Seniors should call their local senior centers, and ask to be kept abreast of information on how they will be affected by projected budget cuts or an RFP. Additionally, if you aren't sure where your local senior services can be accessed, please click the list below to view a working list of senior centers and institutions which provide senior services in the 35th District:



Resources:

-DFTA offers a number of different programs promoting healthy living, HIV/AIDS-support, blood pressure maintenance, exercise, etc; and the Office of Citywide Health Insurance Access (OCHIA) can let you know what public health insurance programs you’re eligible for, and give you additional information for applying to those programs. Note that healthcare programs are State-based, not City-based.

Also, please view the following information from Council Member James' Seniors Information packet (click picture to enlarge):



FYI- Anyone interested in having the Senior Information packet mailed to them should contact the District or City Hall office.

DFTA- http://nyc.gov/html/dfta/html/home/home.shtml
OCHIA- http://www.nyc.gov/html/hia/html/home/home.shtml

Youth:

-Youth are also more likely to have sporadic, insufficient, or no health care. Young adults aged 19-29 are likely to not have health insurance. Living uninsured among young adults (18-24) rose from 23% in 1987 to 31% in 2004. (National Institute for Health Care Management, A Young People's Health Care: A National Imperative) Ironically, young people have the lowest health expenditures, but the are the most uninsured.

-Young people may feel that they are "invincible" because they are relatively healthy, and see insurance as being unnecessary or too expensive. (New York Magazine, The Young Invincibles) Many young people neglect to look into more affordable choices for health insurance, like their senior counterparts. Young adults who are interested in their public health care options should also contact OCHIA through calling 311.

-For students, you may be covered under your guardian's insurance if enrolled at a college or university, and your school (if accredited) should have a health insurance option as part of your enrollment package, meaning you may not have to pay these fees out-of-pocket.

-Please click the pictures below to view additional health insurance options for students:

Council Members James, de Blasio, Vann Host Day Care Fair on SAT. NOV. 22ND, 10AM-4PM at LIU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 21, 2008

Council Member Letitia James, Council Member Bill de Blasio, and Council Member Al Vann invite you to a Day Care Fair for parents, families and the community on saturday, Nov. 22nd, from 10 am – 4 pm at Long Island University, Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Day Care Fair answers parent questions, and addresses low enrollment in centers.

Brooklyn child care centers have the lowest enrollment rates of all five boroughs. In this time of budget reductions we must make sure that valuable resources are not cut due to under use, especially when there is a clear need. The day care fair offers residents valuable information about affordable and subsidized day care centers in local neighborhoods.

The Brooklyn Day Care Fair came about several months ago, when on a Saturday, parents from a large child care center in the 35th Council District were informed that the center would be closed, effective the following week. Many parents learned about the closing when they arrived on Monday to drop off their children only to find the doors were closed, without explanation.

“This closing forced me to take a good hard look at the ACS subsidized child cares. Just this week ACS announced plans to reduce the capacity of its subsidized day care centers for low-income families by 18%. Our centers are under siege, and unless we work together to demonstrate the need for these centers by keeping the enrollment rates up, we keep giving the city the excuse to cut them,” said Council Member James.

Bedford-Stuyvesant, for example has the 3rd highest number of low-income children in Brooklyn. In the Bed-Stuy area, the low income rate is 63%, but the service-to-need ratio is 46% and only 81% of the slots are utilized: this means that many child care slots are vacant.

It seems the Administration of Children’s Services is in the process of implementing Project Full Enrollment, effective this Wednesday, to twenty-one of our most vulnerable Child Care Centers. Initially they reported the project would not be implemented until late Spring. Under PFE, Child Care Centers will only receive funding for the number of students enrolled. This will mean budget cuts for all day cares that are under-enrolled. Enrolling our children in day care centers is important because they improve the social and educational development of children; centers help to keep young people safe when parents are working, and many centers also provide after school care for older children.

“I encourage everyone to take advantage of the resource and referral agencies located near the entrance of the fair. These professionals can help you figure out specific questions such as newborn and infant care, special immigrant needs, as well as care during non-traditional hours,” said Council Member James.

The Administration for Children’s Services will also be on hand Saturday to help families walk through the eligibility process, and will provide information about ACS in several languages. The Brooklyn Day Care Fair allows attendees to take their time, ask questions, walk around the room and get to know day care options, as well as meet directors, teachers and parents present to help. It is also possible to set up appointments to visit day cares, and health care organizations will be on-site to offer information and assistance to families.

Councilmember Bill de Blasio, 39th District said: “Despite the large number of Brooklyn families in need of affordable childcare, many day care seats go unfilled. Connecting families directly with providers is key to informing parents about the day care options in their area, and ensuring that center vacancies get filled. I am glad that Council Members James, Vann and I were able to provide these much needed resources to the communities we serve.”

Council Member Albert Vann, 36th District said: “The parents in my district will be most heavily affected by the Administration’s cuts. The closing of any of these centers would be a blow to many economically vulnerable families. Cutting child care services during these tough times only puts working parents at greater risk of losing their jobs, and threatens their overall way of life.”

On-site enrollment for child care centers through the Administration for Children’s services will be available at the day care fair for parents who are prepared with proof of residence; proof of reason for needing child care; legal residency for non citizen children; proof of income; and/or family members.

What: Brooklyn Day Care Fair

Who: Council Members Bill de Blasio, Letitia James, and Albert Vann

When: Sat, Nov. 22nd, 10am - 2pm

Where: Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University 1 University Plaza, Brooklyn (on the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues) Subway Services: B, M, Q, R to DeKalb Av or the 2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins Street

Contacts: Eva Ruiz - Council Member James / (212) 788-7081; Dottie Conway - Council Member Vann / (212) 788-7354; and Freya Riel - Council Member de Blasio / (212) 788-6969


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COUNCIL MEMBER LETITIA JAMES, CROWN HEIGHTS MEDIATION CENTER HOST A RE-ENTRY RESOURCE FAIR, SAT. NOV. 22ND, 1PM-3PM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 19, 2008

COUNCIL MEMBER LETITIA JAMES, CROWN HEIGHTS MEDIATION CENTER, ALONG WITH CHURCHES, AND RESIDENTS OF CROWN HEIGHTS INVITE YOU TO A RE-ENTRY RESOURCE FAIR, FOR FORMERLY INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS AND THEIR FAMILIES ON SATURDAY, NOV. 22ND, FROM 1PM–3PM

The goal of the Re-Entry Resource Fair is to assist formerly incarcerated people with rehabilitation for successful integration into society, the community, and the workforce.

Re-adjusting within the community for formerly incarcerated individuals is often a difficult experience. It has been argued that incarcerated persons do not receive adequate resources during their time in prison to equip them upon their release.

Within the employment environment, the formerly incarcerated face limited opportunities, as well as discrimination from potential employers. The U.S. Department of Justice states that, in 2007, 30% of people released from prison are rearrested in the first six months following release, 44% in the first year, and 67.5% in the first three years. This can partly be explained by inappropriate planning at the end of an inmate’s jail or prison term as well as a lack of employment opportunities and affordable housing upon release. The Independent Committee on Reentry and Employment reports that up to 60% of formerly incarcerated individuals are unemployed, as are 89% of those who violate parole or probation. Yet, if an individual has a job at the start and end of a supervised release from jail or prison, federal court statistics show that the success rate is 85%.

Finding housing for formerly incarcerated individuals is also a difficulty. Private property owners typically inquire into the background of individuals and often deny housing to anyone with a criminal background. Before1988, public housing was a solution to this issue. Ex-offenders were placed on a list like all other public housing applicants and considered based on a number of factors, including age, marital and parental status. However, Congress removed this through an amendment to the public housing statute, adopting a one-strike eviction policy for tenants in federal public housing who engage in certain types of criminal behavior. It has become virtually impossible for formerly incarcerated individuals to find stable and suitable housing.

The Re Entry Resource Fair is an opportunity for formerly incarcerated individuals, and their families, to gain professional and unbiased information on many issues that affect their everyday lives. The fair will contain information on Housing, Legal Advocacy, Counseling, Family Services, Education, Employment and Career Development, Medical Services, Substance Abuse Treatment, and Spiritual Resources.

What: Re-Entry Resource Fair for formerly incarcerated individuals and their families

Who: The Formerly Incarcerated, Churches and Residents

When: Saturday, November 22nd, from 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm

Where: Calvary Community Church, 1575 St Johns Place (at the corner of Buffalo Avenue), Brooklyn

Contact: Faye Biggin at (212) 788-7081, and CHCMC at 718-773-6886

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Honoring Legendary Jazz Musician Bill Lee

On the Stated held yesterday, Council Member Letitia James and the New York City Council honored legendary jazz musician William “Bill” James Edwards Lee III, with a proclamation for his life’s work.

William "Bill" James Edwards Lee III was born on July 23, 1928, and is an American musician. The jazz musician, composer, educator and acoustic bassist was born in Snow Hill, Alabama more than 80 years ago. He now lives Brooklyn's 35 District with his wife Susan.

This profound jazzman continued in the footsteps of his parents, Arnold and Alberta. Bill Lee’s father was the first bandmaster of Bethune-Cookman College, and his mother was a concert pianist, (also Bill Lee’s grandfather- his namesake- graduated from Tuskegee Institute and founded the school Snow Hill Normal and Industrial Institute.) Today, Bill Lee is the father of five boys and a girl, including director Spike Lee; he has composed original music for many of his son's films, such as She's Gotta Have It; School Daze; Do the Right Thing; and Mo' Better Blues. His children by his first wife Jackie (deceased) are: Spike; Chris; David; Joie; and Cinque; and his youngest son, with his second wife Susan is Arnold VI.

While residing in Brooklyn for the last 50 years, Bill Lee has had the opportunity to be in the presence of the greatest performers on the planet, and has written more than eleven folk–jazz operas. He has played the bass for many artists including Aretha Franklin, and Bob Dylan. Bill Lee has recorded with Billy Wallace; Frank Strozier; Bob Dylan; Chris Anderson; Johnny Griffin; Bruce Langhorne; Chad Mitchell; Eric Weissberg; Ray Bryant; and Judy Collin; to name a few, and he wrote for Max Roach; Richard Davis; Ted Dunbar; Booker Little; Muriel Winston; Clifford Jordan; Donald Harrison; and others. Bill Lee also appeared with Billie Holiday; Sarah Vaughn; Dinah Washington; Carmen Mc Rae; Betty Carter; Dizzy Gillespie; Clifford Brown; Art Blakey; Duke Ellington; Billy Strayhorn; and hundreds of more great musicians.

Bill Lee is the founder of the New York Bass, Violin Choir, and he continues to mentor up-and-coming musicians.


(Photo courtesy of William Alatriste, New York City Council)