The city is set to close dozens of Brooklyn after-school programs, angering working parents who say there’s nowhere else for their kids to go.
Brooklyn is slated to lose 77 of its 154 Out of School Time programs in the fall, the most programs axed in any borough.
Angela Francis, 38, of Bedford Stuyvesant, said she’s able to keep her job at a drug store because four of her kids can spend after school hours at P.S. 34 on Norman Ave.
Without it, she’d have to quit or drastically scale back her hours. “I’m able to work, and so is my husband. Both of us need to work, or we can’t make ends meet,” she said. “We’re all working parents. A lot of us just depend on the after school program.”
She’s one of many parents who say they will have to give up jobs or school if the programs close. In a survey of Brooklyn parents by the NYC Campaign for Children, 32% said they would quit a job or educational opportunity, while 28% would leave kids alone.
The Bloomberg administration’s proposed budget cuts funding for the OST program from $91.5 million to $73.3 million, with 23,838 of 52,567 kids losing their seats.
Advocates estimate 10,000 of the slashed seats are in Brooklyn.
The City Council could opt to restore some funding, but the program has already shrunk from a high of almost 90,000 kids in 2008.
Department of Youth and Community Development spokeswoman Cathleen Collins said so many programs had to be axed because besides the budget cut, the cost per kid has jumped. She said officials focused on keeping programs in “high need areas” with many kids in poverty and English Language Learners.
“It’s devastating us,” said Lai-Wan Wong, director of youth and education progams at St. Nicks Alliance, which is slated to have three of its four OST programs shut, including the one at P.S. 34.
“The problem is the pie is so small that putting one program per zipcode is a drop in the bucket…We turn away families all the time.”
Wanda Andreu, 36, of Williamsburg, said her 7-year-old son Justin was crushed when he found out his program would close. “My son took his piggy bank and took $5 and gave it to the director the next day and said, ‘Here, please, this is to help keep the after school program open,’” she said.
She said she’d have to give up her job as an office manager. “It would be a hardship for my family,” she said.
Most of the axed programs are for elementary school, while others are for middle school, where participants worry about unsupervised kids getting into trouble. “I definitely know that my kids will be more involved in gang actvity. They’re recruiting them during dismissal,” said Larry Acosta, director of the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation’s program at I.S. 171.
Parents and students have staged protests, conducting their arts and recreation programs out in the street to dramatize the cuts.
“This is my last resort,” said Ayisha Lawrence, 36, whose 7-year-old daughter goes to Cypress Hills’ program at P.S. 65 on Jamaica Ave. “I don’t have a backup.”
edurkin@nydailynews.com
Article source: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/city-plans-close-dozens-after-school-programs-brooklyn-article-1.1080803?localLinksEnabled=false
