On Thursday April 16th, community based organizations(CBO's), that offer free summer camp services for tens of thousands of NYC youth, were informed that summer funding is suspended due to COVID-19 related city budget cuts.

CBO’s that offer youth development services have been among those entities at the forefront of the call to service sparked by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. They have been particularly helpful in supporting youth as they contend with:

•  The sudden loss of social interaction caused by school closures, social distancing and quarantine measures
• The financial challenges in their house holds due to newly unemployed guardians
• The onslaught of the personal tragedies the pandemic has brought upon their families.

Since schools were forced to close, CBO’s have provided access to remote after-school platforms that provide not only academic support but engagement in age appropriate social emotional activities that help mitigate the effect of the aforementioned factors. These agencies were prepared to continue to do the same during camp this summer.

You may be asking yourself “with social distancing, how can you realistically run a summer camp?”

What we, at the Flatbush Development Corporation and other agencies across NYC, are proposing, is a virtual model where students continue to participate in academic enrichment and social emotionally conscious activities safely at home, at no cost to their families. Having access to this type of programming is vital because:

• Being able to have remote interaction with their peers and counselors helps students regain the sense of community lost by school closures and quarantine restrictions
• Students who do not engage in some type of academic activity during summer start the school year at a significant deficit in comparison to peers who do. (Especially when compared to students from affluent families who have greater access to resources from their families and communities.)
• While families can enroll their children in paid camps (be it physical or virtual), their cost prevents them from being a viable option for undeserved families who are already feeling the financial impact the pandemic has had on them.

We are not losing sight of what their families having access to vital services at this time means to a child’s well-being. Which is why, aside from offering virtual camp, CBO’s are committed to continuing to be resource hubs for the families they serve.  Functioning as grab and go meal centers and food pantries; Offering access and/or referrals to help with financial, physical and mental health and legal services via wellness checks and helping families with language or technological barriers fill out applications for resources are among the services that can continue to be offered this summer.

But beyond the commitment to continue to serve NYC's youth and their families, is the need to have these services funded!!.

Which is why we are asking you to SIGN THIS PETITION, SHARE IT and help us get the word out to the city officials that have a say in the restoration of summer program funding.

It is a resource our children should not be going without!!! #fundyouthNYC