Dear Ames Early Childhood Center parents and staff, and Yonkers residents,

Thank you for speaking up for the Ames Center. You rallied impressively by sending emails and making calls to the Yonkers Mayor’s Office and City Council, holding meetings with them, and taking to social media. You got other Yonkers residents to speak up. Because you were relentless, they heard you.

Pressure from you has gotten Yonkers to provide a 6-month reprieve for the Ames Center. We will be able to remain in our current location until June 2026, and next year we will run the program for a full school year. This is a welcomed, but partial victory.

We will not be able to remain in the current building beyond 2026 and must move. As you can read in the attached letter from the Mayor, Yonker’s government is peddling a false narrative about what happened in terms of our efforts to secure a longer-term lease at the current site. We feel compelled to call out what is wrong. Unlike as the mayor states in the letter, only after 14 months of engagement in January of 2025 did Yonkers propose an above market rent of $300,000. Previously it had not put out a rent figure. In September 2024 it suggested that the rent would be $240,000. Next it said it needed to do market research by looking at comparable properties to decide what the fair market rent should be. They claimed the research was difficult but we at once shared two examples that would have put the rent at $180-$190,000. While not stated in this letter, officials conveyed that they cannot “subsidize” the program through a lower rent. Our point is that the rent we pay would reduce their $300,000 burden while allowing their students to receive quality services.

In truth, Yonkers need not rent to the Ames Center. However, we would not be in this situation if they had managed the matter appropriately over the last 18 months. Further, it is not acceptable to lie about Rising Ground as part of face-saving efforts. All over, people are asking for greater honesty and civility from its government officials, and this is but a small example of why.

Nonetheless, even as we try to set the record straight, it is time to move on. Rising Ground will continue to have a presence in Yonkers, and support Yonkers residents through various programs. As for the Ames Center, we are determined to deliver on our mission of providing quality special education services to preschool students. We are searching for a new suitable and affordable location. I will update you on those efforts. Knowing that so many have rallied on behalf of Ames strengthens our commitment to the work. Thank you.