BLUEPRINT

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the city, this Blueprint for Neighborhoods offers concrete recommendations for incoming City leaders to implement in order to support strong, stable, and vibrant neighborhoods and move toward a more equitable city. The Blueprint’s policy recommendations build upon the knowledge and expertise of United Neighborhood Houses and its 38 member organizations and seeks to inform the short-term priorities and long-range thinking of incoming City leaders in the first years of the next Administration. This document does not aim to include all the policies that would make a difference for our city’s neighborhoods; rather, it highlights those that residents in our communities feel would make the greatest difference in their lives. The Blueprint for Neighborhoods outlines a path toward realizing a broader vision for a city that meets the needs of all its residents while leveraging the crucial role of neighborhood-based organizations. The following recommendations point to solutions that will move New York City toward strong, stable, and vibrant neighborhoods for all: A. Support Quality Educational Investments That Prepare All Young People for a Productive Future United Neighborhood Houses believes that in order for young people to have a productive future, high-quality learning must begin in early childhood and be accessible throughout children’s formative years, during and after school hours. The policies included in this section point the way toward high-quality public schools that engage parents and partner with community-based organizations to support the learning, life prospects, and future economic success of children. This section also outlines educational programs and models that are critical to young people’s success through the continuum of their development from early childhood to college, before, during, and after school. 1. Child Care and Early Childhood Education and After School 1.1 Expand access to child care and early childhood education and after school programs. Child care and early childhood education and after school programs are crucial components of a quality education and a key support for working parents. Expanding these services – including baselining Child Care, Out-of-School Time, Beacons, and Cornerstone programs in the Mayor’s first budget, and ensuring that every New York City child can access them – will improve children’s education and help expand New York City’s economy by supporting working parents. 1.2 Ensure salary parity between early childhood educators and K-12 educators. Maintaining a qualified and motivated workforce requires adequate compensation and benefits. Ensuring salary parity for early childhood educators will help retain qualified educators and attract new talented teachers. 1.3 Reduce the average enrollment period for child care programs to 14 days. The process for enrolling children in Administration for Children’s Services (ACS)-contracted child care centers can be onerous and slow, often taking up to six weeks. Reducing the time it takes to enroll children will aid parents who need care immediately in order to work. 1.4 Centralize the waitlist for available child care slots. Currently, parents are forced to seek out individual programs for available slots in child care programs. Centralizing the waitlist for child care slots will make it easier for parents to find a slot for their child and allow providers to concentrate on improving program quality rather than recruitment. 1.5 Require the Department of Education to give preference to community-based organizations in providing Universal Pre-Kindergarten in neighborhoods with 3 United Neighborhood Houses
inadequate Kindergarten space. Doing so will ensure that Universal Pre-Kindergarten programs can continue to expand to meet demand without diverting space from Kindergarten classrooms serving children just one year older. 1.6 Expand partnerships between after school programs and child welfare preventive service providers. Child welfare preventive services in after school settings provide help to families in a welcoming, familiar environment. 1.7 Allow Out-of-School Time and Cornerstone programs to host child welfare preventive services. Beacon after school programs have shown that they can successfully host child welfare preventive services. This model can be applied to other after school programs. 1.8 Reduce the caseload in Beacon-based child welfare preventive programs to the 12 family per caseworker national average. Decreased caseloads allow social workers time to ensure that every family gets the attention it needs. This change will bring Beacon-based preventive programs in line with national standards and the caseload ratio used in other New York City child welfare preventive services programs. 1.9 Contract with after school programs to offer training to parents to engage in their children’s education. After school programs maintain relationships with schools and parents. These relationships can help parents become more engaged in their children’s education. 2. Quality Public Schools 2.1 Incorporate elements of New York State teaching standards that require educators to facilitate parent engagement into teachers’ responsibilities. This will ensure that educators make engaging parents a priority. 2.2 Require schools to send all written communications in a language parents can understand, including all written communication regarding school events and student-specific information. By sending information in a language parents can understand, schools can increase immigrant parents’ engagement with school activities. 2.3 Require schools to make qualified interpreters available at parent-teacher conferences, PTA meetings and all other events or meetings at school. Making interpreters available at these important school events will ensure that all parents attending can fully participate. 2.4 Inform Limited English Proficient parents that interpretation is available if they wish to speak to a school staff member. Parents often do not know this option is available. Informing them will help facilitate communication between parents and school staff. 2.5 Guarantee a spot in a zoned school for every Kindergarten-aged child in New York City. New York City does not guarantee a Kindergarten spot in a school near a family’s home forcing many children to travel to Kindergarten. 2.6 Sustain and build on the Multiple Pathways/Learning to Work CBO partnership model in transfer high schools and Young Adult Borough Centers. Expanding the Learning to Work model is critical to strengthening the connection between the Department of Education and community-based organizations to address the needs of high school youth at risk of not graduating. 2.7 Build out structured support for post-secondary transitions in partnership with community-based organizations. The transition from high school to college is a critical process that requires special attention from educators and communities. Leveraging the expertise of community-based organizations will foster successful transitions from high school to college and careers for even greater numbers of youth. 2.8 Decrease caseloads for high school guidance counselors to 200 per counselor. Guidance counselors often have caseloads as high as 400 students. Reducing caseloads will allow counselors to devote more individualized attention to each student. Blueprint for Neighborhoods 2013 4
Page 1 and 2: BLUEPRINT for Neighborhoods Toward
Page 3: Executive Summary AFTER MORE THAN A
Page 7 and 8: 3.5 Designate a Mayoral appointee r
Page 9 and 10: 7.3 Expand the Neighborhood Opportu
Page 11 and 12: The Blueprint for Neighborhoods out
Page 13 and 14: Parents who can afford to enroll th
Page 15 and 16: grams to utilize staff time and res
Page 17 and 18: 1.9 Contract with after school prog
Page 19 and 20: Support and Expand School-Community
Page 21 and 22: POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS: 2.10 Establ
Page 23 and 24: Expand Access to Adult Education Pr
Page 25 and 26: FIGURE 6. Unemployment Rate by Educ
Page 27 and 28: POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS: 3.5 Designa
Page 29 and 30: C. Build, Support, and Sustain Heal
Page 31 and 32: Comprehensive Support Services for
Page 33 and 34: Public Housing While affordable hou
Page 35 and 36: 6. Immigrant Integration As the qui
Page 37 and 38: Advance Community Policing Policies
Page 39 and 40: Research has shown that engaging re
Page 41 and 42: Proposed cuts have especially threa
Page 43 and 44: Just as important, the City governm
Page 45 and 46: Endnotes 1 Sam Roberts, “City Rep
Page 47 and 48: 80 “New York City Young Men’s I
Page 49 and 50: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Under the guidance

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