Literacy in Community (LINC) congratulates Mayor Mamdani, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, and the members of the New York City Council for including an unprecedented number of provisions in the New York City budget that benefit families with children from birth through five. At a time of significant fiscal constraints, New York City chose to invest in its youngest residents. Passing this budget on time demonstrates a shared commitment to giving every child the opportunity to grow, learn, and thrive.
The focus on a child’s well-being before they start kindergarten recognizes the critical importance of reaching children during the years when the brain is rapidly developing and providing them with the opportunity to reach their full potential. That means an array of supportive programming: childcare, nutrition, physical health, emotional stability, and early literacy programming. We applaud Speaker Menin, and early literacy champions Council Member Eric Dinowitz and Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez for their leadership in forming a subcommittee on Early Childhood Education, resulting in the creation of a new City office of childcare and early childhood education. We are excited by the possibilities that these developments will create.
Literacy in Community (LINC) was a strong advocate for these advancements, working in coalition with other community-based organizations to ensure the budget reflects the city’s values to promote healthy development and to achieve educational equity for all children. LINC will continue to advocate throughout the new fiscal year for the inclusion of early literacy in every aspect of early childhood systems and services to make sure every child reaches kindergarten ready to read and to learn. “Universal child care and 2K represent far more than an expansion of services. They are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redesign how New York City supports young children and their families. If we intentionally embed early literacy, family engagement, health, and community partnerships into these systems from the start, we can ensure every child enters kindergarten ready to thrive, regardless of their zip code, home language, or family income,” said Eliana Godoy, LINC’s Deputy Executive Director. “This budget gives us the opportunity. Now our responsibility is to implement it in ways that truly reach every family. As the facilitating partner for the New York City Council’s flagship early literacy initiative, City’s First Readers, LINC looks forward to a year of collaboration.”
About Literacy in Community (LINC): Since 1996, LINC has worked to harness the power that exists in every community to make literacy a value and right of all children and promote educational equity. LINC’s two-generational Community Literacy Model connects families with each other and with community resources to surround children with literacy-rich environments inside and outside of home. When a community reads, children succeed!
For more information about LINC, visit us at www.lincnyc.org or contact Virginia Taddoni, Associate Director of Communications, LINC at vtaddoni@lincnyc.org or 212-620-5462, ext. 133.
