It's that time of year again to join together for a #LiteracyLiftsNY Day in Albany on Monday, March 4th!   We know the beginning of the year is hectic but our decision makers need to hear from YOU and your students!  Each year we talk to many elected officials who understand that Adult Literacy is underfunded and the difficulties this causes our community and we need to keep making sure they hear our message! Assembly-member Ron Kim is co-hosting the day with us and will join us and other invited elected officials for a Rally so join us to make sure the other legislators hear our message!  Throughout the day we will also meet with legislators about the NYCCAL priorities and make sure they see our faces and understand #LiteracyLifts! 
   
We will be sending out more information in the coming weeks but we wanted to make sure everyone put the date on the calendar so we can maximize participation from programs.  It may be too early to let us know the exact number of students and staff that may be able to attend from your program but if you can ballpark, that would be great.  If you plan to attend with students please contact Ariel Savransky savranskya@UJAFEDNY.ORG and she will tell you the next steps.

​If you cannot travel to Albany you can still join in our social media campaign on March 4.  Here is a link to how to join:  bit.ly/NYCCALSoMeState

We anticipate that we will have a bus as we did last year but we are exploring alternative options (smaller vans leaving from different areas of the city) depending on which programs participate. We will update you all as the timing gets closer. 
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Thank you and here’s to getting the $15.3 million this year! 

On June 14, the City Council voted to adopt the City’s FY2019 budget, which includes $12m for adult literacy. $8 million will be on the administration’s side, and $4 million will come from the Council.  The City Council has actually already made its decisions on the $4m (see document pages 13-14). 

It is our understanding that the Administration’s portion is not baselined, but will be targeted to DYCD literacy programs. Note there is no written confirmation of this, and so we will be in touch with DYCD & the Mayor’s Office to encourage the full amount of resources be devoted to that purpose. 

Thank you for all your hard work and thank you to all the City Council Members who showed us so much support: