State officials are offering south Brooklyn families shut out of free afterschool a back-up plan, though not all will qualify, the Daily News has learned.
The New York State Office of Children and Family Services shared with the News plans to work with eligible families and their local elected officials to apply for child care assistance, which may cover part or all of the costs of afterschool. Parents who register and make under 85% of the state median income, or $108,630 for a family of four, can get subsidies back to the date a complete application was submitted.
But Michelle Magnus, co-president of the parent-teacher association at P.S. 185 Walter Kassenbrock School, said the option had not been communicated to Bay Ridge families — who learned about it through the media.
“I think parents will try and apply,” Magnus said. “That’s very limiting on who has access to that. Because a lot of families are two working parents, and they make a little more of that, but they have a lot going on and they still need the support.”
At least two beloved providers from Bay Ridge to Sheepshead Bay lost grants this summer when the state consolidated two sources of afterschool funding and forced providers to reapply. With just over a week until the start of school, the programs — Federation of Italian American Organizations and NIA Community Services Network — are now trying to pivot to continue serving families.
“We understand that our families are hurting,” said Orsola Bonilla, who penned the federation’s proposal. “Some of the discussion that we had this year after we didn’t receive the grants was could we do something that would be affordable to families for a fee? It’s not what we do on the norm.”
“If they received money that they could transfer to our program, and not take anything out of their pocket, I would be feeling a little better about that. We’d have to figure out how to do that, because we’ve never done anything like that before. But we’re not opposed to that,” she said.
The other provider, NIA, is planning to continue offering afterschool for a fee at some schools — including P.S. 185, where parents will have to pay $3,200 this school year. Magnus estimated fewer than half of last year’s participants have signed up for the fee-based program.
“While paying for services is most definitely not ideal and simply not possible for some families, it is unfortunately our best option at this time,” said executive director Mary Anne Cino, adding NIA would be happy to accept the vouchers — with a caveat.
“The process to register with the state to accept them can be quite lengthy. It unfortunately isn’t something that would be in place in time for school start-up,” she said. “Also, we unfortunately have no way of determining which families would qualify for the vouchers. It is definitely something we are pursuing, but we are not sure it is a solution for all families.”
The city’s public school system, Cino added, used to receive funding through one of the consolidated state grant programs, which it would use to subcontract neighborhood organizations. Those funds also were lost during the phase out, she said.
Spokespeople for the Office of Children and Family Services said the child care assistance program has expanded in recent years to more middle class families and capped co-pays, so that most families of four pay $15 or less per week. The state agency also funds a city-based parent referral line and said it would share more information with elected officials about local programs.
But Magnus likened the process to “turning public schools into The Hunger Games.”
“They’re always putting parents against parents, schools against schools, different learners against different learners,” she said. “The state has plenty of money to invest — it sounds like they’re not properly managing the budgets well.”
