By Juan Soto
City Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) said the $75 billion city budget for 2015 “has proven to be both thoughtful and progressive.”
The legislator pointed out that several of the services and programs that will be put into place will fund initiatives that cover the needs from pre-K to senior centers.
The Council earmarked $1 million to fund the Coalition of Theaters of Color and another $17 million to keep 56 New York City Housing Authority community and senior centers open.
Miller added that the funding for the Teacher’s Choice Program, which provides money to educators to purchase materials and classroom supplies used for student instruction, will go up from $4.5 million to $6 million.
Also, the budget brings an additional 10,640 slots for the Summer Youth Employment Project, a program that provides people between 14 and 24 with a summer job for up to seven weeks.
And working-class residents and small business owners will get more funding through the Consortium for Worker Education and Jobs to Build On initiatives.
Miller pointed out that college-bound high school seniors will also get a piece of the budget pie. The Council funded a program with just over $11 million to provide merit-based higher education scholarships.
“This is a budget that will serve the needs of our entire city,” Miller said in a statement.
Reach reporter Juan Soto by e-mail at jsoto@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
