NYC Council Centers Immigrants As Essential To Recovery In FY 2022 Budget

Thanks to a concerted campaign led by the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), the New York City FY 2022 budget includes several key wins for immigrant New Yorkers.

The NYIC and allies pushed for a city budget that recognized immigrants as essential to New York’s recovery.

Earlier this month, the NYIC brought its Immigrants are Essential Agenda with a rally outside City Hall.

Every year, immigrant New York families pay an estimated $8 billion in City and State personal income taxes and approximately $2 billion in City property taxes, alone.

Every year, immigrant New York families pay an estimated $8 billion in City and State personal income taxes and approximately $2 billion in City property taxes, alone.

Understanding the enormous impact of this year’s budget negotiations, the NYIC developed the Immigrants are Essential to New York’s Recovery agenda.

Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition:

“Today, the Mayor and NYC Council proved that immigrants are essential to New York’s economic recovery by including access to legal services and increased investments in Adult Literacy Education and immigrant health care access in this budget. Additionally, the City has invested resources to combat hate-based violence. But, more needs to be done to ensure a full and equitable recovery for every New Yorker. Immigrant New Yorkers also need a reallocation of resources from a criminal legal system that targets far too many Black and brown New Yorkers towards critical issues like addressing the immense learning loss of English Language Learners. While we are disappointed that these issues weren’t addressed by the FY2022 budget, we look forward to working with this administration and the next one to ensure that immigrant New Yorkers will have a chance at a just and equitable recovery.”

Background:

The Immigrants are Essential to New York’s Recovery agenda is a blueprint for a more equitable New York, which includes top priorities ranging from immigration legal services to improved healthcare coverage to deeper investments in immigrant students. In this year’s budget the following priorities from NYIC’s agenda were included:

Investments in Immigration Legal Services:

Renew $58.2 million in funding for immigration legal services to ensure continuity of services.

Creating Healthy Communities:

Restore $4 million in funding for Access Health NYC so that CBOs and community health centers on the front lines of pandemic response can educate the communities suffering the highest death rates from COVID-19 about health access, coverage, and rights.

Doubling Down on Adult Literacy:

Restore and baseline a total of $12 million for Adult Literacy Funding to address the immense, inequitable gap in digital literacy, systems navigation skills, and access to information in English between immigrant parents and many other New Yorkers, which is preventing immigrant children from accessing remote learning.

Fund the NYCCAL Adult Literacy Pilot at $2.5 million to cover the actual cost of service for adult literacy programming while including new indicators of quality outcomes focused on COVID relief.

Fund the NYCCAL Adult Literacy Pilot at $2.5 million to cover the actual cost of service for adult literacy programming while including new indicators of quality outcomes focused on COVID relief.

The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) is an umbrella policy and advocacy organization for more than 200 groups in New York State.

We envision a New York state that is stronger because all people are welcome, treated fairly, and given the chance to pursue their dreams.

Our mission is to unite immigrants, members, & allies so all New Yorkers can thrive.

We represent the collective interests of New York’s diverse immigrant communities and organizations and devise solutions to advance them; advocate for laws, policies, and programs that lead to justice and opportunity for all immigrant groups; and build the power of immigrants and the organizations that serve them to ensure their sustainability, to improve people’s lives, and to strengthen our state.