By Forum Staff
The City Administration for Children’s Services Commissioner Jess Dannhauser and City Schools Chancellor David Banks on Monday announced the launch of new school-based early support prevention services programs that have established partnerships with schools.
According to the City, The school-based early support programs aim to address stressors (economic, academic or behavioral) that may impact a child’s well-being, help meet families’ concrete needs and help strengthen social connections and engagement within the school community, all to help families remain strong. Families can be referred to school-based early support programs by school personnel or community-based service providers or seek services on their own.
School staff are among the largest reporter groups, accounting for about one in five intakes to the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR). The new school-based early support programs are just one way in which ACS is working to help families sooner and prevent unnecessary reports to the SCR. Recently, ACS and NYC Public Schools revised their annual training to help school staff understand the impact of making a report to the SCR, the need to focus on objective facts and be aware of implicit bias when deciding whether to make a report, and how to access the many resources available to families city without making a report.
The school-based early programs will serve approximately 1,280 families each year at elementary and middle schools in the following school districts: Queens (24, 27, 29, 30); Bronx (7,8, 9, 10, 11, 12); Brooklyn (15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22 23, 32); Manhattan (1,4,5); and Staten Island (31). The 11 provider agencies awarded contracts include:
- CAMBA
- Center for Family Life in Sunset Park
- Coalition for Hispanic Family Services
- Good Shepherd Services
- Graham-Windham
- I’RAISE Girls & Boys International Corporation
- SCAN-Harbor
- The Child Center of NY
- The Reggio Emilia Montessori Center, LLC
- United Activities Unlimited
- YMCA of Greater New York
As part of their contracts, the 11 provider agencies offering these 16 programs have identified at least three partner elementary and/or middle schools in their districts and must maintain a presence in each school. Providers are also required to collaboratively co-design at least four school-based offerings per year based on the needs and priorities of the school community. These may include school outreach efforts, youth development activities, peer support groups, cultural celebrations and other types of events that may connect families to other community resources.
“When families need help, we want to make sure they can turn to a place they trust for support that is helpful to them. To this end, the new school-based early support programs are designed to provide an array of flexible supports to families and will be delivered by trusted organizations in their communities. This menu of services includes: funding for concrete support for families, caregiver support group offerings, case management and a range of school based offerings co-designed by school personnel, families and programming staff. This announcement also further our efforts with NYC Public Schools to help reduce the number of unnecessary investigations experienced by Black and Hispanic/Latinx families by better connecting families to supports and services well before concerns warrant a call to the state’s child abuse hotline,” said Commissioner Jess Dannhauser.
