City to Cut 172 Children’s Programs!

Bed-Stuy’s Historic PAL Wynn Center on Chopping Block

May 22.2012
To the Community Stakeholders,
It is with a tremendous amount of sadness that I am writing to inform you the PAL Wynn Center was not awarded funding from the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development to support after school and summer camp programs for the youth of our community.
The Wynn Center is currently supported mainly through City funding in the form of Out- of-School Time (OST) contracts. In January, all OST service providers had to reapply for their funding. We worked tirelessly with school administrators and community organizations to submit the best application we could for the Wynn Center.
The disinvestment the City is making in our children is deeply troubling. The most-recently released OST awards will result in 172 programs closing citywide. This represents a cut of 25,000 OST slots, leaving these children without a place to go after school and during the summer.
Over the years, countless families have relied on PAL to provide their children with  academic enrichment and recreation after school, during holidays and during the summer. Teachers have relied on PAL to help their students get the support they need to succeed during school. Communities have relied on PAL to keep their young people safe, off the streets and out of trouble.
We are asking for your support as PAL looks for ways to continue to serve the children and the families of NYC. Please take a moment to complete the Petition to Action, which will be shared with local representatives. Thank you for your continued support and allowing us to serve your children.
Sincerely,
Danielle Lynch, Center Director