White Plains CitizeNetReporter - White Plains Youth Bureau Keeps Its Funding Under “Cuts.”

WPCNR Afternoon Trib & Post. By John F. Bailey. November 21, 2002: Victoria Hochman, spokesperson for the Westchester County Department of Communications, contacted WPCNR Thursday morning with good news on the issue of funding for community youth programs. Based on Ms. Hochman’s report, any cuts in Invest In Kids, the primary youth-oriented program will not impact White Plains Youth Bureau programs.

The two county-funded programs are the DeKalb complex After School Program and Youth Aiming for Financial Success, the two Bureau-sponsored activities for which the county provides matching fund grants.

She said that the Invest-in-Kids program, was the primary county youth program where a 15% cut is planned. The 15% trimming means $347,000 will be deducted from the 2002 $1,275,000 figure, bringing the countywide Invest In Kids program allocation down to $928,000 for fiscal 2003.

Readers should understand Invest In Kids is a matching grant operating program. It allocates funds from the county to cities, agencies or groups in three-year increments over a series of three years: funding 25% of the program start-up cost the first year, 50%, the second and 50% the third year with an eye to starting programs.

Hochman said White Plains Youth Bureau will receive $29,883 for the DeKalb After School Program in 2003, and $28,830 for the Youth Aiming for Financial Success next year. Ms. Hochman said White Plains would not receive funds for those programs in 2004 because the Youth Bureau would be coming to the end of the three year cycle of the Invest In Kids program. “They will not lose what they have,” she said.

Cuts Not Definite. Legislators Could Restore. Not detailed.

Hochman assured WPCNR the cuts were not definite, saying the legislators could choose to restore those cuts as they massage Executive Spano’s budget over the coming weeks. She said other programs that other organizations in White Plains might run, affecting children, could be facing similar cuts, but did not have such information broken out by municipality.

Ms. Hochman said other programs involving children such as domestic violence, day care facilities, might be affected, but she did not have specific information available, but indicated if WPCNR provided a list of the programs we were interested in, she would be glad to research this.

Ms. Hochman said the cuts would be left up to each individual Department head and Commissioner.


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