City Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy
City Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy is proposing a coordinated effort by governmental, educational, and not-for-profit agencies throughout Yonkers to respond to the Trump Administration’s efforts to gut essential services that are critical to the City.
“We may not be able to stop what the Trump Administration is doing, but we can coordinate our response and use what resources we have to limit the damage as much as possible,” said Collins-Bellamy, adding, “City Government, the schools, the social service agencies, and others need establish a coordinated mechanism to push back against cuts and to best manage the resources that are still left to us.”
Collins-Bellamy notes that Trump’s proposed budget would cut off Section 8 rental assistance after two years, cuts the school meal programs that feed all Yonkers students, and would eliminate more than $5 million in Community Development Block Grant funds that many dozens of Yonkers agencies rely on to provide food, education, housing assistance, and crime reduction. Trump is also trying to eliminate the HOME program that has provided more than $1 million a year to assist the construction of affordable housing in Yonkers. Senior Citizen nutrition programs and funding for food banks have already been cut, despite being authorized by Congress.
“Almost every Yonkers resident is going to be negatively affected, or know someone who is negatively affected, by these cuts,” said Collins-Bellamy, “Even some of those who voted for Trump are concerned that the effects go beyond what they expected.”
She said it made little sense for the various affected organizations to concentrate only on their own issues without knowing how the entire city is affected, or adopting plans that maximize resources.
“A cut in job training can reduce family income, which leads to a choice between paying the rent or buying groceries, but cuts in school meals and nutrition programs make that problem even worse, and when housing assistance ends after two years a family winds up on the street. So the federal government thinks its just cutting a jobs program, but the consequences are actually catastrophic because everything is interrelated,” said Collins-Bellamy, adding, “That’s why we need every affected agency and level of government working together in a formal structure.”
She said she envisions an inter-agency task force meeting regularly to document reductions and establish a plan to respond as effectively as possible. “We already know the State is probably going to have to revise its budget later in the year to make up for cuts, and the City may well have to make changes of its own, although that’s more difficult. It will be essential to map out the smartest way to proceed and work closely with our state and local leaders, as well as any private sector organizations that may be able to assist,” she explained.
