The economic downturn makes the need for The Children’s Aid Society in New York more urgent than ever.
CBS News’ Children of the Recession series reports that child abuse is spiking, summer jobs for youth are more urgently needed and are becoming scarcer, and economic stress is hampering children’s performance in school. Perhaps most startlingly, it notes that one in 50 school-aged children is now homeless. Yet, as President Obama has reminded us via the Huffington Post “The homeless problem was bad even when the economy was good.”
The recession has not created issues like child homelessness – it has only made them more prevalent among the middle class. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Goldman Sachs predicts the unemployment rate will rise above 9 percent by the start of 2010, thrusting even more New York families and children into deep poverty, homelessness and worse. In harrowing first-hand accounts, ABC News tells the stories of such child victims of the recession in their own words.
Over the last 150 years, The Children’s Aid Society has served the most pressing needs of children through supportive housing services as well as emergency assistance, health services, health insurance enrollment, after-school and legal advocacy. Now more than ever, your help is necessary. Volunteer or donate today.
Tags: ABC, Barack Obama, CBS, Child Abuse, Children's Aid New York City, donate, Goldman Sachs, Huffington Post, recession, volunteer
By Andrew
This spring the Coalition for the Homeless released its annual “State of the Homeless 2009″ report, an assessment of homelessness in New York City. The report finds that there are currently more than 36,000 homeless New Yorkers sleeping in municipal shelters each night – including an astonishing 15,500 children. The report states that high unemployment and rising housing costs were major factors that led to a serious increase in families ending up in shelters in 2008 and in the first quarter of 2009.
It was the homelessness of impoverished children who lived on the streets of New York City that helped propel Charles Loring Brace, founder of The Children’s Aid Society, to action in 1853. Today, more than 150 years later, The Children’s Aid Society in New York still believes that every child belongs with a family in a safe place that he or she can call home. We provide many services for housing youth and their families, including:
- The Carmel Hill Project provides social services to residents in three renovated apartment buildings on West 118th Street.
- Children’s Aid Society’s Pelham Fritz Apartments, provide apartments for homeless families on the road to permanent housing.
- The Children’s Aid Society’s Office of Public Policy and Client Advocacy helps families resolve housing issues by providing legal and financial assistance.
According to the Coalition for the Homeless’ report, data from the past two New York City recessions points to continued growth of unemployment and high housing costs, which will increase homelessness in New York City throughout 2009. With growing need,The Children’s Aid Society’s programs are more critical than ever.
Tags: assisstance, Carmel Hill Project, Charles Loring Brace, Children's Aid New York City, Coalition for the Homeless, homelessness, Pelham Fritz Apartments, recession, unemployment
By David
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