Chair Stevens on federal funding restrictions and upstate shelter closures
Stevens asks about the impact of federal funding cuts on upstate RHY shelters and whether NYC has seen increased demand. Haskell says no influx has been observed, and as state coordinator she maintains close contact with upstate providers who know NYC services are available.
All right, so we're going to move on to the federal funding restrictions.
Runaway and homeless youth shelters in other parts of New York State rely heavily on federal funding, including grants through federal basic center program.
Following the loss of federal funding, several RHY shelters in other parts of the state have been forced to close.
Has ZYCD seen any additional strain on NYC's RHY shelter system as a result of RHY shelter closures elsewhere in the state, including an increase in youth coming to New York City to seek shelter or services?
We have not seen an increase.
The New York State RHY providers are our partners, and we are in meetings together.
They are fully aware of our...
Programming and what we offer here.
They have my contact number.
We're very close and we also share the same OCFS regulations and partners.
So they are aware of what we offer and if they need us, we will be there.
But we haven't seen an influx of youth coming from upstate to downstate.
Do we track that?
Well, we track where the youth were the night before, right?
So there's a question that asks, where did you stay?
Or where your last known address, your home address.
So we would then know where that youth is exactly coming from.
Our partners in the state have made referrals.
To our programs, but we haven't seen the influx of that.