Mayor Nutter responds to outcry over Safe and Sound cuts

From yesterday's press release:

"Irresponsible behavior by adults has created a situation which has put the well-being and care of thousands of children in jeopardy," said Mayor Nutter. "The steps that I have announced today are an effort to correct mistakes made by the previous administration and to ensure that no child is left without essential care services."

...As a result, the Nutter Administration is now publicly directing the organization to preserve all afterschool programs, including afterschool programs at Beacons, and to preserve funding for curfew centers, AVRP and FaST so that there will be no reductions in the number of children served. Continued funding for these programs will come from savings within Philadelphia Safe and Sound's budget, particularly their substantial administrative costs. The administration will make every effort to find any additional funding needed within the city's budget.

As I had mentioned here previously, the community center where I work is contracted for about $140k per year from Safe and Sound so whatever comes of this discussion bears a huge impact on us and the delivery of care to children in our community.

I saw our new Councilwoman, Maria Quinones-Sanchez on Saturday and she immediately inquired as to how the Safe and Sound situation would affect the community center. She said she was concerned with places like us that depend heavily on that funding and asked me to send her a brief report on Monday. I thought that was great. It's nice to have someone looking out for our community in City Hall.