Action Alert: We Need You to Help Save ATI/Reentry Funds in NYC!

You Can Make the Difference With Just a Phone Call

With city budget talks likely to wrap up soon, now is the time to urge the City Council to restore critical ATI/reentry funding. Following up on our huge rally last week -- made successful only with your help -- we and fellow members of the New York ATI/Reentry Coalition hope you'll join us in an all-out advocacy push this week:

• Call members of the budget negotiating team to tell them that ATI/Reentry programs need to be a priority for a "smart on crime" future in New York City. Cuts to our programs now will only cost the city more later -- in dollars and in public safety. Follow this link to make your calls -- to the Council members' main offices and to district offices -- today!

Read More →

Need-to-Know News: June 10, 2011

Updates from Us

Also in this issue:

• Headlines on Our Issues
• From Our Partners

Read More →

Reminder: Join Us Monday for ATI/Reentry Rally on City Hall Steps!

Urge the Council to Restore Funding for Critical Programs

With budget talks under way, now is the time to urge the City Council to restore critical ATI/reentry funding. We hope you'll come out for our rally and press conference on Monday to show your support!

Rally details:

• When: Monday, June 13, at 11:45 a.m.
• Where: City Hall steps (see map)
• Featured guests: Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes; Council members Elizabeth Crowley, Daniel Dromm, and Peter Vallone Jr.
• What to bring: Signs and loud voices to show your support! (Note on signs: Security at City Hall requires that there be no metal or sticks attached.)
• Contact: LAC's state policy director, Tracie Gardner, at (347) 585-1380

Read More →

NYC Action Alert! Rally to Urge Council to Restore ATI/Reentry Funds

Last Chance to Make Our Voice Heard on the New York City Budget!

As many of you know, members of the New York ATI/Reentry Coalition have sustained devastating cuts in city funding over the past few years, even as our crucial work has helped to make our communities safer while saving millions of taxpayer dollars.

Now, the City Council has concluded its budget hearings and is working on the budget for the 2012 fiscal year, due June 30. This means time is running out for us to persuade them to restore critical funding for ATI/Reentry programs in New York City.

That's where you come in: Teaming up with city officials who believe in the importance of our work, the coalition is holding a rally and press conference on the steps of City Hall on Monday, June 13. Please join us in taking a stand for ATI/Reentry!

Read More →

ASAP Action Alert: Call Today on PNA Funding!

Call and/or email your Senators and Assemblymembers today! The joint budget conference subcommittees will be meeting today, and ASAP staff will attend several of the hearings. It is imperative that our voice is heard today and through the rest of the week on several issues, noted below.

MESSAGE TO LEGISLATORS:

1) Assembly: Please ensure that the Senate proposal to cut the Personal Needs Allowance to $45 for individuals in OASAS licensed residential treatment facilities is not included in the final budget.
Senate: Please restore the full PNA for individuals in OASAS licensed residential treatment facilities.

2) Assembly and Senate: Please restore cuts to gambling prevention.

Read More →

Action Alert! Tell Legislators to Restore ATI/Reentry Funding, Close Prisons

MESSAGE TO LEGISLATORS:

Entirely restore the proposed 8% cut to ATI, reentry and probation -- and as much as possible of the legislative adds from prior years -- to enable the state to continue reducing crime and saving taxpayer dollars, and close unneeded prisons as proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Read More →

Action Alert: Urge Legislature to Use Federal Funds to Restore Cuts to ATI and Re-Entry

ENSURE PUBLIC SAFETY, SAVE LIVES AND MONEY, STRENGTHEN FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES

MESSAGE TO LEGISLATORS:

Use available federal funds to restore cuts to Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) and reentry programs that reduce crime and the prison population and play an essential role in the successful implementation of Rockefeller drug law reform.

BACKGROUND:

Although ATI programs have been critical to reducing the prison population and crime and are essential to the success of Rockefeller drug law reform, they face potentially massive funding cuts because of the state’s fiscal struggles.

The governor’s budget proposes a cut of more than 10% (similar to the rest of the criminal justice budget), which would reduce ATI funding by $1.6 million, and neither the Assembly nor Senate budget resolutions restored any of that. The field also lost critical federal and state funding over the last two years. Even worse, we are hearing that approximately $3 million in Legislative adds – which have been the backbone of much of the ATI system for many years – is in real jeopardy. All told, ATI programs stand to lose as much as $4.5 million, a blow that could decimate the system.

We have learned that the state is projecting that millions of dollars of federal criminal justice funding allocated last year will not be needed for its original purposes. We are urging the Governor and Legislature to use some of those unspent funds to continue ATI programming. As you know well, funding for ATI programs is critical to ensuring the success of drug law reform and ending the cycle of addiction and crime. Indeed, what could be a more appropriate use of these funds than identifying good candidates for diversion from prison to treatment or other community sanctions, advocating for their diversion, providing them treatment and other services they need, and monitoring their progress?

ACTION:

Please encourage your clients and their families, staff, board members and colleagues in your criminal justice work to call the legislative leaders listed below and their own Assembly member and senator (Assembly at 518-455-4100, Senate at 518-455-2800) and ask them to use unspent federal funds to protect ATI and reentry programs, which are essential to public safety and the backbone of Rockefeller reform. Click here to send an e-mail now!