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Smaller Youth Programs Lose in New City Scheme

By HEATHER HADDON

Three venerable providers of youth programs lost their city contracts last month under a reorganized system for after-school services. One agency, the Tolentine Zeiser Community Life Center, has already shuttered its program and laid off staff, and others are wondering how they will keep their offerings afloat.

“I find it very disturbing,” said Jennifer Walford, 30, who has worked at Tolentine for years. “The mayor can find millions of dollars for a stadium, but he can’t find money for teens who need it.”

In addition to Tolentine, the EARS violence prevention program and Sistas and Brothas United, a youth group run by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, lost their contracts. Sistas and Brothas will be out $50,000, plus an additional $50,000 from a private matching grant.

“That’s a lot of money we really needed,” said Ronn Jordan, president of the Coalition. “We are trying to scramble to figure out how to cover it.”

Last December, the city unveiled Out-of-School Time, an overhaul of its funding of after-school programs and some day-care services. Three funding streams from the city Department for Youth and Community Development (DYCD) and the Administration for Children’s Services were collapsed into the new program, which seeks to streamline services and create new performance requirements.

Community District 7 maintained roughly the same number of contracts, but resources were further concentrated. The big winner was the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, which received a total of five grants. Two are for programs at its Norwood headquarters, along with offerings at PS 8, Tracey Towers and its Educational Counseling Center.

“I was really worried about this, but it worked well for us,” said Don Bluestone, executive director of the Center, at last month’s Community Board 7 meeting. “Smaller programs didn’t do as well.”

That appears to be true. The after-school offerings at Tolentine, Sistas and Brothas, and EARS all serve around 75 kids each, while the Center serves thousands. The trend was repeated in other city areas, with big agencies, like Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Boys and Girls Club, netting multiple contracts.

“I think [consolidation] is the whole philosophy of the city these days,” said Marcy May, director of EARS, whose organization lost the $35,000 they had received from the city for 20 years.

DYCD acknowledged that some grants went to large programs but denied that size was a determining factor. “There is great diversity in the organizations that have been selected,” said Michael Ognibene, a DYCD spokesperson.

At least 11 organizations with smaller budgets received grants, according to Ognibene, but that only represents 5 percent of the total awardees. Some critics have compared the shift to the Bronx Meals on Wheels overhaul, which consolidated providers of meals for the homebound elderly last year. Two agencies now do the work formerly conducted by 17 organizations.

The city emphasizes that cuts were not made to youth funding, but that grants were made using a different approach. In addition to the Center, Inwood House received money for their after-school programming at PS 33 and MS 399. Local grants were also allocated to initiatives at MS 254, PS/MS 15, and St. James Recreation Center.

Some worry that the overhaul has shortchanged North Fordham and University Heights, where Tolentine and Sistas and Brothas are focused. At its last meeting, Community Board 7 changed its district priorities to reflect the shortage of services in those specific areas. But Ognibene said the grantees are geographically diverse, with most city zip codes covered.

The Coalition is disputing the city’s decision, and Jordan said that elected officials have written letters on their behalf. But May was told there would be no appeals process in the short term. “They won’t even talk to us,” she said.

Tolentine staff and kids were grim about the fate of their program, which has served area youngsters for 22 years. “I’ve been coming here a long time,” said Marcus Hilton, 16, of Sedgwick Avenue. “It wouldn’t feel the same to go to another place.”

Gilbert Torres, a program worker, has seen generations of young people come through Tolentine’s doors. “Some of them aren’t the best kids in the world, but this gives them a place away from getting into trouble,” said Torres, 24. “A lot don’t have fathers or brothers, but at least they have this.”

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