Transcript: Mayor Adams Announces 40 New After-School Sites to Serve Families This Fall, First Step in Achieving Ambitious Universal After-School Programming for Students and Families

July 22, 2025

Amadou Coulibaly, Student, P.S. 152: My name is Amadou and I'm a rising 6th grade student here at P.S. 152. I would like to welcome Mayor Adams and all of you here today to our school. In my after school debate club, I learned how to listen to others' opinions and respond respectfully. Even when I disagree, it helped me become a better writer and speaker because I had to organize my thoughts and explain my ideas clearly. 

In the chess after school club, I learned how to plan my moves and think ahead, just like solving a tricky puzzle. It also taught me patience because sometimes I had to wait and focus to find the best move. Participating in chess and debate helped me become more confident, not just in after school, but in the classroom. 

I always look forward to the after school club days because I get to challenge myself, learn something new, and have fun with my friends. I'm really happy that all the kids over the city will have chances like this through the new after school programs. I hope the free programs continue all year round so more children can learn new things.

Raquel Pena, Student, P.S. 152: Joining the after school step team has been one of the best parts of my school experience. Step has taught me discipline, teamwork, and how to express myself through rhythm and movement. We work hard, we support each other, and we've become like a family. Performing gives me confidence and makes me feel powerful and proud of who I am. 

Being part of this after school program has helped me grow, not just as a dancer, but as a student and a leader. I thank Mayor Adams for investing in children like me so we can have more opportunities. Next, I would like to welcome our mayor, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you, thank you. Wow, aren't they— talk about promising, you know. Give them another hand. Really, really amazing when you think about after school programs and the role that after school programs actually play. I say it over and over again, I'm going to be consistent in my message that, you know, we tend to want our children to be academically smart and not emotionally intelligent at the same time. 

When you do after school, particularly in communities that traditionally did not have after schools, in many parts of the city, our young people have excellent after school opportunities and programs. Even if they don't come through the Department of Education, the dollars are there in private funding to allow them to explore their full personhood. 

When you allow a child, as Amadou stated, to play chess, or allow a child to be able to be involved in dance and movement, that's part of the socialization. And it is also a way to relieve some of the daily stress that our young people are going through. Their life cannot be merely what's being played out on social media. It must also consist of what's being played out in the collaboration with other young people, as you indicated. 

And I think it's a message for all of us as they're leading the way and we're going to continue to invest in our after school program. So Amadou and Raquel, we want to thank you for coming and being a representative of an ambassador, I like to say, for what young people are asking for throughout this entire city. 

And every parent knows that learning just doesn't take place in a classroom. It's beyond the classroom. But too long, these families have not had access to affordable child care and after school programming, forcing many of them to leave the city they love. So we listened. And more importantly, we took actions, real actions that the DOE and the Department of DYCD. collaborated together to make sure that we could have these great after school programs and universal after school programs. 

In April of this year, we announced the goal of achieving universal after school by creating 20,000 additional K-5 after school seats for New York City public school students by the year 2027 school year. And today, less than three months later, we're delivering on that. 5,000 new after school seats for this upcoming school year that begins in just a matter of weeks. It's hard to believe school is going to be here in a few weeks. 

So when you focus on it, we are investing an additional $21 million this school year to bring 5,000 new K-5 after school seats to a total of 40 schools that have never before had after school programs, never before have they had after school programs. So these two scholars to my right, they were in an environment where those after school programs did not exist. And we're changing that. This fall, those 5,000 children in neighborhoods in most need will have a safe place and nurturing place to go when the school day ends. And what does that mean? 

It's critical not only for the children, but also parents, parents who want to use those extra hours to go back to school themselves to just have some personal time for their personal development or do some form of employment. Many of our parents, particularly women, must leave their employment because of child care issues. And we know that we understand that. And we responded to that. 

Now, children from working class families will have a spot in after school programs where they can learn and most importantly, where they can thrive. These 5,000 new after school seats mark the first phase in our promise to commit $331 million for 20,000 new after school seats over the next three school years. And it brings the annual budget for universal after school to $755 million annually. Baseline by fiscal year 2028. 

This will increase the total number of public school students served by universal after school to 184,000. That's 184,000 who would be able to participate in sports, robotics, the arts, tennis lessons, all of those things that children should enjoy after the classroom experience. Working class New Yorkers deserve nothing less than a hardworking administration. And we're going to continue to provide for them. 

And this after-school expansion also includes the first request for proposal in over a decade. What does that mean? It means we will raise the provider rates for the nonprofit workforce and take care of our children every day. And they have gone 10 years without an increase in pay. And that changes now. 

Additionally, we will form a commission consisting of providers and community stakeholders to develop a sustainable, quality after school system. And when you do a full analysis of what we have done around children, this is one of many. We have also looked at historic funding for summer youth employment and Summer Rising both over 100,000 and each one of those initiatives increase in baseline funding for 3K and special education pre-K.

Reducing the cost of subsidized child care to less than five dollars a week. When you think about it, less than one tenth what it was compared to when we came into office. And a historic child care pilot for children two years old and younger that puts New York City on the path to universal child care for low income families, if we are successful. 

So New York City can no longer afford to lose broken class families to leave the city because of the issue of child care. Two things we hear all the time when new employees come here. How good are the schools and how safe is the community? We're targeting both of those issues with a record number of decreasing crimes and record amount of initiatives in our public school system that we're going to continue to invest in. 

And so I want to turn it over to a real partner here who understands what it is to focus on children and families. Our commissioner of DYCD. Commissioner Howard. Commissioner.

Commissioner Keith Howard, Department of Youth and Community Development: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I don't know if we fully understand the word baseline. Baseline means that the money can't go nowhere. The money is staying with young people, with programming, with parents. But this is just one of the mayor's visions on which he's landed. 

He mentioned, yes, Summer Youth Employment Program when he first came into office, going from 75,000 to 100,000 young people with summer jobs. He also mentioned Summer Rising, 110,000. How about Saturday Night Lights? Keeping young people safe in programs on the weekends and his summer safety plan, which we have extended summer hours to 11 p.m. for community programs, community centers in some of the neighborhoods with the highest level of shooting incidents. This is the mayor's youth agenda and he has been consistent throughout. 

And let me also add with the crisis management system. You have those who are saying, oh, we need more investment. But yeah, let's start off with $131 million that the mayor put in to make sure that the kids are safe. Everything this mayor has done in his youth agenda has been checked off. And I thank him. I know the chancellor thanks him. And not only do we thank him, but the parents, the kids and those providers and our partners who are on the ground helping us keep these kids safe in safe environments, they thank him as well. 

This administration and this youth agenda has been phenomenal. And I can say that because I go and visit these programs. I just want to thank the mayor again for his investment as a father, understanding the importance of after school programming, taking my kids to the YMCA, running from work, picking them up. As a working parent. I understand the value. $331 million dollars. What an investment. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As always, I want to bring up my partner Udai and New York Junior Tennis.

Udai Tambar, President and CEO,  New York Junior Tennis and Learning: So thank you, Mayor Adams. Thank you, Commissioner Howard. And thank you, Principal Baez. My name is Udai Tambar. I'm the president and CEO of New York Junior Tennis and Learning. We're thrilled to be amongst the first providers selected as a part of this expansion. 

And why JTL has a long history of serving young New Yorkers. We were founded over 50 years ago by Arthur Ashe. We serve young people in about 100 sites throughout the city, 90,000 young people in a year. The new programs that are announced today will provide after school services in communities that really need them, like here in the Bronx. 

At NYJTL, we strongly believe that talent is universal, but opportunity is not. And after school programs like this create the opportunity for young people to reach their full potential. So the young people that NYJTL will be serving this fall at P.S. 152 will enjoy a range of free and engaging activities. Obviously tennis, free homework, free supper, STEM and art programs, interactive field trips. 

And in partnership with Principal Baez and her team, NYJTL will play a critical role in supporting young people's academic, social and emotional development to help them succeed on and off the court. 

I used to work in government many years ago, so I can appreciate the challenges of what this administration is trying to do in maintaining and expanding new programs. And Mayor Adams, thank you. You're really invested in the safety and development of our young people. 

And as one of the city's many CBOs serving vulnerable communities, we appreciate your support of the work that we're doing and entrusting us to empower and educate young New Yorkers. Thank you for inviting me to speak here with this exciting announcement, and we can't wait until the new school year begins in September. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. I want to thank our superintendent and principals that are here with us as well. It really takes a— teaching is a calling, and they answer the call to develop the minds of these young people. 

Let me do a couple of on-topics. 

Question: I wanted to know, you know, how were the schools chosen? And then how will parents know that their school was chosen and they have this opportunity? Because that is a big deal when it comes to accessing a lot of the programs. I think parents are aware. 

And then how could potential budget cuts from the Trump administration to the Department of Education affect this programming and all this new funding that you have for programs?

Mayor Adams: You know, just as we saw when we came into office, and you can go into the parents, how they decide to school. When we came into the office, we were dealing with a real sunsetting of stimulus dollars, a substantial amount. Pre-K dollars, the Summer Rising dollars, all of these dollars were sunsetting and many people didn't know that. And we saw a seamless transition. 

We found the money where we needed to go after these important services, and we didn't see these services cut. And we're going to do the same here. Whatever plays out on the landscape of the federal government, we're going to be fiscally smart and look at these important programs. They will move forward. 

We will have universal after school in the city, and we're moving forward on having universal pre-K and 3K as well. And so we know there's always challenges on the city, on the state and federal level of cutting our budgets, but we have to be smart about how we manage it. And that's why bond raters increased our bonds on how well we handle these fiscal challenges. 

Commissioner Howard: So we selected the schools in collaboration with New York City Public Schools with the highest need in the city, those 40 schools. We also looked at what schools do not have an after school program. We also looked at young people with disabilities, young people with English learning issues, and also young people who are in the area in terms of crime and shooting incidents as well.

So disabilities, income level, and also young people with English learning issues, again, in collaboration with New York City Public Schools.

Mayor Adams: Okay, thank you. Thank you. Alright. What grade are you in? Let's do a few off topics. 

[Crosstalk.]

Question: As you know, over the weekend, two men were arrested for the shooting of the customs officer. And it turns out that they both had standing deportation orders in one case for a few years, the other guy for a few months, several months. Yet they came in and out of the criminal justice system, in and out of the city's custody, long after the deportation orders were in place. Why were they not turned over to ICE?

Mayor Adams: One, I agree, and I said this over and over again, we need to reexamine this. I've been almost a lone voice in this city talking about this, that we need to examine parts of our laws that allow extremely dangerous people to go in and out of our criminal justice system. 

As it currently states, we are not allowed to coordinate with federal authorities unless the person is convicted of a crime and after he served his time. I think we need to examine that. There's a real pattern here that these were dangerous people. And thank God because of the response of the Customs Border Patrol officer who responded appropriately, but also the New York City police officers who were able to get him to the hospital and carry out the immediate first aid. 

And so, you know, I've raised this over and over again. The City Council has been clear that they have no intention to look at this, and I think it's unfortunate. I think it places everyday documented and undocumented New Yorkers in jeopardy. 

When they approached that Customs Border Patrol officer, they didn't ask him if he was documented or undocumented. They didn't ask him what he did for a living. They came to harm him as they harmed other people. So I think we need to reexamine this. 

Question: You said yesterday you aren't responsible for sanctuary city laws. But as the mayor, how have you pushed to make any changes? 

Mayor Adams: I don't think— if there's one thing that's not a secret to all of you who cover me, pre-election, post-election. I've talked about this over and over again. We have communicated with the City Council. They made it clear they're not willing to change the law. They made it clear. So my job is to give proposals to get the law changed. That's my job. 

It is the job of the City Council and state lawmakers to do an analysis of how well laws are impacting us and then to make those changes. We take bad people off the street. Lawmakers must ensure they don't return back on our streets. We're doing our job. And now we need the other parts of the criminal justice system to do their job at the same time.

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