8/14/2019 Agudah Letter to Mayor Bloomberg -- Priority 7

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June 4, 2009

BY FAX AND REGULAR MAIL

Honorable Michael R. BloombergMayor of the City of New YorkCity HallNew York, NY 10007

Dear Mr. Mayor:

At the outset, please allow me to reiterate, on behalf of Agudath Israel of Americaand those who gathered for our organizations recent 87th Anniversary Dinner, how muchwe appreciated the fact that you took time out of your busy schedule to be with us thatevening and serve as our guest speaker. Your message was on target, and deeplyappreciated. Your friendship to our community is precious to us.

Earlier this week, as you may have heard, Agudath Israel convened a meeting ofyeshiva representatives to discuss the proposed elimination of funding for the Priority 7

ACS child care vouchers. Close to a hundred school officials, whose schools service tensof thousands of children, attended the meeting. They were all deeply concerned about theproposed elimination of the Priority 7 category, which will have a devastating impact (tothe tune of an estimated $15 million) on needy Orthodox Jewish parents whose childrenattend their schools.

The point was made at the meeting that there was surely never any intention onyour part to propose a budget cut that would fall disproportionately on any one particularethnic or religious community. But the reality is that elimination of Priority 7 would doprecisely that. That is because many of the children whose care is funded under Priority 7come from large two-parent families where the father is working and the mother is home

with three or four pre-school age children (and very possibly pregnant to boot!), making itvirtually impossible for her to cope without child care benefits. There is no demographicgroup in New York City that fits that profile more than the Orthodox/Hasidic communities and indeed the statistics bear out that the large majority of Priority 7 vouchers have beendistributed within the heavily Orthodox/Hasidic neighborhoods of Brooklyn.

8/14/2019 Agudah Letter to Mayor Bloomberg -- Priority 7

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Honorable Michael R. BloombergJune 4, 2009Page Two

You may recall, Mr. Mayor, that we have been through this before. Priority 7 wasthe target of elimination as far back as 2002 but when it was called to your attention thatmost of the Priority 7 beneficiaries were members of one particular community, youcommendably rescinded its proposed elimination.

The participants in this weeks meeting felt that, as the budgetary process movesforward, it would be helpful if a small group of Orthodox leaders could have a chance tomeet with you for a face-to-face discussion of this serious matter. Your kind considerationof this request, and your personal attention to the important issue we are placing beforeyou, will be deeply appreciated. I look forward to hearing back from your office soon.

Sincerely,

David Zwiebel, Esq.Executive Vice President

DZ/aa

cc: Deputy Mayor Linda GibbsCommissioner John B. MattinglyMr. Fred Kreizman