Low-Income Community Leaders React to Budget Agreement

NEW YORK, NY (03/28/2011)(readMedia)-- Leaders of Community Voices Heard (CVH) issued the following statement this evening in response to the announced state budget agreement. CVH has been working to ensure that our elected representatives would represent the full array of New Yorkers, not just the richest 3%.

AGNES RIVERA, Community Voices Heard Board Co-Chair

--> A revenue crisis, not a spending crisis

"We elected this Governor, but he's acting like he's been selected by his millionaire buddies. They get together and balance the budget on our backs, low-income folks. It's not the way to run the state. If the Governor wants to help the state, he should be cutting a deal to create jobs and get better education for youth. This is a revenue crisis not a spending crisis, and it should be about finding new sources of revenue, not making it worse for folks."

GLORIA WILSON, Community Voices Heard Member-Leader

--> Impact on seniors

"Tax breaks for millionaires are taking revenue from the budget and that affects my seniors, because now we have to deal with more cuts in services, like senior centers, home care, and health care. These folks act like they aren't going to get old. I wish they would talk to low-income seniors before they make these deals!"

--> Disconnect between the Governor and low-income families

"If the situation was the same, if the Governor's parents had been low-income people or immigrants, would he balance the budget on their backs?"

DIANE BLANFORD, Community Voices Heard Member-Leader

--> Impact of the budget on youth and lack of fairness

"Everything with this budget is depressing. Budget cuts for youth services and no summer jobs for youth, while the millionaires gain from the deal. Where's our fair share?"

--> The fight is not over

"It's not fair to always have the budgets balanced on our backs while the millionaires get away with tax breaks. The Governor thinks the fight is over, but for low-income folks, the fight has only just begun!"

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Community Voices Heard (CVH) is an organization of low-income people, predominantly women with experience on welfare, working to build power in New York City and State to improve the lives of our families and communities. We are working to accomplish this through a multi-pronged strategy, including public education, grassroots organizing, leadership development, training low-income people about their rights, political education, civic engagement and direct-action issue campaigns. We are currently working on welfare reform, job creation, public housing and other economic justice issues that affect low-income people, particularly low-income women of color. While we focus on welfare reform, we broadly define welfare activism to be multi-issue, and thus must include issues such as education, training, jobs, housing, economic development and other community issues. We fill a crucial gap in that our organization connects public policy with grassroots organizing and leadership development. More info available at www.CVHaction.org.