Big boost in battle against poverty
$4M from NoVo Foundation will go toward breaking cycle
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Ulster County’s efforts to break the cycle of generational poverty has been given a boost in the form of $4 million from the NoVo Foundation that will benefit several county initiatives.
The Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley will administer the funding, County Executive Michael Hein said.
The money will used over the next two years to fund Hein’s “Brighter Future Initiative,” a series of interconnected programs and projects that Hein said will “fundamentally disrupt generational poverty throughout the county.”
Hein announced the funding stream on Monday, the same day the state’s “Raise the Age” law took effect, moving most 16-year-olds charged with crimes out of the adult criminal justice system and into Family Court. Raising the age for criminal prosecution for misdemeanors and most nonviolent felonies to 16 is the first part of legislation that ultimately will raise New York’s age of criminal responsibility to 18.
“For far too many kids, being born into poverty becomes a life sentence of poor health, low educational opportunity, disproportionate incarceration, low wages and even premature death,” Hein said. “But I refuse to accept that generational poverty is inevitable, and I believe we can do something about it.”
Over the course of the past several years, Hein has spearheaded efforts to improve the quality of life for the impoverished, including relocating the SUNY Ulster satellite campus to the former Sophie Finn Elementary School in Kingston, directly behind Kingston High School, giving many students easy access to higher education; and creating the Restorative Justice and Community Empowerment Center in Midtown to provide “life-altering programs” for at-risk youths who find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
Additionally, the county is moving forward with the conversion of a portion of the former Ulster & Delaware rail corridor between Cornell Street and Kingston Plaza into what will become the Midtown Linear Park, which Hein has said will provide a safe route for people who don’t have vehicles to reach Kingston’s major supermarket, Hannaford, in Kingston Plaza.
Hein said $300,000 of the NoVo funding will be used to “fill the funding gap” for the development of that trail.
An additional $700,000 will be used for the creation of a park and children’s playground adjacent to the linear park. Hein said the county is working with the city on development of that park, which, he said, will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and “provide, really, the only place in Midtown Kingston for children to play.”
Hein said the remaining $3 million will be spent over the next two years on programs that include enhanced educational programming, job training, mentoring, tutoring and mental health services.