Council Members and staff to flyer neighborhoods with empty UPK seats
More Than 5,000 Seats Still Available

October 28th, 2008 – Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Council Members and City Council staff announce the kick off of a two day Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) outreach ground campaign to encourage parents to sign their children up for available free UPK seats before the October 31st deadline. Currently, about 5100 half day and full day UPK seats are available for children who turn four years of age by December 31, 2008. Available UPK seats are located at public schools, child care centers contracted by the Administration for Children’s Services and community-based organizations contracted by the Department of Education. UPK offers flexibility in that families can enroll their children in available seats located where they live, where they work, where they go to school or wherever it is convenient for them.

To kick off the start of the two day outreach campaign, Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson handed out flyers first thing Tuesday morning to New York City residents that may be parents of children in need of a UPK seat or may be the neighbor, colleague or relative of someone with a four year old child. Speaker Quinn and Council Member Jackson distributed the flyers at the corner of 137th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, a neighborhood with available UPK seats. The flyers tell New Yorkers about the availability of UPK seats and the numbers to call or website to visit to find out where and how to sign a child up. Following the Speaker’s lead, Council Members Fidler, Comrie, Yassky, Dilan, Koppell, Martinez, Barron, Addabbo, Stewart, Seabrook, Reyna, James, Vann, Gonzalez, de Blasio, Eugene, Mealy, Gentile, Vacca, White, and Ignizio will hand out flyers or direct members of their staff to distribute information within their neighborhoods over the course of the final few days before the October 31st deadline. Additionally, the Speaker will direct members of her staff to distribute flyers throughout the City. This ground campaign will be a final push aimed at reaching New Yorkers in the places that they both live and work to capture those in need of a UPK seat for their child.

“It has been a priority of mine since I became speaker to ensure that all four-year olds in New York City that want to attend a UPK program have that option,” said Speaker Christine C. Quinn. “I encourage all New Yorkers to look out for City Council Members and staff handing out flyers in their neighborhoods, to visit the Department of Education website or call 311 or 1-888-469-5999 over these next couple of days so we can all work together as we try to fill as many of these empty seats as we can before October 31st. Early childhood education is integral to the future development of our city’s young people, and is one of the most critical factors in determining future success.”

“It is critical that we work to inform parents that there are still UPK seats available for children that need them, and that the October 31st deadline is fast approaching, said Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson. “Pre-K education is the first step in helping children to succeed in school and beyond, and provides a crucial foundation for our City’s children. I am thrilled that both Council Members and staff are making a final push and coming together in this last week before the UPK deadline to inform New Yorkers and get as many of the remaining UPK seats filled.”

Since 2002, the number of four-year-olds enrolled in UPK has increased by more that 14,000 with more that 58,000 available slots this year. The Bloomberg administration and the City Council have worked collaboratively to increase access to pre-kindergarten programs and to ensure their quality over the past six years. However, the majority of funding for UPK comes from state funds. Last year, the City had to send $30 million back to the state because UPK seats went unused. Although October 31st is not the last day for families to enroll their four-year olds, it is the last day that the City can receive the full reimbursement from the State for enrolled children. The outreach effort being announced today is aimed at making sure that prior to October 31st, families that want and need UPK sites for their children access them, and that this much needed State money is utilized.

To find out more about UPK in general and available UPK seats in their neighborhood before the October 31st deadline, New Yorkers can call 1-888-469-5999, 311 or visit www.nyc.gov or the Department of Education website at http://schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/PreK/default.htm.