<p> Youth Funding Vetoes</p><p>About the Youth Resource Development Corporation</p><p>The Youth Resource Development Corporation (YRDC), located in Poughkeepsie, is a community-based not-for-profit organization committed to fostering an environment that enables youth to excel and to meeting the employment and training needs of our region's youth.</p><p>Using a proven "service learning" model, YRDC serves over 300 young people each year. In a structured setting focused on concrete, attainable goals, we bring together youth from diverse backgrounds and connect them with organizations that provide essential services in our community.</p><p>In this unique partnership, young men and women learn foundation skills that prepare them for the future, gain valuable work experience, and come to appreciate the importance of community service.</p><p>YRDC’s programs include YouthWorks, an alternative education and job preparation program for youth who have dropped out of school or are in danger of dropping out; the Youth Development and Employment Preparation Program (YDEPP), a career exploration and structured internship program for high school youth; and Poughkeepsie’s Promise @ PHS, a multi-faceted after-school program for youth at Poughkeepsie High School.</p><p>How YRDC is impacted by the budget vetoes</p><p>YRDC is funded by a variety of sources, including several contracts with state agencies. These contracts fund programs and services which are preventative in nature. The intervention these contracts make possible avoid longer-term, more costly alternatives such as engagement with the criminal justice system, incarceration, dependency on public assistance and chronic unemployment.</p><p>Among the state contracts currently held by YRDC, three are impacted by the budget impasse. All three contracts are with the New York State Department of Labor. All three contracts are multi-year with program years beginning on September 1st. None of them are due to expire. Despite this, YRDC received less than two weeks notice that all three contracts were not going to be honored after August 31st. Two of them are funded with YEETP funding vetoed by Governor Pataki. The third is funded out of the Department of Labor’s general funds. </p><p>Had the budget passed in a timely manner, we would have had several months to work through the veto impasse before feeling an immediate impact. The timing of this decision by Governor Pataki could not have been worse, however, and has left our agency and the young people we serve with very few alternatives. Together these contract total $538,000, or almost 50% of our annual budget for this fiscal year. Adding to this reality are the facts that these cuts came with no notice and despite the fact that we have multi-year contracts on which we have performed ably.</p><p>What the consequences could be</p><p>Without a prompt resolution, our agency, with celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, faces the very real possibility of closing.</p><p>Our agency fills a unique role in our community. We do not duplicate services offered by other agencies. Even before this impasse, we have had to consistently turn some young people away. Even before this impasse, the demand for our services was greater than we could meet.</p><p>We have worked hard to develop a specific competence in working with hard to serve older youth. If we were to shut our doors, there is not another agency in our community who could “pick up the slack.” Over 300 young people, many of them at high risk for negative behaviors such as drug abuse, incarceration and dropping out of high school, would find themselves on the street. The cost to their lives, and to all of us as taxpayers, would be much greater in the long term.</p><p>For More Information please contact: Youth Resource Development Corporation - Richard Heyl-DeOrtiz (845) 473-5005 x 112</p>