INCLUDEnyc’s mission is to promote positive futures and enhance the quality of life for New York City children and youth with disabilities, ages birth through 26, and their families. INCLUDEnyc empowers families of children and youth with disabilities with the knowledge, confidence, and skills to make informed decisions, effectively access and navigate systems and services, and advocate for themselves and other young people with disabilities and their families. INCLUDEnyc supports educators, youth workers, and other professionals to partner with families for successful, person-centered services, and to support and promote a family voice in the policy process. Our belief in love, equity, and access for all young people with disabilities fuels our commitment.
INCLUDEnyc promotes:
- Better learning outcomes to reduce the achievement gap between non-disabled youth and young people with disabilities. In 2023:
- 300,000+ students ages 3-21 in New York City receive special education support and services
- More than 65% of school-aged students with disabilities have learning disabilities
- 19% are educationally classified as having a developmental disability
- 75% are young people of color
- Nearly 40% of students with IEPs last school year did not graduate on time in 4 years
- Twice the number of general education students in Grades 3-8 tested proficient in Math, as did students with disabilities, and only 21% of students with disabilities tested proficient in English compared to 60% of general education students
- Increasing parental and youth decision-making, engagement, and partnership. In 2023, we:
- Provided free 1:1 support to families by answering 3,478 calls to our Help Line, including 1,354 inquiries about children under 5
- 16,500 people attended our workshops and events
- Reached 430,370 people in total
- Facilitated bi-weekly parent support groups in English and Spanish
- Expanded our focus on Early Childhood and Transition-aged students
- Directly served 120 youth in our Project Possibility program
- Helped develop personal self-advocacy skills with 200 high school students
- Trained close to 200 professionals on career development for students with disabilities
- Worked with schools and community school districts to build their capacity to engage families as a strategy to improve student outcomes
- In each borough, providing regional learnings, as well as targeted work with district-wide Committees on Preschool and School-age Special Education (CPSEs and CSEs) and schools–supporting a new look at family engagement as a way to meet goals of State performance plan (20-30 schools per borough)
- Advancing independence, interdependence, and community integration
- 65,000 students with disabilities spend the majority of their school days educated in segregated settings and self-contained classes despite the federal special education law requirement that services, accommodations, modifications, and specially designed instruction should be provided in the general education classroom to the greatest extent possible
- Two-thirds of adult New Yorkers with disabilities are jobless — being either unemployed or not in the labor market
INCLUDEnyc advocates for:
- Young people with disabilities to equitably participate in all federal and state-funded programs, including after-school, summer programs, and employment
- Access to quality public education to the greatest extent possible in a classroom that includes students without disabilities in the school they would attend if not disabled
- Fully inclusive policies, practices, and culture within public service systems so students with disabilities are no longer excluded and educated in segregated settings
- Stronger accountability structures and transparency for school districts on the timeliness and delivery of special education and disability services and the integration of students and young people with disabilities
As of June 2024
*INCLUDEnyc’s 2023 Annual Report
*NYCPS Annual Special Education Data Report – School Year 2022-2023
*NYCPS 2023 Graduation Rates
*American Community Survey Data