We would like to thank the Council’s Committees on Health and Mental Health, Disabilities, and Addiction, and Finance for holding this oversight hearing on the City’s FY2026 Executive Budget. My name is Lori Podvesker, and I am the Director of Policy at INCLUDEnyc. For over 41 years, INCLUDEnyc (formerly known as Resources for Children with Special Needs) has helped hundreds of thousands of NYC families navigate the complex special education service and support systems.
Today, we testify to urge the Council to fully fund the Autism Awareness Initiative in FY26.
Families with children on the autism spectrum accessing adequate services and support for their loved ones living at home has always been difficult and complicated. The pandemic and its aftermath made it even harder in the last five years. And we sadly expect it to become even more challenging in the upcoming years, with policy changes on the federal level already in the works, and with proposed cuts to Medicaid that will have devastating implications for students with disabilities at school, and for young children either waiting for evaluations to determine eligibility to receive Home and Community-Based Waiver services from the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities or for the children who already receivethem.
This funding will allow community-based organizations such as INCLUDEnyc to continue helping, supporting, and connecting children and families in dire need of information and support. In FY2024, our Help Line staff responded to over 1200 requests related to autism, including 400 of them for children under five years old. We held 32 autism-related workshops with over 1700 attendees, of which one-third were professionals. In addition, next week, on June 1st, we expect to host hundreds of children with autism and their families at our annual Outdoors for Autism, a sensory-friendly event for children on the autism spectrum and their families.
We urge the Council to restore funding to the Autism Awareness Initiative to the level it was funded at in FY23 and apply a 3% increase to help providers address the rising costs of providing services for a total investment of $3,416,351 in FY26. These funds provide vital resources for programs that often do not have any other City support. Thank you for taking the time today to consider this important matter. We look forward to partnering with you to improve equity and access for all young people with disabilities in New York City.
Sincerely,
Lori Podvesker
Director of Disability and Education Policy