Poughkeepsie Community Action Collaborative

Hello Beautiful Humans and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We have made it to a new chapter in our lives, let's prosper and make this our year! We are having our monthly PCAC Meeting TOMORROW 1/5/2022 at 6pm. EMAIL [email protected] for THE ZOOM LINK!!!

As you all know the Common Council passed an amendment to the city's budget that included OVER ONE MILLION DOLLARS for youth services and development. This represents a year-over-year increase of 640%.

Please join us tomorrow to discuss this great win! The agenda for tomorrow's meeting is as follows:
1. Youth Program Funding Initiative SUCCESS and next steps. (30 min)
2. Presentation on Affordable Housing Project (Wallace Campus)- this would be Poughkeepsie's largest affordable housing project ever (186 units) if it receives planning board approval on 1/18/21. That approval is in question and will require community support. (30 min)
3. Following up with our work on police reform and other potential initiatives for 2022. (30 min)
CONGRATULATIONS TO US ALL AND SEE YOU TOMORROW!!!

-Isis Benitez
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Isis Benitez
Co- Administrator
Poughkeepsie Community Action Collaborative
[email protected]

EquitableFuture.org

Peace Family!

The PCAC has created a petition, Invest in Poughkeepsie’s Future- Invest in Our Youth! Please add your signature and share with as many people as you can https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/invest-in-poughkeepsies-future-invest-in-our-youth/! As many of you know, there was a shooting outside the high school yesterday, and another shooting on Smith St. in the evening. This follows on the heels of a single week that saw eight shooting victims in the city. We can no longer undertake reactive measures alone- WE MUST TAKE CONTROL OF CONDITIONS and intentionally create an atmosphere of opportunity and a continuum of interventions and support services for our youth!

We implore you all to do the following:

ATTEND THE COMMON COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING THIS THURSDAY, 11/18, at 6:30pm https://cityofpoughkeepsie.com/Calendar.aspx?EID=389&month=11&year=2021&day=16&calType=0. There should be a link to the meeting in the near future. At the beginning of the meeting there will be time for public comment- just raise your hand and you will be called on. This committee will review the administration’s proposed budget and request amendments before it’s voted on, so this is probably the most important meeting you can attend concerning this youth spending initiative.
Attend a community meeting this Friday, 11/19, from 6:00-7:30pm, where we’ll discuss and formulate a strategy to efficiently organize and mobilize before the budget is passed in mid-December. For the Zoom link please email [email protected].
Sign the petition and share with as many people and organizations as possible (our goal is at least 1,000 signatures by Dec. 1) https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/invest-in-poughkeepsies-future-invest-in-our-youth/;
Write the common council ([email protected]) and mayor ([email protected]) to demand that they drastically increase the amount we invest in our youth from less than 0.5% to 2%-3% or $2-$3 million dollars. If you have questions about what to write, you can use the petition as a guide or reply to this email for suggestions;


In the past, the city has spent little to nothing (yes, $0) on youth programming, demonstrating an utter unwillingness to engage with the community on this issue. When an effectively non-existent piece of the pie is offered to address an issue, the conversation surrounding it will inherently be non-existent. We fully recognize that specifics on how any amount of funding will be spent are critical, but at the same time we hope everyone can understand that it will take a significant financial commitment from our elected officials, a tangible amount of ownership of this city and its future by the community, for our community to become engaged in such conversations. We must demand this investment and demand that this conversation begin in earnest if we want to change the conditions we set for our young people to live and grow within.

Invest in Poughkeepsie’s Future - Invest in Our Youth! In the City of Poughkeepsie, violence is rising, our graduation rates have been and continue to be painfully low, poverty is worsening, large sections of the city are in decay, and opportunity is difficult to come by. The last 5-year American Community Survey from 2019 showed that 25.9% of City of P...