Honorable Andrew Cuomo Executive Chamber State Capital Albany, NY 12224 Dear Governor Cuomo: We write to request changes to your state budget and also to highlight specific changes that would support education, the justice system, MWBE, ELL, minimum wage, and school age children. However, we begin by acknowledging our support for a number of your proposals. We appreciate that your budget reflects an increase in minimum wages, as well as a 4.4% growth in education aid. We know that the budget for the 2013 fiscal year will be finalized over the next several weeks, and that difficult decisions must be made about how to allocate the State’s limited resources in this time of great need. Toward that end, as Chair of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus we respectfully request that you include the following items in the Executive Budget through the 30-day amendment process:

• $250,000 for the Record Repair Counseling Corps initiative, a program of CSS. This program recruits community volunteers-who are supervised by CSS staff and attorneys – to help individuals request, understand, and fix errors with their criminal records, putting them in the best position possible to seek and keep employment.
• Increase Summer Youth Employment Program by 5%. Currently, the program is funded at a flat $25 million and we feel that this amount will not be sufficient to meet the needs of unemployed youth in the summer months.
• Support ELL and ESL programs as a major workforce development strategy for immigrant workers – immigrants recognize that learning to speak English is the single most important thing they can do to succeed, economically in New York.
• Include $5.5 million of TANF funds in order to maintain the Advanced Technology Training And Information Networking Program (ATTAIN). Since 1999, the ATTAIN program has helped minorities by leveling the educational playing field and providing increased community access to education, training and technology resources.