Last month, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano used a partisan squabble over redistricting and county borrowing as an excuse to cut all county funding for youth services, including programs that served at-risk, low-income, and immigrant children.
While Mangano has tried to portray the blow to youth services as a casualty of partisan dealmaking, the $3.8 million cuts were part of a $45 million deficit-reduction plan that he announced Monday.
He has said the cuts could be restored, but that it would “require a bipartisan effort”; in other words, if his demands are met, he’ll consider throwing a few dollars to the county’s most vulnerable. He seems unburdened by the social fallout that the cuts are causing already, as service providers lay off staff and shutter programs.
In recent weeks, hundreds have attended protests outside county government offices in Mineola, laying blame on both Democrats and Republicans for allowing the cuts.
Youth, parents, and community leaders are still taking to the streets. On Thursday, August 2, more groups will speak out against what they’re calling “Ed Mangano’s Youth Tax,” holding memorial services and an 11am press conference in Hempstead “in memory of the victims.”
