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An overwhelming turnout of over 1,100 family members and children filled the auditorium and marched outside the building during the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) community rally at P.S. 124 on May 10, 2012.
Many carried signs that said such things as "Save our afterschool programs! Save our Children," "We need affordable childcare so we can work!" and "Can't U C why we love CPC?"
As the auditorium quickly reached capacity, a crowd of over 300 people outside the school chanted and shouted for restoration of Mayor Bloomberg's devastating budget cuts, which will wipe out CPC's four early childcare centers (Garment Industry Day Care, Chung Pak Day Care, Jacob Riis Child Care, Little Star of Broome Street) and three afterschool programs (Confucius Plaza OST at PS 124, Pike Street OST at PS 2, Queens Day Care at PS 20) this year. Petitions were also signed and circulated through the crowds.
Many community leaders came to show their support including Council Member Margaret Chin, Council Member Rosie Mendez, State Senator Daniel Squadron, NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Representatives from the offices of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
After speaking at the rally indoors, Council Member Chin and Speaker Silver pressed on outside of P.S. 124 with the gathered crowd on the sidewalk.
"We are committed to making sure that daycare doesn't close, and that after school programs don't close in lower Manhattan," proclaimed Senator Squadron. "We've all grown up in this community...We want parents to go to work knowing that their children are taken care of after school, that their children are getting the opportunities to learn, so that they won't have to work as hard as their parents in order to support their families when they grow up."
Other community speakers in attendance were Andrea Anthony, Head of the Day Care Council of New York; Tren Ngo, from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce; Sonia Toledo, Dignity of Children; and Sunny Moy, Asian American Youth Center/Friends of Columbus Park.
Watch video from the CPC community rally at P.S. 124:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgN_YDwhhFA&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsjqnVatXIo&feature=plcp
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