Create services for children and families that are comprehensive, non-duplicative, accessible, supportive of families' needs, and easy to use; and to connect economic development, housing, employment and resources to families within NYC neighborhoods.

Description:
ACT's mission is to create and evaluate community district-based collaborative groups of health and social service providers, consumers, and concerned others in order to create services for children and families that are comprehensive, non-duplicative, accessible, supportive of families' needs and easy to use; and to connect economic development, housing and employment decision-making and resources to this network.

Recognizing that children's development is economically, physically, emotionally, and spiritually linked to the health of a neighborhood, ACT helps each community rediscover its hidden strengths and potential assets, and find its own solutions to meet its own needs.

ACT brings together neighborhood residents, service providers, community and business leaders and local government officials in an alliance where all share the same goal: to make life better for the neighborhood's families and children.

History:
In 1989, the ACT Project Task Force brought together more than 100 leaders from New York City's philanthropic and social service communities to assess the implementation of public recommendations to improve the delivery of health and social services to children. For more than a decade, commissions and panels under public, independent, and joint auspices had looked at the quality of services for children and families. Yet by 1989, the situation for poor children and families in New York City was disastrous. Child abuse reports stood at almost 58,000, and infant mortality rates in some neighborhoods were two to three times the national rate. The city's foster care population was at an all time high with more than 47,000 children in care. Foster children were routinely placed in care far from their home communities, disrupting their schooling and friendships and making parental visits and family reunification difficult.

Contact person: Sandy March, Executive Director, (212) 487-8284, (email)
Office fax number: (212) 487-8581

Address:

2 Washington STreet, 20th Floor New York, NY 10004 (See a map)

Directions:

4/5 Trains - Downtown to Bowling Green Station - Exit out of Battery Pl, Broadway Exit - Walk west towards West St. 2 blocks on Battery Place - Make a right on Washington Street (one block before West St.) - Continue south to 2 Washington St. Administration for. . . (more)   Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: 4,5,1,2, R,W,   Walk distance (in minutes): 3