Agenda for Children Tomorrow (ACT), grew out of a 1988 Task Force formed by the Manhattan Borough President’s Office to examine the implementation of recommendations to improve the delivery of health and human services. The Task Force was comprised of public and private human service providers and philanthropists who met to develop strategies to improve the delivery of health and social services to children and families in New York City.

The Task Force published “Untangling Family Services,” a report with recommendations which addressed the fragmentation of services targeted to high-risk communities and families. ACT indentified several key components of the report which included the need for mayoral support of the effort’s policies, programs and public/private cooperation. Another critical recommendation emphasized by ACT was the creation of a locally-based planning process to coordinate the efforts of human service and economic development programs in designated neighborhoods.

1. Prepare detailed profiles of the communities;
2. Provide a transitional planner to help the communities form a collaborative made up of a planning group of service providers, local leaders, and neighborhood residents;
3. Assist the collaborative to develop a list of community needs and a plan to address those needs and;
4. Provide an ACT-funded permanent planner to assist the coalition's efforts to implement the community plan.

To put the need in perspective, in 1989 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.

ACT’s founding Executive Director Eric Brettschneider had been instrumental in the creation of the Task Force and the design and implementation of the improved delivery systems. Eric brought to ACT a long career in child welfare and human resources that included Deputy Commissioner for Special Services for Children, part of the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA). He was known for his progressive vision of comprehensive, preventive services; advocating for the avoidance of sibling separation in foster care; starting minority-controlled child welfare agencies; and beginning the movement toward decentralized, community driven, and integrated social service provision. Eric’s team included Anthea McLaughlin who brought direct service as well as managerial experience in human services in agencies including Good Shepherd Services, Harlem Dowling; Community Resource Exchange and the Edward Hazen Foundation.

ACT began its work by creating data profiles of ten of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods. These 10 communities were selected for the development of ACT Collaboratives which aimed to revitalize the community and improve the quality and accessibility of services for children and families.

Bronx CD 1 – Mott Haven

Bronx CD 6 – East Tremont

Brooklyn CD 3 – Bedford-Stuyvesant

Brooklyn CD 4 – Bushwick

Brooklyn CD 5 – East New York

Manhattan CD 10 – Central Harlem

Manhattan CD 11 – East Harlem

Manhattan CD 12 – Washington Heights/Inwood

Queens CD 12 – Jamaica/Hollis

Staten Island CD 1 – North Shore

Five ACT Collaboratives were created in the neighborhoods of Mott Haven, Bushwick, Bedford Stuyvesant, Jamaica, and Washington Heights. With the ACT Local Planners to help communities develop and implement their plans and operate their Collaboratives, ACT connected communities with City and State agencies to expedite solutions to address community needs. ACT’s approach improved the access of participating communities to policy makers and facilitated the procurement of needed services.

A sample of the accomplishments achieved by the ACT Collaboratives include: an infusion of funds for economic development and homelessness prevention, the creation of a credit union, the design of a case conferencing model, the formation of an early childcare coalition and intergenerational programming.

Based on the model of ACT’s Collaboratives, in 2001 the New York City Administration for Children Services (ACS) developed Neighborhood Networks in 25 distinct Service Planning Areas across the city to analyze and improve the local delivery of child welfare services to families. In 2006, ACT advised ACS in its implementation of the Community Partnership Initiative (a modification of neighborhood networks) which developed coalitions in 11 neighborhoods to improve child welfare outcomes in that community. Again, following ACT’s model, ACS required and supported the hiring of Network Liaisons for each coalition.

ACT is involved in a number of projects, all of which incorporate principles of service integration, neighborhood based services, community building and family engagement. Moving away from operating collaboratives, ACT helps city government and private human service providers develop and refine initiatives so they are responsive and inclusive of all types of communities. Projects range from capacity building and technical assistance for coalitions and organizations, early child care advocacy and coalition building, parent involvement in schools and improved services for immigrant communities.

ACT continues to rely on public and private sponsorship and has not created an independent organizational structure. ACT participates in the Fund for the City of New York’s Incubator Program, benefitting from the Fund’s technical and administrative expertise and fiscal sponsorship. ACT’s Advisory Board, consisting of 13 members from the field of philanthropy, private industry and the public and non-public sectors, serves the same functions as a board of directors. Housed in the offices of ACS, ACT benefits both from the visibility of the connections of its public agency auspice and yet retains a critical degree of independency by relying on private funding, as well.