B-Roll, Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces $5 Million to Expand Youth Programming for 16,000 Kids per Year and Support New Affordable Housing in Queens

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced $5 million in State funding to build a new Queens Boys & Girls Club Clubhouse in Astoria. The facility will be the largest in the State of New York and aims to serve 16,000 young people each year, more than seven times the current level. The investment builds on a previous $3 million in State funding from Empire State Development, and is part of Governor Hochul’s commitment to getting kids offline and providing them with resources to further their development.

B-ROLL: The Governor touring the Queens Boys & Girls Clubhouse in Astoria is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr has photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 How are you, good to see everyone. Wow, this is a spectacular occasion. I am so excited to be able to welcome all of you here. And I want to recognize Costa Constantinides, who I've known since his Assemblymember days or City Council days. And I want to thank you for being the driver of change in this neighborhood. And what we're going to be talking about is nothing short of extraordinary. Something that I know has been in the hearts of many of you for a long time, and I'm real excited about this.

I also want to acknowledge our Deputy Majority Leader, Senator Michael Gianaris is here. Senator Kristen Gonzalez has joined us. Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani has joined us all, and Donovan Richards, your Borough President.

Welcome to the future home of what'll be the largest boys and girls club in the entire State. Today more than 4,000 young New Yorkers already called this their home. That's already a huge number, but in New York we like to go big — go big or go home I say. How does serving 16,000 young people with a brand new 14-story facility sound? And I have to give a special shout out filled with love for our former Speaker, Peter Vallone. His connection — his father Charles Vallone, 70 years ago, was one of the people in this community who stood up and said, “We've got to have a place for kids to hang out. They’ve got to have a productive place and have adult supervision.” And he was one of the drivers of this, so to have him here today, witnessing this incredible announcement puts us on a path to having this facility refurbished, revitalized and renewed after 70 years. Let's give a special round of applause, please get on your feet and recognize his leadership.

It was back in 1955, Astoria was known as New York's Greek town.

[...]

Okay, but now it is one of the most diverse places in our entire state. Oh, the Greeks are still here. A lot of Italians are still here, but the whole world is here. They've discovered how fascinating this community is and I know that's really special. You're all so proud of it, and I want to make sure that we continue this pride in the community. People from almost 100 nations live right here. So you don't know who your neighbor is, but they're going to be someone really interesting, someone you never thought you would've encountered — that's the beauty of New York, which is why I cherish this place. We have neighborhoods like this, and it truly is a global melting pot. And again, how much we've grown in the last 70 years.

But something has not changed — our young people still need creative outlets. We need a place to go, we do not want them in the streets because sometimes trouble lurks in the streets. Bring them indoors, give them a place to just get to be friends with each other. And I'm also going to say this as someone who's so proud of what we did in our schools: Put down the cell phones and talk to each other, make some friends in person. We need this supportive, nurturing environment.

And also as New York's first mom Governor — did anybody know that? I say it like a hundred times a day, but it gives me a perspective that those who came before me just didn't have. About how important it is to get those environments for our young kids and let them know they have a place that's theirs, that they belong, no matter what's happening at home. And not every home life is just pristine and nurturing and wonderful. Sometimes kids have a hard life at home and this can be their home away from home. And that's what we've offered for 70 years, we're going to continue for the next 70 years. We want to make sure that every family has an opportunity to thrive.

And we're going to also focus on what's important to families in New York. And I know we've talked a lot about affordability, and I want to thank Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani for putting a special exclamation point on how hard it is for families struggling in this city — and why affordability measures are so critically important.

And I focus on this as well with my partners in State government. We started our last year out saying we have to do more inflation is just crushing our families. So I went back to the drawing board. What can we do to put more money back in people's pockets? We now have the largest tax rate cut for the middle class in 70 years going back to the beginning of this program. We also tripled the tax cut for families, the tax credit.

Now, when I first became Governor, do you know how much families could count on in their tax credit for newborns up to age four? Zero. Somebody, clearly not a mom, decided before me that, “Oh you don't really need help with paying for kids' expenses until they hit four years old. Oh, you don't need to buy diapers and formula, and the little outfits that they grow literally every three months.” Okay, we turn that around. Now those families as of this year in our budget can count on $1,000. $1,000 for every child under the age of four, $500 for the older kids. That's going to help families a lot.

Also statewide, free breakfast and lunches for every child across the entire State of New York. And you know what? There's a lot of happy parents who are not in their kitchen first thing in the morning, like, “I was sloping together some oatmeal or some toast, and we used to eat Captain Crunch — I know it's not healthy anymore.” But just making breakfast for the kids, trying to get them to eat, then having to make the school lunches and go grocery shopping for the peanut butter at 11 o'clock when you realize you ran out and you have to get to the store. We just gave all that time back to parents, as well as $1,600 per child that they're saving on the school lunches. So that's another way we put money back in pockets.

Inflation refund checks. Guess what? This month and next month, upwards of $400 is showing up in your pockets just in time for the holidays. That's how we're helping middle class families, going out to eight million households. I'm always going to keep fighting for families, and I met people in diners and restaurants and supermarkets who just want to know that there's people who get it.

My friends, the people up here get it, we're listening and we're delivering. So we're going to keep bringing down costs and helping out families and doing everything we can. And I want to thank all of our leaders once again. But you know what? It's also just essential that we take care of our kids — and working parents are struggling so much. I know about this because I almost was a working parent, except I couldn't find child care. And that is still a fight that my children are facing today, and young families are facing today.

And I look forward to working with these leaders. And I've had conversations with the Assemblymember Mamdani about how we can get to universal child care, I believe we can. I believe we have to have the will to do this. And we started that effort in my State of the State a year ago. So let's find the path forward and give people that sense of hope, that there’s people who understand their struggles. And make sure that we continue investing in what matters for our children, give them a healthy start in life.

And so, how do we get back to where we are today? I believe that revitalizing places and creating new spaces for gathering is really the key to helping our kids stay on the right path. And this Boys and Girls Club of Queens deals with affordability and safety for parents. Parents don't need to worry about where their kids are when they're here. They don't need to worry about paying for someone to watch their kids after school, this is where they come. And so I want to continue helping the dreams of this community be realized with a spectacular building that's going to be home for not just the 4,000 kids, as I mentioned, 16,000 kids. And just to help get over the finish line I'm announcing here today $5 million in discretionary funds to build a brand new clubhouse. And we'll be welcoming families here for generations to come.

A new sports arena, a swimming pool. I just saw the pool, we need a new swimming pool here and the very first planetarium in Queens, and so how about that? But also among my many conversations with Assemblyman Mamdani, we've also talked about the need for affordable housing. And my partners in government, our Senators, Kristen Gonzalez and Mike Gianaris, they also know that this has been a huge priority of ours. That we have to build more housing and give people the dignity and the safety and security of a home over their heads.

That's how a family starts out. You have that basic nurturing place where you can count on security, everybody's entitled to that. I had that as a kid, even when my parents started out living in a trailer park and I lived in a little tiny apartment, a little upstairs flat when I was little with my parents and brother. And our family kept getting bigger and bigger — we’re Irish Catholic — it got bigger and bigger.

But you know what? I never had a worry that once I got inside the door of my house that I wouldn't be safe. Every child needs that security blanket, they'd wrap around a child and so many of the families find themselves on the streets. The number of kids that are homeless in our shelters is just so sad for a mom or anybody. So I know we're going to build more affordable housing. We're talking about this very place, going beyond just giving parents a place to know their kids are safe after school, but now a new home for over 200 families.

Two hundred affordable housing units will also be built on this site. And there's also special populations that need attention. You think about someone who didn't have that security, didn't have a stable home life, bouncing in and out of foster care their entire lives, and all of a sudden they hit the magic age, emancipation. You're on your own, good luck kid. Where are they supposed to go?

They didn't have role models. They didn't have someone making sure they got what they needed. Maybe no one put them on a path for career and technical education or path toward college or a job, they need a home as well. And that's the depth of compassion we show with initiatives like this. We care about everyone in this state.

And these young adults who've aged out need a place to live. So the future of this place, this magnificent place — this jewel in the community for the last 70 years is going to shine even brighter with these investments that we're making today. And we look back and people will bring their children and grandchildren here and say, “This is where I got my start.”

And I want to make sure that they know that there's people in this community today who care as deeply about our children as Peter Vallone’s father, Judge Charles Vallone, did 70 years ago. Those people still exist, who put community and families first.

And so I thank everyone for joining us here today. This is a future home I know of successful people. Our next generation of doctors, professors, and political leaders, and anything they want to set their minds to they're going to be able to accomplish because they have this environment. So we're going to let this happen, happening right here in Queens and let them know that they got their start here at a place where people care about them.

And I want to thank everyone who believes in the dream of this place. Let's get back together again for an incredible groundbreaking, then a ribbon cutting, and then open the doors to all the children. Congratulations, everybody. Thank you, thank you.

And let me bring up the Deputy Majority Leader of the New York State Senate, Mike Gianaris.