Advocates, the comptroller’s office and representatives from the International Network for Public Schools urged the council to remove enrollment barriers for newly arrived and unaccompanied youth and to increase specialized transfer seats for newcomers.

Laura Lai, senior policy analyst in the New York City Comptroller’s office, noted that the city’s youth‑in‑crisis population increased sharply during the asylum‑seeker wave and that an often‑overlooked group is unaccompanied youth aged roughly 16 to 24. Lai told the committee that family welcome centers can be difficult to navigate for youth without parents or counselors to guide them and said she has received reports of students being turned away or steered toward GED programs despite state guidance that districts may not force a GED on a student.

International Network testimony and Project Open Arms

Lara Evangelista of the Internationals Network described direct partnerships with transfer schools through a Project Soaring initiative and urged continued support for schools that serve multilingual learners and newly arrived students. DOE officials and advocates discussed Project Open Arms (also called Project Soaring in testimony) as an effort to coordinate services for detained or vulnerable migrant students; DOE said it has used MOUs and regular interagency meetings with ACS, DHS and NYC Health + Hospitals to coordinate services for foster, shelter and asylum‑seeking students.

Restart and middle‑school gaps

Legal services and advocates told the committee that limited restart programs affect over‑age middle‑schoolers. DOE provided a restart enrollment snapshot: the restart overall enrollment is 378, including 83 eighth‑grade students, and said it will provide a more detailed grade‑by‑grade breakdown on request. Advocates urged DOE to expand restart capacity and to reinstate a transfer‑school directory and clearer referral processes at family welcome centers.

Why it matters

Newcomer and unaccompanied youth can arrive without family guidance and face language and documentation obstacles. Advocates argued that more seats, improved outreach and clearer, up‑to‑date information at family welcome centers would reduce delays that can push students away from re‑enrolling in school.

Next steps

Council members asked DOE and advocates to collaborate on improving training at family welcome centers, expanding multilingual intake capacity and sharing a public directory of transfer schools and available seats. DOE agreed to follow up with data and to continue interagency coordination for students in foster care, temporary housing and detention.