About DYCD

Our Mission

The New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) invests in a network of community-based organizations and programs to alleviate the effects of poverty and to provide opportunities for New Yorkers and communities to flourish.
 
DYCD supports New York City youth and their families by funding a wide range of high-quality youth and community development programs, including:

  • Afterschool
  • Beacon and Cornerstone Community Centers
  • Discretionary Contracts
  • Fatherhood
  • Family Support
  • Immigrant Services
  • Literacy Services
  • Neighborhood Development Areas
  • Office of Neighborhood Safety
  • Runaway and Homeless Youth
  • Youth Workforce Development

Our Approach to Equity

DYCD’s Equity Statement serves to provide background and rationale to support our values, and to make our agency’s position clear to anyone reading it.

DYCD set a goal of becoming a proactive anti-racist and inclusive City agency.

This includes:
  • Exploring how DYCD funds communities
  • Marketing and support for our consulting organizations that are led by Women and Minorities
  • Investing in increased Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training for DYCD staff
  • Revising and operationalizing our Equity Statement
With support from our Technical Assistance providers and input from DYCD staff and external partners, we revised our Equity Statement to reflect the new DYCD and our agency values.

Equity Statement:

The NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) strives to alleviate the effects of poverty and provide opportunities for New Yorkers to reach their full potential. We acknowledge that institutional racism and discrimination have been and remain significant drivers of poverty and inequities in New York City neighborhoods. We recognize the role that the policies and practices of systems and institutions, including NYC government agencies such as DYCD, may play in perpetuating structural inequities.​

​In response, we commit to evaluate internal and external DYCD policies and practices that have allowed structural inequities to persist, which can inform our goal of equitable implementation of operational, administrative, and programmatic functions, and distribution of financial resources. ​

We are committed to the goal of becoming an anti-racist city agency, recognizing this will be a journey and commitment that requires sustained efforts of analysis and accountability. As a learning organization, we will hold ourselves accountable and adhere to our Guiding Principles. When we make mistakes along the way, we will acknowledge them, adapt, and continue to move forward.​

Our vision is a New York City in which everyone flourishes, and outcomes are not determined by race, age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, immigration status, income, marital status, national origin, religion/creed, or sexual orientation.​


DYCD Guiding Principles

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Opportunities for all

Prioritizing investments to help eliminate disparities in under-resourced communities and to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers.


Stewardship

Responsible management of City resources by valuing accountability, integrity and transparency, and delivering impactful results.

Holistic approaches

Serving the whole person or family either directly or through strategic collaborations.

Being a learning organization

Fostering professional development, continuous quality improvement, and a culture of excellence and adaptability for ourselves and those we serve.

Integrity

Honoring and expecting ethical behavior of ourselves and others.

Strategic relationships

Growing and maintaining relationships with community-based organizations that are respected by their neighbors and peers, and culturally aligned with the populations they serve.

Inclusiveness

Building a staff that mirrors New York City itself, and encouraging and inspiring the organizations we support to provide quality services to all communities, in safe, accepting environments with staff who are supportive, welcoming and trustworthy.

Community voice

Promoting civic engagement and an open exchange of communication to inform communities – empowering them to self-advocate for necessary resources for community development, growth, stability and greater self-sufficiency.


Download DYCD's Organizational Chart

DYCD strives to improve the quality of life of New Yorkers by collaborating with local organizations and investing in the talents and assets of our communities to help them develop, grow and thrive.


NYC Programs & Initiatives