The Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, FJCC, thanked Governor Andrew Cuomo for choosing our Flatbush neighborhood to push his major new initiative to assist struggling parents with education tuition tax credits.

As the largest Jewish community in New York State, Flatbush is home to numerous Yeshivas and families with children in private schools. The Governor’s event was held at Yeshivat Shaarei Torah on Coney Island Ave, led by Dean Rabbi Hillel Haber and Headmaster Rabbi Richard Altabe.‎ FJCC leaders in attendance included Malcolm Hoenlein, Josh Mehlman, Peter Rebenwurzel, Yitzchok Fuchs,‎ Mordy Avigdor, Rabbi Mendel Schechter, Ephraim Nirenberg and Chaskel Bennett.

Agudath Israel of America has been leading the fight for tuition assistance for many years and the FJCC salutes their effort in helping to organize the Governor’s event and their ongoing work to pass meaningful tuition relief legislation.‎

Governor Cuomo stated that he will need the State Assembly and Senate to pass the bill, and urged constituents to call and write local legislators to get it passed. The Governor advised parents to use the website www.InevestInED.org to automatically email their local legislators‎.

Chaskel Bennett, FJCC co-founder stated, “As we witnessed today, Governor Cuomo is making education opportunities for all students, a very high priority. This is a ongoing battle Agudath‎ Israel of ‎America, our elected representatives and Jewish activists have been waging for decades going back to Rabbi Moshe Sherer Z’L. It will take serious work to pass this legislation and the opposition from the teachers unions is already intense. Now is our moment to come together. ‎We need the help of yeshiva parents, community members and leaders from across the state to make this happen.”

(YWN Desk – NYC)