State Reps Will Rally Outside Carroll Gardens School To Stop Health Center Closures

CARROLL GARDENS, BROOKLYN — Two state representatives will hold a rally outside of a Carroll Gardens school on Wednesday to protest the possible closure of school-based health centers in the city.

Reps. Jo Anne Simon and Bobby Carroll will appear outside of PS 146 on Henry Street, which houses the Brooklyn New School and Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies on Wednesday.

Both schools are in danger of losing their shared health center, which provides care to students who attend the school regardless of their health insurance or immigration status.

A cut in state funding and a change to the state's Medicaid Managed Care has "created underfunding and instability" for the health centers, the assemblymembers say.

One health provider, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, has said it could close four of its school-based centers. The provider has asked the city council for emergency funding and wrote a letter to the Brooklyn New School saying the center could close if that doesn't happen, DNAinfo reported.

"If funding is not obtained the hospital will be forced to make hard choices regarding how best to provide services for the sites we sponsor with the limited state funds available," SUNY Downstate wrote, according to DNAinfo.

Carroll and Simon, along with school officials and community members, will be outside of the Brooklyn New School at 11 a.m. Wednesday for the "Rally to Save School Based Health Centers."

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