Laid off from Rising Ground.
Rising Ground's 2026 layoffs followed the loss of a federal contract to house unaccompanied immigrant children, and the agency said its work serving other populations would continue. An earlier round, in 2023, centered on the Yonkers campus it had sold, where it listed the Biondi Education Center for closing.
What we know about Rising Ground severance and layoffs
- 257 jobs across nine sites in one February 2026 layoff notice
- 83 Biondi Education Center jobs in the 2023 Yonkers closing notice
- 33 jobs at the Yonkers Residential Treatment Program in the March 2023 notice
- $45.1 million in fiscal 2025 immigration spending, before the shelter contract was lost
The most recent Rising Ground layoff we've found
Rising Ground's latest notice, dated February 20, 2026 per our WARN tracker, put the layoffs on May 21, 2026. That month, chief executive Alan Mucatel said in a statement to New York Focus that the cuts covered more than a tenth of the staff and followed the loss of its contract to house unaccompanied children, and that its work with other populations would continue.
What Rising Ground layoffs have meant for employees
The work behind the 2026 layoffs was one of Rising Ground's largest program areas. Its 2025 annual report put immigration programs at $45.1 million of fiscal 2025 operating spending, about a fifth of the agency's total, and named the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a federal agency, among its funders. Rising Ground's Passage of Hope page describes what that work looked like day to day, with short-term shelter where children attend school and get medical care, and foster homes for children up to 14 who stay longer. The 2024 annual report counted 1,366 children in the program that year and said its immigration services had expanded with From Hope to Home, a program of home studies on potential sponsors' homes and post-release services.
The contract's end was part of a statewide pullback. Federal funding was eliminated for at least five of the state's nonprofits that housed these children, and in December 2025 only 16 percent of the state's 1,958 beds for them were in use, New York Focus found. The groups that lost the money told the state they planned about 1,000 layoffs between them. If you're looking for the same kind of work, our WARN tracker shows which of the other nonprofits that housed these children filed New York notices.
When The Yonkers Post reported the notice in April 2026, it also described a January move to freeze federal grants to New York and a state budget that gave nonprofit child welfare providers less than half the cost-of-living increase they sought. The reason Rising Ground's chief executive gave a month later was narrower, the loss of the contract to house unaccompanied children. For the people the 2026 notice covered, the cause on record is that federal contract, and the budget pressures the Post described were context it supplied.
Rising Ground also said it was trying to find the laid-off employees new positions inside the organization. Its 2025 report counted 2,000 staff working from 143 locations in New York City and lower Westchester, in programs that run from child and youth development and children and family services to developmental disabilities, health and mental health, and support for survivors. Those locations are spread widely, so an opening may not be near the site you knew. If you were laid off in 2026, you can ask Rising Ground which of those programs have openings.
The 2023 cuts came on the Yonkers grounds Leake & Watts had used since the early 1900s, a few months after Rising Ground sold most of that campus to iPark and kept three acres, The Yonkers Ledger reported at the sale, adding that the new owners planned to rent the Biondi Education Center's building to the City of Yonkers as a magnet school. Rising Ground's residential treatment center in Yonkers, the other program in that notice, was still running in spring 2026, The Yonkers Post found, alongside the Ames Early Childhood Learning Center. If you're piecing together what happened to a Yonkers job from that time, the program you were in matters more than the address, since both programs shared one and the 2023 notice treated them differently.
For anyone still working at Rising Ground, the 2026 round shows how directly the end of one funder's contract turned into layoffs. The agency's leaders had written in the 2024 report that changes in federal policy and funding were altering the landscape for human services. If you work in another Rising Ground program, it's worth knowing which public funder pays for it, and the 2025 report names funders from New York City's Administration for Children's Services to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
A sourced history of Rising Ground layoffs
February 2026, layoffs after the federal shelter contract loss
Rising Ground's notice listed 257 jobs at nine sites in New York City and Yonkers and a May 21, 2026 layoff date, What Now reported. The agency's chief executive later told New York Focus the cuts came after it lost its contract for housing unaccompanied children.
March 2023, Biondi Education Center closing in Yonkers
Rising Ground's March 2023 notice listed the Biondi Education Center in Yonkers as a closing with 83 jobs and its Residential Treatment Program as a layoff of 33, effective June 30, for economic reasons. It named the Biondi Labor Union of Essential Staff, NYSUT and NEA-AFT as the unions.
April 2020, New York City WARN notice
New York's 2020 notice list shows a Rising Ground notice dated April 21, 2020, for the state's New York City region, posted April 29.
What to do if you're laid off from Rising Ground
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Rising Ground's biggest hubs: New York. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
- Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Rising Ground's hub states run: New York, and every other state is here.
- Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
- Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
- Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.
Rising Ground layoff and severance questions
Why did Rising Ground lay off workers in 2026?
Rising Ground tied the layoffs to losing its federal contract for unaccompanied immigrant children, whom it had housed in New York since 2014, New York Focus reported. The federal Administration for Children and Families said it was ending such contracts because the number of children in its custody had fallen drastically from a peak of 22,000 in early 2021, and that it was closing and consolidating unused facilities.
What severance has Rising Ground given laid-off employees?
Severance terms didn't appear in the 2026 reporting by New York Focus or What Now, and New York's March 2023 notice lists none for the Yonkers round. If you received severance or continued pay when your Rising Ground job ended, New York's Labor Department says either may affect unemployment insurance benefits, and it tells claimants to report separation payments when they file each weekly claim.
Is Rising Ground the same organization as Leake and Watts?
Yes. The Yonkers Post describes Rising Ground as the organization formerly known as Leake & Watts, founded in Manhattan in 1831 as the Leake and Watts Orphan House. It moved to a Yonkers campus in the early 1900s and ran it until announcing plans to sell it in 2021.
Which Rising Ground locations were listed in its 2026 layoff notice?
The notice's nine sites, as What Now listed them, were 4433 Third Avenue in the Bronx, the largest with 68 jobs listed, 32-16 36th Street in Queens, 525 Dean St, 535 Bergen St and 151 Lawrence Street in Brooklyn, 317 Lenox Avenue and 1333 Broadway in New York, and 463 Hawthorne Avenue and 36 Herriot St. in Yonkers.