On February 4, 2019, Schuyler Center along with Empire State Campaign for Child Care & Winning Beginning NY held a New York Child Care Advocacy Day at the Albany Capital. The event received wide coverage on social media under the hashtag #FundChildCare, and was featured in AP News, US News & World Report, News 12 Long Island, Times Union, and Spectrum News.
Let’s seize the opportunity of the 2018 elections to secure commitments from candidates and, come November, those who are newly elected or re-elected, to put New York children and families first. Ask these questions of your elected officials.
Twenty-seven advocates and faith and labor leaders issued a statement thanking legislative leaders for passing legislation to establish a bipartisan Child Care Availability Task Force, and urging the Governor to promptly sign the bill. “We urge the Governor to promptly sign the bill, convene the Task Force, and direct to it the resources it needs to devise a plan to strengthen the State’s struggling child care system.” Read the statement here.
Policy Director Dede Hill, presented testimony on behalf of Schuyler Center, our strategic partner, the Center for Children’s Initiatives, and the Ready for Kindergarten, Ready for College Campaign, which we co-lead with the Alliance for Quality Education and Citizen Action of New York, at a Joint Hearing on Access to Quality Child Care on May 23, 2017. The testimony discussed some of the myriad ways the shortage of affordable, quality child care affects New York families, communities, and businesses. It also offered a few suggested steps for the State to take toward addressing it, including (1) passing Senate Bill 5929 /Assembly Bill 7726 to create a child care availability task force, and providing the task force with sufficient resources to effectively carry out its mandate; and (2) direct that a portion of the billions of dollars invested in economic development – much of which is funneled through the Regional Economic Development Councils – be invested in child care.
The federal government seems poised to drastically cut programs that provide essential supports to low-income people. As a result, this year’s budget carries more significance than ever and, as the Governor said, “is a statement of [New York’s] values.”
Children’s advocates across the state are deeply disappointed that lawmakers are considering a budget that slashes the State’s Foster Care Block Grant, even though these are the most vulnerable children in the State, and sharply cuts child care subsidies when the State is currently serving just 17% of eligible families.
Read the New York children’s advocates statement to the Legislature.
The Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, along with the Alliance for Quality Education, the Center for Children’s Initiatives, and Citizen Action of New York have released a new report laying out a plan for New York State to make significant investments in child care and Pre-K in the 2017 Executive Budget. The report, Too Many Children Still Waiting: Make Quality Early Learning a Priority in 2017 Budget, calls upon New York lawmakers to make good on their pledge to provide universal Pre-K to all New York 4-year-olds. At present, that promise has only been realized in New York City; in the rest of the state, 81% of 4-year-olds still do not have access to Pre-K. The report also urges real investment in child care to avert a crisis facing New York’s working families: at present, 83% of families living below 200% of poverty are not receiving child care subsidies due to inadequate investment. This leaves families of three making less than $40,000 to shoulder child care costs that can exceed $10,000 a year for one child on their own.
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