Among those is a requirement that the Advisory Council hold formal hearings around the state.
In April 2024, the first public hearing was held in New York City. This summer, public hearings are planned for Rochester (August 4) and Albany (August 18).
At each hearing, OTDA Commissioner and CPRAC co-chair Barbara Guinn will discuss the work of the Advisory Council and state policies that have been enacted to support low-income families.
Commissioner Guinn will also present the Council’s policy recommendations, and invite public comment on those recommendations: What would help most? What do families need in this moment and moving forward?
Public Input is Needed to Find the Right Solutions
Public input is important to getting the policy recommendations right, especially input that comes from communities and organizations directly impacted by child poverty.
Community leaders, residents, parents, caregivers, direct service organizations, educators, and youth are encouraged to participate.
Attendees who wish to speak will sign up and receive a number when they arrive at the event, and comments should be kept to 2-3 minutes. Written comment forms will also be available at each event.
In addition to Commissioner Guinn, the Rochester event is co-hosted by The Children’s Agenda, and the Albany event is co-hosted by Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy. CPRAC member Pete Nabozny will be at the Rochester hearing and CPRAC member Kate Breslin will be at the Albany event.
Public comments, both written and verbal, will be shared with the full Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council.
Can I Participate Virtually?
Both public hearings will be livestreamed, but there will not be an option to participate remotely. Comments will only be heard and collected at the events.
As the 2026 New York State legislative session comes to a close, we are reflecting on the tenacious advocacy efforts of the Schuyler Center team and our partners. Together, our work has driven policy and investments that will build a brighter future for the youngest New Yorkers.
Schuyler Center staff at the 2026 State of New York’s Children Data BriefingSenior Policy Manager Crystal Charles at Legislative Caucus weekend
January
To kick off 2026, we released Schuyler Center’s annual State of New York’s Children report on January 13th. That morning, we hosted a data briefing for legislators, reporters, policymakers, and partners. Our policy team presented data across policy areas alongside policy recommendations to uplift New York’s children and families.
In early January, Governor Hochul joined Mayor Mamdani to announce a historic plan for Universal Child Care in New York State. Schuyler Center’s Vice President of Policy Dede Hill and Empire State for Child Care (ESCCC) Campaign Manager Shoshana Hershkowitz stood with Governor Hochul as she shared her proposal.
Later in January, over 400 parents, advocates, and providers braved a winter storm to attend ESCCC’s Advocacy Day. Attendees met with legislators and rallied for funding for statewide universal child care and for a permanent workforce compensation fund.
Associate Director of Policy Kari Siddiqui spoke to North Country Public Radio about New York’s child poverty rate still being one of the worst in the nation.
February
Dede Hill testified at the NYS Joint Fiscal Committees Human Services Budget Hearing on February 5, and Medicaid Matters New York Coordinator Lara Kassel testified at the Health/Medicaid Budget Hearing on February 10.
In early March, Dede Hill and Kate Breslin gave a budget presentation to the NYS Association of Small City School Districts. They shared Schuyler Center’s policy priorities, especially those impacting the children being served by schools in New York’s small cities—such as pre-k, food security, and child poverty reduction.
Schuyler Center President and CEO Kate Breslin was invited to speak alongside the Governor, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal People-Stokes, and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins at Governor Hochul’s Women’s History Month reception at the Executive Mansion in Albany on March 23rd.
Following the proposed elimination of funding for the adult home resident advocacy and the EQUAL program, an op-ed calling for protections to adult-care funds authored by Kate Breslin was published in the Queens Chronicle at the end of March.
April
While state budget negotiations continued past the April 1 deadline, Schuyler Center’s advocacy for budget and legislative priorities remained steadfast.
Advocates including members of the Schuyler Center staff partook in several rallies calling for the passing of New York for All (NY4All) to protect immigrant children and families in NYS.
Dede Hill spoke to Capitol Confidential about what was missing from Governor Hochul’s proposed child care plan—specifically workforce funding and CCAP investments. Later in the month Schuyler Center supported the Empire State Campaign for Child Care’s virtual press event highlighting the need to fund both the child care workforce and the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) in this year’s state budget. Reporters were invited to hear from parents and providers representing different regions of the state.
The 2025 expansion of the Empire State Child Credit was a major win for families, and Schuyler Center was a driving force behind it. This tax season, we helped raise awareness of how families could claim the expanded credit when filing their taxes.
In April, we marked the halfway point on the Child Poverty Reduction Act’s 10-year timeline to reduce New York’s child poverty rate by 50%. Schuyler Center continues to hold the Governor and legislators accountable to this commitment and to New York’s children. We drew attention to the achievements to date and what else must be done to achieve this goal.
ESCCC Campaign Manager Shoshana Hershkowitz speaks at the Mom Squad RallySchuyler Staff with Rep. Paul Tonko at the NYS Association of Small City School DistrictsSchuyler communications staff and spring intern at Anti-Poverty Advocacy DayKate Breslin speaks at the Governor’s Women’s History Month reception
Kate Breslin with Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-CousinsSenator Lea Webb at Anti-Poverty Advocacy DayAssemblymember Sarah Clarke speaks at the Mom Squad Rally
Vice President of Policy Dede Hill at NY4All rally
Shoshana Hershkowitz with Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas at Imagine a Day Without Child Care
May
On May 11th, advocates with the ESCCC participated in events inviting New Yorkers to “Imagine a Day without Child Care”. This was an opportunity to exemplify how every part of daily life would look different without child care, and to voice support of a universal child care system that supports every family AND pays thriving wages to educators. Campaign Director Shoshana Hershkowitz joined ECE on the Move for a press conference and rally in City Hall Park in NYC and attended an event at a provider’s home hosted by The Innovative Day Care Corp in Freeport, NY.
Later in May, Schuyler Center helped launch the New York Partnership for Dental Therapy as a founding member. The Partnership is a statewide coalition of organizations committed to expanding access to oral health care by authorizing dental therapists to practice in New York State. Dental therapists are credentialed providers who bring preventive and restorative dental care to communities that have long gone without adequate access.
Following the adoption of the state budget at the end of May, Schuyler Center President and CEO Kate Breslin was invited to stand with the Governor as she signed the 2026-27 NYS Budget bills in Albany.
June
As the official New York partner for KIDS COUNT by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Schuyler Center hosted a data release event on June 9th to launch our partnership and kick off conversations around the data and what New York can do to help children and families.
In a Times Union op-ed following the release of this data, Kate Breslin highlighted that “the most devastating policy choice made in New York is the decision to allow 18% of our children, nearly one in five, to live in poverty.”
Schuyler Center President and CEO Kate Breslin also joined Susan Arbetter on Capital Tonight to discuss the data and what it means for New York.
Members of the Schuyler Center staff attended the New York State Food Summit hosted by the Alliance for a Hunger Free New York on June 16. Staff members were able to connect with New Yorkers from across the state and attend enriching presentations about food security in NYS.
Kate Breslin and Dede Hill presenting at the KIDS COUNT Data BriefingSchuyler staff at the NYS Food Summit
Kate Breslin and Susan Arbetter on Capital TonightKIDS COUNT Data Briefing
On May 27, 2026, the Governor signed into law the 2026-27 New York State Enacted Budget. Schuyler Center’s Last Look is our initial assessment of the enacted State budget and how it advances priorities that improve the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, especially children and families living in poverty. The dollar amounts included in this document—and all of Schuyler Center “Looks”—reflect budget appropriations, or “spending authority.” Appropriations tell us the maximum spending authority permitted by the State, which is often much greater than what the State actually spends. Actual state expenditures are more closely reflected in the financial plan which will be released in a few weeks.
This year’s budget makes key investments that will support children experiencing poverty but will likely not be bold enough to protect families from the full impact of federal cuts and rising costs. The Enacted Budget makes meaningful investments in child care, including record funding for child care assistance, pre-K, and universal child care pilot programs, and includes new protections for immigrant families, some new funding for legal services, and inclusion of New York City in funding for Raise the Age services. It does not include new investments in health coverage, nutrition supports, Early Intervention Services, and WIC funding.
Key investments will support children experiencing poverty but are not bold enough to protect families from the full impact of federal cuts and rising costs.
As advocates for policies that support children and families experiencing poverty, Schuyler Center welcomes this budget’s meaningful investment in child care, including record funding for child care assistance, pre-K, and universal child care pilot programs.
The right state investments can ensure family wellbeing and make New York State the best place for a child to learn, play, grow, find their passion, and participate in a vibrant future for our state.
New York State is in a unique moment. The federal government has taken many significant actions causing low-income and immigrant New Yorkers to lose access to health care, food assistance, rental assistance, and due process. If there is a time for New York to step up and protect low- and middle-income New Yorkers, especially those in immigrant families, it is now.
While the budget agreement includes new protections for immigrant families, along with some funding for legal services, it largely neglects to cushion families and communities across our state as they lose health coverage, nutrition supports, and housing, while facing rising costs for basic needs, like transportation and groceries. Young children with developmental delays and disabilities will continue to miss precious early opportunities for remediation through Early Intervention because of the state’s decision to keep reimbursement rates so low that children age out of eligibility for services before receiving them. Thousands of pregnant women, new babies, and low-income parents are at-risk of poorer birth outcomes and challenged development, as they miss out on nutritious foods, breastfeeding support, and nutrition and health education, because of WIC funding and staffing shortages that the state chose not to invest in.
Universal Child Care
Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy celebrates this budget’s monumental progress toward a vision of universal child care with its record, recurring investments in child care assistance for low- and moderate-income families, and significant pre-K and 3-K expansions. This budget also includes funding for the state’s first-ever universal child care pilot projects outside of New York City, and 2-K in New York City. Unfortunately, the budget makes a significant misstep in failing to include any funding for child care workforce compensation.
In addition, while it contains historic levels of funding for the child care assistance program – the foundation of universal child care and a powerful tool for reducing child poverty- it still falls short of what is needed to end child care assistance waitlists around the state.
Nonetheless, these historic investments are a testament to the unflagging efforts of parents, child care educators, grassroots organizers, and advocates from communities across the state.
We applaud the leadership of Governor Hochul, who has championed child care for decades – long before it was a widely popular policy — and Mayor Mamdani, who has made this a top priority of his new administration. We are grateful for the support of legislative champions: chief among them, children and family committee chairs, Senator Jabari Brisport and Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi, who have been tireless leaders in advancing universal child care for all New York State families and a thriving wage for the child care workforce.
As New York proceeds toward a goal of universal child care and pre-K, it is essential that it is built upon a solid foundation comprised of two non-negotiables: a well-compensated workforce and prioritizing low-income families in the rollout.
Participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is up 28% since 2020, yet local agencies have been essentially flat-funded over the past decade. The final budget misses the opportunity to provide the additional funding needed to ensure all eligible families can access WIC’s vital services.
Child Poverty Reduction Act progress – Beyond child care assistance, the final budget includes no intentional or significant investment to reduce the number of children experiencing poverty.
Schuyler Center welcomes the budget’s actions to protect immigrant New Yorkers, which are an important step toward ensuring the safety of immigrant children, families, and communities. No matter where they were born, all New Yorkers should feel safe in their homes, their schools, their child care centers, their places of worship, and their communities.
In particular, the budget codifies the right to free public education for all children, regardless of immigration status, and takes steps to ensure that children and their families are safe in “sensitive locations” like schools, child care centers, and houses of worship by limiting access to those locations by immigration enforcement.
While the budget takes critical steps to limit interaction between local law enforcement and immigration enforcement by ending formal agreements, it misses the opportunity to clearly ban informal collusion between local police and ICE and Border Patrol that can lead to harmful family separations.
When immigrant New Yorkers do become detained, they urgently need access to legal representation. The detention of a caregiver is devastating for children and can cause families to experience significant financial stress. The budget recognizes this urgent need by increasing investments in legal services, but additional funding is required to meet significant need.
We look forward to partnering with Governor Hochul, the Legislature, and partners across the state to ensure that our immigrant neighbors can safely access the resources, legal services, and protections they need to live, thrive, and feel at home in New York State.
Essential Plan – left unfixed:
The Essential Plan provides public health insurance coverage to people with low incomes who are just above Medicaid income limits. Last year’s federal budget reconciliation bill, HR1, forced the State to make the difficult decision to change eligibility for the Essential Plan. This preserved coverage for over one million New Yorkers, but it will leave 450,000 people uninsured. There was a chance to include a solution in this year’s budget and secure an affordable coverage option for the nearly half a million people about to lose coverage. Despite significant support from the Legislature, this coverage option was not included in the final budget.
Child and Family Wellbeing:
Schuyler Center welcomes incremental increases in funding to key services that support children, young people, and families involved in New York’s child welfare system, and notes that more investment is needed for transformational change.
The Foster Youth College Success Initiative and legal services in Family Court both received modest increases in funding that do not reach the levels needed to fully fund either program. The Child and Family Wellbeing Fund remains a missed opportunity for New York State to invest in the communities impacted by decades of Child Protective Services interventions.
Effective and Timely Implementation is Necessary to Support Children and Families
Schuyler Center stands ready to support the state in swiftly implementing the policies and investments included in the budget to deliver the relief and support children, families and communities need. These include:
Making the supplemental CCAP funds for counties outside of New York City available to be accessed immediately, along with longer term allocation information that will give counties the certainty they need about their CCAP funding over time, so 32 counties that have closed enrollment due to inadequate funds can immediately reopen CCAP enrollment. Families are running out of time to enroll their children in summer programming that is essential for working parents.
Ensuring the success of the three universal child care pilot projects in Broome, Monroe, and Dutchess Counties. Successful pilots must be truly universal – without means testing, immigration or activities testing,and must pay the workforce a just wage.
Ensuring New York SNAP recipients can utilize their benefits to access the food they need by protecting New York SNAP recipients from having their benefits stolen. The state should act swiftly to upgrade New York’s SNAP benefits to secure chip-based EBT cards.
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Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy is a leading statewide, nonpartisan, policy analysis and advocacy organization based in Albany. For over 150 years, Schuyler Center has worked to shape policies to improve health, welfare, and human services for all New Yorkers, especially those impacted by poverty and inequitable systems. Schuyler Center is focused on statewide policy related to universal child care, family economic security, family wellbeing, and child health. Learn more at www.scaany.org.
“I was afraid of having a child because of the financial responsibilities…I took maternity leave, and the number one thing that I recognized to be a consistent problem is food—always figuring out what to do, how can we feed her? [Now with WIC] it’s just a lot more enjoyable having access [to fresh fruits and vegetables].”
– United for Brownsville Parent
Few public health programs have earned their place the way WIC has. Decades of research, billions of dollars in documented savings, and generations of healthier children make the case plainly: WIC works. As federal support for families erodes—with cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and other safety net programs—New York’s WIC program stands out as exactly the kind of investment the state should be doubling down on: proven, cost-effective, and life-changing for the families it serves. But WIC is at a breaking point, and without action in this year’s budget, the progress New York has worked hard to achieve is at risk.
The Nation’s Original “Food Is Medicine” Program
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has delivered one of public health’s best track records for more than five decades. WIC provides pregnant and postpartum parents and children under five with tailored nutrition packages, breastfeeding support, nutrition education, and connections to health and social services.
The evidence is overwhelming. WIC improves birth outcomes, reduces infant mortality, prevents childhood obesity, and closes disparities in infant health. Every dollar invested generates an estimated $2.48 in savings through lower medical costs and better long-term outcomes. Last year, WIC-prescribed purchases brought back $540 million federal dollars into New York’s local economies.
For families who rely on it, the impact is deeply personal. As one mother shared, “My children wouldn’t be eating healthy food if it weren’t for my education and assistance from the WIC program. I am a young mom who had lots of questions over the years, I was always treated very well by people who genuinely cared and wanted to help.”
New York Is Leading
New York deserves credit for its commitment to WIC. More than 462,000 New Yorkers now participate—the highest level in a decade and a 28% increase since early 2020, compared to 10% growth nationally. That expansion came from evidence-based policy: increasing the fruit and vegetable benefit, allowing remote appointments, and investing in strategic statewide outreach.
But local WIC agencies have not seen meaningful funding increases in a decade. The federal formula hasn’t kept pace with New York’s rising caseloads or costs. The funding system was designed to support 443,000 participants through 2028; caseloads surpassed that in early 2024. Since 2022, the ratio of participants to qualified nutritionists has grown 24%—now sitting at 656 to one.
WIC at its best means a nutritionist with time to sit with new parents, food packages tailored to a family’s needs, and agencies equipped to reach the families not yet enrolled. That is what adequate funding makes possible—and what New York’s agencies are straining to deliver as caseloads grow and resources lag.
The Cliff Is Coming
Federal waivers allowing remote WIC appointments—a key driver of New York’s enrollment growth—expire at the end of this fiscal year, adding new strain to already-stretched agencies. Without additional state funding, those agencies will face an impossible choice: scale back services, delay time-sensitive appointments, or maintain waiting lists. Every option puts agencies out of compliance with WIC policy—and means families that could have been served, weren’t. An estimated 200,000 eligible New Yorkers aren’t yet enrolled. With federal cuts to SNAP and Medicaid deepening hardship, WIC has never been a more essential backstop.
Albany Can Fund What Works
The solution is clear: $30 million in additional state funding for WIC in the FY 2026–2027 budget—to stabilize local agency operations and support outreach to connect those 200,000 still-eligible New Yorkers to the program.
Thirty million dollars is a fraction of what WIC returns—in healthier babies, stronger families, lower healthcare costs, and more resilient local economies. In a budget season defined by difficult tradeoffs, this is one of New York’s clearest bets.
New York should be proud to lead the nation in growth in WIC participation. Now it must lead by making that growth sustainable. We urge Governor Hochul and the NYS Legislature to include $30 million for WIC in the final FY 2026–2027 budget—because the perinatal, postpartum, and pediatric patients who depend on this public health nutrition program cannot wait, and because investing in their earliest years is one of the best things New York can do for all of us.
Authored by the NYS American Academy of Pediatrics, Hunger Solutions New York, United for Brownsville, WIC Association of New York State, Community Health Care Association of New York State, New York State Public Health Association, New York State Perinatal Association, and the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy.
Read Schuyler Center’s assessments of each phase of the New York State 2026-27 Budget and how it advances priorities that improve the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, especially those living in poverty.
This legislation authorizes parents and legal guardians to apply fluoride varnish to a child’s teeth under the prescription and protocols of a licensed healthcare provider, expanding access to this safe and effective preventive service, particularly for children at highest risk of dental disease.
Child Care
Child Care Assistance Reform Act: Creating a uniform system that delivers child care assistance fairly to families around the state—A.10494 (Clark)/S.9529 (Baskin)
This bill transfers administration of the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) outside of New York City from 57 different local social services districts to centralized administration by the state to make the program more efficient and equitable; to direct resources expeditiously to meet demand; and to create scaffolding around which to build statewide universal child care.
This bill dismantles a significant barrier that keeps New York families from accessing the child care they need by ending the State’s practice of tying the exact hours a caregiver works to the care and education that children can receive when using the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). The current rule denies children consistent early education and predictable schedules that allow them to thrive, and disproportionately burdens the lowest-income New Yorkers—including those who work part time, have inconsistent or rotating schedules, are homeless, or work in the growing gig economy. Ending this restriction will be a significant milestone on the path to building a system of universal child care that meets the needs of all families.
Child Care Assistance Enhanced Rate for Services for Children with Disabilities and Development Delays — A.10586 (Hevesi)/S.9396 (Fahy)
This bill will help eliminate barriers to accessing child care for families of children with disabilities and developmental delays by increasing the enhanced Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) rates for providing services to children experiencing disabilities and developmental delays to 30% of the market rate (up from 15%). New York must also take steps to make it easier for child care programs to access the enhanced rate.
The New York for All bill prohibits state and local employees from engaging in federal immigration enforcement, sharing personal information with immigration authorities, or cooperating with immigration authorities unless presented with a valid judicial warrant. The bill aims to preserve and build trust between immigrant New Yorkers and state and local law enforcement, schools, and social services agencies by ensuring they can safely call 911, cooperate with criminal investigations in their communities, or access essential social services to which they or their children are entitled without being targeted by immigration enforcement. This legislation is particularly important for immigrant families with children, to encourage them to continue participating in public spaces and utilizing public programs for which they are eligible without fear of being separated from their families due to immigration enforcement or deportation.
This bill requires medical care providers to seek the informed consent of pregnant people and new mothers before they or their babies are drug tested. Black women are drug tested disproportionately, which leads to disproportionate calls to the State Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, and sometimes to family separation at or near birth. Informed consent is already in effect in New York City’s public hospitals.
Across New York during the 2023-2024 school year, 137,511 students were suspended at least once – including 8,331 children in grades Pre-K to 3. This equates to 957,934 school days lost to suspension. This loss of learning impacts Black, Latino, disabled, low-income, LGBTQ+ students and students in foster care at higher rates than their peers. New York must commit to using solutions to student behavior that do not deprive young people of an education.
Additional Legislative Priorities for Child and Family Wellbeing
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