Care is Work. Pay is Respect.

“Care is Work. Pay is Respect.” 

by Adanech Makey, Policy and Community Engagement Specialist

As the daughter of a paraeducator who spent her days in kindergarten classrooms, I grew up seeing what early care looks like up close: the joyful chaos of morning hellos, tiny victories as letters click into words, and the comfort of a trusted adult when big feelings overwhelm small bodies. On the days my school was closed, I tagged along with my mom and saw—clearly—the difference it makes when children arrive ready to learn and when they don’t. Those experiences led me to volunteer in a preschool classroom during college and, ultimately, to a career working alongside child care providers from Washington, D.C., to the Seattle region, and now New York. 

Everywhere I’ve been, one truth remains: this is one of the hardest-working fields filled with some of the most passionate, nurturing, fun, and determined people you’ll ever meet—and it is systemically underpaid and undervalued. 

Fair pay for child care workers isn’t a perk—it’s the foundation for quality, stability, equity, and family wellbeing. 

When we discuss the child care crisis, we often focus on families who can’t find or afford care. That’s real. However, we talk far less about the workforce that makes care possible. From our country’s earliest days—when enslaved Black women were forced to provide care without compensation—care work has been essential and yet chronically devalued. Today, that legacy persists: Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women—and women overall—still disproportionately make up this workforce and remain among the lowest-paid workers in our state. 

New York cannot build a high-quality, stable child care system with low wages. Programs can’t hire or keep staff. Turnover disrupts the relationships children rely on. And too many providers—people who care for our kids—struggle to care for their own. 

A thriving child care workforce impacts everyone. Children thrive with consistent, trusted relationships. Stable staff = better outcomes. Families can work, study, and plan when programs aren’t constantly short-staffed or closing rooms. Providers can stay in the jobs they love when they’re paid enough to live with dignity. Communities gain a stronger economy when parents participate in the workforce and local programs remain open. We all benefit from being a part of this movement!  

New York has taken steps to expand access to child care. Now we need leaders to be audacious in ensuring equitable pay for the workforce. That means investing in compensation that reflects the professional skill, emotional labor, and developmental expertise child care demands. 

We are grateful for the legislative champions who’ve stood with providers across the state. And we invite more leaders—especially those focused on increasing access—to join us in addressing the root cause of instability: compensation. 

Help us keep the focus where it belongs—on the people making care possible. 

• Use our Action Toolkit for sample posts, talking points, discussion guides, and ways to advocate. 

• Sign and circulate the petition for fair pay. 

• Host a community conversation about the realities and solutions at your center, library, or neighborhood meeting. 

👉 Get the Toolkit: https://empirestatechildcare.org/support-the-child-care-workforce/ 

We’re running this campaign throughout the fall and hope the messages resonate with child care providers across New York State. Let’s use it as an invitation—to listen, to learn, and to act together. Equitable pay is a social justice issue, a racial equity issue, and a child wellbeing issue. 

If you’d like to host a community conversation, please contact Adanech Makey at amakey@scaany.org.