New York City children and families need a champion in City Hall.
Getting our city back on track to universal child care.
Child care is a key component to any serious economic vision for New York City. The Robin Hood Foundation reported in 2021 that child care is out of reach for 52% of New York City’s families, with the cost accounting for nearly half a full-time minimum wage worker’s salary. Over the past ten years, child care capacity has grown in high-income zip codes in the form of private centers with high tuition, while it has decreased in middle and low-income communities where families rely on crowded, underfunded public options.
As a mother raising two young sons in New York City, I know firsthand how crucial affordable and reliable child care is for working families. I remember the struggle to find quality care that fit my schedule and my budget — juggling between family, work, and neighborhood providers. Every parent deserves the peace of mind that comes with knowing their children are safe, nurtured, and learning while they work. Child care isn't just a service; it's a lifeline for families, and a critical foundation for our city's economy and safety. It’s a triple workforce investment in parents, caregivers, and our children. That’s why I'm committed to making universal child care a reality for all New Yorkers.
Doing nothing about it is expensive. Nationwide, the child care crisis is costing our economy an estimated $122 billion in lost productivity and earnings a year. That figure accounts for the employer's burden of high worker turnover, worker’s lost wages, and lost sales and income tax resulting from the working family’s diminished earning capacity. According to the New York City Economic Development Corporation, parents cutting hours and leaving the City accounted for $23 billion in tax revenue for New York City. Every dollar spent on free, full-time care generates $6 in economic returns.
The scale of the crisis is such that the next mayor will have to steer a coordinated effort between the City, State, and Federal governments to secure the funding needed to build out New York City’s child care infrastructure and programming. With my record on child care in hand, I know I can lead us in the restoration of Pre-K for All and 3K, and put New York City back on track to achieving universal child care.
The child care sector has three central issues
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Families cannot access reliable, affordable care that matches their schedules and their wallets. A new study from the Robin Hood Foundation and Columbia University found that a staggering half of working mothers in our city face disruptions at work because of a lack of affordable and reliable care. These disruptions are especially prevalent among lower-income families. In 2022 alone, the city is estimated to have lost $23 billion dollars in economic activity as a result of parents leaving the workforce or scaling back their working hours because of the child care gap. The Adams Administration has responded by rolling back plans to expand 3-K programs, proposing a $120 million cut for 3-K and Pre-K for All in November 2023, and another $50 million cut in January 2024. And the City’s administration is leaving money on the table in the form of child care funding I helped secure in the State Senate.
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No one enters the child care business thinking they will become a billionaire. This is a vocation with razor thin margins, and the City has habitually failed to pay providers on time. That ripples across the child care workforce, who are largely immigrant women and women of color, trying to provide educational, enriching, and nurturing environments for our children on poverty wages. Establishing a family-sustaining wage for child care workers will save the State money, as we lift an entire sector of workers out of persistent reliance on public assistance. Child care providers are educators, and they deserve wage parity, student debt support, and professional development.
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As the application opened this year for Pre-K for All and 3-K, we heard from parents across the city how stress-inducing and tumultuous the process was. The City maintains burdensome eligibility requirements for limited infant and toddler care, and has done little to streamline the application and enrollment process for existing Pre-K and 3-K seats. Dated employment requirements and burdensome means-testing diverts the City’s spending into maintaining bureaucracy, rather than spending that money on actual child care services.
I’m proud to be a child care champion — and my record proves it.
As mayor, I’ll bring my experience as both a mother and a public servant to City Hall to make sure every child has free, high-quality care. My first job at City Hall was to help roll out Pre-K for All in New York City, and in my years as State Senator, I’ve visited child care centers across the city and state and fought to pass policies that make them more affordable and accessible for more working families than ever before.
As a mom, I patched together care from a neighborhood in-home care provider and my family for my two sons. Once they each turned four, they went to pre-k at P.S. 69 in Jackson Heights where they stayed through 5th grade. As an older sister, I missed out on extracurricular activities for a few years so I could be home in time for my little sister to arrive.
As a Senator, I have leaned on my professional experience to write a child care bill that is prescriptive and its enactment would build out the capacity we need for a comprehensive child care system as well as fix antiquated laws that keep families from gaining access.
Here’s what I have delivered so far:
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In 2022, I passed legislation (S.9029A) to make sure providers get paid regularly and consistently while reducing the administrative burden on families by requiring benefit certification every two years instead of annually.
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In the 2023 NYS State Budget, we secured a $4.8 million investment for an employer-sponsored child care pilot program, allowing employers, the State, and families to share the cost of care.
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I used my 2023/2024 Early Learning Child Care Act to push the State to expand child care subsidies to more families, raising the eligibility threshold to 300% of the federal poverty level, adding over 100,000 families across the state.
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We sent $6.25 million to New York City and $5.6 million to the rest of the state through the Child Care Facilitated Enrollment program to connect working families with care that fits their schedules. We also directed $10 million to support episodic, seasonal, and gig workers who often struggle to access child care.
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In the 2024 State Budget, I fought for $5 million to staff family child care networks across the state, offering technical support and coaching to home-based providers.
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We allocated $750,000 for a pilot program to help women working in construction to access child care that matches their non-traditional hours.
Here is what I will do as Mayor:
My first priority will be to reverse the damage to this critical economic and public safety infrastructure. The intention behind Pre-K for All was to work backwards from that success until we achieved universal child care.
Streamline access to free and low-cost, high-quality care
Simplify the application process for busy families by building a one-stop application portal available in the diverse languages New Yorkers speak.
Expand automatic, presumptive, and categorical eligibility to connect families to care faster based on eligibility information the City already has.
Waive co-pay requirements for families who are already enrolled in SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, and Section 8.
Engage in an aggressive public outreach campaign to enroll eligible New Yorkers who may not know they qualify for support. Use the Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit to knock on doors, make phone calls, and meet New Yorkers where they are in the languages they speak.
Speed up implementation of Intro 485-A, which would create and maintain a public database of child care programs in the city, including where space is available.
Expand Public Child Care Opportunities
Make it easier for existing child care providers to run their businesses by streamlining payment on outstanding contracts so they are not left without critical funding needed to pay their staff and operate their programs.
Coordinate greater interagency collaboration under the Office of Child Care to make licensing, background checks, and necessary safety inspections happen on a more efficient timeline.
Establish new rules for child care providers who wish to offer services for the evening, weekend, and overnight workforce.
Open more child care facilities. Connect commercial landlords with vacancies with child care providers who are looking to expand operations and incentivise reutilization of empty space as child care facilities. Explore vacancies in public buildings and public schools with low enrollment that could house early childhood classrooms in their facilities.
Use the child care database to develop an app connecting providers and parents so parents can access child care availability in a moment’s notice.
Invest in our Child Care Workforce
There is no way to sustain the child care sector without raising wages and other compensation for child care workers. 98% of occupations pay more than working in the child care sector, and we are losing these professionals when we need them the most. Workers who care for children in the most critical stage of their development need wages that keep them in the sector, as well as benefit packages that allow them to care for their own families.
Partner with CUNY and other higher education institutions to create a pipeline for this declining workforce. We need to replace the child care providers we have lost and we need to incentivize new professionals to stay in schools working with our children. CUNY is well positioned to recruit committed professionals and support the workers who have already committed to nurturing New York City children.
At a time when both the cost of rent and child care are each near the burden of half a paycheck, we must deliver for working families to afford to live their lives.