New York Governor Kathy Hochul is touting a state investment meant to expand access to childcare.
Hochul often points out that she’s the first mother ever to serve as New York governor, and she said Friday many families across the state are struggling to afford childcare amid an affordability crisis.
Speaking in Albany, Hochul says the average cost of childcare for a family of four in the state is more than $21,000 for infants.
Hochul cheered a $1.8 billion investment in the state budget for the Child Care Accessibility Program, an online portal meant to make it easier for families to enroll children in free or low-cost childcare.
“This new online platform allows families to check their eligibility, apply for assistance, and find child care providers to fit their needs without having to take the time and go through mountains of paperwork, as had been the case in the past, the entire process takes about 10 minutes to from start to finish,” she said.
Hochul says if families have to choose between childcare and groceries, the economy suffers.
“When childcare is scarce, businesses struggle to recruit and retain qualified workers, if they're at risk of losing workers or think they won't find them, they'll just go somewhere else,” Hochul said. “That's a challenge we must overcome if New York wants to remain competitive. If we want our businesses and our families to thrive, we have to tackle this challenge head on.”
The governor says the program will cover up to 90 percent of costs for those earning up to 85 percent of the state’s median income of just over $105,000 for a family of four.
Hochul says the state is working to provide subsidies to facilities to ensure they can expand programs and hire and retain employees.
Hochul says she understands firsthand the stress of ensuring children have a safe and affordable place to go during the workweek.
“Just like I did 35 years ago, parents today are sitting at the table trying to figure out, do the math, how they're going to afford their family’s basic needs, let alone save for the future, future education costs for their children,” Hochul said. “For too many families, it just doesn't add up. And guess what? New York is losing young families as a result. They're moving away, looking for more affordable places where they can find a home.”
Last year, Hochul expanded the Child Care Tax Credit to include children under 4.
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a fellow Democrat, says access to childcare is vital to development.
“Childcare is essential, not just for parents to be in the workplace, but for the children themselves to develop emotionally, to develop intellectually, to develop social skills so they can navigate young play and other kids at an early age,” Gillibrand said. “It's actually fundamentally important for their development.”
Gillibrand says she is working on a number of bills aimed at providing federal funding to address the child care crisis in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“Because families couldn't bring their children to daycare, a lot of daycare centers closed. So pre-pandemic, there was one slot for every four kids. In the middle of the pandemic, there was one slot for every eight kids,” Gillibrand said. “So there became a huge challenge. And so, post-COVID, we agreed that we had to surge resources to these childcare centers so they could reopen, so they could actually afford to be open, to increase those slots.”
Ayesha Geter, a mother of three, says during the pandemic she was able to work from home, mitigating the need for full-time daycare. But, when she was mandated to report back to the office, finding care was daunting. She says using the state’s program, she was able to unlock hundreds of dollars in savings a month.
“I know firsthand that this new online portal is going to be a game changer for working families, working families who can now access benefits and enrollment information without the headaches of navigating, having to make phone calls, emails, appointments, very difficult when you're working full-time raising kids,” Geter said.
Gillibrand says with more than 1.3 million children under the age of 5 in the state, nearly two-thirds of families live in childcare deserts — a majority of whom are in rural areas of the state. And she says the federal government must make investments so parents can work, earn money, and pay into the social safety net.
