Advocates continued to press the Bloomberg Administration for a full restoration of child care funding yesterday.  Dozens of parents and children descended on the Mayor's house to ask "What should we do with our kids if there is no child care?".  At the same time, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer spent the day as a child care provider to show their support for the issue.  And, to add additional perspective, the Center for Children’s Initiatives issued a report with findings on what happens to New York City working families that lose child care.

"Seeing firsthand how childcare providers help our children learn and grow is all the evidence you need that the Mayor's budget has the wrong priorities," said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. "Today I was proud to spend a morning walking in the shoes of Linnette Ebanks and tomorrow I will continue to fight for her and the thousands of working families that depend on child care."

“New York must never balance its budget on the backs of children and family, but that’s exactly what these cuts to child care and early education accomplish,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. “Despite the Mayor’s restorations, the child care system at large is still under siege, and next year 7,000 fewer children from low-income families will be able to access care. This administration has worked to gradually dismantle such a critical social safety net; in total, the city has lost 14,000 child care slots in the past four years due to cuts of this nature. New Yorkers deserve more than a half-a-loaf response from City Hall on an issue that impacts our most vulnerable constituents and their children.”

The CCI report, which was issued jointly with Wachs Family Fund of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations, is based on 83 interviews with NYC families eligible for a child care subsidy but unable to obtain one because of capacity cuts over the last 3 years.  Strikingly, several parents reported that 311, NYC’s information line, informed them that the surest route to a child care subsidy was applying for public assistance.

Parents interviewed see care not only as necessary so they can work – but they increasingly cite the educational value of high quality early learning programs.

“Without child care, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Kim Sandy, a single mother whose 3-year old son attends The Educational Alliance’s Lillian Wald Day Care Center. “I won’t be able to keep my job and provide for my family. So many parents depend on this care – for the Mayor to continue to cut child care just doesn’t make sense.”

“With the Mayor’s cuts, 7,000 fewer children from low income working families will have access to child care next year,” said David Nocenti, Executive Director of Union Settlement Association. “These children are more than just numbers – they are our city’s future, and they deserve safe, affordable, educational care that will set them on a path to success.”

Click here to download a complete copy of the report.

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