Hi John,

The New York State budget deadline is five short days away. That means we have less than a week left make sure that our representatives in Albany do right by our children, families and child care providers.

To make the most of this week, today we're kicking off five days of actions. Each day until the New York State budget is passed, we will be emailing you about something you can do right now to help put pressure on our elected officials — actions like making a phone call, sending a letter, sharing your story on social media or joining us for a phone bank.

Last November, while speaking to a group of parents and child care educators in Buffalo, Governor Hochul made a promise. Now, it's time for her to uphold that promise. We need all hands on deck to make sure the Governor, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Heastie show they value New York's families and child care providers — by including no less than $3 billion for child care in the state budget this year.

The budget details are still being hammered out. Now is the time our elected representatives need to hear from us, their constituents, letting them know that New York’s families and child care providers are depending on them.

Click below to send an email to the main budget negotiators — Governor Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Carl Heastie — and your own State Senator and Assemblymember now.

As is always the case this time of year, there is a lot going on this week. In addition to the daily action above, we're going to be sharing some other ways you can engage — on social media, at in-person events or by amplifying some of the other budget issues being decided this week.

In Albany:

The Invest in Our New York Campaign is having a press conference from 12:30-1:30 in the Concourse at the State Capitol, calling on the New York State Legislature to pass a progressive budget that works for all New Yorkers.

Following, at 2:15 AQE will be joining Senator Jabari Brisport with the Empire State Campaign, Make the Road New York for a press conference and speak-out outside Governor Hochul's office calling for no less than $3 billion for child care.

Help us amplify our message calling for #NYSUniversalChildCare using your personal social media accounts! You can find sample Tweets and posts, as well as graphics and videos, at the toolkit linked below. And remember to follow AQE and the hashtag to see what's happening in real time.

We will be adding content and updates to this toolkit throughout the week.

Join us tomorrow at 4:30 for our final rapid response action of the year. We will be collectively calling constituents urging them to tell Governor Hochul that we need no less than $3 billion for child care in the state budget.

Sign up for tomorrow's rapid response action now at the link below.

Watch for tomorrow's email with our next way to take action.