Hi John,
In April, New York committed to $1.8 billion for child care to expand support for both families and child care educators. But without additional changes to current law, tens of thousands of poor children and their families will be left behind.
Current law excludes children from child care assistance programs based on their immigration status. Many more children are excluded because their parents cannot prove they have a job, or because they aren’t working enough hours, or simply because they cannot jump through the complicated hoops of our current system.
There are three bills currently in the legislature that would help ensure that the expansion of child care covers these children and their families — but we only have a few short weeks left for lawmakers to make these essential changes. Email your State Legislators now and tell them:
Pass S8962 to eliminate the barriers to child care assistance. New York State can choose to cover all children, regardless of immigration status. The rules are flexible enough to allow for that.
Pass A.7661 (Hevesi)/S.6655-A (Brisport) to decouple child care subsidies from parents’ hours of work. The number of hours their parents work should not determine whether children have access to a program!
Pass A.7095 (Clark)/S.6077-A (Brisport) — Child Care Pay Rate Differential, so that child care programs can stay open outside the hours of 9-5. Make sure that parents who work overnight can find child care for their children!
Email your State Legislators now and urge them to support these bills, and make sure that the expansion of child care includes all of New York’s children.
In solidarity,
Jasmine Gripper
