{"id":37524,"date":"2025-07-15T13:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T13:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/?p=37524"},"modified":"2025-07-15T13:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T13:58:08","slug":"community-op-ed-it-takes-a-city-bringing-new-york-city-one-step-closer-to-universal-childcare-for-low-income-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/archives\/37524","title":{"rendered":"Community Op-Ed: It takes a city: Bringing New York city one step closer to universal childcare for low-income families"},"content":{"rendered":"

The best way to make the American Dream a reality for all New Yorkers is by making our city more affordable for working-class families.\u00a0Childcare costs have skyrocketed across New York City, putting pressure on monthly bills and family budgets. Working families are struggling to afford these high costs, resulting in many leaving the five boroughs. Parents deserve better, and our administration is delivering for them.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last week, we announced an additional $80 million investment, as part of our recently passed \u201cBest Budget Ever,\u201d to support working families and ensure that every child has access to early childhood education programs.\u00a0Here\u2019s how that money breaks down:<\/p>\n

For too long, universal pre-K wasn\u2019t fully universal, since it left out students with disabilities. But we are changing that. As part of our \u201cBest Budget Ever,\u201d we are investing another $70 million towards supporting pre-K special education students who require occupational therapy, speech therapy, and other related services.<\/p>\n

We are also investing $10 million in a groundbreaking pilot program to provide free childcare for children aged two and under.\u00a0If successful, this program could put New York City on the path to universal childcare for low-income families.<\/p>\n

Affordable childcare means that families can stay in the city, and it means that parents can continue to work. We know that when mothers leave the workforce to care for a child, they forgo $145,000 in earnings throughout their lifetime on average. If parents are forced to leave the workforce, their families struggle, and our economy is weakened. The size of your paycheck or your bank account shouldn\u2019t determine whether your child gets the childcare you and they need.<\/p>\n

This issue is personal to me. My mom couldn\u2019t afford childcare, even though she worked three jobs to put food on the table for her six kids. My sister raised me and my siblings because the city was not there to help us when we needed it. That\u2019s why we made this budget one that will deliver for working-class families \u2014 one that would have helped my mom and my family when we were growing up.<\/p>\n

Affordable childcare and early childhood education is more than just a babysitter, it\u2019s essential for a strong society, a thriving and equitable economy, and the development of our kids. No child deserves to start their life a step behind.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we have made historic investments in early childhood education time and time again.\u00a0We have dedicated almost $170 million more in funding for early childhood education permanent in our city budget, meaning critical programs like pre-K special education and the expansion of our citywide 3-K program will be supported forever.\u00a0And we have driven down the cost of subsidized childcare by over 90 percent. Thanks to our efforts, a family earning $55,000 a year went from spending $55 a week on childcare in 2022 to just $4.80 a week today.<\/p>\n

Our administration understands that in New York, it takes a city to raise a child.\u00a0We are expanding childcare to younger children and ensuring that families have access to childcare across the five boroughs because we know that to make New York City the best place to raise a family we must make childcare more affordable and universal. That is exactly what we are doing \u2014 every day, everywhere, as we continue to deliver for New Yorkers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best way to make the American Dream a reality for all New Yorkers is by making our city more affordable for working-class families.\u00a0Childcare costs have skyrocketed across New York City, putting pressure on monthly bills and family budgets. Working families are struggling to afford these high costs, resulting in many leaving the five boroughs. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1469,31,1378],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-york","category-news","category-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37526,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37524\/revisions\/37526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}