By Ashley M. Casey
Local legislators and child care advocates gathered Aug. 27 at the Learn As You Grow Early Education Child Care Center in Cicero to demand additional state and federal funding for the more than 15,000 day cares and child care centers in New York State.
Assemblymembers Al Stirpe (127th District) and Bill Magnarelli (129th District) and State Sen. Rachel May (53rd District) urged New York State to release $69 million from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, including $10 million from the CARES Child Care Scholarship program, which pays for child care for essential workers.
Even before the pandemic, Stirpe said, small business owners brought their concerns to him about affordable child care.
“Fast forward to this year and the unemployment rate is 15%,” Stirpe said. “We had six public hearings … on the federal response to COVID for small business. And once again, at all six of those, the no. 1 or no. 2 issue was child care. This country, this state, Central New York can’t really operate without adequate child care.”
Magnarelli said he and his wife grappled with balancing their careers with their growing family over 40 years ago. He said affordable child care has long been an issue for working parents, but the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the matter to the forefront.
“With both parents working in many, many of our families … or if you’re a single parent, it is imperative that child care is available so that you will be able to handle your job,” Magnarelli said. “I think COVID-19 has only brought this out more.”
When the assembly resumes its session, Magnarelli said, he is hoping to pass legislation supporting universal health care and child care.
“We’re looking forward to moving this question even further and past the COVID-19 pandemic to make sure that child care is available to all families across New York State,” Magnarelli said.
May called child care centers “absolutely essential” and said they are the “underpinning of every other business in this state.” She said it was “frankly absurd” that the state has not released the remaining CARES funding to child care centers.
“You can’t keep any business going — or school or any other enterprise — if the kids of the people working there aren’t being cared for,” she said.
May said half of the child care centers in the nation are in danger of closing by the end of the year, and the economic consequences will be especially dire for people of color.
“Most of them are run by Black and brown women, which is a population that has been particularly affected by every economic downturn we’ve ever had,” May said.
Learn As You Grow Director Josh LaGrow said the child care industry has been greatly impacted by the pandemic. As schools reopen in the coming weeks, LaGrow said, child care centers will continue to play a pivotal role.
“As a community, we’ve had to endure, but I’m hoping that we can reflect back on this time and realize specific to child care how essential and important it was for us and families to be here,” LaGrow said. “Child care allows families to work and support other local businesses. It gives children a place to feel normal. … Child care provides a safe environment for children to learn not only in a social setting but also receive other critical services they may need.”
Child Care Solutions Executive Director Lori Schakow said child care agencies in Onondaga County received about $500,000 in CARES funding between April 20 and June 30. That funding paid for child care for essential workers and allowed the centers to provide consistent income for their employees and purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning supplies.
Schakow said some child care providers cried upon learning that the CARES funding would come through.
“They had been spending down just about all of their personal savings just so they could pay their staff to continue operating,” she said.
“We can’t just pull that safety net out from these families. We need to release the additional funding and we need to put pressure on the federal government to provide additional CARES funding specifically for child care. Without long-term, sustainable funding for the child care system, families of the future are not going to have access to high-quality care.”
The Workforce Development Institute’s Child Care Subsidy Program Manager Brittany Buffum said child care is the “backbone of our economy.” With the looming “logistical nightmare” of hybrid learning models, child care workers will be helping kids navigate remote learning this fall.
“Child care providers continue to answer the call, and we know that they’ll continue to make things work with remote instruction even though it is not their responsibility to do so,” Buffum said. “We have pushed the system too far and we have squeezed out every last bit that they have to offer. If we want our children to thrive in quality learning environments, we need the funding to do so.”
Steve Gorczynski, administrative vice president of commercial banking for M&T Bank and a member of Early Childhood Alliance Onondaga’s business council, said the lack of affordable child care reduces the labor pool and keeps businesses from growing.
“We need to prepare for the workforce of tomorrow. We have a graying population,” Gorczynski said. “It’s not too early to be thinking about the jobs 10, 15 years from now.”
Stirpe said Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office has been vague about when the remaining CARES funding will be released. He said Cuomo’s office told him the governor is “trying to use federal resources judiciously.” Stirpe said he is also hoping the federal government will infuse additional relief money for child care to the tune of $25 billion.
“I can’t imagine that they can just go into an election leaving everybody hanging,” Stirpe said.
