November was National Family Engagement Month, and we are so grateful for our Very Invested Parents (VIPs) and their unwavering dedication to the issues that matter most for children. 

In the last 2 months, VIPs met with Rochester City School District Superintendent Dr. Eric Rosser to elevate priorities in mental health support, school climate, and transportation, and they testified at the Monroe County Legislative budget hearing about the importance of the County's Child Care Assistance Program.

As we witness our Very Invested Parents grow as advocates and leaders, we are excited for even greater parent involvement and for better outcomes for our children.

Parents, your leadership matters. People are paying attention. And we remain committed to supporting your efforts as we strengthen our village—making it more livable, welcoming, warm, and sustainable for every family.

We released our recommendations for the 2026 Monroe County Budget, particularly focused on budgetary and administrative improvements to the Child Care Assistance Program and greater data disclosure about Child Protective Services investigations. 

126 individuals have used our action alert to send messages to County legislators about the importance of child care to families' economic stability and well-being. Local organizers, led by TCA'sCommunity and Parent Advocacy Coordinator Isabel Rosa, presented the County Legislature with 201 signatures collected on petitions.

At the state level, New York has an unprecedented opportunity to achieve universal child care. In January 2025, Governor Hochul committed to achieving universal child care statewide, and her own Child Care Availability Task Force (CCATF) - to which TCA’s own CEO Larry Marx was twice appointed - released a Roadmap for Universal Child Care. Among State legislators, there is strong support for investment in child care, and for achieving a universal system.

In New York City, Mayor-elect Mamdani has made universal child care a cornerstone of his affordability agenda, and a top priority of his first term. He and Governor Hochul have committed to working together to achieve this shared goal—in New York City, and around the state.

In collaboration with our partners on the Empire State Campaign for Child Care and led by Pete Nabozny, Director of Policy, we released a comprehensive plan for how New York can scale up to universal child care: New York State Child Care for All.

Click the link to access the full report and the executive summary on our site.

We were honored to stand with our partners at HOPE585 to announce the release of Cost of A False Alarm, a new report showing that the current guidelines for mandate reporters confuse the signs of poverty with neglect, leading to over-reporting of families to Child Protective Services. In Monroe County, 76% of calls are ultimately unfounded, which diverted $13.76 million in County resources in 2024 alone. Even worse, investigations are traumatizing for children and families involved and can lead to increased distrust and avoidance of the core systems designed to support both.

That’s why The Children’s Agenda is calling on Monroe County to increase disclosure of its data on the child welfare system, similar to what New York City is doing with its publicly available monthly “flash reports.”

Together with our partners at AQE and the Public Policy & Education Fund of NY, we released a report, Reimagining Universal Pre-Kindergarten Funding in New York.

Every child deserves a quality education, beginning in pre-kindergarten, as the basis for their future success. Providing such an education requires adequate, equitable, and sustainable funding. The existing Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) funding mechanism, however, is complicated to administer, has several structural flaws, and provides inadequate per-pupil funding. Under the current system, districts receiving the minimum per-pupil amount or those already serving nearly all eligible families face years of flat funding, with few options to increase their allocations.