June 24, 2026

By Eliz­a­beth Tucker–

The New York Com­mu­nity Trust has awarded one mil­lion dol­lars in grants to in­crease pay for non­profit child­care providers in Westch­ester County.

“Early child­hood ed­u­ca­tors do es­sen­tial, highly skilled work, yet too many are paid wages that make it im­pos­si­ble to stay in the field,” said Laura Rossi, The New York Com­mu­nity Trust’s vice pres­i­dent for Westch­ester.

Thanks to the grant, one hun­dred work­ers at Mount Kisco Child Care Cen­ter, Lois Bronz Chil­dren’s Cen­ter in White Plains, and Eliz­a­beth Mas­cia Child Care Cen­ter in Tar­ry­town will re­ceive a $2-per-hour salary in­crease, up to $350 per month, for three years. Ac­cord­ing to the Rochester-based or­ga­ni­za­tion Chil­dren’s Agenda, child­care work­ers in the Hud­son Val­ley earn an av­er­age of $19.17 per hour, or $38,070 an­nu­ally.

In pro­vid­ing the grants, The New York Com­mu­nity Trust si­mul­ta­ne­ously aims to study their im­pact on work­force sta­bil­ity. Par­tic­i­pat­ing child­care cen­ters will re­port on turnover, va­can­cies, and hir­ing, while ed­u­ca­tors re­ceiv­ing sup­ple­ments will re­port on job sat­is­fac­tion and fi­nan­cial sta­bil­ity. New York Com­mu­nity Trust will also sur­vey em­ploy­ers across the county on how ac­cess to de­pend­able child­care af­fects their work­ers’ at­ten­dance, re­ten­tion, and pro­duc­tiv­ity.

Original story here: https://thehudsonindependent.com/grant-offers-some-relief-to-childcare-providers/