Child Care

No working family should have to choose between doing what’s best for their job or what’s best for their child. But a lack of high-quality child care options often force hundreds of thousands of families to make that choice every day.  The cost of child care in our state is out of reach for most working families, often their largest monthly bill, and equal to what many pay for a mortgage.

Only 20% of families that earn less than $42,000 a year, receive financial assistance to help pay for child care. This is a staggering amount, impacting more than half a million children in our state.

Lastly, many of the pre-school and child care educators caring for New York’s youngest are paid wages that leave them living at or near poverty.  In New York, 65% of the families of people who care for young children participate in public income support programs at a cost of more than $192.1 million.  New York’s child care crisis is growing increasingly severe.