In my almost 20 years of public service, my work on Pre-K for All, NYC’s free, high-quality pre-k, is among my proudest achievements. I was a mother of young children myself when I first started at City Hall, and it was so meaningful to be a part of a program that showed people that government can be effective. We ran an aggressive public education campaign, teaching New Yorkers about the baby word gap among children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds; the economic boost that working mothers get from having child care support, and the public safety benefits of providing safe, enriching, nurturing environments for all our children during critical stages of their social and emotional development.
As Senator, I have done everything I can to further connect parents with child care resources. I’ve pushed to expand state support for child care subsidies, funded pilots to support workers with non-traditional hours, and even passed bills that lifted the administrative burden on providers so they can get paid faster. But back home, that work has been sabotaged by the Adams Administration’s habit of chipping away at the child care infrastructure in New York City. Despite all my work, the Mayor proposed severe cuts to our proven programs, and made the 3-K application process such an ordeal that working parents are considering postponing having more children or pursuing new career opportunities. Despite the heroic efforts of Speaker Adams, the City Council, and the hundreds of parents who pushed back against drastic cuts to Pre-K and 3-K, the program still was not funded in a way that matches the severity of the child care crisis. Funding for our children should be sacred.
Often, child care payments outpace rent or a mortgage, while simultaneously underpaying and undervaluing the essential workers we rely on to nurture our children. The fact is, we cannot afford to degrade our child care sector any more. Fifty percent of business leaders statewide have found child care a challenge to their business and 53% find it a challenge for their employees. According to the NYC Economic Development Corporation, NYC could lose as much as $2.2 billion per year in tax revenues due to the impact of parents leaving the workforce or downshifting their careers due to Covid-19 and the lack of child care.
I talk about child care as a triple workforce investment, one where we get both short-term and generational returns on investment. First, we create the support needed to allow parents to join the workforce. A recent policy report from the Robin Hood Foundation and Columbia University highlighted that half of mothers in the labor force reported experiencing disruptions in their work lives because of difficulty accessing child care.
Second, we lift an essential workforce out of poverty with dignified wages that reflects the importance of their work as educators. The child care workforce is predominantly women – immigrant women and women of color at that. It’s also an aging workforce that is not attracting enough new people to meet the demand. Recalibrating wages and leveraging CUNY to help us invest in this workforce is the second prong to using child care to build out our middle class.
Finally, child care is an investment in our future workforce. The first five years of a child’s development are the most critical for developing literacy, social and emotional skills, and can be the greatest predictor of future socio-economic potential. What we spend now on our youngest New Yorkers will return in a meaningful way for years to come.
So far, everyone who has thrown their hat in for Mayor has expressed their support for child care, which is very heartening after the past three years. The unity around this issue is not surprising; a poll conducted by Cornell University’s Industrial School of Labor Relations earlier this year found that 74% of New Yorkers supported universal child care. Failing to do anything to get us back on track to reach universal child care is going to continue to force families out of New York City.
But I have done the work and I have a plan. I helped build an infrastructure for Pre-K before, and have been delivering funding and critical legislation that makes child care more affordable and accessible throughout my tenure in the State Senate. I understand the urgency of this issue personally as a Senator and a mother, and I am equipped to fix the damage that has been done to working families while putting us on track to achieving universal child care in New York City. Our children deserve a champion in City Hall.
Senator Jessica Ramos is chair of the Senate Labor Committee and a candidate for NYC Mayor.
