New York State Senator April Baskin and Assemblymember Jon Rivera met with community stakeholders Thursday to discuss expanding childcare services and raising wages for childcare providers with state funding.
The meeting centered on a pilot program that New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul announced earlier this year, which is designed to expand childcare access for children from ages 0-3, regardless of income.
Baskin said one of the most important components of the meeting for her was being informed if Erie County would actually benefit from the program.
“We can’t afford to make a (bad) decision here, we’ve got to take on all the fights, and when you go into all the fights, you just have to make sure that you have all the facts.” she said.
Rivera said he left the roundtable meeting more informed and shared what he observed were the most common concerns among participants.
“The biggest concern is, they want to be heard. They interact with multiple levels of government, they interact with vulnerable populations, and they're really, really good sources of information on what they're seeing,” he said.
Only three counties — Dutchess, Monroe and Broome Counties — are included in the pilot program when it becomes implemented and would receive $20 million each to expand childcare services. Erie County lawmakers opted out, citing a $23.1 million deficit for the county’s existing Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), which has a waitlist of 300 applicants.
The federal government awards childcare subsidies for CCAP to New York State, which divides those funds among the state’s 62 counties. Through the program, subsidies are paid directly to childcare providers on behalf of eligible families. The program is available to employed families earning up to 85 percent of the state median income.
Some within the discussion expressed disappointment that higher-ups in the county made the decision to decline the program without consulting “boots on the ground” childcare providers.
“I was uncomfortable that a decision had just been made, and my colleagues in the delegation had not been consulted about it, nor child care professionals or providers across Erie County,” Baskin said.
“That's what was really, really quite surprising and astounding to me, that such a decision would be made unilaterally, without the consultation of families, without the consultation of child care professionals and providers,” said Vonetta Rhodes, executive director of New York Childcare Action Team.
Concerns raised about potentially implementing the governor’s pilot program in Erie County included provider capacity shortages, low wages for childcare workers, and startup costs vs. maintenance costs.
Guests also mentioned the impact of childcare shortages on workplace participation. Trina Burruss, president and CEO of the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County, said that financial hardships and barriers to entry are exacerbated by a lack of support for working families.
“There's always these tradeoffs that are occurring, and what's happening is our children and our community are the ones who are paying the bill for these issues so we need to keep talking, and the solution is here,” Burruss said.
Basking said she made a list of 15 points that she plans to take back to Albany to demand action to address the county’s current childcare deficits and to explore bringing the pilot program to Erie County.
