Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Gregory Brender, Chief Policy & Innovation Officer of Day Care Council of New York, on Childcare Voucher Funding Crisis
6:56:18
ยท
78 sec
Gregory Brender from the Day Care Council of New York testified about the urgent crisis in childcare voucher funding, potentially affecting 4,000 to 7,000 families per month. He emphasized the need for both state and city action to address the $900 million funding gap and prevent low-income working families from losing access to childcare.
- Highlighted $222 million in cuts to early childhood education programs in the city budget
- Stressed the importance of investing in early childhood education in the current budget
- Mentioned advocacy efforts with state legislators to communicate the urgency of the situation
Gregory Brender
6:56:18
Good afternoon.
6:56:19
Thank you so much for opportunity to testify and thank you for your questions to ACS about the budget deficit facing the voucher system.
6:56:28
I'm Gregory Brender from the
Althea V. Stevens
6:56:29
And thank you for actually bringing it to my attention.
Gregory Brender
6:56:31
Of course.
6:56:34
I'm Gregory Brender from the Day Care Council of New York.
6:56:36
We're the membership organization of early childhood education provider organizations.
6:56:42
And yeah, just wanted to highlight this is a situation where 4,000 to 7,000 families a month could be denied recertification and that this is going to affect low income working families, people who need childcare in order to go to work.
6:56:59
We have been up to Albany to communicate this urgency to state legislators and where we know we need the state to act, we really need both the state and the city to work together.
6:57:11
Both have a role to play in averting this crisis.
6:57:14
And I'll just also point out and it goes into much more detail on the testimony written but this is on top of a city budget that cuts $222,000,000 from early childhood education from programs including three ks, school day plus, preschool special ed and others.
6:57:31
So it's crucial that we invest in early childhood education in this budget.
6:57:35
Thank you.