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Q&A
Council Member Brooks-Powers questions ACS on child care vouchers and Promise NYC program
1:05:55
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162 sec
Council Member Selvena N. Brooks-Powers inquires about the impact of child care voucher wait-listing on Southeast Queens and the Promise NYC program. Commissioner Jess Dannhauser provides information on projected effects, alternative childcare resources, and the growth of the Promise NYC program.
- ACS estimates dozens of families in Southeast Queens could be affected by voucher wait-listing
- Promise NYC program has grown to serve around 1,100 families with a $25 million allocation
- Brooks-Powers expresses concern about the lack of visible advocacy for increased state funding for child care vouchers
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers
1:05:55
Thank you, chairs.
1:05:56
Thank you, commissioner, for your testimony today.
1:06:00
How does ACS expect the wait listing of families seeking a child care voucher to affect Southeast Queens and does ACS have any projections for how many families in Council District 31 and across Southeast Queens will be placed on the wait list?
Jess Dannhauser
1:06:17
I don't have that exact projection for you right now council member, but we can work on looking at that.
1:06:23
My estimation, you know, would be that it could affect dozens of families who are applying.
1:06:30
We are working hard to to provide that continuity.
1:06:34
We're going to make sure that in our public education we're also speaking to many other childcare resources that are available through our partners at New York City Public Schools.
1:06:46
There are some federal programs that are also available to families.
1:06:51
And we also, if families are receiving cash assistance and working, they are also eligible for childcare.
1:07:00
So this plan will actually grow the number of children enrolled in childcare, and so we hope that that meets the need of as many New Yorkers as possible, and we're looking to continue to try to assess that.
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers
1:07:12
Thank you for that.
1:07:13
And if your office can be able to provide that information, that would be really great just to have line of sight of what that looks like.
Jess Dannhauser
1:07:20
Yeah.
1:07:21
I'll ask my team to as we develop the wait list, which is starting to Mhmm.
1:07:25
To make sure that we're communicating.
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers
1:07:27
Perfect.
1:07:27
And then how has demand for Promise NYC changed across years?
1:07:32
Are there more families participating in the program this year compared to last year?
Jess Dannhauser
1:07:36
There are more families participating.
1:07:38
We're up to and thanks to the investments of the administration and the council, we're up to around 1,100 families in Promise NYC.
1:07:46
It is a capped allocation at 25,000,000.
1:07:49
It's all city tax levy and so the demand is undoubtedly higher than what we're able to enroll, but we're proud that we've been able to create and maintain this important program.
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers
1:08:02
Thank you for that.
1:08:03
And just kinda echoing what some of my colleagues have already shared, just the concern that from what we've seen, we didn't see much more forceful advocacy during the state budget negotiations for more funding for the child care voucher program while you said that the admin had been doing so.
1:08:23
I just would like in the future maybe if there's more coordination with the body with the with the chair to be able to activate the council to support those efforts, but thank you for your responses.
Jess Dannhauser
1:08:35
Understood councilmember.
1:08:37
Thank you.