New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released “Accessible, Equitable, High-quality, Affordable: A Blueprint for Child Care & Early Childhood Education in New York City,” outlining essential steps to provide high-quality, equitable, and accessible child care for thousands of New York City families. From increasing outreach for families in temporary housing to expanding opportunities for early childhood professionals to cutting red tape for background checks, this interagency effort will move away from making critical decisions in silos to investing in holistic programming to support New York City’s youngest. By expanding access to care for the city’s 500,000 children under five years old, supporting parents, and reversing the economic impact for parents of color, the blueprint aims to support working families and allow parents to get back to work which will simultaneously add to the economic pulse of this city.
“As a child, my mother had to work three jobs and still find a way to take care of me and my siblings. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, almost 375,000 parents were forced to quit or downshift their jobs because they had no other way to take care of their children. Now, my administration is working to make sure no parent has to make that hard choice between child care and putting food on their table again,” said Mayor Adams. “Our new blueprint is a historic investment in the future of our children, the future of working families, and the future of our city. We’re going to increase access to child care for more than 41,000 children across New York City. It used to take a village to raise a child, but these days, it takes a city — New York City.”
“Family members who leave work to care for a child not only lose out on their income in that instant, but also on wage and career growth,” said Deputy Mayor of Strategic Initiatives Sheena Wright. “When parents downshift their careers or leave their jobs due to child care inaccessibility, the city’s economy suffers. ‘A Blueprint for Childcare & Early Childhood Education in New York City’ allows parents, especially parents of color, to progress and allows our youngest New Yorkers to get the academic setting they deserve.”
“Having access to safe, reliable, and affordable child care is a protective factor for every family and developing child,” said Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. “The blueprint outlined today sets forth ways the city will work to provide that opportunity to every one of our youngest New Yorkers and their families. Thank you to the mayor, to partners in government, to parents and guardians, and to everyone that contributed to this plan and will work to implement it.”
“Providing New Yorkers with accessible, affordable, quality child care is not only the right thing for our families but also critical to our economy. Many parents, especially mothers, left the workforce during the pandemic. By increasing the number of caregivers and expanding access to care, we are creating a more equitable system to level the playing field for parents of color,” said Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development Maria Torres-Springer. “Implementing the strategies laid out in this blueprint will play a critical role in bringing parents back to work and will help fuel a more equitable recovery for our city.”
“The Department of Education is committed to providing our youngest New Yorkers with equitable access to a high quality early childhood education, and ‘A Blueprint for Childcare & Early Childhood Education in New York City’ is a critical step in ensuring this remains a reality for every single one of our families,” said New York City Department of Education Chancellor David C. Banks. “It has been proven time and time again that learning begins at birth. We are committed to our mission of fostering a birth to five continuum, guaranteeing that every child has the opportunities they deserve and every family has the supports they need.”
Over the next four years, the Adams administration will make an additional $800 million in investments, combined with existing spending on child care — representing a total of approximately $2 billion allocated to child care spending. The plan outlines ambitious steps the Adams administration will take to:
- Offer an accessible child care experience rooted in equity to New York City families and increase enrollment across the city,
- Prioritize 17 high-needs neighborhoods across New York City targeted to increase engagement with families and drive an increase in enrollment through the New York City Administration of Children Services (ACS),
- Create a tangible career training and professional development pipeline through The City University of New York (CUNY); and
- Take bold steps to include undocumented families, who have long been excluded from these opportunities, in new funding to create and expand child care benefits and make certain that all New York families receive the support needed to provide for their families.
Under the blueprint, the administration will cut red tape and alleviate the frustrations of the application process for families by launching a new application portal designed specifically for child care, allowing families to navigate this process easier. Through DOHMH, the administration will streamline the background check process to work for a child care provider, reducing administrative burden and clearing the agency’s backlog. DOHMH will also hire an additional 40 staff members to expedite results and make it significantly easier for providers to make new seats available, all while maintaining thorough checks on all staff and employees.
The Blueprint for Child Care & Early Childhood Education in New York City builds on private-public partnership and marks an unprecedented opportunity to collaborate on catalyzing improvements in child care that will have lasting impacts for generations. The Child Care Quality and Innovation Initiative, in partnership with the Robinhood Foundation, allocates a $100 million fund that will make child care more accessible, while improving the quality of care provided to New York children.
The current inaccessibility of child care threatens household financial stability, especially for women-led and low-income families in New York City. Research has shown that the most impactful poverty-fighting investment the nation can make starts in infancy, providing returns to society that far outweigh the costs. Currently, though, more than half — 52 percent — of New York City families with children under age four cannot afford child care and, since the start of the pandemic, one in four parents have had to turn down a job, change jobs, or take leave due to child care needs. Currently, there is only one available child care slot for every five infants in New York City. Investing in New York City’s child care system will help reduce poverty, improve family economic stability, ensure healthy childhood development, and increase the ability of parents and caregivers — especially women — to work and earn more.
Today’s announcement builds off Mayor Adams’ previous investment in New York City’s youth through Summer Rising, as well as this administration’s historic investment in the Summer Youth Employment Program — both highlighting this administration’s commitment to providing equitable and high-quality care for New York City children all year round.
“Access to affordable, high-quality child care is a game-changer for families, providing nurturing environments for children to grow and the support parents need to pursue opportunity. We are thrilled to be expanding access to thousands more children in families living throughout the city, including in our most underserved neighborhoods” said ACS Commissioner Jess Dannhauser. “Thank you to Mayor Adams and all of the city and state elected officials, advocates, providers, and parents who helped make this blueprint possible.”
"MyCity is creating a simple, seamless, and intuitive experience that aligns with New Yorkers' expectations of digital-era government," said New York City Chief Technology Officer and New York City Office of Technology and Innovation Commissioner Matthew Fraser. "Through this one-stop portal, we will ensure parents no longer need to search multiple websites and subsequently print and mail forms to apply for subsidized child care. Instead, we'll provide them one unified online intake form to expedite the process. By removing unnecessary barriers to accessing essential government services, MyCity exemplifies our best ongoing efforts to leverage technology to 'Get Stuff Done' for New Yorkers."
“Government works best when we get out of our own way — eliminating fiscal barriers and systems that place young people and families in crisis. ‘A Blueprint for Child Care & Early Childhood Education in New York City’ will help us alleviate the effects of poverty and free up parents or guardians so they can work and support their families,” said New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) Commissioner Keith Howard. “DYCD stands ready to team up with our sister agencies, community-based organizations, and the young people and families we serve to make sure that our youngest New Yorkers are connected to these life-changing child care and early childhood education opportunities.”
“This administration is investing in the future of New York City and giving our working families and low-income communities the meaningful and long-overdue child care supports they deserve,” said New York City Department of Social Services Commissioner Gary P. Jenkins. “This blueprint lays the foundation for truly equitable access to affordable, high-quality child care for all New Yorkers, notably the vulnerable families we serve. The positive impact of these unprecedented investments and this visionary plan will be felt for generations to come.”
“High-quality child care sets children up for a lifetime of good health outcomes,” said New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan. “We are proud to play a part in bringing more of these resources to New York City families.”
“For far too long, the lack of accessible and affordable child care has been a systemic barrier to workforce participation and economic mobility for parents, especially women of color and low-income New York City families,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Andrew Kimball. “Mayor Adams’ ‘Blueprint for Childcare & Early Childhood Education in New York City’ outlines actionable steps for families to access affordable, equitable, high-quality child care and education by reframing access to child care as a core part of the city’s economic recovery.”
“The New York State Office of Children and Family Services is pleased to hear about additional local investment by New York City to help working parents and vulnerable families afford safe and reliable child care,” said New York State Office of Children and Family Services Commissioner Sheila J. Poole. “These efforts, combined with historic amounts of state and federal funding, align with New York State’s transformation of the child care system by expanding eligibility standards for child care assistance, increasing payment rates for providers and building capacity within the child care system.”
“High-quality, affordable child care sets the next generation up for success while allowing parents to get back to work, helping cut poverty now and in the future. It’s one of the most effective poverty-fighting tools we have — and we are excited to partner with Mayor Adams to expand the city’s child care offerings,” said Robin Hood CEO Richard R. Buery, Jr. “As we rebuild a new New York post-pandemic, ensuring every family has access to these child programs will be critical. We look forward to working with the city on data-driven programs that will turn New York City into a child care metropolis, uplifting hundreds of thousands of families.”
“Access to affordable, quality child care is crucial to this city’s recovery and growth,” said Children’s Aid President and CEO Phoebe C. Boyer. “Children’s Aid commends Mayor Adams and his administration for laying out the goal of creating a true, comprehensive 0-5 continuum of early childhood education that is built on parent and community input. We know from our decades of experience in the space that it’s the best way to meet the needs of children and families. Meeting this administration’s goals will require cross-agency collaboration to address fundamental challenges facing the current early childhood education system. We look forward to working with the city to resolve these challenges and to ensure successful implementation of the blueprint.”
“Thank you to Mayor Adams and his administration for focusing on early childhood education. New York City’s recovery will depend on an early childhood education system that is high quality, affordable, and accessible for all children and families, especially from immigrant communities,” said Wayne Ho, president and CEO of the Chinese American Planning Council. “We look forward to working with the Mayor’s Office to ensure that early childhood providers are meaningfully engaged in implementing the blueprint and that critical issues like salary parity for staff and full funding for services and indirect are addressed.”
"We applaud the Adams administration’s Blueprint for Child Care and Early Childhood Education in New York City, which correctly calls out the importance of NYC's child care and early education system to New Yorkers and our city's economic recovery,” said Jennifer March, executive director, Citizens' Committee for Children of New York. “We support the blueprint's legislative priorities and action steps, as they expand access for children birth to five years of age and pay special attention to children in immigrant households, children who are homeless, children in communities with high unmet need, in addition to reaching greater numbers of infants and toddlers and supporting year-round, full-day care. We are also pleased that the plan identifies goals designed to bring greater stability to the early care and education sector and to address impediments to timely contract registration and payment, and workforce staffing and stability. We look forward to working with the administration and our partners to make headway on the goals articulated today, and to build on them with needed advances in salary parity."
