$3B for Childcare and not a penny less

March 22, 2022 Alan Cole

Call to Action: $3B for Childcare

You don't usually get a newsletter from Indivisible Mohawk Valley on Tuesday, but we're in the last 10 days before the NYS budget is due, and we need EVERYONE to take actions, especially sending emails and calling leadership in Albany. Today we're focusing on childcare: Here's the background:

New York state is in a childcare crisis. The pandemic highlighted it but it has been building for years.

Costs for a family with one child can approach $21K/year in a state where median household income is $68K/year. Even 2-income families can’t afford it.
Subsidies are available only to households making less than $43K/year (up to 2x federal poverty level).
Low wages keep 65% of childcare workers (who are almost 100% women, and disproportionately immigrant, Black, and brown) at or near poverty level.
As a result, worker shortages lead to high staff turnover, shortages, and closures. 1500 childcare providers have closed their doors in the past couple of years. 64% of the state is in childcare “deserts” with no or far less child care than needed.

The $5 billion advocates requested for child care in this year’s budget would be transformative not just for children, families, and workers, but for all New Yorkers.

Studies show that the care children receive in the first few years of life is most impactful for every aspect of their future development.
Workers deserve not only to survive but to thrive.
When parents don’t have child care, they can’t work.
Our entire economy rests on access to quality child care. Investments in high-quality early childhood education can generate up to $7.30 per dollar invested.
And it’s the right thing to do.

Governor Hochul’s proposed budget includes only $1.1 billion in increased spending for child care. The Senate’s and Assembly’s proposal of $3 billion is a meaningful down payment that would pay the way for universal child care, increasing subsidies over the next 3 years to households earning up to 300% the federal poverty level this fall, 400% next spring, and 500% the year after, and creating new funding streams to help providers meet cost and workers to earn a living wage. We must push for a final budget that includes not a penny less.

Your Two Action Steps

1. Send an email to the key decision makers in Albany using this Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) tool.

2. Make two calls right now to demand funding for childcare in the NYS budget. Here's how:

Call Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (518) 455-2585

Script: Hi, my name is ________. I am urging Leader Stewart-Cousins to hold the line on child care funding at not a penny less than the $3 billion the Senate has proposed. As the Senator knows, this funding will be transformative. It will pave the way to universal child care that will get kids off to the right start, allow parents to work, and let child care workers not only survive but thrive. Our entire economy rests on access to quality child care. It’s the right thing to do, and thanks to the increased revenue New Yorkers like me helped to win as part of the Invest in Our New York coalition, we have the funds to pay for it.

Call Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (518) 455-3791

Script: Hi, my name is ________ and I am urging Speaker Heastie to hold the line on child care funding at not a penny less than the $3 billion in the Assembly and Senate one-house budgets. This funding will be transformative in paving the way to universal child care. It will get kids off to the right start, allow parents to work, and let child care workers not only survive but thrive. Our entire economy rests on access to quality child care. It’s the right thing to do, and thanks to the increased revenue New Yorkers like me helped to win as part of the Invest in Our New York coalition, we have the funds to pay for it.

Thanks for making these two critical calls, and remember to email Governor Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie via the Alliance for Quality Education’s action tool: https://bit.ly/3N3yzC2.

Once you've sent your email, please email your friends, and share on social media to spread the word. The more people who call and email, the closer we'll be to our goal: "Not a Penny Less Than $3B for Childcare."

Defend Against Bail Reform Fearmongering

At Sunday's IMV meeting, Dana Balter gave an amazing presentation about bail reform and how we can all help shape the conversation and message on the subject, whether we are hearing about it at the dinner table or at the doors while petitioning. We can't let the shenanigans by the Republicans, the media, or the Governor derail passing a powerfully progressive NYS budget that invests in the health and well-being all New Yorkers, and we won't let bail reform hysteria stop our candidates from getting votes in the November elections.

We CAN defend against bail reform fearmongering with this FAQ and this explainer. Take the time to prepare yourself because you never know when someone will say, "But what about bail reform?"

There are More Calls to Action to Come

You probably have not heard the last from IMV this week. A big push from across the state with thousands of people calling and emailing at the same time through our coalitions, including Invest in Our New York, NY Renews, and others, is powerful to elected leaders who know that groups that can accomplish successful mass calls to action can also accomplish results at the polls.

The NYS budget is kind of wonky. It's no longer decided by "three men in a room," but it is still an opaque process involving numbers with a lot of zeros, and many competing priorities vying for attention.

So that you can keep it all straight, here’s a summary of our progressive major progressive budget asks and where the executive and one-house proposals stand with respect to them. Print it out, take a picture and save it on your phone or copy it into your google drive.

We strongly urge all IMV activists to call EVERY DAY and keep asking for the items that are your top priorities, whether housing, health care, climate, child care, worker pay, or education.

Here's how to find your Assembly Member
Here's how to find your State Senator
Senate Leader Stewart-Cousins: 518-455-2585
Speaker Heastie: 518-455-3791
Gov. Hochul: 518-474-8390

Please take action by calling every day!