Today, Assemblymember Monica Wallace (D-Lancaster), Assembly Majority Leader Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes (D-Buffalo), Assemblymember Karen McMahon (D-Amherst/Pendleton), and local parents and childcare advocates urged Governor Andrew Cuomo to release tens of millions in federal funding for childcare centers.

The federal CARES Act, which was signed into law in March, provided $162 million for childcare providers and programs in New York State. The first portion has been spent, but the second portion, consisting of $69 million in unallocated funds and $10 million remaining in the Essential Worker Scholarship program, has not yet been used.

Funding for childcare is especially critical now because many households with children are headed by single parents or have both parents working full time.  Those parents are scrambling to find care for children who would normally be in school full time while parents worked.  

“With many schools going to hybrid or fully remote educational models, the need for childcare is more urgent than ever before,” said Assemblymember Wallace. “We need New York to release the remaining childcare funding from the CARES Act, so that parents can return to work knowing their children are being cared for.  Without this funding, countless parents, including many essential healthcare workers, will be unable to return to work. That will hurt both our economic recovery and our efforts to contain COVID.”

"Childcare is a critical component of ours and every economy. As essential service providers, they are on the front lines just like our beloved healthcare workers. Not all parents have the luxury or ability to work from home, so we must ensure that childcare agencies receive the resources they're owed to help keep parents at work, households afloat, and the economy churning forward," mentioned Assembly Majority Leader Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that childcare workers are essential. They have made it possible for parents to return to work, reviving our state and local economies, while putting their own health on the line," said Assemblymember Karen McMahon.  "It is time for New York State to allocate the funds that are currently being withheld from the childcare industry. I'm proud to stand with my colleagues across the state to urge the Governor to immediately compensate Child Care Resource & Referral agencies for contracts that have not been paid, and to allocate CARES Act funding to support those childcare programs that have been open during the crisis and those that will be reopening. Working families depend on them."

“Affordable, accessible, quality childcare is a social, economic, gender and racial justice issue,” said Sheri Scavone, Executive Director of WNY Women’s Foundation.  “All parents need a safe place for their children while they work. 41% of women are the primary breadwinner and primary caretaker. Access to this essential work support, particularly during this most challenging time should be a high priority for our leaders.”

This Childcare Day of Action was a statewide effort led by over 80 Assemblymembers and Senators who have joined together to urge the Governor to release the funding.