Parents and kids gathered at NYC playgrounds on Sunday, eagerly collecting support from fellow New Yorkers against the city’s nearly $400 million slash in funding for vital pre-K and 3K programs.
New Yorkers United for Child Care (NYUC), an organization that advocates for universal child care in NYC, organized the city-wide “day of action.” Dozens of children donning shirts with the message “I Want Free Child Care” collected signatures at playgrounds in neighborhoods including Ditmas Park, Sunset Park, Washington Heights, Ridgewood, Astoria and Jackson Heights.
At Tot Lot in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, more than a dozen volunteers (mostly parentS) fanned out around the area to gather signatures. Many who signed the petition are working parents who rely on city daycare. Others are just concerned New Yorkers.
Rebecca Bailin, executive director of NYUC, plans to submit the petition, along with testimonials about affordable child care, to the city council’s education committee before its preliminary budget hearing on Monday. She says further reductions to education could endanger the 3K for All program, and lead to an improper distribution of available seats.
“It could mean the mayor not fully rolling out universal 3K, as was the promise to so many parents, meaning there won’t be enough seats or spots in the right neighborhoods for parents,” Bailin said.
The city-funded child-care programs started with the launch of pre-K for All under former mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration in 2014, followed by 3-K for all in 2017. Tens of thousands of New York City kids are enrolled in both programs.
Despite the programs’ popularity, an independent budget analysis showed last month that NYC Mayor Eric Adams made hundreds of millions in cuts since he took office.
Bailin believes that the signatures they gather will be impossible for the mayor to ignore.
“This petition matters because the mayor is going to see that thousands of New Yorkers care about this issue and he has to hear about it,” she said.
Several volunteers at the petition drive on Sunday morning agreed, including Hannah Rackow, a Ditmas Park resident and mother of a 1-year-old daughter.
“I just think affordable child care should be a right, it should be accessible to everyone,” Rackow said. “I’m from Canada, and it’s pretty different there especially where I grew up in Montreal, there’s $10 a day daycare. It’s been shocking a little bit to be here in the U.S. where instead of paying $300 a month, you could be paying $2,500 a month for daycare.”
One parent who signed the petition, Victoria Abdelhady, was with her 3-year-old daughter Serena when the volunteers approached. She said she has been paying around $26,000 a year for daycare.
“It’s so upsetting and unsettling because I feel like we just started this program recently and with COVID taking everyone out for two years, you don’t have clear data … why not give it time and acknowledge that there are some shortcomings but how can we improve on it?” she said.
Brooklyn/Queens City Council Member Jenifer Gutierrez, who is fighting the cuts, stressed the importance of child care support being “an economic lifeline for all.
“If the mayor fails to recognize the dire child care crisis gripping our city, can we truly believe he’s attuned to the needs of the people?” Gutierrez said. “The devastating cuts to 3K/Pre-K during his tenure have pushed our industry and families to the brink. We urgently need a restoration and investment of $400 million to safeguard this vital sector, ensuring families and the next generation of New Yorkers thrive in NYC for years to come.”
