On the steps of City Hall and at the foot of Mayor Eric Adams’ offices, activists and advocates for children sent a clear message to the city’s top authority.
“The City Council is ready for this fight, but we ask the mayor not to dance alone in this budget dance and to listen to the voices not only of our communities, but of these councilwomen who stand here today saying no we can cut child care,” said Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa.
According to the analysis carried out by the C4C organization that watches over children, the communities of Brooklyn and the Bronx spend 63% of their income per year on these early child care programs and services and 80% of New York families cannot pay it. Even worse when it comes to families with several children like the ones we talked about at the Brooklyn public school, PS 120 or Carlos Tapia.
“The mayor is cutting $170 million for early learning centers and child care centers. Centers like @DWDCnyc Mamatingo are crucial to the development of our youth and the stabilization of working families. We cannot balance the budget at the expense of our children and families “Councilwoman De La Rosa also wrote in a message on social networks.
$170M for early learning centers and childcare funding is being cut by the Mayor. Centers like @DWDCnyc Mamatingo are crucial for the development of our young ones and the stabilization of working families. We cannot balance the budget on the backs of our children & families. pic.twitter.com/2LDagvpqL1
— Carmen De La Rosa (@CnDelarosa) May 22, 2024
“It’s very difficult because there are families who have three, four children, imagine, there are four children who have to pay for it, those who have one and maybe it’s not that much, but they have 2, 3, 4 children. It’s too much,” he said. the mother of the family Minerva Hernández.
For this reason, they demand that Mayor Adams and his administration stop – or stand back – the cuts to the 2025 budget that were proposed and that will affect early education programs and, consequently, the families who have the least. The mayor’s proposal is to cut $170 million from child care and after school programs. These would affect 3-k and pre-k children.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, especially since there are a lot of parents who work late,” Annette Rodriguez said. “They need to have their children in these programs or else they need to have a ‘babysitter’ to pick them up, keep them at home until they get back from work.”
The budget cuts also contemplate 25 million less for the Promise NYC program, which provides coupons or ‘vauchers’ for child care to undocumented families.
-How would it affect you?
“It would affect me because I have two. Imagine, you have to cut a few hours and what the child needs to be able to pay for school,” said Hernández.
-It doesn’t come out, isn’t it enough?
“It’s not enough. So no, don’t cut back, don’t do that.”
Activists also warned the mayor that his cuts will terribly affect the well-being of children and will greatly affect their economies.
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