Congressman Espaillat and Comptroller Stringer: Urgent Action Needed to Protect New York City’s Child Care Workforce Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

(New York, NY) – Today, U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat and New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer sent a joint letter calling on the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to take immediate steps to ensure protections for New York City’s child care workforce amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  The letter outlines concerns for this critical workforce as child care programs remain open for business during this pandemic, providing care to the children of health care professionals and other frontline workers.

Congressman Espaillat and Comptroller Stringer called for resources to ensure programs can safely remain open while mitigating the long-term economic impacts of this crisis on child care programs, including the thousands of family child care providers whose small businesses are vital to the city’s economy and families across the boroughs. To that end, the Congressmember and the Comptroller urged the state and local levels of government to provide additional resources, flexibility, and protections to prevent permanent program closures and safeguard this essential workforce.

“Under normal circumstances, on a daily basis, child care workers are essential to our daily lives, while supporting families and caring for youth,” said Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13). “Amid this emergency public health crisis, child care workers across New York City continue to provide care to the children of health care professionals, first responders, and other frontline workers. Their assistance to continue to provide care and services during this pandemic should never be taken for granted. They need our help today, now more than ever, and we must ensure these workers have the support and resources available to them in order to recover quickly during this time of greatest need.”

“Child care workers are the unsung heroes of our city every day, and especially during this crisis as they look after children of health care professionals, first responders, and other frontline workers,” said New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. “They are a critical piece of our effort to flatten the curve of this pandemic and must be supported as such. We need local government to secure the necessary funding to protect these essential workers – by waiving restrictive regulations and providing financial support, priority access to testing, food, cleaning supplies and more. Child care workers are stepping up in this challenging time to serve their communities, and it is our duty to safeguard their health, safety, and economic security in return.”

Congressman Espaillat and Comptroller Stringer outlined the following proposals:

Pay for enrollment
Commit to keeping publicly-funded programs whole by providing reimbursement for all children’s absences and any program closures due to COVID-19. Should family co-payments for subsidized care be temporarily waived, as this crisis also warrants, reimbursements must be increased so providers do not have to bear those costs.

Connect essential employees to available slots
Set up a streamlined process for essential employees such as health care, transit, and grocery workers to connect with child care providers, including family child care providers, with available slots. Similarly, ensure an accessible, multilingual system is in place for providers to report openings to relevant entities.

Provide access to treatment and testing
Child care programs are now formally essential businesses and as such, the child care workforce, along with other frontline workers, should have priority access to testing for COVID-19 and any needed treatment, with no additional expenses incumbent on the child care provider.

Distribute cleaning supplies and food
Cleaning supplies, including sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer, bleach, and gloves, should be delivered to or otherwise distributed and made available to child care programs at no cost so providers can maintain adequate sanitation and hygiene in their facilities.

Ensure clear communication
Provide clear points of contact at ACS to manage questions and offer guidance related to COVID-19.

Offer financial support for extended hours
Many of the city’s frontline service workers are toiling around the clock to ensure New Yorkers who test positive for COVID-19 have access to treatment and need access to child care during “non-traditional” hours such as nights and weekends.  ACS should consider increasing the differential payment rate to at least 15 percent to ensure adequate financial compensation for providers now offering extended and non-traditional hours of care.

Increase reimbursement rates
Additional compensation should be provided to child care providers who offer subsidized care and remain open during this crisis. Should the federal, state, and local government not otherwise make provisions for hazard pay for essential service workers, child care reimbursement rates should be increased across the board for the duration of the state of emergency.

Open up access to small business support
Connect child care providers to small business relief and other funding opportunities as they become available. To the extent possible, the State and City should ensure eligibility requirements are not barriers for or unnecessarily exclude the thousands of child care providers in New York City who are self-employed. These providers must also have access to unemployment insurance.

To read Comptroller Stringer and Congressmember Adriano Espaillat’s letter to NYC ACS, click here.

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