Page 7 - Work Force March 2019

Funding our future
ALBANY — Members of CSEA’s child care local recently joined parents, union and advocate partners for
the Empire State Campaign for
Child Care Lobby Day (ESCCC) and one week later, the Union Child
Care Coalition Lobby Day (UCCC)
in Albany to advocate for quality, affordable child care for all New York families and a living wage for those who teach and care for our youngest children.
Although the proposed 2019-20 New York State Budget did include $26 million for
child care, much
of this is needed
to implement
federal
regulations
that were put
in place last
year, yet never
funded. New
York’s families
find child care
the biggest
expense next
to rent or a
mortgage and
can cost families
as much as
college tuition.
since 2015, while operating costs for their child care small businesses continue to rise. It puts many providers in a position of earning the equivalent of minimum wage or below.
“It is important to stay politically active,” said Brandt. “Child care providers especially must have a say in the conditions of our work and small businesses. Visiting
with legislators keeps us in their consideration as they make decisions about us and the families
From left, Tiffany M. Malone, CSEA/VOICE Erie-Niagara Chapter Representative; Heidi-Jo Brandt, CSEA/VOICE Ulster Chapter Representative; Pam Wells, CSEA/VOICE Local President and Diane Abrams, CSEA/VOICE Erie-Niagara Chapter Member.
CSEA/VOICE
Local President
Pam Wells,
along with
Heidi-Jo Brandt,
CSEA/VOICE
Ulster Chapter Representative and member of our Statewide Political Action Committee; Tiffany Malone, CSEA/VOICE Erie-Niagara Chapter Representative and Erie-Niagara Chapter member Diane Abram, traveled to our State Capitol to
also call for restoring subsidy reimbursement rates to the previously held 75th percentile. This is the rate that child care providers receive for taking care of children who receive a subsidy which helps parents afford child care to be able to work.
Reimbursement rates have been flat funded at a much lower rate
CSEA/VOICE Local President Pam Wells, right, discusses her family child care program and the need for families to have access to quality child care with her State Sen. Betty Little’s aide.
CSEA joined child care advocates from around the state on the Million-Dollar Staircase at the State Capitol for a rally to be seen and heard.
we care for.” One week
later, CSEA/ VOICE was at the State Capitol again, working to secure funds for Child Care Facilitated Enrollment Program —
a program founded by unions in 2003 to support working parents with the cost
of child care. The program currently operates in New York City and eight upstate counties. CSEA providers are
working with our union partners to expand this valuable program to additional counties.
“Child care funding is not an expense, it is an investment,” Wells said. “We are funding our future.”
These actions are just a small piece of what CSEA/VOICE has been working on to make child
care more affordable and a better life for providers, like working with DSS agencies to improve provider payment systems and offering required training opportunities for providers and assistants at no cost.
— Jill Asencio
Tiffany M. Malone, CSEA/VOICE Erie- Niagara Chapter Representative, speaks with Albany TV station WRGB-TV6 to make the case for funding quality child care.
CSEA/VOICE’s Tiffany M. Malone and Diane Abrams speak with an
aide from State Sen. Michael Razenhofer’s office about the need for funding from the Family Child Care perspective.
March 2019
The Work Force 7