Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Historic $2 Billion in Child Care Subsidies to Support Low-income and Working Families and Child Care Providers

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the largest investment in child care subsidies in New York State history will be distributed--$2 billion to increase the number of families receiving child care financial assistance and the amount child care providers are paid for their essential services. The $2 billion in childcare subsidies includes $894 million in New York State Child Care Block Grant new funding passed in the recent State Budget, more than $500 million in funds previously allocated to local departments of social services districts that remains unspent, and more than $600 million in existing COVID-19 pandemic funding. As part of the Governor's unprecedented commitment of $7 billion to child care over the next four years, these investments provide families with much-needed support, while also furthering New York's economic recovery.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Good afternoon, everyone. I just had an extraordinary privilege to be hugged by a room full of four-year-olds. I can't tell you how wonderful that feels, the innocence, the trust and, the sense that I got as a mother, I recognize that these children are well cared for and they love being here. They all told me they had pizza. It's a Friday, that's part of their tradition. And I realized why these places are so important. Just to give these children that socialization, which is so important, especially after two years of isolation, some of them would have been two years old when that started.

And so it's really good to be here and I want to thank the Hebrew Educational Society, HES, for the incredible work you do here and Moshit Rivkin. I want to thank the Executive Director for all the great work you do every single day.

So I'm joined by our commissioners, Sheila Poole, an extraordinary individual who is so passionate. We have traveled the state together long before I became Governor, focusing on the needs of our families and children. So let's give Sheila Poole our Commissioner of The Office of Child and Family Services a round of applause.

Things get done in Albany when you have great partners and you are so fortunate to have the elected officials here on the stage representing you. And let me start with Senator Roxanne Persaud, who I've known for many years. She and I have done a lot of childcare events focusing on the needs of the working families and the children, particularly those from underserved communities. And so I want to thank her for her leadership in Albany, as well as our partner in the Assembly, Jaime Williams, again, another true leader. So I just want to welcome them here today.

We're here today to talk about how we in government are giving working parents and families, typically moms, the support they need. And we saw for far too long that we've had a childcare crisis in this country. To all the providers in this room. I thank you, but I'm not telling you something you don't already know.

This is not a pandemic occurrence or an outgrowth of the pandemic. It predated the pandemic. We know this, that for too long, there's been childcare deserts. There have been barriers, because of lack of affordability or access. And we knew that this was finally a time [that has] come to really drill down and address these needs.

And we saw again during the pandemic children who normally would be occupied in a childcare center or in a school setting, all of a sudden they're back home. And if you're one of the parents who were able to Zoom into work, it wasn't easy, but you might've been able to just figure it all out.

But those parents, particularly those from Black and brown communities who were the essential frontline workers, who could not Zoom into their jobs, who showed up still serving people in hospitals, caring for them, running our transit, our bus drivers, people worked in the restaurants that fed us food even if we picked it up at the curb, they didn't have an option. And I remember asking the question early in the pandemic, in fact, I wrote about it in March of 2020, just a few weeks after the pandemic started, I said, who's watching the children? These are working parents, who's watching their kids? And at that moment I realized there was still a lot of real heroic people during a scary time, the uncertainty about their own safety.

We had childcare providers showing up at their sites and taking care of the children of the essential workers, they became the essential workers for the essential workers in effect. And no one properly recognized that, but I saw it even back then.

And, I'm not going to state something we don't know, but most times in childcare, the burden falls on women. And we started seeing that so many women were not able to return to jobs, because they didn't have that childcare and it affected their family economically. It affected their ability to build up money during a time when there was great need. They couldn't earn a dime, many of them. And as the first female Governor of the state of New York, I'm also the first mom Governor of the state of New York.

And that gives me a unique perspective to know that yes, society has long thrust the responsibility of childcare on the women and they are the ones the most effected when there is a shortage of affordable childcare.

So a lot of women left the workforce. Still lot of women have not returned to the workforce. And that hurts our economy as well. Not just their personal family finances, but it affects our economy as well.

And I predicted back then that women could face a generational setback if we don't start solving for this right now. So I said back then as Lieutenant Governor, and now in a position as Governor, we can no longer turn our eyes away from what has really just shown up, so vividly, the crisis that families - particularly moms - are going through in who is watching their children.

So I had an opportunity as we put together my first budget this year, because a budget is not just a cold document with a lot of numbers in it. It's your ability to state your priorities in a way of doing more than just saying, well, we want to solve this and talking a good talk about it. It's also putting the money where your mouth is.

And so that's exactly what we did in this budget. And I'm very proud of it. And again, I want to thank our legislators for being our partners and working together to reach a solution that we still believe is going to transform families lives.

So today I'm very proud to come to this site and announce that we are now going to be distributing $2 billion in childcare subsidies for families and providers. This is the largest investment in childcare in the history of the state of New York. And let me break this down for you. This is nearly $900 million in new funding passed by the budget for this year, more than $500 million in funds previously allocated and an additional $600 million in pandemic funding.

And it's investing now in a profound, transformative way. In our families, in our children and our providers. It was just the right thing to do. None of us even asked a question, we knew we had to do this, and I think it's going to go a long way toward our economic recovery as well, for those families where moms will finally have a place where they know their children are safe, so they can get back on with their lives. Help bring that money into their families and allowed them to continue in their jobs or their careers. And what this is, it's also a statement of our priority as New Yorkers, who we value. We value of our kids, we value our families, we value our childcare providers. So this $2 billion we're announcing today is just the beginning.

Because we have put together a package that will result in the delivery of $7 billion over the next four years for childcare in the State of New York. We're also increasing the eligibility thresholds for childcare subsidies, going from 200% of the poverty line, and there was talk around the team, about "Why don't we increase it to 250% of the poverty line, lift people up a little bit more? I said, no. How about 300%? Let's do 300%. So $82,000, up to $82,000, families can get help, helping our middle-class families for a family of four. That'll open the door to literally hundreds of thousands. About 400,000 more children will be eligible for childcare subsidies. That is extraordinary. That is extraordinary. That changes lives, but we also know we need to do more for our providers.

And just last night, we closed the portal, accepting applications for new childcare providers, to open up programs across the state particularly focused in the childcare deserts. We know where they are, we know exactly where they are, and I am delighted at the resounding response we had to this solicitation for applications. We had 1700 applicants last night, at the close of midnight, and we are going to be reviewing them, and over a short time announcing who those providers are. So, we also want to make sure that we have stabilization grants. We're announcing our second round for $343 million of stabilization grants. And that goes right to the providers, the ones that were hardest hit. It's for them and for their employees.

And I have met many of the employees of our childcare providers, and they are doing God's work. They become the moms, and the teachers, and the social workers, and the mental health experts. They take care of all their problems, even though they're young, but especially after this pandemic. We saw how the isolation and the disruption of their everyday little lives, even though they haven't even been here that long. It had a possibility of a long-term impact. If we don't capture this right now and recognize, we have to help these kids heal. And that is the weight that's on the shoulders of these incredibly hardworking childcare providers. So 75% of that $343 million will go directly toward workforce support, in terms of wage increases, bonuses, tuition reimbursement, and help toward their own retirement and healthcare plans. We have to take care of them so they can thrive in these jobs so they can continue coming back. It just makes sense.

And also, we're expanding our high quality childcare by increasing the childcare market rate to include 80% of providers, that'll broaden the childcare options available for subsidy families, while increasing the reimbursements, as well as we need more money to build the facilities. So we're going to have $50 million in capital grants to construct or to renovate and expand existing facilities. So how does that one sound?

So we're not just stopping there. These parents need help, but guess what, when you think about it, a lot of parents are just trying to lift themselves up and get an education, so they can get a job that will bring more money to their family. We understand that, but how does a working parent further their education when there's no one to watch their kids? The cost of having the kids, plus the tuition, it doesn't add up to help cover the cost of what they hope to hope to earn. So you just do the math real quick there, it doesn't work for them. So how do we solve for that?

I'm proud to say that our budget has $15.6 million in startup funding to establish childcare centers on all the remaining SUNY and CUNY campuses. Last year, last year, we served more than 1200 student parents with more than 4,000 childcare spots at 46 campuses. And I say, "But we have 64 campuses." Let's make sure that every one of our 64 campuses provides onsite childcare facilities that are second to none, so these parents can have one less thing to worry about when they're trying to better themselves.

So we have been focused on this issue. My partners have been focused on this issue and I'll close by saying, this is personal to me. Not just because I'm a mom, but because 34 years ago, I couldn't find childcare. Daycares were just starting, there weren't many working moms. It was kind of a stigma against it, "Oh, you mean you're going to work and not take care of your kids?" Remember that? You're all too young to know that, but that was the culture back then, right? That was the culture back then.

But I had a passion, I had a thirst for public service, when I was working on Capitol hill in Washington DC where my babies were born, and I had to make that decision, that it confronts way too many parents. No childcare, nothing I could afford. The daycares are just starting up. They're kind of overpopulated, the ones that did exist. You couldn't get a slot, maybe get on a two-year wait list. That doesn't really help you. So I had to leave my job, and it was hard. It affected our family finances. When we went down from two workers down to one, but I was fortunate to have a husband keep it going for me. A lot of people don't have that, a lot of people a don't have that. I was blessed, we got through it. And so, it's personal to me, because I feel the stress that our families are under. I don't forget that stress. It encountered my life. We had to cut back all of our spending because we no longer had income for me. And we had the expenses of a new baby with diapers and formula, think about formula, the stress that people are dealing with.

But it's that sense of empathy and having been there that, makes me feel even more passionate about the cause that we're talking about today. Because no woman should have to deal with the stress of making a decision when they want to work or they have to work, and they just don't know who's going to take care of their baby.

That hits you right here, right? It hits you right there. So now in the State of New York, we have prioritize those babies and those children to make sure that they get world-class care and they get it at places like this. I'm proud of that, I want to make sure that there's no child, in the State of New York, or no parent, who ever has to worry about what's happens to their babies. And I'm proud of our legislature for working with us.

And I will conclude by saying, we're just getting warmed up. When we find a problem, something that affects the families that I'm here to represent and care for, we will solve it for them. So thank you to the providers. All of you are here because you love children.

You care about families, and you're out there doing what we all do in public service, because you are a public servant in that sense, we take care of people. So thank you, And I'm very proud to welcome up to the stage right now another champion who feels as passionately as I do, about taking care of our families, especially those in underserved communities that have been forgotten for far too long. And those days are now over.

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