Public Employee Press

Budget Battle
"Without child care, I can't go to work."

By cutting affordable child care, Mayor Bloomberg's proposed budget would throw thousands of New Yorkers out of work. Clerical Associate 3 Danielle Mitchell knows. She had to stay home from her job at Kings County Hospital for three years after the birth of her fourth son, Daniel. She and the baby were healthy, "But I stayed home because we couldn't afford child care," she said.

The Local 1549 member needed to return to work and researched her childcare options. She found the Brighter Star Academy, which was great because it's bilingual, close to her home in Brooklyn, opens at 6 a.m. and works with children in small groups. "I fell in love with it," she said, "but the fee was astronomical - $246 a week!"

Back at work, shop steward Juliette Maxam told her about the childcare workshops sponsored by DC 37 and the other unions in the New York Union Child Care Coalition. Two days after attending one, she filed her paperwork and in three weeks she had a subsidy that cut her cost to $64 from $246 a week.

"It felt like a million dollars," she said. "It made such a difference in our lives. It would have been such a struggle with so many sacrifices. What are parents supposed to do if these programs are cut?"

The child-care subsidy money is available until March 2013. "We would love to see it expanded and made permanent instead of remaining a demonstration project," said Senior Assistant Director Moira Dolan of DC 37's Research and Negotiations Dept. "This program targets families who are just a little above the established cutoffs and otherwise wouldn't be eligible, but still need assistance," Dolan said.

Mr. Mayor: What are people supposed to do without affordable child care? Quit their jobs and go on public assistance?

— JL