Public Employee Press

Child care subsidies now available downtown

DC 37 families who live or work in the Liberty Zone — from 14th Street to the Battery in Manhattan — are now eligible for subsidized child care. District Council 37 and the New York City Central Labor Council developed the pilot project. Their Union Child Care Coalition lobbied intensively for the state funds that finance the subsidies.

The subsidies allow union members who meet the financial eligibility standards to pay no more than 10 percent of their income for child care. Union families in the program save substantial sums compared with “market rate” care.

The actual care does not have to be provided in the zone. A clerical-administrative employee who works at 150 Williams St. in downtown Manhattan can use the subsidy for child care in the Brooklyn neighborhood where she lives. Members can use after-school programs or informal care arrangements, as long as they accept Agency for Child Development vouchers.

Recent lobbying by the coalition resulted in an additional $10 million state appropriation. The new money allowed the program to expand to include Liberty Zone families. The labor group expects the money to provide subsidies for about 2,000 Central Labor Council families — including DC 37 members.

Members in seven Bronx zip codes that were targeted earlier — 10458, 10460, 10461, 10462, 10466, 10467 and 10469 — remain eligible for the program. The Bronx project still has money and will continue into 2004. About 150 DC 37 families in the Bronx have already received approval for the subsidies.

Liberty Zone families must meet the same income eligibility guidelines as in the Bronx project. For example, a family of four must have an annual income under $50,600.

How to apply
For applications and more information, members who live or work in Manhattan south of 14th Street should call Andrea Rosser at 646-772-7402.

Members in Bronx zip codes 10458, 10460, 10461, 10462, 10466, 10467 and 10469 should contact Yolanda Cruz at (212) 647-1912, ext. 313.