This week, I faced a dilemma all too familiar to working parents.
Our daycare did not have space for my son and I had an important in-person meeting where it would not be appropriate to bring my five-month-old. My partner and I are both fortunate enough to work and have access to parental leave. I work at a non-profit, my partner works as a teacher, and we rent an apartment in Park Slope. Even with all of our access and good fortune, childcare is draining our resources and raising questions about how we can afford to juggle everything and stay long-term in this neighborhood we love.
A big part of the affordability crisis for young families like mine is funding childcare. Many families have to spend over $30,000 a year for just one toddler. After several annual cuts to NYC’s 3-K and Pre-K programs, it is even more urgent to protect and expand these programs and fight for more and more accessible childcare in NYC.
First, we need to fully fund 3-K programs and make sure they are actually available to all three-year-olds. In 2024, there were spots for all three-year-olds in only half of the city’s school districts. This creates a dynamic where parents scramble to win a seat. “Even the most highly educated and well-resourced of our community are struggling to know what’s going on,” explains childcare advocate Rebecca Bailin. Families who are most in need of the program, those with less resources or knowledge of how to navigate the system, are even less likely to get a spot. We must increase the education budget to fully fund 3-K for all New Yorkers.
Three years of childcare still represents a prohibitive cost for many families. Our next step is implementing universal 2-K in NYC and funding infant care for babies under the age of two. Childcare for babies and toddlers two years old or younger is even more unequal than 3-K. According to New Yorkers for Childcare, a group advocating for free childcare for 2-year-olds, only 20% of eligible toddlers actually receive subsidies. Universal 2-K for the city’s 60,000 two-year-olds would ease the burden for all families. And we must keep fighting for universal childcare and city investment in infant care centers for younger babies.
We also need to implement policies that support the creation of more childcare facilities. I hear from providers here in District 39 how difficult it is to rent a space and navigate permitting, and about the pay disparity between DOE workers and other staff. We must create a fast-track system for childcare permitting, incentivize landlords to rent out spaces to childcare providers by increasing childcare center abatements, especially in childcare deserts. And we need to ensure childcare providers are paid a fair wage.
New York City is great because people from different worlds, professions, and backgrounds live here, move here, and build a future here. But if it becomes a city where only a few very wealthy people can afford to live, we will lose what makes New York City great. In 2022, as a result of parents leaving the workforce due to childcare, NYC’s economy lost an estimated $23 billion.
I’m running for City Council in District 39 because I want this to be a place where all families can afford to stay long-term. A central part of my platform is fighting for childcare for families like my own, and I will relentlessly continue that fight in the City Council.
Maya Kornberg, Ph.D is a candidate New York City Council District 39
