CCC’s Associate Executive Director for Policy and Advocacy Raysa Rodriguez testified in front the City Council General Welfare Committee on March 25th regarding Mayor de Blasio’s preliminary budget and its impact on children.

Among many initiatives, Raysa called for the city to end the pay disparity among early childcare educators. Currently, Pre-K teachers at community-based organizations earn as little as 60 percent of their peers at Department of Education Pre-K sites. Currently, there are 91,000 children under 5 years of age enrolled in contracted child care, and more than half receive care in CBO centers. Looking by age groups, more than half of 4-year-olds enrolled in UPK are in CBO classrooms, more than 70% of 3-year-olds and one-third of toddlers who receive care are in CBO centers. Check out our one-pager on the early childhood education landscape here. 

Raysa also called for the 2020 budget to include more funding to support displaced children and families. Specifically, she called for the city to include $13.9 million for Bridge the Gap — a program that places social workers in schools with high populations of students who are homeless. Mayor de Blasio’s preliminary budget provided no funding for Bridge the Gap.

The city is currently in the midst of a homelessness crisis that is deeply impacting families