On Monday, September 30, Policy and Advocacy Associate Caitlyn Passaretti submitted testimony to the NYC Council’s Committee on Technology for an Oversight Hearing on My City Portal. On behalf of CCC, the testimony urges the City Council to address the severe issues families with young children face with applications and the enrollment processes for the publicly funded ECE system. While the MyCity portal was originally positioned as an enrollment solution, it has so far failed to resolve enrollment issues and families are finding the portal and application process inaccessible. CCC’s recommendations address the continued issues, pushing for a consumer-centered portal.

Read the testimony below.

Testimony of Caitlyn Passaretti
Policy and Advocacy Associate
Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York
Committee on Technology
Oversight Hearing: My City Portal
September 30^th, 2024

Since 1944, Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York has served as an independent, multi-issue child advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring every New York child is healthy, housed, educated, and safe. CCC does not accept or receive public resources, provide direct services, or represent a sector or workforce; our priority is improving outcomes for children and families through civic engagement, research, and advocacy. We document the facts, engage and mobilize New Yorkers, and advocate for solutions to ensure the wellbeing of New York’s children, families, and communities.

CCC is a steering committee member of the Campaign for Children, a coalition focused on achieving universal access to early education and youth services for New York City young people. Our advocacy elevates the voice of parents, youth, and direct service providers across communities.

We would like to thank Chair Gutiérrez and the rest of the Committee on Technology for holding this important hearing on the MyCity Portal. The MyCity portal was originally positioned as a solution to unacceptable complexities found within the application to enrollment processes for the ECE system. While the portal held conceptual promise, it has failed to resolve enrollment issues and families’ ability to find the care they need.

Despite the City’s efforts to simplify the enrollment process, numerous issues continue to exist that make it challenging and time-consuming for families to enroll. The City directs families to the official MyCity portal for assistance, but then reroutes them to other agency websites. For example, when families on public assistance are on the MyCity portal, they are referred to the Human Resource Administration; foster care families are referred to their child welfare caseworker; and low-income families seeking vouchers are referred to the child care enrollment application.[1]

Furthermore, applications for 3-K and Pre-K for All are not part of the MyCity portal. Instead, families seeking free school-day 3-K or Pre-K must apply through the DOE’s MySchools application. Additionally, families interested in extended-day 3-K or Pre-K must first apply through MySchools and then separately apply through MyCity to confirm eligibility. Too often, parents find this process confusing and, even when they secure care, it often fails to meet their needs.

Families interested in Head Start, Early Head Start, and Infant and Toddler programs face a different pathway to care and must enroll directly with the specific program. The Infant and Toddler programs then submit enrollment applications to the DOE for eligibility approval. The existence of multiple portals and multiple steps creates severe hurdles for families.

Providers have also had negative experiences with the DOE’s centralized enrollment process, as it prevents them from accepting children on site, resulting in open seats they cannot fill. This centralization has hindered contracted ECE providers from enrolling families on-site, creating competition between contracted programs and those operated by the DOE in school settings.

We urge the Committee to address these issues and ensure that all families have access to quality ECE care that meets their needs. The MyCity portal should be both consumer-centered and support a seamless application and enrollment process for all birth to five programming in NYC. We therefore recommend the following to improve the MyCity Portal:

• Create a consumer centered platform – where the applicant need only know the age of child they are seeking care for and provide basic demographics on residence and income levels of household head.
• Ensure the portal interfaces with providers so they can assist parents in applying and enrolling in services (full day, full year or school day and school year) and connect them directly to open seats within a center or family child care network
• Ensure multilingual access to the platform and that the application is accessible to migrant families
• Ensure application and enrollment for all birth to five ECE services can continue year-round
• Ensure more data transparency about matching families with care. There should be clear data on which centers families are paired with comparted to their first preference
• Support and clear instructions for enrolling a child with special needs

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony.

[1] https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/spotlight-nycs-publicly-supported-child-care-programs/