NEW YORK – Today, Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York (CCC) Executive Director Jennifer March issued the following statement on the New York City Council’s response to Mayor Eric Adams’ Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2024:

“We applaud the City Council for laying out a bold vision for New York City’s children and families in its response to the Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2024. Among many child and family focused priorities, the Council’s response calls for significant and necessary investments that will expand access to affordable, high quality early childhood care and education at a critical moment for our city.

A recent CCC survey illustrated the challenges New York City parents face in accessing publicly funded early childhood care and education services. We are thrilled the Council’s response directly addresses many of these challenges, including by investing an additional $15 million for a pilot program to convert 1,000 school day, school year 3K seats into full-day, year-round seats, and by providing an additional $46 million to enable community-based providers to increase compensation for their staff.

We are especially pleased that the Council acknowledges that thousands of early childhood education seats in New York City are open and unfilled because of systematic issues within City government, not because there is a lack of need. We stand with the Council in calling on the Adams administration to strengthen its outreach and marketing efforts to ensure more New York City families know about the infant-toddler, 3K and Pre-K program options available to them, and to decentralize the enrollment process so that community-based providers can enroll families directly on-site.

The Council’s response includes desperately needed investments that will help ensure more New Yorkers can access the early childhood care and education they and their children need. The Adams administration has a moral obligation to include these investments in the City’s adopted Fiscal Year 2024 Budget.”

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About CCC

Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York (CCC) educates and mobilizes New Yorkers to make the city a better place for children. CCC’s advocacy combines public policy research and data analysis with citizen action. CCC casts light on the issues, educates the public, engages allies and identifies and promotes practical solutions to ensure that every New York City child is healthy, housed, educated and safe. For more information about CCC, visit www.cccnewyork.org.