BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It's an issue that many families can relate to, the battle to find affordable high-quality child care.
The topic, front, and center on Friday, at a public event at Crane Library on Elmwood Avenue, focused on highlighting a new report from Cornell University's ILR Buffalo Co-Lab entitled "The Status of Child Care in New York State".
The report evaluates the status of child care and child care workers in New York State. The outlook wasn't good.
"I would use the words crisis and freefall, with providers closing every single day," said New York State Senator Jabari Brisport who was in attendance at the event, "There are parents all across the state on waitlists because there are not enough childcare workers who can even afford to do the work,"
Senator Brisport is Chair of The Committee on Children and Families, which covers all child care legislation in New York State.
"There is no market-based solution," said Senator Brisport, "There needs to be state funding to invest in the workforce to stabilize it and expand access for parents"
"It is so broke," said Sheri Scavone, CEO of the Western New York Woman's Foundation. "It is just crumbling in a very, very precarious and fast way."
Scavone says the current state of child care in New York State is forcing people to make a choice.
"I think it is going to come to a tipping point where literally thousands of people are not going to be able to work because they don't have a safe place for their child to be."
The team behind Cornell University's report discussed the findings in detail with several stakeholders on Friday.
Among the key findings:
- Child care workers in New York State remain underpaid and undervalued, earning a median wage of $32,900 – nearly 40% less than the median wage for all New Yorkers – with 12% falling below the poverty line. The state’s more than 69,000 child care workers are racially diverse, but 94% are women.
- Lack of access to affordable child care removes New York workers from the economy. Among Empire State Poll respondents, in households where an adult member stayed home because of child care, more than half said they did so because of its high cost, while nearly a quarter said they lacked access. Labor shortages are exacerbated if parents are unable to work due to child care issues.
- New Yorkers value quality child care and support investments in the industry. Nearly 80% of Empire State Poll respondents indicated they would support public funding for universal child care as a free public service akin to K-12 public education.
- Child care capacity is ticking up, but not everywhere. Capacity declined in 22 mostly upstate counties, including by more than 20% in Greene, Schuyler, Oswego and Franklin counties, and about 8% in Manhattan.
- A child care compensation fund would raise wages for all child care workers. The researchers’ analysis showed a 1.9 to 1 return on investment, suggesting that if such a fund cost $2 billion annually, it would create $3.8 billion in economic activity and 40,608 new jobs.
Senator Brisport believes investment at the state level remains critical.
"We should be pushing for at least $1.2 billion for a workforce stabilization fund," said Senator Brisport, " That will add $12,000 to the salaries of every child care worker in the state."
"At the end of the day we need some political will," said Scavone, "This is important to us. This is critical"
You can find the full report below.
