Investing in Our Future:
Addressing New York City’s Child Care Crisis
New Yorkers call on the next mayor to address child care needs that would provide economic relief to working parents and help support our youngest New Yorkers stay developmentally on track.
During the course of the pandemic, New York City residents have experienced a tremendous amount of stress and economic instability, something that could be relieved if all families, especially those disproportionately impacted by economic hardship during the pandemic, had access to high-quality, affordable child care.
Our Summer 2021 poll, conducted with the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York and the CUNY’s New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, makes it clear that these challenges parents, families, and children face continue to mount as the crisis continues, and that New York City residents resoundingly support an increased investment in early childhood programs at the city, state, and federal levels.
Data Overview by the Borough
THE CRITICAL NEED FOR HIGH-QUALITY,
AFFORDABLE CHILD CARE IN NEW YORK CITY
The results of our citywide poll of residents and parents highlight the critical need for New York City’s next mayor to act quickly to support families of infants and toddlers, putting families on the path to economic stability and our youngest residents on the path to a bright future.
KEY FINDINGS
- Many parents, especially Black and Latinx parents and those from low-income households, report child care is often a burden and that finding affordable, high-quality child care is difficult in New York City. An overwhelming majority of residents indicated that the next mayor – and other elected local and state officials – should make child care a priority.
- Lack of access to child care has created a number of financial difficulties for parents, including job loss, and difficulty paying for basic expenses.
- Residents support a number of critical solutions to keep infants and toddlers healthy and developmentally on-track including access to high-quality child care, investing in early childhood programs, and improving resources that would be helpful to parents.
- Parents are largely satisfied with their family-based or center-based child care centers, although Black and Latinx parents and parents from low-income households are much less likely to rank their experience as positive. Residents broadly support further investments in these programs.
SPREAD THE WORD
Download our social media toolkit with sample images and posts below. Please spread the word about why it’s imperative for New York City’s next mayor to address the persistent child care crisis by posting on your personal or your organization’s social media accounts and using #OurFutureOurNYC.
ABOUT THE POLL
This poll, conducted by The Education Trust–New York, Citizen’s Committee for Children and CUNY’s Professional Development Institute, in partnership with Global Strategy Group, had a confidence interval of +/-2.5%. All interviews were conducted via web-based panel, including 55% of interviews conducted via mobile device. Care has been taken to ensure the geographic and demographic divisions are properly represented. Thirty-nine percent of participants have a household income of less than $50,000 per year. “Residents of color” refers to residents who self-identify as Latinx, Black, Native American, Asian American, or Pacific Islander.
For media inquiries, please contact Tiffany Lankes, director of communications, at [email protected]