Child Care
Research shows that the first few years of life are a tremendous time of brain development — a time when child care is essential to nurture the foundation of a child’s learning potential.
Yet New York is facing a child care crisis that is the result of long-standing racial and economic inequities: families of color and from low-income backgrounds are often unable to access affordable care. Child care workers — predominantly women of color — are also still among the lowest-paid workers in the state.
Our Equity-Centered Approach
Alongside our Raising New York coalition partners, we seek to expand child care access and capacity. Our statewide, systemic approach supports the child care workforce by advocating for policies that increase compensation and advance career growth. The coalition identifies barriers to accessing high-quality, affordable, culturally responsive child care and offers policy solutions to meet families’ needs.
Latest Resource
Brief: The True Cost of High-Qualtuy Child Care MOdel
This cost model, developed by Prenatal to Five Fiscal Strategies (P5FS) in partnership with EdTrust-New York and the Raising New York coalition, which exclusively tailored for New York State, projects that New York would need to invest roughly $20 billion into making high-quality child care available to all children from birth to five-years-old, with providers earning a living wage.
Featured Reports and Resources Over the Years
Statement: New York Fails to Seize Critical Opportunity for Child Care with Bill Vetoes
Poll: NYC Residents Overwhelmingly Support Investment in Early Childhood Programs
Poll: Business Leaders Face Economic Hardship Due to Lack of Employee Access to Child Care
Blog: The State of Child Care Compensation, and Where We Go From Here
Data Snapshot
%
of people in New York State live in a child care desert.
parents from low-income backgrounds report that their child does not attend a child care program due to costs.
More Resources
Parent Leaders Sound the Alarm on NYC’s Pending Child Care Assistance Crisis
State leaders are calling on parents to share how losing child care would impact their families. Personal stories are essential in helping them understand the harm that any interruption in care could cause. Parents whose children are not currently in child care can still weigh in on how funding cuts would undermine recent investments in child care access and educator wages.
EdTrust-New York Responds to One House Budget Bills with Support and a Call for Increased Investment in Education Equity
EdTrust-New York believes the state has not invested enough in an equitable, student-centered education system, despite some positive developments in the recently released One House Budget Bill.
EdTrust-New York Responds to NY Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2025 State of the State Address
EdTrust-New York calls for stronger commitments to educational equity and looks forward to collaborating with the Governor and Legislature to ensure the inclusion of the following proposals in the final 2025 State Budget.
New York Fails to Seize Critical Opportunity to Support Vulnerable Families with Child Care Bill Vetoes
This past week, while Governor Hochul toured New York to discuss affordability, she vetoed two bills that could have made child care more accessible for our most vulnerable families.
Call to Action: Governor Hochul Must Sign Critical Child Care Bills
The Governor’s immediate signature on these bills is essential for ensuring that New York’s youngest and most vulnerable residents receive the care and education they urgently need. The proposed child care legislation marks a transformative shift towards a more equitable system.
From Barriers to Opportunity: Confronting Systemic Barriers to Early Childhood and Poverty-Reduction Programs
The report features qualitative and quantitative data that uncovers barriers families face to access poverty-reduction and early childhood programs such as child care subsidies and vouchers, WIC and SNAP benefits, and voluntary home visiting.