EMPIRE STATE CAMPAIGN FOR CHILD CARE
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    • 2023 State Budget/Legislative Advocacy >
      • Staffing Shortages Due to Low Wages Press Release
      • Statement in Response to One-House Budgets
      • Letter in Support of ESCCC Priorities
      • Legislation to Be Included in the Budget
      • Policy Priorities Post-Executive Budget
      • Response to Executive Budget
      • 2023 Priorities in Response to State of the State
      • Response to State of the State
      • ESCCC 2023 State Policy Priorities (Dec 2022)
      • ESCCC State of the State Recommendations (Oct 2022)
    • 2022 State Budget / Legislative Advocacy >
      • Revised Statement on Decoupling Bill
      • Statement on Signing of Eligibility Bill
      • Statement on Signing of Decoupling Bill
      • Letter to Governor: Please Sign Decoupling and 24-Month Eligibility Bills
      • End of 2022-23 NYS Session Statement (June 2022)
      • May 2022 Priorities - Letter to NY Leg leaders.
      • Statement Applauding Passage Decoupling Bill (May 2022)
      • 2022 Post-Budget State Legislative Priorities (May 2022)
      • Statement in Response to Final Budget (April 2022)
      • Statement in Response to Final Budget (en español) (April 2022)
      • Statement in Response to One-House Budget (March 2022)
      • ESCCC Budget Ask (Feb 2022)
      • ESCCC Response to Governor Hochul's Executive Budget
      • Press Release: 2022 Day of Action
      • ESCCC Statement On New Mandate for Child Care Availability Task Force (Jan. 2022)
      • Statement in Advance of Executive Budget
      • NYS Child Care Facts (Feb 2022)
      • ESCCC Priorities for Transforming NY Child Care (Fall 2021)
    • 2022-23 Federal Advocacy >
      • Letter to Senator Schumer Urging Investment in Child Care in Reconciliation
    • Support Equitable Child Care in NYS: A Video Call to Action
    • Share Your Story
  • Events
    • Recent Events >
      • 2023 Advocacy Day
      • 2023 Virtual Advocacy Day
      • 2022 Child Care Day of Action
      • 2021 Virtual Early Childhood Advocacy Days

OUR HISTORY

PictureWomen's Caucus Press Conference 2017; photo by Jessica Klos Shapiro, Early Care & Learning Council
The Empire State Campaign for Child Care (ESCCC) was founded in the wake of threats to cut up to $27M from the New York State child care subsidy program during the 2017 state budget negotiations. The bipartisan Legislative Women’s Caucus had joined with child care advocates to ask for a sorely needed $100 million increase in child care funding simply to maintain the number of existing providers and subsidized slots. The Governor responded with a proposal to cut subsidies by $27M,  notwithstanding the state’s record high average cost of care and evidence that  a  large majority of families who qualified for subsidies did not receive them  because of inadequate subsidy funds, leaving them unable to access quality care.

Together, legislators — led by leaders of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, the Women of Color Task Force of the Black, Hispanic, Puerto Rican and Asian Legislative Caucus, and the Assembly Task Force on Women  — and advocates fought back. As a result, the final Budget contained subsidy funding cuts of only $7.43 million, reducing the Child Care Development Block Grant from $806M to $799M, and leaving an estimated 500- 900 children expected to be impacted across the state. Facilitated Enrollment (FE), a state-funded program designed to provide subsidies to families earning between 200-275% of the federal poverty level, was cut by $424K statewide. A significant increase was won for after-school programs and middle class families were able to benefit from a small expansion of the child care tax credit. But the subsidy program, in particular, took a hard hit, and other critical issues impacting the child care system were ignored.

The budget battle illustrated that many of our legislative leaders are unconcerned about the significant challenges child care providers and working families  in ensuring that all of our children can access the quality care that they need and deserve.  It also show that many leaders do not understand the critical role the child care system plays in our local and state economies.

In July, 2017, representatives of 50 organizations came together to share concerns and ideas. Together, we envisioned the creation of a statewide, powerful grassroots movement with the capacity to educate and motivate our elected leaders to increase New York’s investment in child care so that all New York families can access safe,  supportive, quality child care so that parents can work and children thrive. In October 2017, we became the Empire State Campaign for Child Care.

This website is under construction and a new bilingual website will be available in 2023
Este sitio web está en construcción, y una nueva versión bilingüe estará disponible en 2023

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  • HOME
  • Who We Are
    • History
    • Missions and Goals
    • Principles
    • Member Organizations
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Contact
  • Get the Facts
    • One-Pagers >
      • Staffing Shortages and the Child Care Crisis
      • Workforce Compensation
      • All Families, No Barriers
      • Fund for Immigrant Families
    • News
  • Take Action
    • 2023 State Budget/Legislative Advocacy >
      • Staffing Shortages Due to Low Wages Press Release
      • Statement in Response to One-House Budgets
      • Letter in Support of ESCCC Priorities
      • Legislation to Be Included in the Budget
      • Policy Priorities Post-Executive Budget
      • Response to Executive Budget
      • 2023 Priorities in Response to State of the State
      • Response to State of the State
      • ESCCC 2023 State Policy Priorities (Dec 2022)
      • ESCCC State of the State Recommendations (Oct 2022)
    • 2022 State Budget / Legislative Advocacy >
      • Revised Statement on Decoupling Bill
      • Statement on Signing of Eligibility Bill
      • Statement on Signing of Decoupling Bill
      • Letter to Governor: Please Sign Decoupling and 24-Month Eligibility Bills
      • End of 2022-23 NYS Session Statement (June 2022)
      • May 2022 Priorities - Letter to NY Leg leaders.
      • Statement Applauding Passage Decoupling Bill (May 2022)
      • 2022 Post-Budget State Legislative Priorities (May 2022)
      • Statement in Response to Final Budget (April 2022)
      • Statement in Response to Final Budget (en español) (April 2022)
      • Statement in Response to One-House Budget (March 2022)
      • ESCCC Budget Ask (Feb 2022)
      • ESCCC Response to Governor Hochul's Executive Budget
      • Press Release: 2022 Day of Action
      • ESCCC Statement On New Mandate for Child Care Availability Task Force (Jan. 2022)
      • Statement in Advance of Executive Budget
      • NYS Child Care Facts (Feb 2022)
      • ESCCC Priorities for Transforming NY Child Care (Fall 2021)
    • 2022-23 Federal Advocacy >
      • Letter to Senator Schumer Urging Investment in Child Care in Reconciliation
    • Support Equitable Child Care in NYS: A Video Call to Action
    • Share Your Story
  • Events
    • Recent Events >
      • 2023 Advocacy Day
      • 2023 Virtual Advocacy Day
      • 2022 Child Care Day of Action
      • 2021 Virtual Early Childhood Advocacy Days