00:00Good morning, everyone. It is such a pleasure to be here today alongside so many parents, so many providers, so
00:12many advocates who, as we've just heard, have long called for change.
00:17Those whose tireless work to make child care free for all has brought us together today.
00:22And it is a privilege as well to do so at Bronx Works.
00:30An organization that not only runs high-quality child care centers, but is a key partner to our city in
00:36the work to help families here in the Bronx apply for and receive child care vouchers.
00:42I want to acknowledge we have a number of leaders, both inside and outside of our administration, who are here
00:48with me today.
00:48We have our ACS Commissioner, Rebecca Jones-Gaston.
00:53We have our Deputy Chancellor for Early Education, Erica Phillips.
00:57Our ACS Deputy Commissioner, Elizabeth Wolcomere.
01:02We have the person that you call all the time, and I call all the time, the Mayor's Office of
01:06Child Care Executive Director, Emmy Liss.
01:10We have a person that, when you say the Bronx three times, she appears, Bronx Borough President, Vanessa Gibson.
01:17We have the Chair of the Children and Youth Committee in City Council, Council Member Althea Stephens.
01:25Young people, young people, young people, always.
01:28We have the Chair of the Early Child Education Committee in the City Council, Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez.
01:35One of the foremost champions for child care at the City Council.
01:39We have my former roommate and State Senator Jabari Brisport, Chair of the Committee on Children and Families.
01:48We have someone who has fought long and hard for the State Council Member, Lincoln Ressler, who is here with
01:53us.
01:55Senator Luis Sepulveda, who is here with us.
01:58Assembly Member Landon Dias, who is here with us.
02:01Both of whom welcoming us to their district.
02:04We have Assemblywoman now and soon-to-be Senator Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas.
02:11Councilwoman Julie Wan.
02:13We also have Rabbi Moshe Indig, who is here with us.
02:18We have UJO Associate Director David Katz, who is here with us.
02:24Now I want to name a few other names.
02:27Cardi B.
02:28Richard Avedon.
02:30Al Pacino.
02:32The woman who inspired countless New Yorkers to pursue their dreams, to build an empire, to make music.
02:38A man who reshaped what a photograph could be and how far it could reach.
02:43And the actor who warned us in heat,
02:45Brother, you are going down.
02:48Three different visionaries, but one common thread.
02:51Three children of the Bronx.
02:56They each became great figures because they possessed that drive, that hunger, that ambition that lives deep in the heart
03:03of the city that we are proud to call our home.
03:05And each of them also spent time in this borough's public parks, in this borough's public schools.
03:12The foundation upon which they built that excellence was also laid in part by public goods and by public services.
03:22And yet we know that those services were not inevitable.
03:25They had to be fought for.
03:27They had to be won.
03:28The state's child care assistance program, an initiative that provides parents vouchers to help them afford child care, is an
03:37example of one of those services.
03:39For nearly three decades, the voucher program has helped give children in the Bronx and across our city a strong
03:46start in life,
03:47regardless of how much money their parents have, regardless of how much money their parents have in their pocket.
03:50But we can only serve the number of children that the funding allows.
03:56And in May of 2025, the number of children in need of vouchers exceeded the program's capacity.
04:03New families were placed on a wait list, a wait list that kept on growing.
04:08Today, there are more than 29,000 children on that wait list, with more being added by the day.
04:15Over the last few months, I have had the privilege of speaking with parents and child care providers who have
04:22shared with me how much of a lifeline that program is,
04:25how painful it is for them or for their clients to be stuck on that wait list with no end
04:31in sight.
04:31And today, I am so proud to announce that there is light at the end of the voucher tunnel.
04:43For the first time in 15 months, New York City is taking children off the voucher wait list, and this
04:49is only the beginning.
04:54We will continue to do so on a rolling basis.
05:00And I am deeply grateful for the leadership and support of Governor Kathy Hochul,
05:05whose $1.2 billion investment in our city's historic universal child care program included $475 million to stabilize and expand
05:14the voucher program.
05:19And I also just want to take a moment to commend City Council Member Lincoln Ressler.
05:27Because I swear every time I see him, he has to say the word voucher, wait list, parents.
05:36And it is that kind of relentless commitment, relentless drive, that ensures that this kind of a topic is always
05:45at the heart of the conversation that's taking places in the halls of power.
05:49So thank you to Lincoln, and thank you to every other relentless advocate for this.
05:53Truly.
05:55And that's the kind of work that is so critical in ensuring that today is possible.
06:01Because thanks to that work, thanks to every single person that is here,
06:05we are now able to deliver affordable child care to thousands upon thousands of additional families who need it most.
06:12And I have to be honest, when I say affordable, I might be misspeaking, because what I mean to say
06:16is 100% free.
06:21This past August, we announced a $5.2 million investment to cover the fees that families would otherwise have to
06:28pay out of pocket.
06:29That means that every family currently in the program and every family coming off the wait list will not have
06:36to worry about whether or not they can afford the co-pays traditional to the voucher program.
06:41And for families trying to find child care providers that participate in the voucher program,
06:46our city's first ever child care provider map at nyc.gov slash child care,
06:51one that we launched together a few months ago, has launched a new feature,
06:57a filter that will allow families to search for providers that accept vouchers,
07:01like many of the high-quality home-based providers
07:07who are with us here today.
07:10Now, expanding our voucher program is just our latest effort to make child care a truly universal public good here
07:17in our city.
07:18And I know that there are cynics out there who reject our efforts to deem universal child care a public
07:23good,
07:24those who might label this kind of an initiative as idealistic or radical or naive.
07:29And yet we also know that that same cynicism was once applied to public schools.
07:33It was once applied to public parks, to subways, to libraries, to sewers, to trash collection, even to street lamps.
07:41The marker of progress, my friends, is expanding both what is promised and to whom it is promised.
07:47Bringing New York City closer to a future where every New Yorker can access universal child care
07:52is about more than just lifting a financial burden from New Yorkers' shoulders.
07:56It's about building a city where the people know they can demand more from their government
08:02and one where their government delivers more in kind.
08:06Thirty years from now, when our city is dancing to a beat we cannot imagine
08:10or taking in art more creative than anything we've ever seen,
08:13it will be in no small part because the children of this city had the support
08:18and the public goods they needed to succeed.
08:21The parks in which they could play, the public transit they could ride to visit New Worlds,
08:27and the universal child care they could rely upon to learn, to grow, to become themselves.
08:34And while we may have some more gray hair then,
08:36we will know that progress was made, that greatness was made possible
08:42because of a program like this one.
08:44Because government provided its people with the foundation to succeed.
08:47And because, and I say this specifically to all of the providers and the advocates,
08:54because you were willing to believe once again that something different could happen.
08:59Because I know that every time you sat down with me, you sat down with Emmy,
09:04you sat down with Nick, you sat down with Yvonne,
09:06you sat down saying the same things you've told people in power for years.
09:12The same things that you have grown tired in having to testify about.
09:17And yet you believed that this time something could be different.
09:20And if you didn't make that choice, we couldn't make this one.
09:24So thank you for continuing to believe.
09:27Thank you for continuing to fight.
09:30Thank you for making today possible.
09:35And with that being said, I'm going to say the Bronx, the Bronx, the Bronx.
09:39And here she is, the Bronx Borough President, Vanessa Gibson.
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09:53We'll see you next time.
09:54We'll see you next time.
