Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul addressed attendees at The 5BORO NYC Childcare Summit in Brooklyn, highlighting the ongoing challenges and potential solutions related to affordable and accessible child care in New York City. Hochul stressed the need for collaboration among state, city, and private sector leaders to achieve universal child care.
During her remarks, Hochul acknowledged the role of innovative companies like Etsy and leaders such as Josh Silverman in shaping workplace policies that support families. She said, “It’s just a place where visionaries gather and led by an extraordinary leader. Josh, I love the fact that not only have you innovated a whole new way of creating products and giving people at home, many times, the ability to bring in more income from themselves — which I know is important to you — but also just to give people that sense of creative spirit out there and creating so many thousands of jobs. It’s extraordinary.”
Hochul recounted her personal experience with child care difficulties while working as counsel to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in Washington, D.C., explaining how the lack of child care options affected her career. She said, “I had no family in the area. There were very few childcare centers. The wait lists were phenomenally long and I just didn’t have any options. And so I had to walk away from that job that I cherished…”
The Governor pointed out that many families today face similar struggles, sometimes having to put their career ambitions on hold due to child care constraints. She noted, “Almost every family is struggling with this and sometimes they to put their dreams on hold or maybe they can’t even do that. They have to just figure it all out. And I’ve always thought that families shouldn’t have to figure this out on their own.”
Hochul also discussed New York City’s status as a top destination for college graduates but warned that the lack of affordable housing and child care could drive away young professionals. She stated, “If we don’t provide housing that’s affordable and we don’t give people safe streets and a good quality of life and we don’t figure out a way that people can take care of childcare, then we will lose the younger generation.”
She described her administration’s investments in child care since becoming governor, noting, “We took $7 billion over four years. And what we had to do was to build up the entire childcare ecosystem because it was decimated during the pandemic, decimated.” Hochul detailed additional funding for child care centers and workforce retention, including “$500 million toward workforce retention and training and to up the game of being a childcare provider.”
Hochul highlighted efforts to involve employers in supporting child care solutions through programs that split costs between businesses and the state, though she expressed disappointment that more employers have not participated. She emphasized that universal child care would require about $15 billion annually statewide and explained budget constraints: “You know how much I have in my state reserves right now for a rainy day? $14 billion. I can’t wipe that out.”
The Governor called on business leaders to take action by providing on-site child care facilities for employees, referencing her discussions with companies such as Micron, which is building an on-site facility as part of its investment in Upstate New York.
She also mentioned regulatory barriers such as restrictive zoning that limit expansion of child care centers above first floors in buildings and encouraged city officials to reconsider these rules.
Concluding her remarks, Hochul reiterated her commitment to working with stakeholders toward universal child care: “I know the people in this room know how to make stuff happen. So, let’s commit to that as you continue on your conversations and you know I’m there. I’m already having conversations with the likely next Mayor exactly about how to do that. And I think we’ll be making some more announcements in January in our State of the State about how that, what that path looks like.”
The Governor’s remarks can be accessed in full via video, audio, or transcript through official channels.
