Rally in Albany for universal child care on Tuesday

Hundreds of parents, providers and advocates are heading to the state capitol in Albany on Tuesday to rally for universal child care.

They’re calling on the state legislature to enact universal child care this year. They say Hochul’s proposal in the state budget is a win they’ve been working toward for years.

“Now we’ll have the ability to have our children go out and get what they need, parents can go work hours if needed and the support is unanimous with everything we’ve been doing for all these years,” said Cheryl Wearen of the Children’s Agenda in Rochester.

When asked about the timeline for universal child care in upstate New York, the governor told Capital Tonight she needed to see how the three pilot programs in Monroe, Broome and Duchess counties fare before she can determine any timeline. Those three counties will be receiving a total of $20 million each, which was allocated in this year’s state budget proposal.

The governor hopes the pilot programs in the communities will lead to solutions as she pushes to bring universal child care to the state’s families. It’s a $4.5 billion total cost, with more than a quarter of that going toward expanding child care subsidies.