It\u2019s a daunting task.<\/p>\n
The childcare sector continues to face serious challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>, driven by low wages and high turnover. Early educators earn much less than public school teachers, making it hard to retain qualified staff. During the pandemic, providers left the industry in droves<\/a> for jobs in retail and other fields with the opportunity for more pay \u2014 and less burnout<\/p>\n Through NYC Talent, the administration is investing more than $1.2 million in early childhood apprenticeships, including $667,000 in new funding, officials will announce Friday at CUNY\u2019s Hostos Community College in the Bronx.<\/p>\n Doug Lipari, executive director of NYC Talent, believes that apprenticeships, which offer paid, on-the-job learning and credentialing, are a win-win.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be good for workers, and it\u2019s good for businesses,\u201d Lipari said. \u201cBusinesses get a sustainable pipeline of workers that are customized to their business. It\u2019s investing both in their current workforce and their future workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor workers,\u201d he added, \u201capprenticeships generally are great because of that model where you\u2019re not just learning and not just working \u2014 but you\u2019re doing both at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n More than half of the new money will go toward the CUNY Professional Development Institute to add 30 apprentices, doubling the total enrollment to 60 trainees, according to a press release shared with the Daily News ahead of the announcement.<\/p>\n The remainder is for the Kennedy Children\u2019s Center, serving the city\u2019s youngest students with disabilities in the Bronx and East Harlem. The new funding will allow the school to add 16 apprentices, for a total of 51 trainees.<\/p>\n Elena Elfe, a graduate of the Kennedy Children\u2019s Center\u2019s apprenticeship program, quipped that she first became an early educator when her autistic daughter, then a student at one of the organization\u2019s preschools in the Bronx, pivoted to remote learning during the pandemic.<\/p>\n She fell in love with the preschool anyway. She watched her daughter, whose doctors were not sure if she was going to talk, learn how to speak full sentences. Elfe quit her job in luxury retail and enrolled in a teacher assistant certification program at the center in 2022, before continuing her education in its apprenticeship program. She now serves as one of the mentors for pre-apprentices.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a foot in,\u201d Elfe said of the apprenticeship program. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to work with so many different families, and they come in the way I came in: \u2018I don\u2019t know if my kid\u2019s going to walk.\u2019 \u2018I don\u2019t know if my kids going to talk.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018Don\u2019t underestimate them.’\u201d<\/p>\n![\"On](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/shutterstock_2003113262.jpg\")
On Friday morning, New York City’s Office of Talent and Workforce Development will announce a key component of its strategy to significantly grow its workforce. (Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/55040660447_3a1d15fd94_o-e1773173311590.jpg\")
Mayor Mamdani, left, and New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels celebrate the opening day of 3-K and Pre-K applications with a visit to a 3-K and Pre-K childcare center in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Michael Appleton \/ Mayoral Photography Office)<\/p>\n