Free Childcare - We Can Do It!

Ralph Palladino is a former vice president of AFSME District Council 37 Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549. He worked at Bellevue Hospital for 40 years and was a founding Co-Chair of the Bellevue Hospital Childcare Coalition.

Throughout the campaign for mayor, Zohran Mamdani called for free childcare for all in New York City. He was criticized, ridiculed, and told that it could not be done. But childcare is a leading “affordability issue” in New York. It is something that must and can happen.

The cost of childcare for a family in New York City in 2024 was $18,200 for family-based care and $26,000 for center-based care, according the New York City Comptroller’s office’s report published in January of this year, putting it out of reach for the vast majority of people. The same report says that “childcare workers have the lowest median personal income of any care workers in NYC-just $25,000 as of 2023.”

Childcare has proven to be important for children’s learning experience and development, and for a parent’s ability to work and keep a job while having their children cared for. It’s estimated that 375,000 parents had to leave their jobs or reduced their work hours in 2022 because of childcare issues. According to a survey conducted by Childcare Inc., “Childcare enhances business productivity.” It is a win-win for families and businesses.

"It starts with a complete belief that we can actually achieve those things and address this crisis," is how the incoming First Deputy Mayor of New York City Dean Fuleihan responded to a question about the feasibility of Mamdani’s bold agenda that included free universal childcare. Mr. Fuleihan previously was given the task of securing approval and funding assistance in Albany in 2014 for Mayor DeBlasio’s popular and successful Pre-K program for four-year-olds (now expanded to three-year-olds). “

When that came out, the general opinion was, that's not happening," Mr. Fuleihan said. "It could not be done." But it was done. Today the program has an 80,000-seat capacity.

I was part of a similar experience at Bellevue Hospital in the mid-1990’s. A Bellevue employee’s baby boy died in a fire in an unregulated childcare center. It was a tragedy for the entire hospital family. For years employees had wanted a childcare center inside the hospital. This incident forced us into action.

We initiated a Bellevue Childcare Coalition consisting of the Bellevue Community Advisory Board, the hospital’s Employee Advisory Council, unions, and volunteer employees. First, we found and acquired the hospital the space needed on site. Next, we began lobbying the New York City Council. We developed testimony focusing on parents and children’s needs for the program and linked it to increased productivity and patient care.

We were told that it never could happen. But our advocacy and lobbying efforts paid off. We won $560,000 for renovations from the City Council.

Next year we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the opening of the center in 2006. It has since expanded in size and numbers of children being cared for. The next step is to provide a 24-hour service for all work tours.

In the beginning, the cost was higher than we had hoped for, so only the professionals in the hospital could afford to have their children cared for at the center. But the center’s director, Dr. Dolores McCullough, worked with the New York Union Child Care Coalition to secure annual state financial assistance to allow children from lower paid work titles whose salaries are above the poverty level to attend the program.

The Bellevue Center is one of the first workplace onsite childcare centers in the city. While unique, there is nothing new about having childcare located at the workplace.

During World War II, free childcare was provided by the federal government through the Lanham Act of 1940 that allocated millions for infrastructure. Childcare was necessary to enable women to enter the workforce, so the government made it work. This was done with cooperation from businesses.

Today, many federal office buildings throughout the country have onsite childcare. And this year New Mexico became the first state to commit funds to provide free childcare for all, including building and renovating centers and higher pay for staff.

Childcare is unaffordable for most families now, especially for single parent families. My mother was a single parent in the 1960’s and had to work five- or six-day weeks at a garment factory on Staten Island. She could have used free childcare. It would have kept me out of trouble and enhanced my education.

It is critical that free universal childcare becomes a reality in New York City. It will help our children in their education and keep them safe, while keeping businesses productive. And given the success of Pre-K and the Bellevue Hospital Center it is possible to achieve!