Members of the City Council are pushing for child care funding for undocumented families in the city budget. Last month, Albany lawmakers greatly expanded child care in the state budget, but those advocating for undocumented children to be included were left empty handed.

Supporters call it the “Care for All Families Campaign,” and it picks up where Albany left off last month.

What You Need To Know

  • Members of the City Council are hoping to include $10 million in this year’s budget to cover child care costs for undocumented families

  • State lawmakers included $2 billion to expand coverage in the state budget, approved last month. But undocumented families were left out

  • If successful, the city would make up the shortfall

“Albany expanded child care to include more two-year-olds, wrap-around care for more three-years-olds, but they did not, and they could have included undocumented kids in that,” says City Comptroller Brad Lander. “And obviously they should have, right? Undocumented kids got k out schools K to 12. Undocumented kids, as they should, are in pre-K and 3-K programs.”

Although some lawmakers fought to include undocumented families in the $2 billion that was approved in the state budget for child care, ultimately they fell short.

But with just an allocation of $10 million in this year’s city budget, those left out can now be covered.

“I think that the $10 million is really a very safe bet. When they were fighting for this at the state level, they were asking for a little bit under $10 million,” says Councilmember Tiffany Caban of Queens.

Right now, the median cost for center-based child care is $19,000. That is roughly 60% of a minimum wage salary, making paying for it out of pocket too much of a stretch for many immigrant families.

“Quite frankly I think it’s an imperative,” says Caban. “Since our city undeniably relies on the labor of our undocumented friends, family, neighbors to stay afloat, I think we have an obligation to provide free then with the same publicly subsidized child care other New York families are entitled to.”

Experts say the comparatively small price tag is because there aren’t that many children who qualify.

“We don’t have a ton of undocumented young people under five years old in New York City. We estimate that there is roughly 4,000 undocumented kids under five. And that only about 2,500 of those are low income,” says Lander.

We reached out the Mayor’s Office, but did not hear back. The subsidy was not included in the mayor’s proposed budget released earlier this year.