The child care campaign is made up of parents and providers working together to fight for better working conditions for child care providers. Parents and providers are fighting together so that all work is valued and respected equally.
The Child Care Campaign started in 2001 at a leadership retreat of FUREE members. Our members, who were mostly women on welfare, were having problems keeping and locating good child care providers because HRA was consistently paying providers late or not at all. We started to organize parents and providers together to take action against HRA. As we continued with our research and recruitment we learned about the other issues that providers face like no health insurance, no sick days, no vacation days, that affect provider's abilities to successfully do their jobs. We realized how connected parents and providers issues were, because when providers are treated poorly parents can't keep their jobs, go to school, or comply with workfare requirements.
In 2004, 1.3 million Americans joined the ranks of those living in poverty, bringing the total to 35.8 million people. Last year over 45 million Americans were without health insurance. Low-income workers, who are less likely to be unionized or receive vital income supports including health care and child care, find it increasingly difficult to support their families.
Here in Brooklyn, the story is no different. Twenty-five percent of Brooklyn's nearly 2.5 million residents are living below the poverty line. At the same time, Brooklyn is suffering through nearly nine percent unemployment - almost three percent greater than the national average. In the areas where FUREE members live, unemployment is twice or even three times as high.
The child care sector represents an expanding economic opportunity for Brooklyn and New York City, one that assists working families by supporting an employed lifestyle and generating community-based jobs. In New York City, the $1.9 billion child care sector represents 44,900 workers and 313,000 parents. It is a means by which parents can work and possibly exit poverty and is a local industry which employs NYC residents who then, in turn, reinvest their earnings locally.
A large portion of the child care industry is comprised of "subsidized child care," and many parents receiving subsidies choose use family day care providers, who operate their centers out of their homes. Home-based family daycare provides convenience, which also translates into more affordable transportation costs, and comfort to parents looking for a warm and more home-styled environment for their child. Subsidized child care includes families receiving public assistance; parents who recently left pubic assistance and receive transitional child care and qualifying low-income working families.
FUREE represents home based child care providers who care for between five to twelve children per day in their homes and are 20% of the child care workforce. These providers take care of 12,000 low-income children everyday.
Subsidized child care allows many low-income families the opportunity to find work and exit poverty. Child care workers themselves, however, are chronically underpaid and their work is grossly undervalued. The highest paid home based child care providers earn about $19,000 per year. Most receive far less, between $20 and $30 per day per child. After expenses, many of these workers, overwhelmingly women of color, are left with less than $2 per hour per child, for some of society's most essential work.
Pay inequities begin at the state level. The state sets the "market rate" for child care, and then subsidized providers receive 75% of the market rate. The market rate differs vastly across "social service districts," as it reflects what average parents in that district can pay rather than what providers need to survive. New York City providers receive about 33% less than home based providers in Westchester County, which is more affluent and 75% white. Additionally, as independent contractors, providers are not entitled to any worker protection such as minimum wage laws, and do not qualify for health insurance.
On the City level, low pay is exacerbated by a two-tiered payment system for home-based providers, a system which is structurally unequal: One tier consists of "voucher" providers who receive their payment via vouchers directly from the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) and the Human Resource Administration (HRA.)
The second tier is represented by "contract providers" who utilize child care "networks" run by various social service agencies. Networks are often essential to providers as they offer assistance with paperwork, access to raining, they place children with providers and conduct three additional inspections each year. There are 74 child care networks that sponsor a corps of 2,400 well-trained home-based caregivers with years of experience, providing responsive, nurturing care and early learning for some 8,200 young children of low-income working parents.
Up until 2001, voucher and contract family day care providers were all paid the same rates. In 2001, and again in 2003, the State increased the market rates paid to family day care providers. Yet contract providers did not receive these raises, and haven't gotten a raise since 1995. This is because state regulations allow local jurisdictions to negotiate lower rates in contracts. The City used this loophole in 1999 to dictate a 6-year contract with the networks that did not provide for market rate increases. Now, in 2005, contract providers earn between $4 and $10 a day less per child, thus refusing to keep pace with market increases. This resulted in an annual salary for contract providers that is thousands of dollars lower than the salary for non-network, voucher providers. The chart below details this pay disparity.
FUREE's long term goal is to win better wages and working conditions for these vital caregivers at the state level. Our shorter term goal is to build a powerful association of providers on the City level to win local victories as we partner with allies on a statewide level. The first stage of this campaign is aimed at winning salary parity for home child care contract providers so that they can earn the same as providers paid by vouchers. New York City has ended the fiscal year with a $1.4 billion surplus. The restoration of child care funds and pay equity for contract providers demanded by FUREE would only cost $9 million.
The next phase of the campaign will be to target New York State to win pay raises, health insurance and respect and a voice in decisions governing providers' lives and businesses.
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